Space Before Dates

\\In space//

[welcometotheravenclawcommonroom]

“I have never seen anything more beautiful.” - the astronomy Ravenclaw

for @ave-caeli and @kaneki-ken-in-the-tardis

[goneonatriptonowhere]

Harry Potter House Aesthetics

Gryffindor: fast decisions, impulsivity, temperament. A sparkle in the eyes. The will to fight for everything you want. Ambition. Bonfires and drunk words. Dragons and knights and swords. Loud voices in a hallway. Always saying what they’re thinking. Laying outside with the sun shining on their face. Heavily breathing. Running. Wide grins. Falling in love not easily, but when they do, they’re falling hard and love deeply and fiercely. Making other people laugh so hard their sides hurt. Long car rides and singing along loudly with the windows down. Peace signs for a photo. Fierce eyeliner and red lipstick combined with colourful clothing and golden accessories.

Ravenclaw: overthinking things. Worrying. Not handing in homework because they were to busy working on their latest project. Not finishing something and already starting something new. Ink stained fingertips. Instrumental music. Posting a quote under every picture. Creativity. Self-made birthday gifts. Staring at the rain pouring down the windowpane. Sitting in the car and acting like a movie star when a sad song is playing. Earphones on the table. Holding a hot cup of tea. Art journals. Notebooks with half the words stroked. Messy hair. Bringing books to school. Hugging someone when they’re upset without saying a word. Bucket lists full of things they didn’t do yet. Bronze eyeshadow. Dark lipstick.

Hufflepuff: always trying to smile even though they might not be feeling well. Long hugs when they see their friends. The smell of freshly baked cakes and muffins. Sandcastles. Trusting. Understanding. Running home under an umbrella when it’s raining but still smiling. Holding hands with your best friend in public. Laughs in the middle of the night on a sleepover. Daisy chains in your hair. Always sending a good night message to the people they love. Wool socks. Rubber boots. Making compliments. Decorating notebooks with stickers. Marshmallows. Rosé and orange lipstick.

Slytherin: mysterious, reserved. Competitive. Silent whispers in the hallway. Black coffee. Planning out things. Always afraid they’re not who they’re supposed to be. High expectations for themselves. Clean rooms. Emo lyrics on exercise book papers. City lights. Watching the stars appear with a glass of red wine. Smirks, raising one eyebrow. Being careful not to leave marks in the books they read. Moonlight through a window. Sharp retorts. The smell of cologne and brand new books. Dark chocolate. Black and white photography. Mint leaves in a cup of hot tea. Keeping a diary. Winged eyeliner and silver bracelets and necklaces.

[aesthetics-for-u]

Ravenclaw/ENFJ/Aries Rising Aesthetic for anon

[spaceexp]

A reminder for today.

via reddit

[rexisky]

The Leap by Steven Quinn | Motion Effects by rexisky

[traverse-our-universe]

Hubble Deep Field. Click here to see the composite of these two.

NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team

[the-telescope-times]

NASA just saw something come out of a black hole for the first time ever

You don’t have to know a whole lot about science to know that black holes typically suck things in, not spew things out. But NASA just spotted something mighty strange at the supermassive black hole Markarian 335.

Two of NASA’s space telescopes, including the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), miraculously observed a black hole’s corona “launched” away from the supermassive black hole. Then a massive pulse of X-ray energy spewed out. So, what exactly happened? That’s what scientists are trying to figure out now.

“This is the first time we have been able to link the launching of the corona to a flare,” Dan Wilkins, of Saint Mary’s University, said. “This will help us understand how supermassive black holes power some of the brightest objects in the universe.”

NuSTAR’s principal investigator, Fiona Harrison, noted that the nature of the energetic source is “mysterious,” but added that the ability to actually record the event should provide some clues about the black hole’s size and structure, along with (hopefully) some fresh intel on how black holes function. Luckily for us, this black hole is still 324 million light-years away.

So, no matter what strange things it’s doing, it shouldn’t have any effect on our corner of the universe.

~ Blastr.com

[thisisastronomical]

                                                  Garden views

These are some of the images I’ve taken over the past couple of nights. Taken with an 8 inch sky watcher Newtonian, NEQ6 mount, and a Nikon D3200. 15-20 second exposures. 1. The seven sisters. 2. The crab nebula. 3. The cigar galaxy and Bode’s nebula. 4. Double cluster 5. Procyon 6/7. Orion nebula.

[nasa]

Our Most “Liked” Instagram Posts of 2016

Our Instagram page has over 1,800 images and is lucky enough to be followed by more than 18 million fans.

What images and videos were your favorite from this past year? Great question, and one we asked ourselves too! 

Here’s a look at our most liked Instagram posts* of 2016…Enjoy!

#10

Colorful “last hurrah’ of a star: The Hubble Space Telescope shows off the colorful “last hurrah” of a star like our sun. The star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core. With 513,672 likes, this image is our 10th most liked of 2016.

#9

Vivid glowing auroras in Jupiter’s atmosphere! Astronomers are using the Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras – stunning light shows in a planet’s atmosphere – on the poles of the largest planet in the solar system. This image ranks #9 for 2016 with 515,339 likes.

#8

Astronomers found evidence for what is likely one of the most extreme pulsars, or rotating neutron stars, ever detected. The source exhibits properties of a highly magnetized neutron star, or magnetar, yet its deduced spin period is thousands of times longer than any pulsar ever observed. With 517,995 likes, this picture ranks #8 for 2016.

#7

Fiery South Atlantic Sunset! An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed a sunset that looks like a vast sheet of flame. With Earth’s surface already in darkness, the setting sun, the cloud masses, and the sideways viewing angle make a powerful image of the kind that astronauts use to commemorate their flights. This image ranks #7 for 2016 with 520,553 likes.

#6

Go floating! Join us for a fly-through of the International Space Station! This footage was shot using a fisheye lens for extreme focus and depth of field. This video ranks as our sixth most liked Instagram post of 2016 with 541,418 likes.

#5

This #BlackFriday post helped us celebrate our 4th annual #BlackHoleFriday! Each year we pose awesome content about black holes on the Black Friday shopping holiday. A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. With 549,910 likes, this image ranks #5 for 2016.

#4

A cluster of young stars – about one to two million years old – located about 20,000 light years from Earth. Data in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope (green and blue) reveal thick clouds where the stars are forming. This image ranks #4 for 2016 with 573,002 likes.

#3

Supermoon is a spectacular sight! The Nov. 14 supermoon was especially “super” because it was the closest full moon to Earth since 1948. We won’t see another supermoon like this until 2034. Which might have something to do with this image ranking #3 for 2016 with 695,343 likes.

#2

Supermoon seen from space! Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson posted this image on Dec. 14 captured by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet. This stunning image ranks #2 for 2016 with 704,530 likes.

#1

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no, it’s a #supermoon! The moon, or supermoon, is seen rising behind the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan ahead of the November crew launch to the International Space Station. This photo was our #1 image of 2016 with 746,981 likes.

Thanks for joining us as we traveled through the space events of 2016. We’re looking forward to all of the interstellar fun that 2017 will bring. Happy Holidays!

Do you want to get amazing images of Earth from space, see distant galaxies and more on Instagram? Of course you do! Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/nasa/

*Posts and rankings are were taken as of Dec. 21, 2016.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

[space-wallpapers]

The Cat’s Paw Nebula (desktop/laptop) Click the image to download the correct size for your desktop or laptop in high resolution

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Dusty Iris Nebula

[990000]

mit.edu:

Apollo code developer Margaret Hamilton receives Presidential Medal of Freedom Nov 17, 2016

…

Hamilton, who also spent time as a computer scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory before starting her own software company, was honored for her contributions “to concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design and engineering.”

…

In fact, the Instrumentation Lab’s development of the Apollo guidance and control systems was the first major Apollo program contract, awarded August 9, 1961, just 10 weeks after President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a human on the moon before the end of the decade.

Hamilton earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Earlham College, did postgraduate work in meteorology at MIT, and then moved to Lincoln Laboratory as part of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment Air Defense System (SAGE) project. SAGE, the first air defense system for the country, cost more than the Manhattan Project and catapulted advances in early digital computing during the 1950s and 60s. After her work on SAGE and the Apollo software, Hamilton consulted on NASA’s space shuttle and Skylab programs before moving to the private sector.

[sciencefriday]

This team of early female astronomers created the star classification system we use today.

In the late 19th century, astronomy was a growing field. At the time, Edward Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory, was working to create a classification system for stars by capturing the light from these distant celestial objects onto photographic glass plates. A team of female assistants and astronomers meticulously maintained and analyzed these delicate negatives. In her new book, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, Dava Sobel shares the stories of these female “human computers” and how their work helped to advance the field of astronomy and the role of women in science.

This team of astronomers included Williamina Fleming, who was once Pickering’s maid but eventually became a supervisor to the group and went on to identify hundreds of variable stars. And Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s observations about the luminosity of stars would shape later ideas about the expanding universe.

Listen to the interview here.

[Photos courtesy of The Glass Universe]

[kidsneedscience]

Hubble and the Edge of the Universe

On December 30, 1995 the Hubble Space Telescope completed the series of 342 images that were rendered in to the Hubble Deep Field View, (pictured above top right) perhaps the most astonishing and humbling scientific achievement made by humans in the field of space science. The area for the Deep Field View was chosen as one of the ‘darkest’ spots in the sky:  imagine holding a grain of sand at arms length or a viewing a tennis ball at 100 meters, and looking in the direction of the darkest, least populated portions of the night sky.  The total area is equivalent to  one twenty four millionth of the total night sky.  There were many skeptics when the Deep Field View was first proposed-many assumed that the this portion of ‘dark sky’ would show that in fact there are portions of ‘dark sky’ from our vantage point.  Most of the three thousand or so images in the Deep Field View are in fact entire galaxies and form some of the oldest and farthest structures ever seen, with only 20 or so nearer stars.  Few images hint at the immensity or complexity of our universe as much as this image.

In addition to its day to day duties, Hubble has returned to its deep field views several times, with the Deep Field View South (pictured above top right) a couple years later, the 2004 Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and later refined as the Hubble Extreme Deep Field of 2012.  Named for American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble  (November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953), the Hubble Space Telescope continues to work in Edwin Hubble’s field of deep cosmological inquiry and extra-galactic astronomy.  Despite early problems including a dramatic in-space repair mission, the Hubble has been sending back pictures and data of every corner of the universe, making it one of the most important scientific tools every created.  

The Hubble Deep Field, the Hubble Space Telescope as seen from Atlantis Space Shuttle, and the rendering of the Hubble making the DFV, all courtesy NASA/Hubble.

[nasa-official]

relatable meme

[startswithabang]

Supernovae Glow For Decades Thanks To Radioactivity

“In 1987, the closest supernova was observed since humans last saw one with our naked eyes in 1604. A rush of neutrinos and a flash of light illuminated the heavens as a stellar core imploded, blowing off the massive star’s outer layers. While a supernova brightens, reaches a peak and fades away over a few months, SN 1987A has been visible for decades.”

When a very massive star reaches the end of its life, it runs out of burnable fuel. As a result, the core collapses, heats up and undergoes a runaway fusion reaction. While many heavy elements are formed and a tremendous amount of energy is released, the very core implodes, tearing apart the outer layers of the star in a supernova explosion. Although the final catastrophe lasts only seconds, the explosion is visible for months, with the afterglow remaining detectable for thousands of years. What was the cause of this lasting electromagnetic radiation? In the aftermath of supernova 1987A, the closest supernova of the past 100+ years, we’ve learned the answer: radioactive elements created in the explosion itself.

Come get the full story and a glorious array of pictures and videos on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!

[cosmicvastness]

Saturn’s ‘Watercolor’ Swirls

Saturn’s north polar region displays its beautiful bands and swirls, which somewhat resemble the brushwork in a watercolor painting. Each latitudinal band represents air flowing at different speeds, and clouds at different heights, compared to neighboring bands. Where they meet and flow past each other, the bands’ interactions produce many eddies and swirls. The northern polar region of Saturn is dominated by the famous hexagon shape which itself circumscribes the northern polar vortex – seen as a dark spot at the planet’s pole in the above image – which is understood to the be eye of a hurricane-like storm.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute