Watch for the full episode, coming soon to Cosmic Journeys. Far out in space, in the center of a seething cosmic maelstrom. Extreme heat. High velocities. Atoms tear, and space literally buckles. Photons fly out across the universe, energized to the limits found in nature. Billions of years later, they enter the detectors of spacecraft stationed above our atmosphere.

Our ability to record them is part of a new age of high-energy astronomy, and a new age of insights into nature at its most extreme. What can we learn by witnessing the violent birth of a black hole?

There have been times when our understanding of the universe has reached a standstill, when our grasp of the workings of time and space, the nature of matter and energy, do not fully square with what we observe. In those times, opposing worldviews cannot be resolved.

So it was in the spring of 1920, when astronomers debated the scale of the universe. The scene was the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. On one side was the astronomer Harlow Shapley, known for his groundbreaking work on the size of our galaxy and the position of the sun within it.

Shapley described the Continue reading Cosmic Journeys: Birth of a Black Hole – Preview →

It was one of the greatest mysteries in modern science: a series of brief but extremely bright flashes of ultra-high energy light coming from somewhere out in space. These gamma ray bursts were first spotted by spy satellites in the 1960s. It took three decades and a revolution in high-energy astronomy for scientists to figure out what they were.

Far out in space, in the center of a seething cosmic maelstrom. Extreme heat. High velocities. Atoms tear, and space literally buckles. Photons fly out across the universe, energized to the limits found in nature. Billions of years later, they enter the detectors of spacecraft stationed above our atmosphere. Our ability to record them is part of a new age of high-energy astronomy, and a new age of insights into nature at its most extreme. What can we learn by witnessing the violent birth of a black hole?

The outer limits of a black hole, call the event horizon, is subject to what Albert Einstein called frame dragging, in which space and time are pulled along on a path that leads into the black hole. As gas, dust, stars or planets fall into the hole, they form into a disk that spirals Continue reading Birth of a Black Hole →

NASA’s Operation IceBridge has launched its Antarctic 2012 campaign, flying high-priority missions measuring polar ice from a base of operations at the tip of Patagonia on the Strait of Magellan. They have even made a return visit to the Pine Island Glacier, the site of last year’s discovery of a massive rift in the ice.

Sea ice doesn’t always hold the allure of a massive ice sheet, or a crevassed blue glacier spilling between mountains, but it comes in array of shapes and sizes and has its own ephemeral beauty. Operation IceBridge studies sea ice at both poles, and also runs across interesting formations on route to other targets. Operation IceBridge returned to the Pine Island Glacier twice in 2012, and NASA glaciologist Kelly Brunt discusses the implications of the glacier’s impending calving event.

Operation IceBridge has now returned to the Pine Island Glacier, not once, but twice in 2012. And the year-old giant crack in the glacier, poised to create an iceberg the size of New York City? Well it’s still there, and that iceberg has yet to break free. But the rift has grown longer, much wider, and spawned a secondary crack. Before we talk about when that mighty berg Continue reading What Scientists Are Seeing Over Antarctica →

This video is a 1080p version of our series recalling the best Hubble images. It is one of the best photographic collections of all time. Nebulae, galaxies, planets, black holes, stars, dust pockets, and more set to the music of Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne in D Flat Major, Opus 27 no. 2.

Here is a 1080p version of our series reviewing the best Hubble images. Fly in close and witness one of the best photographic collections of all time. Nebulae, galaxies, planets, black holes, stars, dust pockets, and more set to the music of Frédéric Chopin, Nocturne Opus 62 N. 2.

Part 3 our series reviewing the best Hubble images. Nebulae, galaxies, planets, black holes, stars, dust pockets, all flying by. These historic images are sublimely juxtaposed to the music of Frédéric Chopin, Étude Opus 10 no.3 “Tristesse.”

From NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been catching brief outbursts of high-energy light that are mysteriously produced above thunderstorms. The outbursts, known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), last only a few thousandths of a second, but their gamma rays rank among the highest-energy light that naturally occurs on Earth. The enhanced GBM discovery rate helped scientists show most TGFs also generate a strong burst of radio waves, a finding that will change how scientists study this poorly understood phenomenon.

Lightning emits a broad range of very low frequency (VLF) radio waves, often heard as pop-and-crackle static when listening to AM radio. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), researchers routinely detect these radio signals and use them to pinpoint the location of lightning discharges anywhere on the globe to within about 20 km.

Scientists have known for a long time TGFs were linked to strong VLF bursts, but they interpreted these signals as originating from lightning strokes somehow associated with the gamma-ray emission.

The researchers identified much weaker radio bursts that occur up to several thousandths of a second before or after a TGF. They interpret these signals as intracloud lightning strokes related to, but not created Continue reading Earth Gamma Ray Blasters →

The Apollo program was a true testament of the human race’s ability to dream, overcome, and achieve the impossible. It was first conceived during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Kennedy later declared the national goal of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.” By the end of 1960’s, the goal had been achieved.

On the 40th anniversary of the final flight, Apollo 17 in December 1972, we offer this video as a tribute to these historic missions. The video is a journey through each manned Apollo mission, from the most tragic to the most triumphant. Actual astronaut photography and audio will put you in the footsteps of the astronauts who risked their lives for the advancement of science and exploration.

This video steps viewers through the final portion of the choreography needed to land NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars.

When the Rover Curiosity landed on Mars, space and science fans all over the world rejoiced. But it is not there just to take pictures. This incredible piece of machinery is a one-ton, all-inclusive laboratory, capable of analyzing all aspects of the Martian surface and atmosphere.

It’s primary goals include investigation of the climate and geology, assessment of whether or not Gale Crater has ever offered life-sustaining environmental conditions, investigating the role of water on mars, and planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration.

This video incorporates photography and video from the Mars Rover as well as CGI animations of the many components at work. Watch as Curiosity stretches its legs in preparation for the truly revolutionary experiments on its calendar for the weeks and years ahead.