NASA’s ‘Pluto Time’ Connects People with Science

NASA is unveiling mosaics of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, representing the global response to its popular “#PlutoTime” social media campaign. The Pluto Time concept and widget was developed by the New Horizons science team so that people could experience the approximate sunlight level on Pluto at noon—generally around dawn or dusk on Earth. 

A photo of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh is embedded in this mosaic of hundreds of images shared during the #PlutoTime campaign.

Credits: NASA/JPL

The astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930, is shown with his homemade 9-inch telescope.

Among the more unusual #PlutoTime photos is this submission from the Apopo HeroRATs program in Morogoro, Tanzania, which uses large rats to sniff out landmines.

Credits: Twitter

Since the Pluto Time campaign was announced in June, NASA received more than 339,000 visits to the Pluto Time widgetand almost 7,000 image submissions from across the globe, including: the U.S., Italy, New Zealand, Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Qatar, France, Australia, Romania, India, Colombia, Venezuela, Egypt, Greece, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico, England, Malaysia, Uruguay and Spain. 

Thousands of those submissions have now been assembled into three stunning mosaics of Pluto, Charon, and a combined image of the two. The mosaics include not only dim skies on Earth, but famous landmarks, selfies, and even family pets. The files are so large that – at current resolution – they would make an 11 x 11’ print.

Gigapan Pluto mosaic

Gigapan Charon mosaic

View the Pluto Time mosaic of Charon

View the Pluto Time mosaic of Pluto and Charon

The Pluto Time idea stemmed from a frequently-asked question of New Horizons scientists: how are you going to take pictures of Pluto, given that it’s so far from the sun? “We realized that we could make a web tool that would estimate approximately when the light levels dropped to Pluto levels,” said Alex Parker, research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. “We looked up tables of illumination levels during various stages of twilight -- used to determine when streetlights come on and such -- and determined how low the sun would need to be on a clear day to match Pluto. After that is was a matter of doing the math.” 

The Solar System Exploration Public Engagement team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California assembled the mosaics, using approximately 1,500 to 2,100 images for each. Images are occasionally repeated by the software to correctly fill in the colors and provide the proper shape of Pluto and its terrain. 

The creators of the mosaic give a nod to Clyde Tombaugh, the American who discovered Pluto in 1930. If you zoom in on the inset in the image above, you can see a photo of Tombaugh and his homemade 9-inch telescope in the region of Pluto’s “heart,” informally named Tombaugh Regio. 

“It’s gratifying to see the global response to Pluto Time, which allowed us to imagine what it’s like on Pluto, some three billion miles away,” said Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science. “This is a wonderful example of how space exploration and science unite us with a common bond.”

'Pluto Time' Mosaic

NASA is unveiling mosaics of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, representing the global response to its popular “#PlutoTime” social media campaign. The Pluto Time concept and widget was developed by the New Horizons science team so that people could experience the approximate sunlight level on Pluto at noon—generally around dawn or dusk on Earth. Thousands of those submissions have now been assembled into three stunning mosaics of Pluto, Charon, and a combined image of the two. The mosaics include not only dim skies on Earth, but famous landmarks, selfies, and even family pets.

A photo of Clyde Tombaugh, the American who discovered Pluto in 1930, is embedded in this mosaic of hundreds of images shared during the campaign. If you zoom in on the inset in this image, you can see a photo of Tombaugh and his homemade 9-inch telescope in the region of Pluto’s “heart,” informally named Tombaugh Regio.

Hefty Prominence Eruption Observed by SDO

Credits: NASA/SDO

A mass of solar material gathered itself into a twisting mass, spun around for a bit, then rose up and broke apart over a 10-hour period on Oct. 13, 2015. Prominences are unstable clouds of gas tethered above the surface of the sun by magnetic forces. The image and video were produced with a combination of two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, 193 and 304 Angstroms. Though invisible to our eyes, these wavelengths are typically colorized in bronze and red, respectively. Much of the jittering and odd jumping motions above the surface were artifacts caused by brightening and contrast changes used to bring out the detail and structure of the prominence.

IBEX Sheds New Light on Solar System Boundary

An artist's rendition of NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, in space, where it collects observations of the boundaries of our solar system.

Credits: NASA

In 14 papers published in the October 2015 Astrophysical Journal Supplement, scientists present findings from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, mission providing the most definitive analyses, theories and results about local interstellar space to date.

IBEX uses energetic neutral atom imaging to examine how our heliosphere, the magnetic bubble in which our sun and planets reside, interacts with interstellar space. IBEX created the first global maps showing these interactions and how they change over time. IBEX also directly measures interstellar neutral atoms flowing into the solar system; the journal’s special issue focuses on these particles.

“Over the past six years, this fundamental work focused on our place in the solar system has become the gold standard for understanding our sun, our heliosphere and the interstellar environment around us,” said David McComas, principal investigator of the IBEX mission at the Southwest Research Institute, or SwRI, in San Antonio, Texas.

Eight papers highlight the interstellar helium measurements taken by IBEX and the joint European Space Agency and NASA Ulysses spacecraft, which launched in 1990. These are the only two spacecraft to have directly measured the local interstellar flow of these helium atoms. The studies resolved an inconsistency in the direction and temperature of the interstellar flow in the data gathered by Ulysses compared to those taken by IBEX. Both data sets now affirm that the local interstellar flow is significantly hotter than believed previously based on the Ulysses observations alone, and provide insight into the direction the heliosphere is moving through the local material in the galaxy, as well as how fast it is traveling.

Two papers examine aspects of determining the composition of interstellar particles, looking closely at oxygen, helium, and neon, as well as how those and other particles are effectively measured. The final four papers discuss analysis techniques and related theoretical considerations, such as the effects of radiation pressure and how planetary gravity affects the course of neutral atoms as they travel through the heliosphere.

“Collectively, these papers represent a huge step forward in our understanding of the interstellar medium in the heliophysics community,” said McComas.

This animation shows how IBEX captures neutral atoms from beyond the boundaries of the solar system to observe our local interstellar neighborhood.

Credits: NASA Goddard's Conceptual Image Lab

Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

Initially a two-year mission, funding for IBEX has been extended through 2017, with the potential for mission extensions beyond that. IBEX is one of NASA’s series of low-cost, rapidly developed Heliophysics Small Explorer space missions.

"For a Small Explorer, the scientific output has been tremendous," said Eric Christian, IBEX mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "These 14 new papers seven years after launch show just how exciting a mission this is."

The Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, leads IBEX with teams of national and international partners. NASA Goddard manages the Explorers Program for the agency's Heliophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Journaling: Astronauts Chronicle Missions

LOG ENTRY: SOL 25

Remember those old math questions you had in Algebra class? Where water is entering a container at a certain rate and leaving at a different rate and you need to figure out when it’ll be empty? Well, that concept is critical to the “Mark Watney doesn’t die” project I’m working on.

I need to create calories. And I need enough to last four years. I figure if I don’t get rescued by Ares 4, I’m dead anyway. So that’s my target: four years.

                                                    – From: “The Martian” – a novel by Andy Weir

Weir’s novel, The Martian, is largely told through the mission journals of astronaut Mark Watney, who is mistakenly left alone on Mars. Even though this story is fictional, journaling has and will always play an important role in any journey. It’s a simple yet invaluable tool used by behavioral scientists to help assess the mental and emotional states associated with life in long-term isolation and confinement. The Human Research Program studies this at NASA.

Astronaut Scott Kelly watches the Earth go by from a cupola window. Isolation and confinement is a condition of expeditions to the space station. Journaling is one way to combat some of the effects.

Credits: NASA

Astronaut Sunita Williams participated in the journals investigation. Crew members agreed to journal at least three times per week either by typing on a laptop or recording audio files.

Credits: NASA

As the Space Shuttle Program came to a close and NASA began focusing on much longer duration space missions aboard theInternational Space Station, Jack Stuster, behavioral scientist, began to wonder “if anyone had considered the behavioral issues that might be involved in long duration isolation and confinement in space.” From this thought, the Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement: Review and Analysis of Astronaut Journals investigation was born.

The investigation, now in its second phase, focuses on the astronaut journals of each six-person space station crew. The objective is to identify equipment, habitat, and procedural factors that can help humans when adjusting to isolation and confinement while ensuring they remain effective and productive during future long-duration space expeditions, such as ajourney to Mars.

While on orbit, astronauts write in their personal journals at least three times per week. Journals can be either typed on a laptop or recorded as an audio file. Journaling provides an outlet for emotions, Stuster said. They are a personal record of events and data that can be used to derive recommendations for future missions.

NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly is participating in the journals investigation as part of theOne-Year Mission aboard the space station.

“The journals are analyzed by first categorizing, and then counting,” Stuster said.

Each statement in the journal entry is assigned to a primary category based on the subject of the statement; secondary and third-level categories also can be assigned, depending on the content. Then the statement is assigned a code to indicate whether the tone is positive, negative or neutral. From this, a metric is derived by subtracting the proportion of negative entries from the proportion of positive entries. Stuster calls the metric "net-positivity-negativity."

Phase one of the Journals investigation analyzed the journals of 10 NASA astronauts, both men and women, who spent an average of 188 days aboard the space station as members of two- and three-person crews. These participating astronauts wrote nearly 285,000 words in their journals — the equivalent of a 1,100-page book. Stuster is currently analyzing the journals of 10 additional astronauts who were members of a six-person crew, with the intention of comparing the results to identify any differences caused by crew size.

Stuster previously studied many exploration logs and personal journals from past explorers. He found there are highly predictable problems that will be encountered by future space crew, including strong-willed crew mates, cultural differences, misunderstandings and communication delays. To mitigate potential problems among crew members, Stuster said, team building exercises, training in intercultural relations, and instruction concerning coping strategies should be included in astronaut training for long-duration space expeditions.

Benefits of the study include learning how astronauts and cosmonauts find ways to adapt to the isolation, confinement and other stressors of life aboard the ISS. These insights will help NASA design equipment and procedures for future space exploration. Study results also show those of us on Earth that it is possible for people from different backgrounds and cultures to live in harmony, even under very stressful conditions.

Journals have been written as long as humans have been exploring. Mark Watney used log entries to chronicle his experience of being left alone on a planet in the novel. He hoped someone would one day find his journal and Earth would know he tried his best to survive. He also logged every problem he encountered and detailed his solutions. As NASA prepares for a journey to Mars, the journals of real astronauts are finding solutions to problems that future crew members might never encounter. 

Most Earth-Like Worlds Have Yet to Be Born, According to Theoretical Study

Earth came early to the party in the evolving universe. According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed. And, the party won't be over when the sun burns out in another 6 billion years. The bulk of those planets - 92 percent - have yet to be born.

This conclusion is based on an assessment of data collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the prolific planet-hunting Kepler space observatory.

"Our main motivation was understanding the Earth's place in the context of the rest of the universe," said study author Peter Behroozi of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, "Compared to all the planets that will ever form in the universe, the Earth is actually quite early."

This is an artist's impression of innumerable Earth-like planets that have yet to be born over the next trillion years in the evolving universe.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Looking far away and far back in time, Hubble has given astronomers a "family album" of galaxy observations that chronicle the universe's star formation history as galaxies grew. The data show that the universe was making stars at a fast rate 10 billion years ago, but the fraction of the universe's hydrogen and helium gas that was involved was very low. Today, star birth is happening at a much slower rate than long ago, but there is so much leftover gas available that the universe will keep cooking up stars and planets for a very long time to come.

"There is enough remaining material [after the big bang] to produce even more planets in the future, in the Milky Way and beyond," added co-investigator Molly Peeples of STScI.

Kepler's planet survey indicates that Earth-sized planets in a star's habitable zone, the perfect distance that could allow water to pool on the surface, are ubiquitous in our galaxy. Based on the survey, scientists predict that there should be 1 billion Earth-sized worlds in the Milky Way galaxy at present, a good portion of them presumed to be rocky. That estimate skyrockets when you include the other 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

This leaves plenty of opportunity for untold more Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone to arise in the future. The last star isn't expected to burn out until 100 trillion years from now. That's plenty of time for literally anything to happen on the planet landscape. 

The researchers say that future Earths are more likely to appear inside giant galaxy clusters and also in dwarf galaxies, which have yet to use up all their gas for building stars and accompanying planetary systems. By contrast, our Milky Way galaxy has used up much more of the gas available for future star formation. 

A big advantage to our civilization arising early in the evolution of the universe is our being able to use powerful telescopes like Hubble to trace our lineage from the big bang through the early evolution of galaxies. The observational evidence for the big bang and cosmic evolution, encoded in light and other electromagnetic radiation, will be all but erased away 1 trillion years from now due to the runaway expansion of space. Any far-future civilizations that might arise will be largely clueless as to how or if the universe began and evolved.

The results will appear in the October 20 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington.

Mars needs humans: Why the red planet is the 'logical next place'

Javier E. David | @TeflonGeek

13 Hours AgoCNBC.com

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COMMENTSJoin the Discussion

Source: NASA

An artist's conception of a human Mars base, with a cutaway revealing an interior horticultural area

After decades of space exploration, and countless movies on the subject, why exactly does Mars continue to inspire such high levels of cultural and scientific fascination?

Both the red planet and NASA — the most prominent vehicle for space exploration — are coasting on a wave of newfound popularity, taking center stage in big-budget Hollywood productions. Whether by coincidence or design, the favorable treatment of NASA by Tinseltown comes at a time when the space agency recently discovered the existence of water on Mars, and last week openly declared colonizing the planet within the next 20 years as "an achievable goal."

Given threats from outer space, at least a few scientists think the survival of humanity may hinge on finding a new, hospitable planet to colonize. Just a few years ago, NASA critics and even some supporters were openly questioning whether the Mars science laboratory was worth its $2.5 billion price tag.

Read More'The Martian' gets a real life boost, but it may not matter

Fast forward a few years, and the space agency is moving full speed toward establishing a human presence on the planet — a quest that looks less and less quixotic by the day. 

"Mars is obviously the logical next place to expand our capabilities and getting Earth crews there," Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin told CNBC in a recent phone interview, in which he described his efforts to promote more awareness about outer space among children and the general public.

The famed astronaut and second man to walk on the moon's surface said sending humans to the planet would be an accomplishment "that's unparalleled in humanity."

With space tourism becoming a booming industry, one of the heroes of the Apollo 11 mission told CNBC that "it's the time" for humans to touch down on Mars.

In a document outlining its rationale for sending humans to the far-flung planet — which lies 140 million miles from the Earth — NASA invoked the 1969 Apollo voyage, adding that unlike the moon, a mission to Mars would involve "going to stay."

Mars' atmosphere is noted for its thin, carbon dioxide-filled air andferocious dust storms that last for months. Yet the discovery of water on the planet supports conjecture that life may have once flourished there. Given the right conditions, some think Mars could eventually be capable of sustaining humans.

Read MoreEvidence found of 'flowing liquid water' on Mars

"We need to keep public interest stimulated and demonstrate to our leaders ... this is a most historical opportunity," Aldrin said, speaking from a conference in Israel. He added the human race was in a prime position to become "pilgrims in setting up permanence on Mars."

Mars, Earth in a 'dangerous' neighborhood

Juan Gartner | Getty Images

Rendering of an asteroid over Earth.

In fact, the prospect of humans pioneering on the red planet is gradually becoming more and more of a reality — and in some ways may be a necessity, a top-ranking NASA scientist told CNBC recently.

"If the human species is going to survive, is it going to survive solely on Earth or not," asked Jim Greene, NASA's director of planetary science. "The appeal has been that as we explore, the next frontier beyond our atmosphere is Mars. That captures a lot of imagination in science, but also in science fiction."

Yet Greene — a self-described "Star Trek" fan who studied at the University of Iowa under James Van Allen, the physicist who discovered the radiation belts surrounding the Earth — also underscored the inherent dangers of outer space, and the imperative to discover other systems capable of sustaining human life.

Read MoreMicrosoft is sending HoloLens to space to help NASA

He characterized Earth as existing in "a dangerous part of the solar system," which runs the outside risk of being hit by a "planet-killing" asteroid. Although it may sound like a plot from a science fiction movie, Greene explained that NASA has identified 876 out of more than 12,000 near earth objects that the agency is "really monitoring carefully."

"In the last 500 million years of the earth's history there have been five mass extinctions of species. The last one was the end of the dinosaurs," Greene said, referencing the event that scientists surmise brought about the extinction of dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.

Within the known range of potential "planet killers" —asteroids that are at least 2 km in size—that the space agency monitors, "there are more than 150 that we're really watching carefully," Greene said. These "potentially hazardous asteroids" will come within 5 million miles of the planet over the next 100 years.

They cross our orbit frequently, and we know we're going to get hit again," Greene said. "Its not a matter of if, but when."

More than just sci-fi fodder

Within the last several decades, there have been minor brushes with asteroids, but none that have the potential to endanger human life on a large scale — at least not yet.

Recently, NASA disclosed it was monitoring a 480-meter asteroid that could collide with the Earth sometime within the next four decades. British astronomers have been even more stark in speaking of the likelihood that a space rock of large enough size could create pandemonium around the world.

However, "it's not a matter of if, but when. This planet won't have a planet killer hit it for many hundreds of years, but it will happen," Greene added.

The panoply of risks makes it important to seek out viable alternatives to ensure humanity's survival. Likening the idea of an extraterrestrial colony to a computer's external hard drive, Greene told CNBC that "If we're going to live as a species, we're going to have to 'back up' in other places ... and that place is Mars."