June 12, 2017 - Far-out X-Rays
Far-out X-Rays Five years ago this week, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) was launched. X-ray telescopes such as Chandra and XMM-Newton observe the universe at low X-ray energy levels, but NuSTAR is the first Earth-orbiting telescope able to focus and observe “hard” high-energy X-rays. In this image of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, NuSTAR data, which show high-energy X-rays from radioactive material (such as titanium-44), are colored blue. Lower-energy X-rays from non-radioactive material, imaged previously with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, are shown in red, yellow and green. By mapping radioactive elements in Cassiopeia A, astronomers get a direct look at what happened in the core of the star when it was blasted to smithereens.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / CXC / SAO
Weekly Calendar
June 12-18, 2017
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 12
Mercury 5° north of Aldebaran
1967: Venera 4 launched
Tuesday 13
1831: James Clerk Maxwell born
1974: National Space Society founded
1983: Pioneer 10 leaves solar system, begins traveling in interstellar space
2010: Hayabusa spacecraft returns first asteroid samples to Earth
2012: NuSTAR X-Ray telescope launched
Wednesday 14
Flag Day
1967: Mariner 5 launched
1975: Venera 10 launched
1985: Vega 2 deploys lander and balloon on Venus
Thursday 15
Saturn at opposition
1971: First Titan III-D rocket launch
2010: Soyuz TMA-19 launched carrying ISS Expedition 24/25 crew
Friday 16
Neptune 0.7° north of Moon
Neptune appears stationary
1963: Vostok 6 launched; Valentina Tereshkova first woman in space, still the only solo spaceflight by a woman
2012: Shenzhou 9 launched, fourth Chinese human space flight
Saturday 17
Last Qtr Moon 7:33 AM ET
1985: STS-51G Discovery launched
Sunday 18
Father's Day
1799: William Lassell born
1983: STS-7 Challenger launched; Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space
2009: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) launched