Rings And Moons Circling Uranus, Taken By Hubble Space Telescope.

A mini supernova

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

(via GIPHY)

A photo of S Rings, a ring near Saturn. Took by Cassini with COISS on October 02, 2008 at 18:38:16. Detail page on OPUS database.

http://angelwolf92.deviantart.com/

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The Beauty of Earth

(3 June 1965) — Overall view of the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, during the early hours of the Gemini-Titan 4 spaceflight. Photo credit: NASA

Aurora from the ISS.

Photo credit: NASA

Pluto in Enhanced Color : Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and images of our Solar System’s most famous dwarf planet, taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in July, have been digitally combined to give an enhanced view of this ancient world sporting an unexpectedly young surface. The featured enhanced color image is not only esthetically pretty but scientifically useful, making surface regions of differing chemical composition visually distinct. For example, the light-colored heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio on the lower right is clearly shown here to be divisible into two regions that are geologically different, with the leftmost lobe Sputnik Planum also appearing unusually smooth. New Horizons now continues on beyond Pluto, will continue to beam back more images and data, and will soon be directed to change course so that it can fly past asteroid 2014 MU69 in 2019 January. via NASA

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Hot & Steamy RS-25 Engine Test

Today, we tested the RS-25 engine at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and boy was it hot! Besides the fact that it was a hot day, the 6,000 degree operating temperature of the hot fire test didn’t help things. This engine is one of four that will power the core stage of our Space Launch System (SLS) into deep space and to Mars. Today’s test reached 109% power and burned 150,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 60,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen. When SLS launches with all 4 of its engines, it will be the most powerful rocket in the world!

This engine was previously used to to fly dozens of successful missions on the space shuttle, so you might be asking, “Why are we spending time testing it again if we already know it’s awesome?” Well, it’s actually really important that we test them specifically for use with SLS for a number of reasons, including the fact that we will be operating at 109% power, vs. the 104% power previously used.

If you missed the 535-second, ground rumbling test today – you’re in luck. We’ve compiled all the cool stuff (fire, steam & loud noises) into a recap video. Check it out here: