Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

por admin | 23 abril, 2025 - 12:03 pm |23 abril, 2025 Astronomy

Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

5 Min Read

Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

Composite shows portions of four Hubble images from left to right. First, the left half of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. Second, a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula shows very dark gray material against a translucent blue background. Third, a portion of planetary nebula NGC 2899 looks like the number three in shades of red and orange. Fourth, the center of barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 has a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by the beginnings of blue star-filled spiral arms.

A selection of photogenic space targets to celebrate the 35th anniversary of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Left to Right: Mars, a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, part of planetary nebula NGC 2899, barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335.

Credits:
NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy.

After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history. The Hubble mission is a glowing success story of America’s technological prowess, unyielding scientific curiosity, and a reiteration of our nation’s pioneering spirit.

“Hubble opened a new window to the universe when it launched 35 years ago. Its stunning imagery inspired people across the globe, and the data behind those images revealed surprises about everything from early galaxies to planets in our own solar system,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The fact that it is still operating today is a testament to the value of our flagship observatories, and provides critical lessons for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which we plan to be serviceable in the spirit of Hubble.”

Perched above Earth’s blurry atmosphere, Hubble’s crystal-clear views have been nothing less than transformative for the public’s perception of the cosmos. Through its evocative imagery, Hubble has made astronomy very relevant, engaging, and accessible for people of all ages. Hubble snapshots can portray the universe as awesome, mysterious, and beautiful — and at the same time chaotic, overwhelming, and foreboding.

Composite shows four Hubble images in quarters. At top left is a crisp view of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. At top right is planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its central torus appearing semi-transparent and blue and green, and its top and bottom edges in orange. At bottom left is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle takes up the center. At bottom right is barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 with a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by multiple blue star-filled spiral arms that wrap up counterclockwise.

A selection of photogenic space targets to celebrate the 35th anniversary of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Upper left: Mars. Upper right: planetary nebula NGC 2899. Lower left: a small portion of the Rosette Nebula. Lower right: barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335.

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

The 24,000-pound observatory was tucked away inside the space shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay and lofted into low Earth orbit on April 24, 1990. As the shuttle Discovery thundered skyward, the NASA commentator described Hubble as a “new window on the universe.” The telescope turned out to be exactly as promised, and more.

More scientific papers than ever are based on Hubble data, thanks to the dedication, perseverance, and skills of engineers, scientists, and mission operators. Astronauts chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions in which they upgraded Hubble’s cameras, computers, and other support systems. The servicing missions took place from 1993 to 2009.

The telescope’s mission got off to a shaky start in 1990 when an unexpected flaw was found in the observatory’s nearly eight-foot diameter primary mirror. Astronauts gallantly came to the rescue on the first shuttle servicing mission in December 1993 to improve Hubble’s sharpness with corrective optics.

To date, Hubble has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets. Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025. All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes, representing the biggest dataset for a NASA astrophysics mission besides the James Webb Space Telescope.

Hubble’s long operational life has allowed astronomers to return to the same cosmic scenes multiple times to observe changes that happened during more than three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets travelling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.

Hubble’s Senior Project Scientist, Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, takes you on a tour of all four Hubble 35th anniversary images.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Lead Producer: Paul Morris; Narrator: Dr. Jennifer Wiseman

Before 1990, powerful optical telescopes on Earth could see only halfway across the cosmos. Estimates for the age of the universe disagreed by a big margin. Supermassive black holes were only suspected to be the powerhouses behind a rare zoo of energetic phenomena. Not a single planet had been seen around another star.

Among its long list of breakthroughs: Hubble’s deep field images unveiled myriad galaxies dating back to the early universe. The telescope also allowed scientists to precisely measure the universe’s expansion, find that supermassive black holes are common among galaxies, and make the first measurement of the atmospheres of exoplanets. Hubble also contributed to the discovery of dark energy, the mysterious phenomenon accelerating the expansion of universe, leading to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The relentless pace of Hubble’s trailblazing discoveries kick-started a new generation of space telescopes for the 21st century. Hubble provided the first observational evidence that there were myriad distant galaxies for Webb to pursue in infrared wavelengths that reach even farther beyond Hubble’s gaze. Now, Hubble and Webb are often being used in complement to study everything from exoplanets to galaxy evolution.

Hubble’s planned successor, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will have a significantly larger mirror than Hubble’s to study the universe in visible and ultraviolet light. It will be significantly sharper than Hubble and up to 100 times more sensitive to starlight. The Habitable Worlds Observatory will advance science across all of astrophysics, as Hubble has done for over three decades. A major goal of the future mission is to identify terrestrial planets around neighboring stars that might be habitable.

The Hubble Space Telescope continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

Related Images & Videos

Mosaic of Hubble 35th Anniversary Targets

Two views of planet Mars on a black background of space observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mars Near Opposition 2024

This is a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. Mars was approximately 61 million miles from Earth. Thin water-ice clouds that are apparent in ultraviolet light give the Red Planet a frosty appearance.

NGC 2899 set against the black background of space. The planetary nebula is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up, but its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent in the middle.

Planetary Nebula NGC 2899

This Hubble Space Telescope image captures the beauty of the moth-like planetary nebula NGC 2899. This object has a diagonal, bipolar, cylindrical outflow of gas propelled by radiation and stellar winds. The colors are from glowing hydrogen and oxygen.

A tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle or shark fin extends from just below top left all the way down to the lower right corner and back up toward the top right.

Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula

This is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, a huge star-forming region spanning 100 light-years across and located 5,200 light-years away. Dark clouds of hydrogen gas laced with dust are silhouetted across the image.

A square, ground-based observation of the entire Rosette Nebula. A tiny box at center-left connects to a zoomed-in image of this region at bottom left from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Rosette Nebula Context Image

The Rosette Nebula is a vast star-forming region, 100 light-years across, that lies at one end of a giant molecular cloud. The background image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, while the inset is a small portion of the nebula as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

NGC 5335

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured in exquisite detail a face-on view of a remarkable-looking galaxy. NGC 5335 is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disk.

Two views of Mars. Top left text: Mars & Phobos, Hubble Space Telescope; WFC3/UVIS filters in colors: F275W, purple; F410M, blue; F502N, green; F673N, red. Top image: December 28, 2024 20:00 UT. Most of planet is shades of orange. Brightest orange area on the left half. At top and bottom, white polar caps. Limb is blue. Text top center: northern polar cap, clouds. On planet, top to bottom, left to right: Arcadia Planitia, Tempe Terra, Acidalia Planitia; Olympus Monds; Tharsis Montes, Chryse Planitia; Valles Marineris, Terra Meridiana; Solus Planum; Argyre Planitia, Noachis Terra. To the right, dot: Phobos. Lower image: December 29, 2024 13:18 UT. Compass arrows at right, north pointing up, = east left. Planet has similar features; brightest orange area is two centered two blobs. Text above Mars: northern polar cap, clouds. On-planet: Utopia Planitia; Arabia Terra, Syrtis Major; Terra Meridiani, Schiaparelli Crater, clouds; Noachis Terra, Huygens Crater, Syrtis Minor; Hellas Planitia. At left, dot: Phobos.

Mars Near Opposition Compass Image

These two images of Mars and its moon Phobos were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on consecutive days in December 2024. Compass arrows and a color key are provided for reference.

Image titled u201cNGC 2899, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F438W and F205N in blue, F555W and F656N in green, and F814W and F658N in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. At center is the planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up. Its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent and blue and green in the middle. The top and bottom edges are thick and orange. The black background is speckled with pinpoints of light. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about one fifth of the total width. It is labeled 0.5 light-years and 30 arcsec. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 8 ou2019clock. The north arrow points just past 12 ou2019clock.

Planetary Nebula NGC 2899 Compass Image

This image of planetary nebula NGC 2899 was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

Image titled u201cDark Clouds in the Rosette Nebula, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F438W and F502N in blue, F555W and F656N in green, and F814W and F658N in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. At center is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangular shark fin takes up the center. It looks like thick smoke that has billowed out irregularly, thicker along the line from top left to bottom right, and looser on the piece that goes toward the top right. There are a few bright red and purple stars scattered along the right half. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about one fifth of the total width. It is labeled 0.75 light-years and 30 arcsec. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 4 ou2019clock. The north arrow points just past 7 ou2019clock.

Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula Compass Image

This image of dark clouds in the Rosette Nebula was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

Image titled u201cNGC 5335, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F475W in blue, F625W in green, and F814W in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. Barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 takes up the majority of the view. At its center is a milky yellow, flattened oval surrounded by what looks like a bar extending from top left to bottom right. Around this is a thick swath of blue stars speckled with white regions. Multiple arms wrap up and around in a counterclockwise direction. Distant galaxies in an array of colors are speckled throughout the black background. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about a quarter of the total width. It is labeled 48,000 light-years and 45 arcseconds. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 10 ou2019clock. The north arrow points toward 2 ou2019clock.

NGC 5335 Compass Image

This image of barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

A view of planet Mars on a black background of space observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mars Rotation

This animation was assembled from a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. At the midpoint of the Hubble observations, Mars was approximately 61 million miles from Earth. The photos were then mapped onto a sphere, which is the…

Planetary Nebula NGC 2899

This video zooms across 6,500 light-years through a star-studding field to visit the planetary nebula NGC 2899, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula has a diagonal bipolar structure formed by a cylindrical-shaped outflow of hot gasses and radiation from the c…

Rosette Nebula

This video offers a close-up look at a small portion of the magnificent Rosette Nebula, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Though Hubble cannot take three-dimensional pictures, this video is a visualization treatment of the photo to give a sense of depth with foregrou…

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Last Updated

Apr 23, 2025

Editor

Andrea Gianopoulos

Location

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Contact

Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

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Additional Links

Hubble’s 35th Anniversary page

NASA Ciencia: Con la mirada en el infinito: La NASA celebra 35 años de la puesta en órbita del telescopio Hubble

ESA Hubble’s Story

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Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

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NASA Stennis Continues Prep for Future Artemis Testing

por admin | 23 abril, 2025 - 12:01 pm |23 abril, 2025 Astronomy

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NASA Stennis Continues Prep for Future Artemis Testing

2 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Syncom Space Services employees Kenneth Shipman, left, and Jesse Yarbrough perform final tubing install on the Thad Cochran Test Stand — Syncom Space Services employees Kenneth Shipman, left, and Jesse Yarbrough perform final tubing install in early March to prepare the interstage simulator gas system on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center for leak checks. Leak checks were performed prior to activation of the gas system this month. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

Syncom Space Services employees Branson Cuevas, left, Kenneth Shipman, and Jesse Yarbrough install final tubing before activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand — Syncom Space Services employees Branson Cuevas, left, Kenneth Shipman, and Jesse Yarbrough install final tubing in early March before activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

Crews at NASA’s Stennis Space Center recently completed activation of interstage gas systems needed for testing a new SLS (Space Launch System) rocket stage to fly on future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand. For Green Run, teams will activate and test all systems to ensure the stage is ready to fly. Green Run will culminate with a hot fire of the stage’s four RL10 engines, just as during an actual mission.

The interstage simulator component will function like the SLS interstage section that protects the upper stage during Artemis launches. The interstage simulator will do the same during Green Run testing of the stage at NASA Stennis.

The interstage simulator gas system will provide helium, nitrogen, and hydrogen to the four RL10 engines for all wet dress and hot fire exercises and tests.

During the activation process, NASA Stennis crews simulated the engines and flowed gases to mirror various conditions and collect data on pressures and temperatures. NASA Stennis teams conducted 80 different flow cases, calculating such items as flow rates, system pressure drop, and fill/vent times. The calculated parameters then were compared to models and analytics to certify the gas system meets performance requirements.

NASA engineers Chad Tournillon, left, and Robert Smith verify the functionality of a control system — NASA engineers Chad Tournillon, left, and Robert Smith verify the functionality of the control system in early March for activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

several members of the engineering and operations team are shown seated and reviewing data — Members of the engineering and operations team review data as it is collected in early March during activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Pictured are NASA’s Mark Robinson, Robert Simmers, Jack Conley, and Nick Nugent. Activation of the gas systems marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

two NASA engineers seated at workstation monitoring data during the activation of the interstage simulator gas systems — NASA engineers Pablo Gomez, left, and B.T. Wigley collect data in early March during activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the NASA Stennis stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

Syncom Space Services employees stand together reviewing paperwork — Syncom Space Services employees Brandon Fleming, Robert Sheaffer, and Logan Upton review paperwork in early March prior to activation of the interstage simulator gas systems on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

Syncom Space Services engineering tech Brandon Fleming tightens a pressure transducer on the Thad Cochran Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in early March. Various transducers were used to provide data during subsequent activation of the interstage simulator gas systems at the stand. The activation marks a milestone in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand.

NASA/Danny Nowlin

Crews now will work to activate the umbilical gases and liquid oxygen systems. The NASA Stennis team will then conduct water system activation, where it will flow the flame deflector, aspirator, diffuser cooling circuits, purge rings and water-cooled fairing.

Afterward, the team will deploy the FireX system to check for total coverage, expected to be completed in the summer.

Before the exploration upper stage, built by Boeing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, arrives at NASA Stennis, crews will perform a final 24-hour check, or stress test, across all test complex facilities to demonstrate readiness for the test series.

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LaToya Dean

Nine Finalists Advance in NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge

por admin | 23 abril, 2025 - 12:01 pm |23 abril, 2025 Astronomy

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Nine Finalists Advance in NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge

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Nine Finalists Advance in NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge

The logo for the 2024-2025 Radioisotope Power Systems Power to Explore student essay contest.

Credits: NASA/David Lam

NASA has named nine finalists out of the 45 semifinalist student essays in the Power to Explore Challenge, a national writing competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous science missions, and to dream up how their personal “superpowers” would energize their success on their own radioisotope-powered science mission.

I am always so impressed by quality of the essays and the creativity of the ideas that the students submit to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge.

Carl Sandifer II

Program Manager, NASA Radioisotope Power Systems Program

The competition asked students to learn about NASA’s radioisotope power systems (RPS), likened to a “nuclear battery” that the agency uses to explore some of the most extreme destinations in our solar system and beyond. Long before the early days of Apollo, our Moon has inspired explorers of all ages to push beyond known limits to realize impossible dreams. These systems have enabled NASA to discover “moonquakes” on Earth’s Moon and study some of the most extreme moons of the solar system, which have active volcanoes, methane lakes, and ice glaciers. As of March 25, NASA has discovered over 891 moons, each with secrets ready to be unlocked.

Students were challenged to pick any moon in our solar system’s exploration could be enabled by this space power systems. In 275 words or less, they dreamed up a unique exploration mission of this moon and described their own power to achieve their mission goals.

The Power to Explore Challenge offered students the opportunity to learn more about these reliable power systems, celebrate their own strengths, and interact with NASA’s diverse workforce. This year’s contest received 2,051 submitted entries from all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity overseas.

“I am always so impressed by quality of the essays and the creativity of the ideas that the students submit to NASA’s Power to Explore Challenge.” said Carl Sandifer, program manager of the Radioisotope Power Systems Program at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “I’m looking forward to welcoming the winners to NASA’s Glenn this summer.”

Entries were split into three categories: grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Every student who submitted an entry received a digital certificate and an invitation to the Power Up virtual event held on March 21 that announced the semifinalists. Students learned about what powers the NASA workforce to dream big and work together to explore.

Three national finalists in each grade category (nine finalists total) have been selected. In addition to receiving a NASA RPS prize pack, these participants will be invited to an exclusive virtual meeting with a NASA engineer or scientist to talk about their missions and have their space exploration questions answered. Winners will be announced on May 7.

Grades K-4

Mini M, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Zachary Tolchin, Guilford, Connecticut

Terry Xu, Arcadia, California

Grades 5-8

Lilah Coyan, Spokane, Washington

Maggie Hou, Snohomish, Washington

Sarabhesh Saravanakumar, Bothell, Washington

Grades 9-12

Faiz Karim, Jericho, New York

Kairat Otorov, Trumbull, Connecticut
Saanvi Shah, Bothell, Washington

About the Challenge

The challenge is funded by the Radioisotope Power Systems Program Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and administered by Future Engineers under a Small Business Innovation Research phase III contract. This task is managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, a part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Kristin Jansen
NASA’s Glenn Research Center

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NASA Wins Six Webby Awards, Six Webby People’s Voice Awards

por admin | 22 abril, 2025 - 6:10 pm |22 abril, 2025 Astronomy

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NASA Wins Six Webby Awards, Six Webby People’s Voice Awards

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

NASA was recognized today by the 29th Annual Webby Awards with six Webby Awards and six Webby People’s Voice Awards, the latter of which are awarded by the voting public. The Webbys honors excellence in eight major media types: websites and mobile sites; video and film; advertising, media and public relations; apps and software; social; podcasts; artificial intelligence, immersive and games; and creators.

NASA has always been at the forefront of innovation, and that extends to our digital presence. These Webby Awards recognize the dedication and creativity of our teams in bringing the excitement of space exploration to a global audience. We’re proud to be leaders in this digital frontier.

Michelle R. Jones

Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications

Since 1998, NASA has been nominated for more than 100 Webby Awards, winning 49 Webbys and 67 People’s Voice Awards.

Full List of NASA’s 29th Annual Webby Award Wins

NASA.gov
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Websites and Mobile Sites | Government and Associations
This is the sixth Webby Award and the 13th People’s Voice Award for the agency’s website

NASA Instagram
Webby Winner
Social | Education and Science

NASA+
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Websites and Mobile Sites | Television, Film and Streaming

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Video and Film | Events and Live

NASA’s 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Campaign
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Social | Events and Live streams

NASA’s Webb Telescope: Unfolding a Universe of Wonders
Webby Winner, People’s Voice Winner
Social | Education and Science (Campaigns)

NASA Streams Historic Cat Video From Deep Space
People’s Voice Winner
Video and Film | Events and Live streams

About the Webby Awards

Established in 1996 during the web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the IADAS—a 3000+ member judging body. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities—and associate members who are former Webby winners, nominees and other internet professionals.

The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open web, the Webby People’s Voice is chosen by the voting public, and garners millions of votes from all over the world.

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Dacia Massengill

Planetary Alignment Provides NASA Rare Opportunity to Study Uranus

por admin | 22 abril, 2025 - 6:08 pm |22 abril, 2025 Astronomy

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Planetary Alignment Provides NASA Rare Opportunity to Study Uranus

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Planetary Alignment Provides NASA Rare Opportunity to Study Uranus

A still frame from a graphic visualization shows an animation of Uranus in space with a white boarder box around it. A small star is near the left side of the planet seemingly about to disappear behind the planet. There is also a data graph line at the bottom symbolizing the level of light being received by telescopes observing the occultation.

Artist’s illustration showing a distant star going out of sight as it is eclipsed by Uranus – an event known as a planetary stellar occultation.

Credits:
NASA/Advanced Concepts Laboratory

When a planet’s orbit brings it between Earth and a distant star, it’s more than just a cosmic game of hide and seek. It’s an opportunity for NASA to improve its understanding of that planet’s atmosphere and rings. Planetary scientists call it a stellar occultation and that’s exactly what happened with Uranus on April 7.

Observing the alignment allows NASA scientists to measure the temperatures and composition of Uranus’ stratosphere – the middle layer of a planet’s atmosphere – and determine how it has changed over the last 30 years since Uranus’ last significant occultation.

This rendering demonstrates what is happening during a stellar occultation and illustrates an example of the light curve data graph recorded by scientists that enables them to gather atmospheric measurements, like temperature and pressure, from Uranus as the amount of starlight changes when the planet eclipses the star.

NASA/Advanced Concepts Laboratory

“Uranus passed in front of a star that is about 400 light years from Earth,” said William Saunders, planetary scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and science principal investigator and analysis lead, for what NASA’s team calls the Uranus Stellar Occultation Campaign 2025. “As Uranus began to occult the star, the planet’s atmosphere refracted the starlight, causing the star to appear to gradually dim before being blocked completely. The reverse happened at the end of the occultation, making what we call a light curve. By observing the occultation from many large telescopes, we are able to measure the light curve and determine Uranus’ atmospheric properties at many altitude layers.”

We are able to measure the light curve and determine Uranus’ atmospheric properties at many altitude layers.

William Saunders

Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center

This data mainly consists of temperature, density, and pressure of the stratosphere. Analyzing the data will help researchers understand how the middle atmosphere of Uranus works and could help enable future Uranus exploration efforts.

To observe the rare event, which lasted about an hour and was only visible from Western North America, planetary scientists at NASA Langley led an international team of over 30 astronomers using 18 professional observatories.

Kunio Sayanagi, NASA’s principal investigator for the Uranus Stellar Occultation Campaign 2025, meeting virtually with partners and observing data from the Flight Mission Support Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia during Uranus’ stellar occultation event on April 7, 2025.

NASA/Dave MacDonnell

“This was the first time we have collaborated on this scale for an occultation,” said Saunders. “I am extremely grateful to each member of the team and each observatory for taking part in this extraordinary event. NASA will use the observations of Uranus to determine how energy moves around the atmosphere and what causes the upper layers to be inexplicably hot. Others will use the data to measure Uranus’ rings, its atmospheric turbulence, and its precise orbit around the Sun.”

Knowing the location and orbit of Uranus is not as simple as it sounds. In 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first and only spacecraft to fly past the planet – 10 years before the last bright stellar occultation occured in 1996. And, Uranus’ exact position in space is only accurate to within about 100 miles, which makes analyzing this new atmospheric data crucial to future NASA exploration of the ice giant.

These investigations were possible because the large number of partners provided many unique views of the stellar occultation from many different instruments.

NASA planetary scientist William Saunders and Texas A&M University research assistant Erika Cook in the control room of the McDonald Observatory’s Otto Struve Telescope in Jeff Davis County, Texas, during the Uranus stellar occultation on April 7, 2025.

Joshua Santana

Emma Dahl, a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech in Pasadena, California, assisted in gathering observations from NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii – an observatory first built to support NASA’s Voyager missions.

“As scientists, we do our best work when we collaborate. This was a team effort between NASA scientists, academic researchers, and amateur astronomers,” said Dahl. “The atmospheres of the gas and ice giant planets [Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune] are exceptional atmospheric laboratories because they don’t have solid surfaces. This allows us to study cloud formation, storms, and wind patterns without the extra variables and effects a surface produces, which can complicate simulations very quickly.”

On November 12, 2024, NASA Langley researchers and collaborators were able to do a test run to prepare for the April occultation. Langley coordinated two telescopes in Japan and one in Thailand to observe a dimmer Uranus stellar occultation only visible from Asia. As a result, these observers learned how to calibrate their instruments to observe stellar occultations, and NASA was able to test its theory that multiple observatories working together could capture Uranus’ big event in April.

Researchers from the Paris Observatory and Space Science Institute, in contact with NASA, also coordinated observations of the November 2024 occultation from two telescopes in India. These observations of Uranus and its rings allowed the researchers, who were also members of the April 7 occultation team, to improve the predictions about the timing on April 7 down to the second and also improved modeling to update Uranus’ expected location during the occultation by 125 miles.

The planet Uranus on a black background. The planet appears blue with a large, white patch taking up the right half. The patch is whitest at the center, then fades into blue at it expands from right to left. A thin outline of Uranus is also white. Around the planet is a system of nested rings. The outermost ring is the brightest while the innermost ring is the faintest. Unlike Saturn’s horizontal rings, the rings of Uranus are vertical and so they appear to surround the planet in an oval shape. There are 9 blueish white dots scattered around the rings.

This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap and dim inner and outer rings. This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons – clockwise starting at 2 o’clock, they are: Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Portia, Juliet, and Perdita.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Uranus is almost 2 billion miles away from Earth and has an atmosphere composed of primarily hydrogen and helium. It does not have a solid surface, but rather a soft surface made of water, ammonia, and methane. It’s called an ice giant because its interior contains an abundance of these swirling fluids that have relatively low freezing points. And, while Saturn is the most well-known planet for having rings, Uranus has 13 known rings composed of ice and dust.

Over the next six years, Uranus will occult several dimmer stars. NASA hopes to gather airborne and possibly space-based measurements of the next bright Uranus occultation in 2031, which will be of an even brighter star than the one observed in April.

For more information on NASA’s Uranus Stellar Occultation Campaign 2025:

https://science.larc.nasa.gov/URANUS2025

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

Charles Hatfield
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
757-262-8289
charles.g.hatfield@nasa.gov

About the Author

Charles G. Hatfield

Science Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center

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Apr 22, 2025

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Charles G. Hatfield