Watch Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole Online

To visualise the black hole in Interstellar, the VFX team collaborated with theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to solve the equations for propagation of light around a spinning black hole. The shape is due to way light is lensed (deflected) by the strong gravitational field of the black hole. The asymmetry is caused by the relativistic time dilation near the event horizon.

The top image shows the black hole in the movie. The bottom image is a more accurate visualisation taking into account Doppler and gravitational frequency shifts. This was considered too confusing for the audience. They also slowed the black hole’s spin down from that required to explain the time dilation experienced in the movie, to make the black hole appear less asymmetric.

The are releasing two papers on their work, the first of which is available in preprint on arXiv.

Welcome to the new, official NASA Tumblr. We’re going to be giving you a regular dose of space here. Follow along and join us as we share information, images and video about our mission of exploration and discovery. First up, check out the moon photobombing Earth in this new animated gif. The far side of the moon, illuminated by the sun, is seen as it crosses between our ‘EPIC’ camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, and the Earth - one million miles away. Check it out: http://go.nasa.gov/1Dq0IO9

This Week’s Astronomy News:

48 Galaxies Found: http://ift.tt/1NSd8Rk How Galaxies Evolve: http://ift.tt/1JwtT1n Alien Life: http://ift.tt/1JwtRqe Dark Energy: http://ift.tt/1NSd6ZJ Black Hole: http://ift.tt/1NSd6ZL Twin Jet: http://ift.tt/1NSd8Rn

The International Space Station above the spinning Earth.

Photo credit: NASA

Big math news! It’s been thirty years since mathematicians last found a convex pentagon that could “tile the plane.” The latest discovery (by Jennifer McLoud-Mann, Casey Mann, and David Von Derau) was published earlier this month. Full story.

Sorry guys. I am a little busy these days. But stay tuned I will be back with a lots of amazing photos of cosmos. :)

Today marks the 40th anniversary for the launch of the Viking 1 lander/orbiter to Mars in 1975, which set the stage - err, launch pads - for subsequent flyby, orbiter, lander, and rover missions. 

Although some of these missions are marked as “failed” attempts, an engineer or flight controller would dismiss this classification, as data from every mission parleyed information for the next. Failures? No. More like “growing pains” in our spacefaring adolescence. 

The year 2015 marks another noteworthy anniversary to which the Viking program laid the foundation for our curiosity and present trajectory for NASA’s #JourneyToMars. 

This wonderfully produced video from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conveys the breadth of vision and the excitement from, among every aspect of each robotic mission, successfully received data! 

Enjoy, and continue the journey with us as we work to preserve the legacy of the Viking program with The Viking Mars Missions Education and Preservation Project, the #FirstOnMars! 

Tour NASA with One Direction

You might have heard, One Direction filmed their ‘Drag Me Down’ music video at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and we know you’re dying to take a tour of everything they saw. So, here we go…

1) Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV)

Even though Louis is roving around Johnson Space Center in our Space Exploration Vehicle, its intended destination is quite different. The SEV will be used for in-space missions and for surface explorations of planetary bodies, including near-Earth asteroids and Mars!

2) Robonaut

Harry and Robonaut bonded during their visit to Johnson Space Center for the filming of their music video. This robot will help humans work and explore in space. Working side by side with humans, or going where the risks are too great for people, robots will make it so we never get ‘dragged down’!

3) Partial Gravity Simulator & Space Station Mockup Bike

You can find Niall floating around in our Partial Gravity Simulator, aka POGO, in the new music video. This tool is used to provide accurate simulations of reduced gravity. Astronauts use this for training and to learn how to perform tasks in space.

While Niall floats with POGO, Liam is training on the International Space Station Mockup Bike, aka CEVIS. This bike provides aerobic exercise and is used to countermeasure the harmful effects of exposure to microgravity while on the space station.

4) Orion Spacecraft

The Orion spacecraft will be the first of its kind that will carry humans to deep space and to Mars! It will be the safest, most advanced spacecraft ever built, and Harry, Niall, Louis and Liam all got to check it out.

5) T-38 Jets

Flying these T-38 jet trainers are an important part of preparing to be an astronaut. Flying and landing them acts as a real-life simulation for practicing spacecraft operations. They can even fly at supersonic up to Mach 1.6, and can put their pilots through more than seven Gs! 

A photo of Saturn. Took by Cassini with COISS on May 22, 2008 at 13:31:01. Detail page on OPUS database.

Robonaut at JSC. nasa