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Hubble Studies Gamma-Ray Burst with the Highest Energy Ever Seen
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By NASA
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away.ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known.
The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies.
Dust plays several important roles in the universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in disks around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space.
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter
The spiral galaxy UGC 5460 shines in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. UGC 5460 sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Jacobson-Galán, A. Filippenko, J. Mauerhan
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The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper left-hand corner is a far closer object: a star just 577 light-years away in our own galaxy.
UGC 5460 has hosted two recent supernovae: SN 2011ht and SN 2015as. It’s because of these two stellar explosions that Hubble targeted this galaxy, collecting data for three observing programs that aim to study various kinds of supernovae.
SN 2015as was as a core-collapse supernova: a cataclysmic explosion that happens when the core of a star far more massive than the Sun runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity, initiating a rebound of material outside the core. Hubble observations of SN 2015as will help researchers understand what happens when the expanding shockwave of a supernova collides with the gas that surrounds the exploded star.
SN 2011ht might have been a core-collapse supernova as well, but it could also be an impostor called a luminous blue variable. Luminous blue variables are rare stars that experience eruptions so large that they can mimic supernovae. Crucially, luminous blue variables emerge from these eruptions unscathed, while stars that go supernova do not. Hubble will search for a stellar survivor at SN 2011ht’s location with the goal of revealing the explosion’s origin.
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The Death Throes of Stars
Homing in on Cosmic Explosions
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies Stars Supernovae Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
Hubble’s Galaxies
Reshaping Our Cosmic View: Hubble Science Highlights
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures a Cosmic Cloudscape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
Download this image
The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the most massive stars known.
The nebula’s colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include of bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen. The data in this image was part of an observing program that aims to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies.
Dust plays several important roles in the universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in disks around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space.
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Caldwell 103 / Tarantula Nebula / 30 Doradus
Hubble Studies the Tarantula Nebula’s Outskirts
Hubble’s New View of the Tarantula Nebula
Hubble’s Bubbles in the Tarantula Nebula
Hubble Probes Interior of Tarantula Nebula
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Hubble Space Telescope Absorption or Dark Nebulae Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Emission Nebulae Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Star-forming Nebulae The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Exploring the Birth of Stars
Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge
Hubble Focus: The Lives of Stars
This e-book highlights the mission’s recent discoveries and observations related to the birth, evolution, and death of stars.
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By NASA
“I’m hopeful anyone, regardless of their scientific background, could read a Hubble post and understand the gist of it and be interested in it,” said Elizabeth Tammi, social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope. “I also read our stories with the eye of the potential audience member: What are they going to care about? What is going to bring them into this story? What is going to make them want to read more?”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi Name: Elizabeth Tammi
Title: Hubble Space Telescope Social Media Lead
Formal Job Classification: Communications Specialist
Organization: Hubble Space Telescope Operations (Code 441)
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I am the social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope mission at Goddard. In short, Hubble is an orbiting observatory that’s been in low-Earth orbit for more than 30 years. It’s one of NASA’s flagship missions, probably one of its most iconic missions. Hubble has shaped our understanding of how we imagine the universe — visually how we think about it.
I run Hubble’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr, along with various other multimedia and communications tasks. We’re a very close-knit team, so we collaborate a lot, both within our team, and with other missions across the agency as well.
I’m primarily focused on social media and figuring out how are we going to share our news. On any given day, I might also be working on a script, editing news releases, or working with other accounts on social media campaigns. It’s different every day, which I really like.
What is your educational background?
I went to Mercer University, which is in Macon, Georgia. I graduated in 2020 with a degree in journalism and creative writing. There, they have a great program called the Center for Collaborative Journalism, which allowed us to work in newsrooms for academic credit. That was really useful, especially in this field, getting that hands-on experience and getting published from my freshman year on. I was eventually able to intern at Goddard the summer before my senior year. I really don’t think that would have been possible if I hadn’t had the audio production experience that Mercer allowed me to get, along with just all aspects of journalism, media, and communications.
“Hubble is one of NASA’s flagship missions, probably one of its most iconic missions,” said Elizabeth Tammi, social media lead for the Hubble Space Telescope. “Hubble has shaped our understanding of how we imagine the universe — visually how we think about it.”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi How does your writing experience contribute to your role with Hubble?
I know how to write accessibly and in a straightforward manner. I’m hopeful anyone, regardless of their scientific background, could read a post and understand the gist of it and be interested in it. That’s the goal. I try to come up with interesting turns of phrase when I can. I also read our stories with the eye of the potential audience member: What are they going to care about? What is going to bring them into this story? What is going to make them want to read more?
Outside work, you’ve written and published books. What inspired you to decide to write?
There’s not a day I can remember where I wasn’t absolutely infatuated with books. I think my parents read to me long before I could even understand them. It was just always such a huge part of my life — and I loved, loved, loved reading. When I realized that actual people wrote books, then I knew I wanted to write. To be clear, I didn’t take real steps toward that until I was about 15, 16-ish years old, because I guess in my mind, I still had this idea that authors were more than human.
I’ve since had two novels published. Both are in the fantasy genre and earned complimentary reviews; my second novel even earned a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award.
“I know it can be intimidating, to think about NASA as a place to intern,” said Hubble Space Telescope social media lead Elizabeth Tammi. “If you have any interest in space, I think that’s the most important part: People who are passionate and interested in our space program.”Credits: Courtesy of Elizabeth Tammi What do you most enjoy about sharing the Hubble story?
I think my favorite part is reading the comments that we get from the public, just because everyone has been so supportive of the telescope. Social media can put on display the best and worst aspects of humanity. It’s very nice to see this supportive corner of the Internet.
So far, what I’ve really enjoyed was our “Deep Field Week” social media campaign, which was around the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Deep Field image . To the unaided eye, this was a seemingly empty patch of sky. Hubble revealed it has countless galaxies. It was a really staggering finding and definitely was a huge cultural shift in how we think about our universe.
Previously, you were a NASA intern from the Summer of 2019 to May 2020. How has that experience shaped your current role?
It was absolutely vital. I don’t think I would be here in this position without that internship experience. It was the summer before my senior year of college. I got to go up to Goddard for summer 2019 and I was working primarily as an audio production intern, though the internship afforded me the opportunity to contribute to the newsroom’s work overall.
I worked with Katie Atkinson, who I also went to college with, and we got to work on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. One of my primary tasks that summer was working on an oral history campaign tied to Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary . We encouraged people from all over to send in audio accounts of what they remember experiencing when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969. Or, if they didn’t remember seeing it as it happened, how did the landing affect them and their view of the world, or their career aspirations, or if they have family stories tied to Apollo.
If I could describe my NASA experience with a book title, it would be the term “Galaxy Brain.” It’s when you have a normal thought but then you think harder, and it gets bigger. From the idea of constantly feeling mind-blown by the work that’s going on around me to being part of it makes me feel, “Oh my gosh!” This “Galaxy Brain” imagery symbolizes the enormous magnitude of everything that is interesting and mysterious. It’s just something that’s constantly engaging.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
By Elissa Fielding
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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By NASA
“I do evolutionary programming,” said NASA Goddard oceanographer Dr. John Moisan. “I see a lot of possibility in using evolutionary programming to solve many large problems we are trying to solve. How did life start and evolve? Can these processes be used to evolve intelligence or sentience?”Courtesy of John Moisan Name: John Moisan
Formal Job Classification: Research oceanographer
Organization: Ocean Ecology Laboratory, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics (HBG), Earth Science Directorate (Code 616) – duty station at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I develop ecosystem models and satellite algorithms to understand how the ocean’s ecology works. My work has evolved over time from when I coded ocean ecosystem models to the present where I now use artificial intelligence to evolve the ocean ecosystem models.
How did you become an oceanographer?
As a child, I watched a TV series called “Sea Hunt,” which involved looking for treasure in the ocean. It inspired me to want to spend my life scuba diving.
I got a Bachelor of Science in marine biology from the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, and later got a Ph.D. from the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Initially, I just wanted to do marine biology which to me meant doing lots of scuba diving, maybe living on a sailboat. Later, when I was starting my graduate schoolwork, I found a book about mathematical biology and a great professor who helped open my eyes to the world of numerical modeling. I found out that instead of scuba diving, I needed instead to spend my days behind a computer, learning how to craft ideas into equations and then code these into a computer to run simulations on ocean ecosystems.
I put myself through my initial education. I went to school fulltime, but I lived at home and hitchhiked to college on a daily basis. When I started my graduate school, I worked to support myself. I was in school during the normal work week, but from Friday evening through Sunday night, I worked 40 hours at a medical center cleaning and sterilizing the operating room instrument carts. This was during the height of the AIDS epidemic.
What was most exciting about your two field trips to the Antarctic?
In 1987, I joined a six-week research expedition to an Antarctic research station to explore how the ozone hole was impacting phytoplankton. These are single-celled algae that are responsible for making half the oxygen we breathe. Traveling to Antarctica is like visiting another planet. There are more types of blue than I’ve ever seen. It is an amazingly beautiful place to visit, with wild landscapes, glaciers, mountains, sea ice, and a wide range of wildlife. After my first trip I returned home and went back in a few months later as a biologist on a joint Polish–U.S. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) expedition to carry out a biological survey and measure how much fast the phytoplankton was growing in different areas of the Southern Ocean. We used nets to measure the amounts of fish and shrimp and took water samples to measure salinity, the amount of algae and their growth rates. We ate well, for example the Polish cook made up a large batch of smoked ice fish.
What other field work have you done?
While a graduate student, I helped do some benthic work in the Gulf of Maine. This study was focused on understanding the rates of respiration in the muds on the bottom of the ocean and on understanding how much biomass was in the muds. The project lowered a benthic grab device to the bottom where it would push a box core device into the sediments to return it to the surface. This process is sort of like doing a biopsy of the ocean bottom.
What is your goal as a research oceanographer at Goddard?
Ocean scientists measure the amount and variability of chlorophyll a, a pigment in algae, in the ocean because it is an analogue to the amount of algae or phytoplankton in the ocean. Chlorophyll a is used to capture solar energy to make sugars, which the algae use for growth. Generally, areas of the ocean that have more chlorophyll are also areas where growth or primary production is higher. So, by estimating how much chlorophyll is in the ocean we can study how these processes are changing with an aim in understanding why. NASA uses the color of the ocean using satellites to estimate chlorophyll a because chlorophyll absorbs sunlight and changes the color of the ocean. Algae have other kinds of pigments, each of which absorbs light at different wavelengths. Because different groups of algae have different levels of pigments, they are like fingerprints that can reveal the type of algae in the water. Some of my research aims at trying to use artificial intelligence and mathematical techniques to create new ways to measure these pigments from space to understand how ocean ecosystems change.
In 2024, NASA plans to launch the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, which will measure the color of the ocean at many different wavelengths. The data from this satellite can be used with results from my work on genetic programs and inverse modeling to estimate concentrations of different pigments and possibly concentrations of different types of algae in the ocean.
You have been at Goddard over 22 years. What is most memorable to you?
I develop ecosystem models. But ecosystems do not have laws in the same way that physics has laws. Equations need to be created so that the ecosystem models represent what is observed in the real world. Satellites have been a great source for those observations, but without a lot of other types of observations that are collected in the field, the ocean, it is difficult to develop these equations. In my time at NASA, I have only been able to develop models because of the great but often tedious work that ocean scientists around the world have been doing when they go on ocean expeditions to measure various ocean features, be it simple temperature or the more complicated measurements of algal growth rates. My experience with their willingness to collaborate and share data is especially memorable. This experience is also what I enjoyed with numerous scientists at NASA who have always been willing to support new ideas and point me in the right direction. It has made working at NASA a phenomenal experience.
What are the philosophical implications of your work?
The human capacity to think rapidly, to test and change our opinions based on what we learn, is slow compared to that of a computer. Computers can help us adapt more quickly. I can put 1,000 students in a room developing ecosystem model models. But I know that this process of developing ecosystem models is slow when compared what a computer can do using an artificial intelligence approach called genetic programming, it is a much faster way to generate ecosystem model solutions.
Philosophically, there is no real ecosystem model that is the best. Life and ecosystems on Earth change and adapt at rates too fast for any present-day model to resolve, especially considering climate change. The only real ecosystem model is the reality itself. No computer model can perfectly simulate ecosystems. By utilizing the fast adaptability that evolutionary computer modeling techniques provide, simulating and ultimately predicting ecosystems can be improved greatly.
How does your work have implications for scientists in general?
I do evolutionary programming. I see a lot of possibility in using evolutionary programming to solve many large problems we are trying to solve. How did life start and evolve? Can these processes be used to evolve intelligence or sentience?
The artificial intelligence (AI) work answers questions, but you need to identify the questions. This is the greater problem when it comes to working with AI. You cannot answer the question of how to create a sentient life if you do not know how to define it. If I cannot measure life, how can I model it? I do not know how to write that equation. How does life evolve? How did the evolutionary process start? These are big questions I enjoy discussing with friends. It can be as frustrating as contemplating “nothing.”
Who inspires you?
Many of the scientists that I was fortunate to work with at various research institutes, such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. These are groups of scientists are open to always willing to share their ideas. These are individuals who enjoy doing science. I will always be indebted to them for their kindness in sharing of ideas and data.
Do you still scuba dive?
Yes, I wish I could dive daily, it is a very calming experience. I’m trying to get my kids to join me.
What else do you do for fun?
My wife and I bike and travel. Our next big bike trip will hopefully be to Shangri-La City in China. I also enjoy sailing and trying to grow tropical plants. But, most of all, I enjoy helping raise my children to be resilient, empathic, and intelligent beings.
What are your words to live by?
Life. So much to see. So little time.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJessica EvansContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.gov Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Artificial Intelligence (AI) People of Goddard Wallops Flight Facility Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
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