NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

April 6, 2024

Unwinding M51

The arms of a grand design spiral galaxy 60,000 light-years across are unwound in this digital transformation of the magnificent 2005 Hubble Space Telescope portrait of M51. In fact, M51 is one of the original spiral nebulae, its winding arms described by a mathematical curve known as a logarithmic spiral, a spiral whose separation grows in a geometric way with increasing distance from the center. Applying logarithms to shift the pixel coordinates in the Hubble image relative to the center of M51 maps the galaxy's spiral arms into diagonal straight lines. The transformed image dramatically shows the arms themselves are traced by star formation, lined with pinkish starforming regions and young blue star clusters. Companion galaxy NGC 5195 (top) seems to alter the track of the arm in front of it though, and itself remains relatively unaffected by this unwinding of M51. Also known as the spira mirabilis, logarthimic spirals can be found in nature on all scales. For example, logarithmic spirals can also describe hurricanes, the tracks of subatomic particles in a bubble chamber and, of course, cauliflower.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from Space Station

APR 06, 2024

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned to Earth after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on Saturday, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya.

The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5, and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 3:17 a.m., April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

O’Hara launched Sept. 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who both will remain aboard the space station to complete a one-year mission. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya launched aboard Soyuz MS-25 on March 23 along with NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who will remain aboard the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

O’Hara spent a total of 204 days in space as part of her first spaceflight. Novitskiy has logged a total of 545 days in space across four spaceflights and Vasilevskaya has spent 14 days in space as part of her first spaceflight.

Supporting NASA’s Artemis campaign, O’Hara’s mission helped prepare for exploration of the Moon and build foundations for crewed missions to Mars. She completed approximately 3,264 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 86.5 million miles. O’Hara worked on scientific activities aboard the space station, including investigating heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques during her stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. O’Hara will then board a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

With the undocking of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with O’Hara, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko make up Expedition 71 and will remain on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-loral-ohara-crewmates-return-from-space-station/

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

APR 05, 2024

A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8.

Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather Service will be added to a specially modified Alta X Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and flown to a maximum altitude of nearly two miles, higher than the team has ever flown the UAS. The UAS will provide vertical modeling of temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and wind to test an alternative data collection to using traditional weather balloons in the troposphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere where most types of clouds are found and where weather occurs.

“UAS hold promise for rapid deployment into the lower troposphere with repeated measurements for higher temporal resolution at lower cost,” said Jennifer Fowler, principal investigator and mission commander, “Typically, atmospheric data collection from instruments on board aircraft is done using balloons as the platform that, once released, are not recovered. UAS allow for the opportunity to conduct repeated profiles since the radiosonde is recovered after each flight.”

‘Forcing events’ in weather are events that drive some type of sudden change. Examples of forcing events are volcanic eruptions, wildland fires, and solar eclipses. The predictability of an eclipse, compared to other forcing events, presents a perfect opportunity for scientists to study the impact on the planetary boundary layer, the lowest part of the troposphere, in a natural experiment. Experiments with weather balloons use instruments, called dropsondes, that collect data about the atmosphere as they float to earth. Radiosondes are dropsondes attached to aircraft.

“The configuration [of instruments] that we’re using, a radiosonde integrated with a 3D sonic anemometer, flown on a multi-rotor aircraft, to my knowledge, has never been done before,” explained Tyler Willhite, airborne sensor operator, “The radiosonde is designed for balloon launches. So, the fact that we’re flying it on a drone is very different. Low altitude sounding data is critical to fill knowledge gaps that currently exist in the atmospheric boundary layer. We also have the ability to have a large variety of data outputs that can be streamed in real-time. This is something that other weather payloads are somewhat limited in.”

NASA’s team will work closely with collaborators from the World Meteorological Organization, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the University of Albany who will launch weather balloons to gather measurements during the same timeframe.

“During our eclipse mission we will also be participating in the World Meteorological Organization’s world-wide flight campaign. We will gather data in real-time throughout the eclipse and the days beforehand, send those to the WMO to input into their models for more updated and accurate forecast measurements,” said Willhite, “That is the main goal of all this data is to be inputted into models for more updated and accurate forecasts.”

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/nasa-langley-team-to-study-weather-during-eclipse-using-uncrewed-vehicles/

>>20687235

Pueblo steel mill fire prompts pre-evac notices, triggers air quality concerns

Apr 5, 2024 Updated 5 mins ago

A fire broke out Friday afternoon at the EVRAZ steel mill in Pueblo sending up a thick column of black smoke that was blowing north.

The fire triggered a shelter-in-place order and pre-evacuation order for homes near the expansive mill along Interstate 25 on the southern end of town. Pueblo County public health officials issued a public health alert Friday evening, recommending all Pueblo residents stay indoors and avoid outdoor activity through Sunday morning due to the amount of smoke in the air from the EVRAZ fire and the Vision Hills Fire.

The EVRAZ Fire broke out in a building primarily used for staging and storage and all employees evacuated safely, according to a statement from EVRAZ North America.

A Gazette reporter on the scene said fire trucks from nearby communities, such as La Junta, Rocky Ford and Manzanola, arrived Friday evening to fight the fire. The fire was still active at about 6 p.m. about two hours after the Pueblo Fire Department first posted about it at about 4 p.m. calling it an "industrial incident."

The fire fight was not visible to onlookers.

The city of Pueblo issued a its shelter-in-place order for the neighborhoods directly adjacent to the steel mill shortly before 6 p.m. over air quality concerns.

"There are no immediate threats to homes or individuals at this time," a statement from the city said.

The shelter-in-place order effects residents north to Summit Avenue and Opal Street, east to San Juan Street, south to Canal Street and west to Stone Avenue. The city did not have a timeline for lifting the order.

Residents should go inside and close their windows and turn off any air conditioning, the city statement said.

Dark smoke from the fire is visible throughout Pueblo, the Sheriff's Office said on social media. A Gazette reporter could see smoke as far north as the Pikes Peak International Raceway.

A Gazette employee said flames from the fire could be seen from the corner of Spruce Street and Indiana Avenue about five blocks away.

The Pueblo Sheriff's Office pre-evacuation order issued shortly before 5 p.m. effected the 1000 to 1100 block of Palo Alto in Salt Creek neighborhood. A pre-evacuation orders means residents should be ready to leave.

A reception center was being set up at 1650 Cooper Place.

https://gazette.com/news/fire/pueblo-steel-mill-fire-prompts-pre-evac-notices-triggers-air-quality-concerns/article_e2d78de8-f39a-11ee-9e5f-6f6bd53a5518.html