National Aeronautics and Space Administration About the Satellite Images on the Front The satellite images shown on the front of this poster are all taken from separate NASA instruments and show the sun, Earth, Mars and other galaxies. They are not to scale. If the size and distance were accurate, the image of Earth would be a tiny dot next to the image of the sun. Mars and the other galaxies would be invisible. ers EARTH This image of Earth highlights the Arc­ Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team tic region on April 23, 2003, with sea ice bright­ (STScI/AURA) ness temperature data from the AMSR-E instru­ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/ ment shown in light blue and snow cover data releases/2007/08/image/a from the MODIS instrument shown in white. Earth Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific MARS Vast canyons, towering volcanoes, Visualization Studio sprawling fields of ice, deep craters, and high explor http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/ clouds can all be seen in this image of the a003100/a003181 fourth planet from the sun: Mars. The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft took this mosaic of SUN The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory images as springtime dawned in northern Mars (SOHO) obtained this image of the sun on in May 2002. Sprawled across the image bot­ August 26, 1997. A huge prominence—an tom is Valles Marinaris, a canyon over five eruption of gas in the solar atmosphere—can times the length and depth of Earth’s Grand be seen near the top right of the image. The Canyon. On the left are several volcanoes material in the prominence is at temperatures including Olympus Mons, a volcano three times of 60,000–80,000 K, much cooler than the sur­ higher than Earth’s Mt. Everest. At the top is the Sun rounding corona, which is typically at tempera­ North Polar Cap made of thawing water and carbon dioxide-based ice. Swirling white clouds tures above 1 million K. The prominence is over science 350,000 km (216,000 miles) across, large and circular impact craters are also visible. enough to span 28 Earths. Credit: Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), Jet Credit: The SOHO-EIT Consortium Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and NASA http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030422. SolarCorona/eit023.html html HUBBLE GALAXY CLUSTER The back­ ground photo used on the poster front is made from images taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in January 2005 and February 2006. space It shows the diverse collection of galaxies in a Mars galaxy cluster called Abell S0740, located more than 450 million light-years away in the con­ stellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical ESO 325-G004 looms ASTRONAUTS Astronauts remove the Wide large at the cluster’s center (visible here, but Field and Planetary Camera to replace it with its not on the poster front). The galaxy is as mas­ more powerful successor, Wide Field and Pla­ and sive as 100 billion of our suns. Globular clus­ netary Camera 2, during Hubble’s first servicing ters—compact groups of hundreds of thou­ mission in 1993. The camera, shaped some­ sands of stars that are gravitationally bound thing like a grand piano, weighs 277 kg (610 th together—can be seen as pinpoints of light pounds) on Earth, but nothing in space (though contained within the galaxy’s diffuse halo. a significant push is still required to move the Other fuzzy elliptical galaxies dot the image. camera due to its inertia). It can detect stars a Some have evidence of a disk or ring structure billion times fainter than the ones we can see Hubble Galaxy Cluster that gives them a bow-tie shape. Several spiral with our eyes. Most of Hubble’s most popular ear galaxies are also present. The starlight in these pictures have been taken with this 2nd camera. galaxies is mainly contained in a central bulge Credit: NASA and follows along spiral arms in a disk. http://hubblesite.org/gallery/spacecraft/15 1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Who Are NASA Earth and Space Science Explorers? The Earth and Space Science Explorers series feature NASA The complete collections of articles are available at: explorers, young and old, with many backgrounds and interests. EARTH EXPLORERS Most articles are written for three different reading levels: grades http://science.hq.nasa.gov/education/earth_explorers SPACE SCIENCE EXPLORERS K–4, grades 5–8, and grades 9–12 and up. New articles are regu- ers http://science.hq.nasa.gov/education/space_explorers larly added and can be accessed through the “For Educators” and Note: Full-length feature articles on many of the Explorers profiled here are “For Students” sections of the NASA portal: www.nasa.gov/home. available online at the Web sites listed above. A few are slated for future articles. Robert Bindschadler Bindschadler has had to sleep in tents Few people know cold and ice like through bitter cold, endure blizzards, Robert Bindschadler does. The longtime and avoid falling into hidden cracks in explor NASA scientist uses remote sensing to glacial ice. “Blizzards can come up study glaciers and ice sheets. But suddenly, and we never venture from sometimes an up-close-and-personal our base camp without taking survival view is required. As a leader of more gear—shovel, small tent, sleeping bag, than a dozen Antarctic field expeditions, stove and food,” he says. Phil Christensen rocks, Christensen now has more than Two things have fascinated Phil he could have ever imagined. It was his science Christensen since he was a kid—Mars idea to start the Rock Around the World and rocks. In the sixth grade, he talked program, which has collected more his mom into letting him stay home and than 8,000 rocks sent in by students watch the first images of Mars coming from all over the world. Scientists study back from a NASA spacecraft. Now a the rocks and compare them with professor and planetary geologist, those found on Mars. “It’s gratifying to Christensen has helped build several see kids get excited about Mars,” NASA instruments launched into space Christensen said. “For some of these space to map the Martian surface and study students, this may be the beginning of the history of water on Mars. As for a career in Earth sciences.” and Michele Cooke deform rocks. One of the students’ A day of observing fossilized dinosaur teachers, Mary Ellsworth, knows the prints, petrified wood and volcanic rock importance of visual and hands-on would be a valuable learning experi­ methods in explaining science without th ence for most any student, but espe­ benefit of the spoken word. “Sign lan­ cially for those who are deaf or hard- guage makes use of three-dimensional of-hearing. University of Massachusetts space in a different way than verbal ear Amherst geologist Michele Cooke uses language does,” Ellsworth said. “Deaf sign language to describe to high students may be particularly adept at school students how tectonic forces using this visual information.” 2 National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Earth and Space Science Explorers Heidi Dierssen without its risks, which include strong Satellites allow for constant monitor­ currents and fish that can be way too ers ing of the ocean’s surface, but they friendly. “One time when the water have trouble seeing through to the was so turbid I couldn’t see beyond ocean bottom. That’s why NASA my knees, a remora (also known as a oceanographer Heidi Dierssen spends suckerfish) came flying at me from a good part of her research time col­ the left and tried to attach itself to my lecting data on or underneath the sea bottom lip,” Dierssen said. “‘Ouch!’ I surface. While the water she dives into think I screamed underwater. It appar­ is typically warm and only about 3 to ently mistook me for a shark.” explor 5 meters (10 to 15 feet) deep, it is not Jared Dmello Uranus and Jupiter. Dmello has also Located in a remote area of the worked with Hubble Space Telescope Mojave Desert, the Goldstone-Apple scientists on a science fair project Valley Radio Telescope was once used involving the electromagnetic spec­ by NASA to track and communicate trum. “Since I was little, I always with spacecraft. Now, students such enjoyed looking at the stars,” Dmello science as Jared Dmello are controlling the said. “I think it is so amazing to actu­ telescope via the Internet. The ally get to study Uranus and Jupiter, California eighth-grader and his class­ because you never know what you’ll mates have used the telescope’s 34­ discover.” meter (112-foot) antenna to study space Jamie Dyk Ultimately, Dyk chose science over Jamie Dyk came to NASA’s Jet cheerleading, and to this day doesn’t Propulsion Laboratory to help develop regret her decision. In fact, being an the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. engineer has met and exceeded the Not long after the young engineer expectations Dyk had when she first and arrived, she was faced with an unusu­ became interested in space and Mars al choice when she tried out for the as a middle school student. “I couldn’t Laker Girls, one of the world’s most have imagined how cool it would be. th prestigious cheerleading squads. She There is nothing like sitting in the con­ made it to final cuts, only to realize trol room when the first images come there wasn’t enough time in her life back from Mars and you see your for both NASA and cheerleading.