Twinkle Twinkle Little Thermonuclear Power Plant
- By Faith Tucker
- July 6, 2011
- 5 Comments
The heavens above have often been a source of comfort and inspiration for us mere mortals on Earth. A few examples include the classic inspirational quote, “Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars” (~Les Brown) or a child staring out their window and wishing … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-Up – 6/27/11
- By Faith Tucker
- June 27, 2011
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Although it may be less well known than her nefarious box, Pandora’s Cluster has made a splash of its own as a team of scientists unraveled this galaxy cluster’s tangled history. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ITA/INAF/J. Merten et al. Lensing: NASA/STScI; NAOJ/Subaru; ESO/VLT Optical: NASA/STScI/R. Dupke It appears that this giant cluster … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-Up – 6/21/11
- By Faith Tucker
- June 21, 2011
- 3 Comments
As Maggie mentioned in her intriguing post last week, things have been quite busy around here recently. So here is a bit of a catch-up edition of your weekly Awesomeness Round-Up. Enjoy! Historically, astronomy has always required a great deal of patience as astronomers spent long, cold nights at the … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 4/26/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- April 26, 2011
- 2 Comments
Happy 21st anniversary, Hubble! To celebrate this milestone, the telescope was pointed at a lovely pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The shape (which reminds some of a rose) is due to the gravitational tidal pull between the pair, which is distorting the disk of the larger galaxy. It’s … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 4/4/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- April 4, 2011
- 1 Comment
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program, employees down at Kennedy Space Center came together for this impressive themed aerial portrait. I’m not sure what image we would pick at Goddard, since the research here is so diverse! Any ideas? Post them in the comments! There’s … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 3/7/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- March 7, 2011
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Credit: NASA/GSFC/Bill Hrybyk Meet “Harry,” a bald eagle recently spotted here at NASA Goddard! Geeked on Goddard has a few more photos, as well as some information about bald eagles in Maryland. While we’re usually talking about the space exploration and research going on here, it’s also worth mentioning that … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 2/22/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- February 22, 2011
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Due to the one-two punch of a federal holiday and a bit of wintry weather that caused NASA Goddard to open a few hours late today, here’s a belated awesomeness round-up! Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Bill Hrybyk One year ago, I had just returned to Goddard from an epic adventure … Continue Reading →
Even Spherical Cows Have Udders
- By Koji Mukai
- February 11, 2011
- 1 Comment
In astrophysics, we often use the term “standard candle.” It is a highly useful, yet also very dangerous, term. The danger is that outsiders – the press, the general public, and even some scientists who are not intimately familiar with this particular subject – see this term and take it … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 1/31/11
- By Sara Mitchell
- January 31, 2011
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Credit: NASA/GSFC/Debbie Mccallum I know that I kicked off last week’s round-up with a snow picture, but look! We got another six inches! Here’s the real NASA connection, though… imagery of the storm from the MODIS instrument, aboard the Terra satellite. Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
Awesomeness Round-up – 12/20/10
- By Maggie Masetti
- December 20, 2010
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It’s been very cold and windy here in Maryland lately – but not quite THIS cold. I guess the upside to extreme temperatures is that you can do experiments like this one, done at Mount Washington Observatory when it was nearly -35 degrees F. Do you know what happens when … Continue Reading →
