NASA Next Editor at the Gas Giant, Orbiting Jupiter 37 Core
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MAY 2016 1 NASAnext National Aeronautics and Space Administration next NASAempowering the next generation of space explorers OSIRIS-REx NASA’s asteroid sampling mission takes off PAGE 6 www.nasa.gov MAY 2016 MAY 2016 2 3 NASAnext NASAnext Dear Reader, Humans are curious; they love to explore. Throughout our history, man has tirelessly pursued the next hori- zon. The same is true of our scientists and engineers. NASA’s missions and accomplish- ments are a direct result of this ines- capable curiosity and thirst for explo- ration. To many of our scientists and engineers, space is the final frontier — a place of endless discovery. Our eyes are fixed on this frontier. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists uncover some of the most distant objects ever seen. We observed the Juno spacecraft make A meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower on Aug. its arrival at Jupiter this summer. In 12, 2016, in West Virginia. What have you seen in the night sky? NASA/Bill Ingalls fall, we watch as OSIRIS-REx trav- els to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu to retrieve a sample and send it back to Earth. SEPTEMBER 2016 But our scientists and engineers juno know that we also must keep a close meets a 3 Juno meets a giant eye on our own planet. Warmer than NASA/JPL-Caltech average temperatures and disappear- ing sea ice are indicators that our 4 NASA’s NICER planet is changing. NASA continuous- ly monitors and studies these chang- giant 5 One planet, two suns es to help us understand the future of upiter has captivated people sky, Jupiter’s magnetic field would ap- our home. since ancient times. Today, pear as large as the full moon. 6 Destination: Asteroid I hope this magazine inspires you to scientists believe Jupiter holds But scientists are unsure what ex- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sets off on its Jclues to understanding our solar actly generates Jupiter’s magnetic explore and make a great discovery system’s origins and formation. field. We know that magnetic fields journey to Bennu all your own. You are our next genera- tion of scientists and engineers, and it NASA’s Juno spacecraft are produced by dynamos. As a plan- is through you that this pursuit of dis- launched August 5, 2011, and trav- et rotates, the liquid swirls around 8 Webb’s sunshield covery will continue. eled more than 2 billion miles to reach and drives electric currents, creating Jupiter. Juno, which arrived at Jupiter a magnetic field. Earth’s magnetic 9 The last frontier Sarah Schlieder on July 4, will spend more than a year field is generated by liquid iron in its NASA Next editor at the gas giant, orbiting Jupiter 37 core. But with Jupiter, scientists do times in total. The spacecraft will un- not know what material is producing 10 Arctic temps ravel some of the greatest mysteries its magnetic field. Observations made NASANext surrounding Jupiter, including its ori- by Juno will help to solve this mystery. Empowering the next generation of space explorers 11 Heating up gin, atmosphere and magnetosphere. The team equipped Juno with a pair Goddard Space Flight Center Jupiter is a ball of gas 11 times of magnetometers to look inside Jupi- Jupiter’s north polar region comes into 12 Q&A: Joy Ng Volume 1, Issue 2 | September 2016 wider than Earth and 300 times more ter and map its magnetic field. A mag- view as Juno passes the giant planet. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/MSSS Front cover: An illustration of OSIRIS-REx before massive. It takes 12 years to orbit the netometer is like a compass. Both re- sampling the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. NASA/ sun, but it rotates so fast that its day is cord the direction of a magnetic field. 13 For Educators Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab Resources and activities to only 10 hours long. Its magnetic field But magnetometers expand on that field and peering inside the planet, incorpoarate NASA Next into your Back cover: An artist’s concept of our sun 4 billion is nearly 20,000 times as powerful as capability and record the direction scientists hope to gain a better un- classroom years ago. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/ Earth’s field, reaching as far as Sat- and magnitude of the magnetic field. derstanding of what produces the Conceptual Image Lab urn’s orbit. If it were visible in the night By mapping Jupiter’s magnetic giant’s magnetic field. Q&A Quick dek under here maybe MAY 2016 MAY 2016 4 5 NASAnext NASAnext One planet, two suns A planet orbiting two suns — sounds WORDS TO KNOW straight out of Star Wars, right? NASA Circumbinary planet: a planet scientists spot new Tatooine-like planet. that orbits two stars Kepler Space Telescope: This artist’s rendition shows the NICER payload. The mission will reveal the physics that make neutron stars the densest objects in nature. NASA Launched in 2009, this space around a double-star system — that observatory is searching for is, a planet orbiting two suns. It has Earth-size planets orbiting oth- NASA MISSION PROFILE a mass and radius nearly identical to er stars. So far, it’s confirmed that of Jupiter! Kepler-1647b takes more than 2,330 exoplanets — 1,107 days — just over three years and counting. — to orbit both of its stars. It is about 3,700 light-years away and about 4.4 billion years old. That’s roughly the same age as Earth! Left, an artist’s impression of the stellar Planets that orbit two stars are eclipse and planetary transit events on Ke- Meetn 2017, a NASA mission will begin NICER known as circumbinary planets, or pler-1647b. Below, a comparison of the rel- uncovering the physics surround- sometimes “Tatooine,” like in “Star ative sizes of several Kepler circumbinary planets. Kepler-1647b is much larger than ing the ultra-dense interiors of Wars.” The stars are similar to the sun, with one slightly larger than our any of the previously discovered circumbi- Ineutron stars. NASA’s Neutron nary planets. Both illustrations: Lynette Cook star Interior Composition Explor- own and the other slightly smaller. er (NICER) mission will uncover the physics surrounding the interiors team led by astronomers from of a particular group of stars known NASA’s Goddard Space Flight as neutron stars. Center and San Diego State A neutron star begins its life as AUniversity in California discovered a star that has about 10 times the a new planet that orbits two suns — mass of the sun. When its nuclear much like Luke Skywalker’s home fuel exhausts, the star’s outer layers The 56-telescope payload will fly on the International Space Station. NASA world in Star Wars. explode in a supernova. Crushed by Using data from NASA’s Kepler its own gravity, the star’s core col- houses that sweep narrow beams sars as beacons. This will ultimately Space Telescope, astronomers lapses and forms what scientists call of radiation through space as they further deep space exploration into searched for slight dips in brightness a neutron star. These stellar corpses spin. They can spin up to hundreds of the solar system and beyond. that hint a planet might be passing are the densest, most magnetic and times every second. NICER will use Scientists have created models to in front of the stars, blocking a tiny fastest spinning objects known in the these pulsations to investigate phys- describe the physics of neutron star amount of their light. universe. ics of the interiors of these stars, as interiors. Ultimately, NICER’s astro- The planet, Kepler-1647b, is lo- Some rapidly rotating neutron stars, well as demonstrate a technological physical observations will test these cated in the constellation Cygnus. It called pulsars, are like cosmic light- first: spacecraft navigation using pul- models. is the largest planet yet discovered MAY 2016 MAY 2016 6 7 NASAnext NASAnext OSIRIS-REx is an acronym of the mission’s objectives: Origins Return and analyze a pristine, carbon-rich asteroid sample Spectral Interpretation Provide direct observations for telescopic data of the entire aster- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center oid Resource Identification Map the chemistry and mineralogy of a primitive carbon-rich asteroid Security Near-Earth Asteroid 101955 Bennu’s mass is estimated at Measure the effect of sunlight Bennu is the target of the OSIRIS- 85.5 million U.S. tons (77.6 million on the orbit of a small asteroid, REx mission. It was first discovered metric tons). known as the Yarkovsky effect — on Sep. 11, 1999, by the Lincoln Bennu was named by a third-grad- the slight push created when the Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Re- er as part of an international student asteroid absorbs sunlight and re- search project, part of NASA’s NEO contest. The asteroid was named emits that energy as heat Observations Program. after the Egyptian mythological fig- Bennu is the most well-under- ure linked to rebirth. Regolith Explorer stood near-Earth asteroid that has By returning a sample to Earth for Document the regolith — layer not been visited by a spacecraft. It study, scientists will better under- of loose, outer material — at the OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, seconds, during which it will retrieve has a diameter of about 1,614 feet stand the formation of planets and sampling site Launching this fall, Spectral Interpretation, Resource a sample of regolith — the loose ma- (492 meters). It orbits the sun about our solar system, as well as the or- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Identification, Security – Regolith terial on the asteroid surface.