Cassini At Saturn, 2016

Happy Earth Day! 🌏🌍🌎

Happy Earth Day!

It’s Earth Day, and what better way to celebrate than to show you a glimpse of our various efforts to protect and understand our home planet.

We’re able to use the vantage point of space to improve our understanding of the most complex planet we’ve seen yet…EARTH! Our Earth-observing satellites, airborne research and field campaigns are designed to observe our planet’s dynamic systems – oceans, ice sheets, forests and atmosphere – and improve our ability to understand how our planet is changing.

Here are a few of our Earth campaigns that you should know about:

KORUS-AQ (Korea U.S. - Air Quality)

Our KORUS-AQ airborne science experiment taking to the field in South Korea is part of a long-term, international project to take air quality observations from space to the next level and better inform decisions on how to protect the air we breathe. Field missions like KORUS-AQ provide opportunities to test and improve the instruments using simulators that measure above and below aircraft, while helping to infer what people breathe at the surface.

This campaign will assess air quality across urban, rural and coastal South Korea using observations from aircraft, ground sites, ships and satellites to test air quality models and remote sensing methods.

NAAMES (North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study)

Our NAAMES study takes to the sea and air in order to study how the world’s largest plankton bloom gives rise to small organic particles that influence clouds and climate. This study will collect data during ship and aircraft measurement campaigns and combine the data with continuous satellite and ocean sensor readings.

IceBridge

Operation IceBridge is our survey of polar ice, and is kicking off its eighth spring Arctic campaign. This mission has gathered large volumes of data on changes in the elevation of the ice sheet and its internal structure. It’s readings of the thickness of sea ice and its snow cover have helped scientists improve forecasts for the summer melt season and have enhanced the understanding of variations in ice thickness distribution from year to year.

GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement)

GPM is an international satellite mission to provide next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours. We launched this mission with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2014. GPM contributes to advancing our understanding of Earth’s water and energy cycles, improves forecasting of extreme events and extends current capabilities of using satellite precipitation information to directly benefit society.

Find information about all of our Earth-studying missions HERE. 

Celebrate Earth Day with Us!

Want to participate in Earth Day with us? Share on social media what you’re doing to celebrate and improve our home planet. We’ll be sharing aspects of a “day in the life” of our Earth science research. Use the tag #24Seven to join the conversation. Details: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announces-earth-day-24seven-social-media-event

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

SUNSET IN MARS’ GALE CRATER  

A Denied stardom status - Jupiter

Of all the planets in our solar system, Jupiter seems to stand out as this massive giants.

When scientists started uncovering the secrets of this mysterious planet, they discovered that Jupiter was probably a ‘star in the making’ during the early years of the solar system.

Jupiter and the sun

Jupiter has a lot in common with the sun than you think.

It is made of the same elements such as Hydrogen and Helium that are found in the sun and other stars!

But it is not massive enough and does not have have the pressure and temperature to fuse the existing Hydrogen atoms to form helium, which is the power source of stars.

How do stars form ?

Stars form directly from the collapse of dense clouds of interstellar gas and dust. Because of rotation, these clouds form flattened disks that surround the central, growing stars.

After the star has nearly reached its final mass, by accreting gas from the disk, the leftover matter in the disk is free to form planets. 

How was Jupiter formed ?

Jupiter is generally believed to have formed in a two-step process:

First, a vast swarm of ice and rock ‘planetesimals’ formed. These comet-sized bodies collided and accumulated into ever-larger planetary embryos.

Once an embryo became about as massive as ten Earths, its self-gravity became strong enough to pull in gas directly from the disk. 

During this second step, the proto-Jupiter gained most of its present mass (a total of 318 times the mass of the Earth).

But sadly soon thereafter, the disk gas was removed by the intense early solar wind (from our sun) , before Jupiter could grow to a similar size.

This destroyed all hopes that Jupiter had on becoming a star

What if it had become a star ?

If Jupiter had become a star,our solar system would have become a binary star system.

A binary star system is those systems having two stars.they both revolve around themselves in their own orbits.

It is interesting to note that most of the solar systems in the universe are binary,triple or higher multiple star systems but our sun is rather unusual.

In other star systems the mass distribution of the stars is equitable, but in ours the sun decided to not let that happen

Why? We have no clue ! Scientists are still trying to fathom these mysterious details of the birth process. But the more we know, the more we learn we don’t know :D

Actually my favorite ice cream

The Best Ice Cream For Your Zodiac Sign | Sagittarius - Coffee | TheZodiacCity.com

Sag, we know that you love traveling and you’re always looking for the next adventure that comes your way. Coffee ice cream is perfect for you because you can enjoy the same classic flavor all over the world — and it’ll give you the little kick you need to keep going all day long.

Source: Cosmopolitan

These are gorgeous and I need them all! 😍😍😍

Spectacular “Space Glass” Pendants Let You Hold the Cosmos in the Palm of Your Hand

Truth

What if the Moon was colonized?