Galactic Ghouls And Stellar Screams

Millisecond Pulsar with Magnetic Field Structure

A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits pulses of radiation (such as X-rays and radio waves) at regular intervals. A millisecond pulsar is one with a rotational period between 1 and 10 milliseconds, or from 60,000 to 6,000 revolutions per minute. Pulsars form in supernova explosions, but even newborn pulsars don’t spin at millisecond speeds, and they gradually slow down with age. If, however, a pulsar is a member of a binary system with a normal star, gas transferred from the companion can spin up an old, slow pulsar to the millisecond range.

Credit: NASA, Dana Berry: Lead Animator Michael McClare (HTSI)

Study Tips Based on Your Hogwarts House

Just finished rewatching all 8 of the Harry Potter films last week… and I thought why not make my first graphic related to it? So, here’s study tips for each of the Hogwarts houses! I know some of these doesn’t apply to everyone, but I had really fun time making this :) Hope this helps!

The galaxy is perfect

~ wikimedia commons

Throwback Thursday: Apollo 11 FAQ Edition

With the help of the NASA History Office, we’ve identified some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding the first time humans walked on the surface of another world. Read on and click here to check out our previous Apollo FAQs. 

How many moon rocks did the Apollo crews bring back? What did we learn?

The six crews that landed on the Moon brought back 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of rocks, sand and dust from the lunar surface. Each time, they were transferred to Johnson Space Center’s Lunar Receiving Laboratory, a building that also housed the astronauts during their three weeks of quarantine. Today the building now houses other science divisions, but the lunar samples are preserved in the Lunar Sample Receiving Laboratory.

Built in 1979, the laboratory is the chief repository of the Apollo samples.

From these pieces of the Moon we learned that its chemical makeup is similar to that of Earth’s, with some differences. Studying the samples has yielded clues to the origins of the solar system. In March of 2019, we announced that three cases of pristine Moon samples will be unsealed for the first time in 50 years so that we can take advantage of the improved technology that exists today! 

Did you know you might not have to travel far to see a piece of the Moon up close? Visit our Find a Moon Rock page to find out where you can visit a piece of the Moon.

What did Apollo astronauts eat on their way to the Moon?

Astronaut food has come a long way since the days of Project Mercury, our first human spaceflight program that ran from 1958-1963. Back then, astronauts “enjoyed” food in cube form or squeezed out of tubes. Early astronaut food menus were designed less for flavor and more for nutritional value, but that eventually shifted as technology evolved. Astronauts today can enjoy whole foods like apples, pizza and even tacos. 

Apollo crews were the first to have hot water, making it easier to rehydrate their foods and improve its taste. They were also the first to use a “spoon bowl,” a plastic container that was somewhat like eating out of a Ziploc bag with a spoon. Here’s an example of a day’s menu for a voyage to the Moon:

Breakfast: bacon squares, strawberry cubes and an orange drink.

Lunch: beef and potatoes, applesauce and a brownie.

Dinner: salmon salad, chicken and rice, sugar cookie cubes and a pineapple grapefruit drink.

What did Michael Collins do while he orbited the Moon, alone in the Command Module?

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin worked on the lunar surface, Command Module pilot Michael Collins orbited the Moon, alone, for the next 21.5 hours. On board he ran systems checks, made surface observations and communicated with Mission Control when there wasn’t a communications blackout. Blackouts happened every time Collins went behind the Moon. In 2009, Collins wrote this in response to a flurry of media questions about the 40th anniversary of the mission:

Q. Circling the lonely Moon by yourself, the loneliest person in the universe, weren’t you lonely? A. No. Far from feeling lonely or abandoned, I feel very much a part of what is taking place on the lunar surface. I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have. This venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two.”

What will Artemis astronauts bring back when they land on the Moon?

Artemis missions to the Moon will mark humanity’s first permanent presence on another world. The first woman and the next man to explore the lunar surface will land where nobody has ever attempted to land before – on the Moon’s south pole where there are billions of tons of water ice that can be used for oxygen and fuel. We don’t know yet what astronauts will bring back from this unexplored territory, but we do know that they will return with hope and inspiration for the next generation of explorers: the Artemis generation. Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

3 Ways To Eliminate eLearning Friction With Mobile Learning And Microlearning

“In a world that grows increasingly more mobile, it’s important to embrace mobile technology and microlearning to eliminate eLearning friction caused by distracted learners and a poor learning experience.”

Recommended Resource: The Names of God by Ken Hemphill

Earth: Our Oasis in Space

Earth: It’s our oasis in space, the one place we know that harbors life. That makes it a weird place – so far, we haven’t found life anywhere else in the solar system…or beyond. We study our home planet and its delicate balance of water, atmosphere and comfortable temperatures from space, the air, the ocean and the ground.

To celebrate our home, we want to see what you love about our planet. Share a picture, or several, of Earth with #PictureEarth on social media. In return, we’ll share some of our best views of our home, like this one taken from a million miles away by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (yes, it’s EPIC).

From a DC-8 research plane flying just 1500 feet above Antarctic sea ice, we saw a massive iceberg newly calved off Pine Island Glacier. This is one in a series of large icebergs Pine Island has lost in the last few years – the glacier is one of the fastest melting in Antarctica.

It’s not just planes. We also saw the giant iceberg, known as B-46, from space. Landsat 8 tracked B-46’s progress after it broke off from Pine Island Glacier and began the journey northward, where it began to break apart and melt into the ocean.

Speaking of change, we’ve been launching Earth-observing satellites since 1958. In that time, we’ve seen some major changes. Cutting through soft, sandy soil on its journey to the Bay of Bengal, the Padma River in Bangladesh dances across the landscape in this time-lapse of 30 years’ worth of Landsat images.  

Our space-based view of Earth helps us track other natural activities, too. With both a daytime and nighttime view, the Aqua satellite and the Suomi NPP satellite helped us see where wildfires were burning in California, while also tracking burn scars and smoke plumes..

Astronauts have an out-of-this-world view of Earth, literally. A camera mounted on the International Space Station captured this image of Hurricane Florence after it intensified to Category 4.

It’s not just missions studying Earth that capture views of our home planet. Parker Solar Probe turned back and looked at our home planet while en route to the Sun. Earth is the bright, round object.

Want to learn more about our home planet? Check out our third episode of NASA Science Live where we talked about Earth and what makes it so weird. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Gif by Satiricon

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