The NASA “Worm” Logo

A photo of S Rings, a ring near Saturn. Took by Cassini with COISS on March 04, 2013 at 08:56:39. Detail page on OPUS database.

(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

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.

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! 

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A photo of Saturn. Took by Cassini with COISS on January 07, 2012 at 23:20:38. Detail page on OPUS database.

Hundreds of Galaxies, captured by Hubble js

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May 14, 2009 – A close-up view of astronaut John Grunsfeld performing spacewalk to do some maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope, photographed by Andrew Feustel, who can be seen in Grunsfeld’s visor. 

(NASA)