Does An Ecplispe Cause Any Unusual Effects On The Earth?

Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe

Astrobiologists study the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. This includes identifying evidence left behind by life that once survived on the ancient Earth, and extends to the search for life beyond our planet.

When looking for signs of life on other worlds, what are they looking for?

Things called biosignatures. For example, when you sign a piece of paper, your signature is evidence of your existence. Similarly, biosignatures are anything that can prove that life was once, or is, present in an environment.

If we were very very lucky, we might spot something we know is life with a powerful telescope or receive a "phone call" or radio signal from alien civilizations. Those types of biosignatures would be obvious. But they would only let us identify advanced life.

For most of Earth’s history (billions of years), single-celled life like bacteria and archaea have been around. Humans have only been making radio transmissions for hundreds of years. So we have a better chance of finding life if we look for signs that have been around for very long periods of time.

Patterns in ancient rocks that were created by life are a great example. That can be anything like a dinosaur footprint or structures built by microorganisms, like stromatolites.

Molecules can also be biosignatures, like DNA left behind for detectives to discover. But DNA doesn’t last very long on its own in most environments, so other molecules like lipids (like natural oils, wax, and fat) might be a better choice if you are looking for signatures of life from millions (or billions) of years ago.

Even the balance of gases in a planet’s atmosphere can be a sign of past or present life. On Earth, biology plays a major role in maintaining the delicate composition of gases like nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in the air that we breathe.

These are just a few examples of signs astrobiologists look for when searching for life amongst the stars! Research into these biosignatures inform many of our biggest missions, from observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Webb Space Telescope to our Mars Sample Return endeavor.

Want to learn more about the search for life? Check out the latest issue of our comic-book style graphic history novel, Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe. This new chapter is all about biosignatures.

Explore life in the universe with us by following NASA Astrobiology on Twitter and Facebook.

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6 Tiny Satellites That Are Changing How We See Earth

HARP: Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter

What’s better than taking a picture of a cloud to figure out its size and shape? Taking a bunch of pictures all around it. That way you get a three-dimensional view without having to worry about missing something. The HARP CubeSat is going to do just that: make observations of cloud droplets and tiny airborne particles like soot and dust with a modified camera lens from multiple angles. This will give us a full rendering of what’s going on inside the clouds, specifically, how those airborne particles act as “seeds” for water vapor to condense on and form cloud droplets. Since so many of those particles are in the air as a result of man-made pollution, we want to understand how they may be affecting clouds, weather and climate.

RAVAN: Radiometer Assessment using Vertically Aligned Nanotubes

Anyone who’s worn a black shirt on a summer day knows how much sunlight and heat it absorbs. The RAVAN 3-unit CubeSat, however, carries “blacker than black” technology – carbon nanotubes set up like a bundle of drinking straws that suck up nearly all the sunlight and energy that reach them to the point that your black shirt seems merely dark grey in comparison. Flying in low Earth orbit, RAVAN’s super sensitive instrument will detect tiny changes in the amount of sunlight and energy passing into and out of the top of the atmosphere. The amount of energy passing through the top of the atmosphere is where the net accounting of Earth’s energy budget happens – one of the major measurements we need in order to understand the effects of greenhouse gases on global warming and climate change. 

MiRaTA: Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration

That long skinny piece coming out of the bottom right side under the solar panel? That’s a measuring tape. It’s doubling as a communications antenna on the MiRaTA CubeSat that will be a mini-weather station in space. This 3-unit, shoe box-sized satellite is testing out new, miniaturized technology to measure temperature, water vapor, and cloud ice in the atmosphere. They’ll be tracking major storms, including hurricanes, as well as everyday weather. If this test flight is successful, the new, smaller technology will likely be incorporated into major – large – weather satellite missions in the future that are part of our national infrastructure.

IceCube

The aptly named IceCube will measure – you guessed it – ice in our atmosphere. Unlike the droplets that make up rain, ice is one of the harder things to measure from space. IceCube is a 3-unit CubeSat about the size of a loaf of bread outfitted with a new high-frequency microwave radiometer, an instrument that measures naturally occurring radiation emitted by stuff in the atmosphere – cloud droplets, rain, and the ice particles at the tops of clouds. This will be the first space test of the new microwave radiometer that has to balance its tiny size and low power with being sensitive enough to detect cloud ice. 

CYGNSS: Cyclone, Global Navigation Satellite System

What do GPS signals do when they’re not talking to your phone? A lot of them are just bouncing harmlessly off the planet’s surface – a fact that the CYGNSS mission is taking advantage of to measure wind speed over the ocean. Eight identical small satellites, each about the size of a microwave oven, flying in formation carry custom modified GPS receivers pointed at the oceans. When the water is smooth – not windy – the GPS signals reflect back uniformly, like the moon on a pond reflected as if in a mirror. When the water is choppy – windy – the signals reflect back in in the same direction but distorted, like the moon reflection on a choppy pond being distorted by ripples. Flying eight satellites in formation means the CYGNSS mission can measure wind speed across more of the ocean at once, which will help with understanding tropical storms and hurricanes. 

TROPICS: Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats

An important way to improve forecasts of hurricane and tropical cyclone intensity is to see what’s going on inside and around them while they’re happening. That’s the goal of the TROPICS mission, 12 CubeSats that will fly in formation to track the temperature and humidity of storm environments. The TROPICS CubeSats will get very frequent measurements, similar to X-rays, that cut through the overall cloud-cover so we can see the storm’s underlying structure. The storm structures known as the eyewall – tall clouds, wind and rain around the eye – and rainbands – the rainy parts of the spiral arms – give us clues about whether a storm is primed to intensify into a category 4 or 5 storm, something everyone in their path needs to know.

Learn more the world of small satellites at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats

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Secrets lie deep within Jupiter, shrouded in the solar system's strongest magnetic field and most lethal radiation belts. On July 4, 2016, our Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around the gas giant and passing closer than any spacecraft before. Juno will see Jupiter for what it really is, but first it must pass the trial of orbit insertion. For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.

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Celestial Valentine’s Day Cards

Looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day card? Here are some out-of-this-world options for you:

From our solar system…

To distant galaxies…

And worlds far, far away…

Share your Valentine’s Day love with these celestial cards.

To find even more options, visit:

XO Travel Bureau: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/galleries/exoplanet-travel-bureau/ Mars Valentine’s: http://mars.nasa.gov/free-holiday-ecard/love-valentine/ Space Place Valentine’s: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/valentines/en/ OSIRIS-REx Valentine’s: http://www.asteroidmission.org/galleries/#collectables

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What’s Up October 2017

What’s Up For October? 

Planet Pairs, Stellar Superstars, Observe The Moon Night!!

This month, catch planet pairs, our moon near red stars, an asteroid, meteors and International Observe the Moon Night!

You can't miss bright Venus in the predawn sky. Look for fainter Mars below Venus on the 1st, really close on the 5th, and above Venus after that.

Midmonth, the moon is visible near Regulus, the white starry heart of the constellation Leo.

In the October 8-11 predawn sky watch the moon glide near the Pleiades star cluster and pass near the red stars Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus and Betelgeuse in Orion.

After dusk in the early part of the month look for Saturn in the southwest sky above another red star: Antares in Scorpius. Later in the month, find the moon above Antares October 22 and 23.

Saturn will be above the moon on the 23rd and below it on the 24th.

Uranus reach opposition on October 19th. It's visible all night long and its blue-green color is unmistakeable. It may be bright enough to see with your naked eye--and for sure in binoculars.

The Orionids peak on October 20--a dark, moonless night. Look near Orion's club in the hours before dawn and you may see up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour.

Use binoculars to look for bright asteroid 7 Iris in the constellation Aries. Newbies to astronomy should be able to spot this magnitude 6.9 asteroid - even from the city. 

Look later in the month and sketch its positions a day or two apart--to see it move.

Finally, celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on October 28 with your local astronomy club, Solar System Ambassador, museum, or planetarium. The first quarter moon that night will display some great features!

Watch the full What’s Up for October Video: 

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How do you know if your solar eclipse glasses are legit?

Make sure to see that it has the ISO 12312-2 compliant and check that it’s from a trusted vendor. You can find a link here https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety with more information and links to lists of trusted vendors. 

Solar System: Things to Know About the August Eclipse

We’re counting down until the August 21 total solar eclipse that will be visible across most of North America. Here are some things you can do to prepare.

1. Find A Spot 

The eclipse should be visible to some extent across the continental U.S. Here’s map of its path.

Our eclipse page can help you find the best viewing locations by longitude and latitude: eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html

2. Citizen Science

Want to know more about citizen science projects? Find a list of citizen science projects for the eclipse: https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/citizen-science

3. Never look directly at the sun! Even during the early phases of the eclipse!

Get your eclipse viewing safety glasses beforehand: eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety

4. Get Our Interactive Eclipse Module App

In this interactive, 3D simulation of the total eclipse on August 21, 2017, you can see a view of the eclipse from anywhere on the planet: 

http://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov/eyes-on-eclipse.html

5. Got questions? 

Join the conversation on social media. Tag your posts: #Eclipse2017.

Twitter: @NASASolarSystem, @NASA, @NASASunEarth Facebook: NASA Solar System

Discover the full list of 10 things to know about our solar system this week HERE.

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Solar System 10 Things: Spitzer Space Telescope

Our Spitzer Space Telescope is celebrating 15 years since its launch on August 25, 2003. This remarkable spacecraft has made discoveries its designers never even imagined, including some of the seven Earth-size planets of TRAPPIST-1. Here are some key facts about Spitzer:

1. Spitzer is one of our Great Observatories.

Our Great Observatory Program aimed to explore the universe with four large space telescopes, each specialized in viewing the universe in different wavelengths of light. The other Great Observatories are our Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. By combining data from different kinds of telescopes, scientists can paint a fuller picture of our universe.

2. Spitzer operates in infrared light.

Infrared wavelengths of light, which primarily come from heat radiation, are too long to be seen with human eyes, but are important for exploring space — especially when it comes to getting information about something extremely far away. From turbulent clouds where stars are born to small asteroids close to Earth’s orbit, a wide range of phenomena can be studied in infrared light. Objects too faint or distant for optical telescopes to detect, hidden by dense clouds of space dust, can often be seen with Spitzer. In this way, Spitzer acts as an extension of human vision to explore the universe, near and far.

What’s more, Spitzer doesn’t have to contend with Earth’s atmosphere, daily temperature variations or day-night cycles, unlike ground-based telescopes. With a mirror less than 1 meter in diameter, Spitzer in space is more sensitive than even a 10-meter-diameter telescope on Earth.

3. Spitzer was the first spacecraft to fly in an Earth-trailing orbit.

Rather than circling Earth, as Hubble does, Spitzer orbits the Sun on almost the same path as Earth. But Spitzer moves slower than Earth, so the spacecraft drifts farther away from our planet each year.

This “Earth-trailing orbit” has many advantages. Being farther from Earth than a satellite, it receives less heat from our planet and enjoys a naturally cooler environment. Spitzer also benefits from a wider view of the sky by orbiting the Sun. While its field of view changes throughout the year, at any given time it can see about one-third of the sky. Our Kepler space telescope, famous for finding thousands of exoplanets – planets outside our solar system -- also settled in an Earth-trailing orbit six years after Spitzer.

4. Spitzer began in a “cold mission.”

Spitzer has far outlived its initial requirement of 2.5 years. The Spitzer team calls the first 5.5 years “the cold mission” because the spacecraft’s instruments were deliberately cooled down during that time. Liquid helium coolant kept Spitzer’s instruments just a few degrees above absolute zero (which is minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 273 degrees Celsius) in this first part of the mission.

5. The “warm mission” was still pretty cold.

Spitzer entered what was called the “warm mission” when the 360 liters of liquid helium coolant that was chilling its instruments ran out in May 2009.

At the “warm” temperature of minus 405 Fahrenheit, two of Spitzer's instruments -- the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) and Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) -- stopped working. But two of the four detector arrays in the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) persisted. These “channels” of the camera have driven Spitzer’s explorations since then.

6. Spitzer wasn’t designed to study exoplanets, but made huge strides in this area.

Exoplanet science was in its infancy in 2003 when Spitzer launched, so the mission’s first scientists and engineers had no idea it could observe planets beyond our solar system. But the telescope’s accurate star-targeting system and the ability to control unwanted changes in temperature have made it a useful tool for studying exoplanets. During the Spitzer mission, engineers have learned how to control the spacecraft’s pointing more precisely to find and characterize exoplanets, too.

Using what’s called the “transit method,” Spitzer can stare at a star and detect periodic dips in brightness that happen when a planet crosses a star’s face. In one of its most remarkable achievements, Spitzer discovered three of the TRAPPIST-1 planets and confirmed that the system has seven Earth-sized planets orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star. Spitzer data also helped scientists determine that all seven planets are rocky, and made these the best-understood exoplanets to date.

Spitzer can also use a technique called microlensing to find planets closer to the center of our galaxy. When a star passes in front of another star, the gravity of the first star can act as a lens, making the light from the more distant star appear brighter. Scientists are using microlensing to look for a blip in that brightening, which could mean that the foreground star has a planet orbiting it. Microlensing could not have been done early in the mission when Spitzer was closer to Earth, but now that the spacecraft is farther away, it has a better chance of measuring these events.

7. Spitzer is a window into the distant past.

The spacecraft has observed and helped discover some of the most distant objects in the universe, helping scientists understand where we came from. Originally, Spitzer’s camera designers had hoped the spacecraft would detect galaxies about 12 billion light-years away. In fact, Spitzer has surpassed that, and can see even farther back in time – almost to the beginning of the universe. In collaboration with Hubble, Spitzer helped characterize the galaxy GN-z11 about 13.4 billion light-years away, whose light has been traveling since 400 million years after the big bang. It is the farthest galaxy known.

8. Spitzer discovered Saturn’s largest ring.

Everyone knows Saturn has distinctive rings, but did you know its largest ring was only discovered in 2009, thanks to Spitzer? Because this outer ring doesn’t reflect much visible light, Earth-based telescopes would have a hard time seeing it. But Spitzer saw the infrared glow from the cool dust in the ring. It begins 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Saturn and extends about 7.4 million miles (12 million kilometers) beyond that.

9. The “Beyond Phase” pushes Spitzer to new limits.

In 2016, Spitzer entered its “Beyond phase,” with a name reflecting how the spacecraft operates beyond its original scope.

As Spitzer floats away from Earth, its increasing distance presents communication challenges. Engineers must point Spitzer’s antenna at higher angles toward the Sun in order to talk to our planet, which exposes the spacecraft to more heat. At the same time, the spacecraft’s solar panels receive less sunlight because they point away from the Sun, putting more stress on the battery.

The team decided to override some autonomous safety systems so Spitzer could continue to operate in this riskier mode. But so far, the Beyond phase is going smoothly.

10. Spitzer paves the way for future infrared telescopes.

Spitzer has identified areas of further study for our upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, planned to launch in 2021. Webb will also explore the universe in infrared light, picking up where Spitzer eventually will leave off. With its enhanced ability to probe planetary atmospheres, Webb may reveal striking new details about exoplanets that Spitzer found. Distant galaxies unveiled by Spitzer together with other telescopes will also be observed in further detail by Webb. The space telescope we are planning after that, WFIRST, will also investigate long-standing mysteries by looking at infrared light. Scientists planning studies with future infrared telescopes will naturally build upon the pioneering legacy of Spitzer.

Read the web version of this week’s “Solar System: 10 Things to Know” article HERE. 

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Land is Sliding, Tell Us Where!

Summer in the northern hemisphere brings monsoon season, causing heavy rains and flooding that trigger landslides. Next time you see a landslide in the news, online, or in your neighborhood, submit it to our citizen science project Landslide Reporter to build the largest open global landslide catalog and help us and the public learn more about when and where they occur.

Rainfall is the most common cause of landslides.

After a storm, the soil and rock on a slope can become saturated with water and begin to slide downwards, posing a danger to people and destroying roads, houses and access to electricity and water supplies.

We have been monitoring rainfall from space for decades.

Orbiting the Earth right now, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is a group of 10 satellites that measure rain, snow, sleet and other precipitation worldwide every three hours. This data tells us where and when heavy rain is falling and if it could lead to disasters.

What can rainfall data tell us about landslides?

We're using GPM data to understand where and when landslides are happening. A global landslide model uses information about the environment and rainfall to anticipate where landslides are likely to happen anytime around the world every three hours.

To improve the global landslide model and other landslide research, NASA is looking for citizen scientists like you!

If you find a landslide reported online or in your neighborhood, you can provide the event details in Landslide Reporter, our citizen science project.

Your detailed reports are added into an open global landslide inventory available at Landslide Viewer. We use citizen science contributions along with other landslide data to check our prediction model so we can have a better picture of how rainfall, slope steepness, forest cover, and geology can trigger a landslide.

Because the data is open, anyone can use the data for research or response.

When you report a landslide, you improve our collection of landslide data for everyone.

Help support landslide efforts worldwide by contributing to Landslide Reporter, and you can help inform decisions that could save lives and property today! Learn more about the project at https://landslides.nasa.gov. You can also follow the project on Twitter and Facebook.

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NASA’s View of COVID-19

#COVID19 led to changes in human activities around the globe. We can see some of these changes from space. Some bodies of water have run clearer, emissions of pollutants have temporarily declined, and transportation and shipment of goods have decreased.

Along with our partner agencies – ESA and JAXA – we’re making satellite data available on the COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard, where you can explore some of the changes we can see from space.

But it’s not just what we can see. When the pandemic began, NASA engineers sprang into action to build ventilators, oxygen hoods and more to help save lives.

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