Unveiling the Bizarre: JOJO's Realm

Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star. The object heralds a new era of Swift science made possible by a novel method for analyzing data from the satellite’s X-ray Telescope (XRT). When a star strays too close to a monster black hole, gravitational forces create intense tides that break the star apart into a stream of gas. The leading edge swings around the black hole, and the trailing edge escapes the system. These destructive episodes are called tidal disruption events. Astronomers see them as flares of multiwavelength light created when the debris collides with a disk of material already orbiting the black hole. Recently, astronomers have been investigating variations on this phenomena, which they call partial or repeating tidal disruptions. During these events, every time an orbiting star passes close to a black hole, the star bulges outward and sheds material, but survives. The process repeats until the star loses too much gas and finally breaks apart. The characteristics of the individual star and black hole system determine what kind of emission scientists observe, creating a wide array of behaviors to categorize. On June 22, 2022, the XRT captured Swift J0230 for the first time. It lit up in a galaxy around 500 million light-years away in the northern constellation Triangulum. Swift’s XRT has observed nine additional outbursts from the same location roughly every few weeks. Scientists propose that Swift J0230 is a repeating tidal disruption of a Sun-like star orbiting a black hole with over 200,000 times the Sun’s mass. They estimate the star loses around three Earth masses of material on each pass. This system provides a bridge between other types of suspected repeating disruptions and allowed scientists to model how interactions between different star types and black hole sizes affect what we observe. Swift J0230’s discovery was possible thanks to a new, automated search of XRT observations called the Swift X-ray Transient Detector. After the instrument observes a portion of the sky, the data is transmitted to the ground, and the program compares it to previous XRT snapshots of the same spot. If that portion of the X-ray sky has changed, scientists get an alert. In the case of Swift J0230, astronomers were able to rapidly coordinate additional observations of the region.

Earth views from the International Space Station. City lights, auroras, sunsets, oceans, moon on the horizon an other beauty shots of our planet from space.

This visualization shows 4k video taken from the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2016. The International Space Station is a large spacecraft in orbit around Earth that serves as a home where crews of astronauts and cosmonauts live. The space station is also a unique science laboratory. It orbits Earth at an average altitude of 220 miles and it travels at 17,500 mph, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes. The space station has the volume of a five-bedroom house or two Boeing 747 jetliners. It is able to support a crew of six people, plus visitors. On Earth, the space station would weigh almost a million pounds. Measured from the edges of its solar arrays, the station covers the area of a football field including the end zones. The space station has made it possible for people to have an ongoing presence in space. Human beings have been living in space every day since the first crew arrived. The space station's laboratories allow crew members to do research that could not be done anywhere else. This scientific research benefits people on Earth. Space research is even used in everyday life. Scientists also study what happens to the body when people live in microgravity for a long time. NASA and its partners have learned how to keep a spacecraft working well. All of these lessons will be important for future space exploration. NASA currently is working on a plan to explore other worlds. The space station is one of the first steps. NASA will use lessons learned on the space station to prepare for human missions that reach farther into space than ever before.

Ultra-High-Definition Video from the International Space Station

In the summer of 2015 a NASA-funded team of researchers camped out on the ablation zone--or melt zone--of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Their goal: to conduct a bold and coordinated set of measurements that should help us better understand how meltwater is transported from the ice sheet and into the sea, and ultimately how much that process will affect sea level rise. Larry Smith from UCLA led a team of hydrologists who conducted 72 straight hours of measurements across a river of meltwater, just upstream from where that river plunged into a moulin, or hole in the ice. Smith and Berkeley researcher Vena Chu also placed drifting science beacons in three tributaries of that river to monitor the water as it moved downstream. A few hours after their deployment all three beacons driften by camp, having accomplished their mission. This footage chronicles the flight from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland by helicopter en route to the main camp, as well as the deployment of the drifting beacons.

Perhaps more than all other federal agencies, NASA tells stories about big things: big places, big data, big ideas. Using extraordinarily high resolution data sets from some of the most innovative and powerful scientific instruments ever built, the media team at NASA Goddard presents PURSUIT OF LIGHT. The presentation showcases top level goals of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, with an eye toward capturing the imagination of mainstream audiences. Data visualizations at resolutions far greater than HDTV present NASA's science goals like never before. Interspersed with inventive live action footage also designed to make use of that vast canvas, this six and a half minute presentation captivates and moves viewers. PURSUIT OF LIGHT was designed expressly for a screen technology called The Hyperwall, a system largely perfected at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Hyperwall itself is a platform best suited for big themes. With colossal screen resolution and an ultrawide presentational style, moving images played there take on a vast sense of scale and power. PURSUIT OF LIGHT employs the strength of this remarkable system and pushes it further than ever before, presenting stories about the Earth, The Moon, The Sun, The Planets, and the deep sky, wrapped in poetic implication about the humanity's imperative need to explore. This show will play prominently on touring Hyperwalls around the country as well as on the web. Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator Alex Kekesi (GST): Animator Ernie Wright (USRA): Animator Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Animator Tom Bridgman (GST): Animator Victoria Weeks (HTSI): Video Editor, Videographer Michael Starobin (HTSI): Producer, Videographer, Writer