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    Monitoring Webb’s Mirrors for Optimal Optics

    This image is composed of three square panels in a row, taken by one of the James Webb Space Telescope’s onboard instruments known as the Near Infrared Camera. Each of the three panels contains their own different image that are set on a black background. The panel on the left has a small very blurry, and pixelated white and gray hexagon at the center. From each of the flat surfaces of the hexagon, a small gray and pixelated triangle with its tip facing away, totaling six gray pixelated triangles pointing away from the central hexagon. This picture is ‘selfie’ using a specialized ‘pupil imaging’ lens, designed to take images of the mirror segments and not of the sky. The central panel shows the 18 hexagons of Webb’s primary mirror, akin to the hexagons of a beehive in bright white and gray, but are intentionally defocused and very blurry and pixelated. From the edges of the outer hexagons, light white and gray streak extend nearly all the way to the edge of the picture. The panel on the right is very similar to the image in the center panel, but the hexagon at the very center has black dots at each of the sixe points of the hexagon. At the outer edges it also has streaking blurry gray and white lines that emanate away from the center towards the edge of the picture

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched to space. Its mirror is composed of 18 individual segments that have been aligned so accurately, that they effectively work as a single giant (21.6-foot, or 6.5-meter) reflector. The process of adjusting each of these separately functioning hexagonal mirror segments requires …

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    Strong Solar Flare Erupts From Sun

    A portion of the Sun, shown in red. Toward the middle of the image are bright white and yellow areas. A spurt of solar material erupts from the area.

    The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 8:40 a.m. ET on Nov. 6, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …

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    Sun Releases Strong Solar Flare

    The Sun appears in shades of red with some brighter and darker regions, set against a black background. In the upper left part of the Sun is a bright flash of white, a solar flare.

    The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 5:20 p.m. ET on Oct. 31, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …

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    Strong Solar Flare Erupts from Sun

    A sequence of nine images shows a solar flare in three different wavelengths: blue (131 Angstrom), yellow (171 Angstrom), and red (304 Angstrom). Each row depicts the progression of the flare over time from 2:25 to 3:22 a.m. EDT on 10/26/24.

    The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 3:19 a.m. ET on Oct. 26, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured these images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft …

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    Sun Releases Strong Solar Flare

    A portion of the Sun fills the center, most of the top, and right side of the image. The left of the image is black. The Sun is dark orange with bright yellow areas. From a very bright yellow area, solar material bursts off the Sun, into the area of black space.

    The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 11:57 p.m. ET on Oct. 23, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …

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    NISAR Satellite’s Radar Antenna Reflector Arrives in India

    NISAR RAR Shipment from March Air Reserve Base

    With NASA’s work on the radar antenna reflector for the NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite complete, the key piece of science hardware was shipped to the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) spacecraft integration and test facility in the city of Bengaluru, India, where it arrived Tuesday. Observations from NISAR will benefit humanity by …

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    Solar Arrays on NASA’s Europa Clipper Fully Deployed in Space

    This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter.

    Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have confirmed that the two solar arrays flanking the main body of the Europa Clipper spacecraft have fully unfolded. This means that the spacecraft now has a reliable source of power for the rest of its journey to Jupiter and tour of the Jovian system. …

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    Signal Acquired – NASA’s Europa Clipper Begins Journey to Jovian System

    Mission controllers for NASA’s Europa Clipper have received full acquisition of signal from the spacecraft. NASA’s Europa Clipper will be the first mission to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Scientists believe Europa has a salty ocean beneath its icy crust that potentially could hold the ingredients necessary to sustain life. The …

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    NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft Separates From Falcon Heavy Second Stage

    The second stage of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy completed its Earth departure burn, and NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft separated from the second stage. Technicians will now work to acquire signal from the spacecraft to verify its health and the spacecraft will spread its massive solar arrays to power itself as it continues on its mission …

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