ATV hip hop

ATV hip hop

12-06-2013 01:37 PM CEST

In celebration of ATV docking day, ESA has teamed up with hip hop group Ugly Duckling for a super space remix of Elevation.

A helping hand from above for The Gambia

A helping hand from above for The Gambia

14-06-2013 10:04 AM CEST

Satellites are being used to promote agriculture in one of the world's poorest countries.

Image of the week

Image of the week

14-06-2013 09:53 AM CEST

New Zealand's South Island is pictured in this Envisat image.

NASA NASA Podcasts Update

Curiosity's Cameras

06/13/2013 12:00 PM EDT

Curiosity is at Point Lake on Mars and will snap pictures to send home. Find out more about the rover's 17 cameras, including why some shoot in color and others others take black-and-white images.

NASA's Hubble Uncovers Evidence of Farthest Planet Forming From Its Star

NASA's Hubble Uncovers Evidence of Farthest Planet Forming From Its Star

06/13/2013 12:00 AM EDT

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found compelling evidence of a planet forming 7.5 billion miles away from its star, a finding that may challenge current theories about planet formation.

Warm Ocean, Not Icebergs, Causing Most of Antarctic Ice Shelves' Mass Loss

Warm Ocean, Not Icebergs, Causing Most of Antarctic Ice Shelves' Mass Loss

06/13/2013 12:00 AM EDT

Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent's ice shelf mass loss, a new study by NASA and university researchers has found.

The Moon and Sun

The Moon and Sun

06/13/2013 12:00 AM EDT

Two or three times a year, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observes the moon traveling across the sun, blocking its view. While this obscures solar observations for a short while, it offers the chance for an interesting view of the shadow of the moon. 

The moon's crisp horizon can be seen up against the sun, because the moon does not have an atmosphere. (At other times of the year, when Earth blocks SDO's view, the Earth's horizon looks fuzzy due to its atmosphere.) If one looks closely at such a crisp border, the features of the moon's topography are visible, as is the case in this image from Oct. 7, 2010. 

This recently inspired two NASA visualizers to overlay a 3-dimensional model of the moon based on data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, into the shadow of the SDO image. Such a task is fairly tricky, as the visualizers — Scott Wiessinger who typically works with the SDO imagery and Ernie Wright who works with the LRO imagery -- had to precisely match up data from the correct time and viewpoint for the two separate instruments. The end result is an awe-inspiring image of the sun and the moon. 

Image Credit: NASA/SDO/LRO/GSFC