В космос вместе с НАСА

А вот удивительнейшей красоты инстаграм американского Национального управления по воздухоплаванию и исследованию космического пространства — НАСА. У аккаунта порядка трех с половиной миллионов подписчиков, а в профиле дан классный совет: «Изучай Вселенную и нашу родную планету».

Накануне, между прочим, имела место самая важная космическая встреча этого десятилетия: аппарат NASA New Horizons встретился с Плутоном и хорошенечко разглядел его.

Предлагаем отправиться в путешествие по Вселенной вместе с НАСА и любознательной редакцией Бигпикчи.

(Всего 20 фото + 5 видео)

Gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach, which was at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday — about 7,750 miles above the surface — roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India — making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Images from closest approach are expected to be released on Wednesday, July 15. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июл 14 2015 в 4:00 PDT

The Hubble Space Telescope turns 25 years old today! Celebrate with us as we share incredible images from Hubble: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks. This turbulent cosmic pinnacle lies within a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar on Feb. 1-2, 2010. The colors in this composite image correspond to the glow of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulfur (red). Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) #Hubble25 #hubble #hst #telescope #nasa #space

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Апр 24 2015 в 10:24 PDT

Astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside a Soyuz simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), Wednesday, March 4, 2015 in Star City, Russia. Kelly, along with Expedition 43 Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos were at GCTC for the second day of qualification exams in preparation for their launch to the International Space Station onboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:42 p.m. EST on March 27. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #nasa #iss #yearinspace #iss1years #spacestation #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Мар 5 2015 в 8:22 PST

Approaching an unexplored world! Our New Horizons spacecraft recently began its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto. The spacecraft is entering the first of several approach phases that culminate July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. This image is an artist’s concept of New Horizons spacecraft as it passes Pluto and Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. Image Credit: NASA/JHU APL/SwRI/Steve Gribben #nasa #newhorizons #pluto #solarsystem #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Янв 15 2015 в 2:05 PST

The sun unleashed no less than five solar flares in five days this week all from the same dynamic active region (June 21-25, 2015). Many of these were associated with coronal mass ejections, most of which impacted Earth and generated beautiful auroral displays. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Flares are the bright flashes you see, followed by spirals of magnetic field lines as the active region reorganizes itself. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA #nasa #aurora #sun #solarflare #space #earth #science

Видео опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 26 2015 в 2:55 PDT

A light echo in X-rays detected by our Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided a rare opportunity to precisely measure the distance to an object on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy. The rings exceed the field-of-view of Chandra's detectors, resulting in a partial image of X-ray data. Credits: NASA/CXC/U. Wisconsin/S. Heinz #nasa #space #astronomy #xray #milkyway #galaxy #chandra #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 24 2015 в 4:37 PDT

A single crescent moon is a familiar sight in Earth's sky, but with Saturn's many moons, you can see three or even more. The three moons shown here — Titan (3,200 miles or 5,150 kilometers across), Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), and Rhea (949 miles or 1,527 kilometers across) — show marked contrasts. Titan, the largest moon in this image, appears fuzzy because we only see its cloud layers. And because Titan's atmosphere refracts light around the moon, its crescent "wraps" just a little further around the moon than it would on an airless body. Rhea (upper left) appears rough because its icy surface is heavily cratered. And a close inspection of Mimas (center bottom), though difficult to see at this scale, shows surface irregularities due to its own violent history. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Titan. North on Titan is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 25, 2015. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #cassini #saturn #space #moon #mimas #titan #rhea #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 22 2015 в 9:48 PDT

Echoes of a Stellar Ending on Supernova Sunday: Over 11,000 years ago, a massive, supergiant star came to the end of its life. The star's core collapsed to form an incredibly dense ball of neutrons, and its exterior was blasted away in an immense release of energy astronomers call a supernova. The light from this supernova first reached Earth from the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia around 1667 A.D. If anyone alive at the time saw it, they left no records. It is likely that large amounts of dust between the dying star and Earth dimmed the brightness of the explosion to the point that it was barely, if at all, visible to the unaided eye. The remnant of this supernova was discovered in 1947 from its powerful radio emission. Listed as Cassiopeia A, it is one of the brightest radio sources in the whole sky. More recently, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), detected infrared echoes of the flash of light rippling outwards from the supernova. In the image, the central bright cloud of dust is the blast wave moving through interstellar space heating up dust as it goes. The colors used in this image represent specific wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and cyan (blue-green) represent light emitted predominantly from stars at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns. Green and red represent light mostly emitted by dust at 12 and 22 microns, respectively. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA #supernovasunday #supernova #nasa #space #science #chandra #superbowl #sb49

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Фев 1 2015 в 6:11 PST

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly), currently on a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station, took this photograph of Tropical Storm Bill in the Gulf of Mexico as it approached the coast of Texas, on June 15, 2015. Kelly wrote, "Concerned for all in its path including family, friends & colleagues." Tropical Storm Bill was making landfall at 11 a.m. CDT on Matagorda Island, Texas on June 16 as NASA and NOAA satellites gathered data on the storm. The center of Bill is expected to move inland over south-central Texas during the afternoon and night of June 16. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #tropicalstorm #tsbill #bill #space #iss #spacestation #satellites #noaa @NASA #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 16 2015 в 9:51 PDT

[Image is an artist's concept] They wouldn't float like balloons or give you the chance to talk in high, squeaky voices, but planets with helium skies may constitute an exotic planetary class in our Milky Way galaxy. Researchers using data from our Spitzer Space Telescope propose that warm Neptune-size planets with clouds of helium may be strewn about the galaxy by the thousands. This artist's concept depicts a proposed helium-atmosphere planet called GJ 436b, which was found by Spitzer to lack in methane — a first clue about its lack of hydrogen. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech' (artist's concept) #nasa #space #spitzer #galaxy #planet #milkyway #helium #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 14 2015 в 1:20 PDT

Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth today after a 199-day mission that included several spacewalks, technology demonstrations, and hundreds of scientific experiments spanning multiple disciplines, including human and plant biology. The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft is seen in this image as it lands with Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts (@Astro_Terry) of NASA, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from European Space Agency (ESA) near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls #nasa #space #soyuz #iss #isscrew #esa #exp43 #spacestation

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 11 2015 в 9:41 PDT

Astronaut Terry Virts (@Astro_Terry) shared this video of "Tropical Storm #Blanca as it made landfall yesterday." The International Space Station (@ISS) and its crew orbit Earth from an altitude of 250 miles, traveling at a speed of approximately 17,500 miles per hour, providing a great vantage point to observe the Earth below. Video credit: NASA #nasa #hurricane #tropicalstorm #iss #space #spacestation #internationalspacestation #storm #pacific #ocean #clouds #earth #earthobs

Видео опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 9 2015 в 2:18 PDT

Fresh Martian Crater: The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars on March 30, 2015. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes. Fresh craters often have steep, active slopes, so the HiRISE team is monitoring this crater for changes over time. The bedrock lithology is also diverse. The crater is a little more than 1-kilometer wide. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona #mars #nasa #mro #uarizona #hirise #crater #planets #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 5 2015 в 9:40 PDT

50 years ago today, astronaut Ed White floated out of the Gemini IV spacecraft to become the first American to walk in space during the first Mission Controlled from Houston's manned spacecraft center. In this image, White floats in the microgravity of space outside the Gemini IV spacecraft. Behind him is the brilliant blue Earth and its white cloud cover. White is wearing a specially-designed space suit. The visor of the helmet is gold plated to protect him against the unfiltered rays of the sun. In his left hand is a Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit with which he controls his movements in space. Credits: NASA/Jim McDivitt #nasa #space #gemini #otd #spacewalk #eva #spacewalk50 #suitup #missioncontrol #houston

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 3 2015 в 7:19 PDT

A billowing plume of steam signals a successful 450-second test of the RS-25 rocket engine May 28 at our Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The hotfire test was conducted on the historic A-1 Test Stand where Apollo Program rocket stages and Space Shuttle Program main engines also were tested. RS-25 engines tested on the stand will power the core stage of our new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which is being developed to carry humans deeper into space than ever before. Credit: NASA #journeytomars #sls #nasa #space #test #rs25

Видео опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 1 2015 в 2:00 PDT

It's #BlackFriday, but for us, it's the second annual #BlackHoleFriday. Today, we'll post pics & info about black holes. What Is a Black Hole? A black hole is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape. The strong gravity occurs because matter has been pressed into a tiny space. This compression can take place at the end of a star's life. Some black holes are a result of dying stars. Because no light can escape, black holes are invisible. However, space telescopes with special instruments can help find black holes. They can observe the behavior of material and stars that are very close to black holes. Pictured here is an artist's drawing a black hole named Cygnus X-1. It formed when a large star caved in. This black hole pulls matter from blue star beside it. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss #NASA #Space #Blackhole #blackholes

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Ноя 27 2014 в 9:13 PST

Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way, is located about 25,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), close to the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It's a fairly young astronomical object at between two and four million years old. The Arches cluster is so dense that in a region with a radius equal to the distance between the sun and its nearest star there would be over 100,000 stars! At least 150 stars within the cluster are among the brightest ever discovered in the Milky Way. These stars are so bright and massive that they will burn their fuel within a short time (on a cosmological scale that means just a few million years). Then they will die in spectacular supernova explosions. Due to the short lifetime of the stars in the cluster the gas between the stars contains an unusually high amount of heavier elements, which were produced by earlier generations of stars. Image credit: NASA/ESA #nasa #space #milkyway #galaxy #stars #nasabeyond #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Май 29 2015 в 7:55 PDT

Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut @Astro_Terry Virts posted this time-lapse video and wrote, "Our spectacular universe! Look closely and you can see two satellites streaking across the sky." Image Credit: NASA #space #iss #nasa #spacestation #astronauts #earth

Видео опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Июн 1 2015 в 4:56 PDT

This 12-frame mosaic provides the highest resolution view ever obtained of the side of Jupiter's moon Europa that faces the giant planet. It was obtained on Nov. 25, 1999 by the camera onboard the Galileo spacecraft, a past NASA mission to Jupiter and its moons which ended in 2003. Today, we selected nine science instruments for a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, to investigate whether the mysterious icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The Galileo mission yielded strong evidence that Europa, about the size of Earth's moon, has an ocean beneath a frozen crust of unknown thickness. If proven to exist, this global ocean could have more than twice as much water as Earth. With abundant salt water, a rocky sea floor, and the energy and chemistry provided by tidal heating, Europa could be the best place in the solar system to look for present day life beyond our home planet. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona #nasa #nasabeyond #europa #jupiter #moon #planet #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Май 26 2015 в 9:27 PDT

Exploded Star Blooms Like a Cosmic Flower: Because the debris fields of exploded stars, known as supernova remnants, are very hot, energetic, and glow brightly in X-ray light, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has proven to be a valuable tool in studying them. The supernova remnant called G299.2-2.9 (or G299 for short) is located within our Milky Way galaxy, but Chandra’s new image of it is reminiscent of a beautiful flower here on Earth. G299 was left over by a particular class of supernovas called Type Ia. Astronomers think that a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear explosion – involving the fusion of elements and release of vast amounts of energy − of a white dwarf star in a tight orbit with a companion star. If the white dwarf’s partner is a typical, Sun-like star, the white dwarf can become unstable and explode as it draws material from its companion. Alternatively, the white dwarf is in orbit with another white dwarf, the two may merge and can trigger an explosion. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/U.Texas #nasa #chandra #space #supernova #astronomy #science

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Фев 12 2015 в 3:50 PST

From a distance Saturn seems to exude an aura of serenity and peace. In spite of this appearance, Saturn is an active and dynamic world. Its atmosphere is a fast-moving and turbulent place with wind speeds in excess of 1,100 miles per hour (1,800 km per hour) in places. The lack of a solid surface to create drag means that there are fewer features to slow down the wind than on a planet like Earth. Mimas, to the upper-right of Saturn, has been brightened by a factor of 2 for visibility. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #cassini @NASAJPL #saturn #planets #astronomy #science #nasabeyond

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Май 13 2015 в 8:22 PDT

Enjoy mesmerizing views of our sun: Over a six-hour period on April 21, 2015, our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed a wing-like prominence eruption from our sun. SDO views the sun in various wavelengths of the extreme ultraviolet, including 171 (shown in gold) and 304 (shown in orange) angstroms. Credit: NASA/SDO #sun #solar #nasa #space #sdo #eruption #uv

Видео опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Май 2 2015 в 10:47 PDT

25 years ago today on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. It was deployed on April 25, as seen in this photograph taken in 1990 by the crew of the STS-31 space shuttle mission, the Hubble Space Telescope is suspended above shuttle Discovery's cargo bay some 332 nautical miles above Earth. The Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, controlled from in-cabin by the astronaut crew members, held the huge telescope in this position during pre-deployment procedures, which included extension of solar array panels and antennae. STS-31 was the tenth launch of the shuttle Discovery. On board were Commander Loren J. Shriver, Pilot Charles F. Bolden, Jr. (now NASA Administrator), Mission Specialists Steven A. Hawley, Bruce McCandless II and Kathryn D. Sullivan (now NOAA Administrator). To launch Hubble into an orbit that guaranteed longevity, Discovery soared to a record altitude of 600 km. Image Credit: NASA #Hubble25 #nasa #space #hubble #telescope #tbt

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Апр 24 2015 в 9:40 PDT

Honoring Jackie Robinson: "Honoring #JackieRobinson today! #42" wrote NASA astronaut Terry Virts, wearing a replica Jackie Robinson jersey on orbit in the cupola of the International Space Station. April 15, which was baseball's opening day in 1947, has now come to commemorate Jackie Robinson's memorable career and his place in history as the first black major league baseball player in the modern era. He made history with the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) and he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #jackierobinson #jackie42 #JackieRobinsonDay #42 #space #iss #spacestation

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Апр 15 2015 в 9:04 PDT

Earth From Space: 15 Years of Amazing Things The view of Earth from orbit is never the same – from minute to minute, day to day, year to year. In December of 1999 NASA launched a satellite that opened up a new era in our ability to see, measure and understand Earth. The satellite called Terra rocketed to space on Dec. 18, 1999. (And while it was designed for a five-year mission life – Terra is still up there, collecting invaluable data on Earth’s land, atmosphere and oceans.) In 2002 and 2004, satellites named Aqua and Aura followed. These are often called the three flagship satellites of NASA’s Earth Observing System — which began in earnest with Terra and now comprises a fleet of 18 Earth-observing satellites that have revolutionized our ability to observe our home planet from space. NASA and other space agencies had launched satellites to study Earth before. But the past 15 years have produced a more comprehensive look at Earth from space than any other period in history. At a time when our planet is undergoing critically important changes, this global view offers not only stunning imagery but also vitally important information about how Earth is changing. In 2002, NASA scientists and visualizers stitched together strips of brand new data, in natural color, collected over four months from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument aboard Terra. Seen here is the western hemisphere of that Blue Marble image. Image Credit: NASA's Earth Observatory

Фото опубликовано NASA (@nasa) Дек 29 2014 в 3:10 PST

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