A New Direction for NASA

One Direction recently used the NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a music video of their new song "Drag Me Down."   The Wall Street Journal notes:

Each One Direction member was shot in a different part of the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility as they “trained” to go into space. Liam Payne got to check out the International Space Station replica, while Louis Tomlinson got behind the wheel of the Space Exploration Vehicle rover. Niall Horan tried out the Partial Gravity Simulator, and Harry Styles had a meet cute with the human-like Robonaut.

This is a unique and wise use of NASA's facilities to engage the young.  Earlier this year NASA created its own short music video pertaining to its Space Launch System. If you want attention you need to find ways to stimulate the next generation.  

The One Direction song lyrics could also be something that NASA needs to sing to Congress these days:

With your love, nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down
Nobody, nobody
Nobody can drag me down

Great Image: Helix Nebula

It is almost as if the universe was looking back at us in this Spitzer Space Telescope image.  The Helix nebula is about 650 light years away.  NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides more details:

A dying star is throwing a cosmic tantrum in this combined image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core. 

This object, called the Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.

And should you want more images from Spitzer to view throughout the year, check out this digital calendar.  NASA is celebrating the 12th anniversary of the space telescope. 

Get Ready for The Martian

What happens when you are left behind on Mars for four years?  And no, this is not a Mars One scenario.  Instead, it is the new film The Martian with Matt Damon.  Take a look at the trailer to see what's in store for you. 

The film will be released October 2nd.  Unlike last year's film Interstellar, also starring Matt Damon, this film is a little closer to home and reality.  Mars enthusiasts, prepare yourselves!

Help Name the Exoplanets

If you are looking to name something outside the solar system, a few exoplanets await you. The International Astronomical Union has a list of 20 exoplanets in need of a name.  All you need to do is visit this site to vote. 

For instance, four planets orbit mu Arae above and the voting allows you to vote in clusters, naming both the sun and orbiting planets.  One of the naming clusters is shown below and has a Portuguese theme.   

Voting is open until October 31 and the winners will be announced in November (the timeline and rules are here).  Here is your chance to impact a whole new world. 

Pluto: Let the Mapping Begin

The naming of Pluto's features has already begun, as you can see above.  Visit Our Pluto for the map above as well as the ongoing efforts to bring definition to the dwarf planet's surface.  It appears these names have been submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for consideration, so nothing is official yet. 

Last month the site noted:

Today we are pleased to announce our initial slate of names to be proposed to the IAU. We received so many great suggestions that winnowing down the list was a real challenge. Nevertheless, we limited our proposal to about ten names in each theme so as not to overwork the IAU nomenclature working group too heavily. There will be many more features to name, so rest assured that the names that didn't make the initial list will be used eventually. If your favorite name is not on these lists, please be patient!

Take a look at this IAU press release from 2013 regarding the naming of Pluto's new moons for more on the naming process:

After the discovery, the leader of the research team, Mark Showalter (SETI Institute), decided to call for a public vote to suggest names for the two objects. To be consistent with the names of the other Pluto satellites, the names had to be picked from classical mythology, in particular with reference to the underworld — the realm where the souls of the deceased go in the afterlife. The contest concluded with the proposed names Vulcan, Cerberus and Styx ranking first, second and third respectively. Showalter submitted Vulcan and Cerberus to the IAU where the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) and the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN) discussed the names for approval.

The Backside of the Moon

We now have another perspective of our home planet, and this time it includes the backside of the moon, which we never get to view here on Earth.  Our planet is certainly a bright, shiny object compared to its moon.  The new view comes from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) placed between the Earth and sun to provide warning about incoming solar storms, thereby giving government agencies and the private sector time to prepare. 

DSCOVR was launched last February on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.  Now located 1 million miles from Earth at a point where the Earth and Sun's gravity cancel one another out (called L1), it operates as a partnership between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, and the U.S. Air Force. 

Go here for more information on the DSCOVR mission and you can also learn more about the mission via this video.

Image Credits:  NOAA

Great Image: Group of Galaxies

The image above provides a nice assortment of galaxies from spiral to elliptical.  They almost seem to be lined up and showing off in this image.  It is fascinating to see.  Here is NASA's story: 

Sometimes galaxies form groups. For example, our own Milky Way Galaxy is part of the Local Group of Galaxies. Small, compact groups, like Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87) shown above, are interesting partly because they slowly self-destruct. Indeed, the galaxies of HCG 87 are gravitationally stretching each other during their 100-million year orbits around a common center. The pulling creates colliding gas that causes bright bursts of star formation and feeds matter into their active galaxy centers. HCG 87 is composed of a large edge-on spiral galaxy visible near the image center, an elliptical galaxy visible to its right, and a spiral galaxy visible near the top. The small spiral near the center might be far in the distance. Several stars from our Galaxy are also visible in the foreground. Studying groups like HCG 87 allows insight into how all galaxies form and evolve.

The image below is another group of galaxies, this time VV166.  You can learn more about the image here.

 Top Image Credit: GMOS-S Commissioning Team, Gemini Observatory
 Bottom Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA

$100 Million More for SETI

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) advanced the other week when Yuri Milner (named after Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space) pledged $100 million to assist with this ongoing work.  He made his money in international investing and now he wants to help science in an area of thin funding.  The project is part of his ongoing Breakthrough Initiatives project.

Mr. Milner has pledged the funds over a 10-year period in a project called Breakthrough Listen.  The funds will go to covering 10 times more area in the sky than current SETI programs using three primary telescopes – the 100 Meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the USA (“Green Bank Telescope”), and the 64-metre diameter Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia (“Parkes Telescope”).

The increased flow of data will be fed into the existing SETI@home program and its millions of linked volunteer computers from around the world to more rapidly analyze the information for signs of intelligent communication.

A separate project, Breakthrough Message, pledges  $1 million to those who can craft digital message representing all of us here on Earth to be sent out into the universe.

It is interesting to see Dr. Stephen Hawking at the kickoff given his fears about alien intelligence. He is probably fine with listening, but any message would probably be "please stay away." It is also great to see Frank Drake and Ann Druyan helping to lead this program.

One telescope that was considered for use is the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.  However, it was not to be. You can read the long drawn-out story in ScientificAmerican.  The last paragraph in the article says it all - we have a choice to learn and grow or bury our knowledge in a hole in the ground.

Spaceship Two: Now We Know

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found the crash related to Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two was the result of pilot error.  The NTSB press release on the investigation stated:

the co-pilot’s premature unlocking of the spaceship’s feather system as a result of time pressure and vibration and loads that he had not recently experienced.

Virgin Galactic later tweeted:

We thank the @NTSB for their professionalism, expertise, and insight, and we welcome the results of their investigation.

 and then: 

With impartial experts from @NTSB having found the #SpaceShipTwo design fundamentally sound, we move forward with confidence.

The question now is whether the next spacecraft can avoid these human issues. And new questions have come up regarding the location of the crash near population centers, including a high school, indicating greater Federal oversight of future flights may be required.  

This "Earth" is a Little Closer

Why go 1,400 light years to exoplanet Kepler-452b when HD 219134b is only 21 light years away? In fact you can see it with the naked eye - well the star it orbits, that is. The exoplanet was detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope. 

Here is the tale from NASA:

This artist's rendition shows one possible appearance for the planet HD 219134b, the nearest confirmed rocky exoplanet found to date outside our solar system. The planet is 1.6 times the size of Earth, and whips around its star in just three days. Scientists predict that the scorching-hot planet -- known to be rocky through measurements of its mass and size -- would have a rocky, partially molten surface with geological activity, including possibly volcanoes.

Okay, so it is not that promising as a candidate for extraterrestrial life, but it is nearby.  In fact, it is the closest exoplanet spotted to date.

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech