Jeff Keeping It Real!: 02/01/2017

A White Oval Cloud on Jupiter from Juno

This storm cloud on Jupiter is almost as large as the Earth. Known as a white oval, the swirling cloud is a high pressure system equivalent to an Earthly anticyclone. The cloud is one of a "string of pearls" ovals south of Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot. Possibly, the Great Red Spot is just a really large white oval that turned red. Surrounding clouds show interesting turbulence as they flow around and past the oval. The featured image was captured on February 2 as NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno made a new pass just above the cloud tops of the Jovian world. Over the next few years, Juno will continue to orbit and probe Jupiter, determine atmospheric water abundance, and attempt to determine if Jupiter has a solid surface beneath its thick clouds. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lPtN0u

Final: Padres 9 Giants 5. WP: SD K McGrath LP: SF H Strickland (3-3) (ESPN)

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Glaciers Ebb on South Georgia Island

Frequent cloud cover in the southern Atlantic Ocean often obscures satellite images of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. But occasionally the clouds give way. On September 14, 2016, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured natural-color images of South Georgia Island, where several glaciers are in retreat. via NASA http://ift.tt/2m3yN2e

Four Quasar Images Surround a Galaxy Lens

An odd thing about the group of lights near the center is that four of them are the same distant quasar. This is because the foreground galaxy -- in the center of the quasar images and the featured image -- is acting like a choppy gravitational lens. A perhaps even odder thing is that by watching these background quasars flicker, you can estimate the expansion rate of the universe. That is because the flicker timing increases as the expansion rate increases. But to some astronomers, the oddest thing of all is that these multiply imaged quasars indicate a universe that is expanding a bit faster than has been estimated by different methods that apply to the early universe. And that is because ... well, no one is sure why. Reasons might include an unexpected distribution of dark matter, some unexpected effect of gravity, or something completely different. Perhaps future observations and analyses of this and similarly lensed quasar images will remove these oddities. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lqQwNC

Images of the Sun From the GOES-16 Satellite

These images of the sun were captured at the same time on January 29, 2017 by the six channels on the Solar Ultraviolet Imager or SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite. Data from SUVI will provide an estimation of coronal plasma temperatures and emission measurements which are important to space weather forecasting. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lOkQTJ

Final: Giants 9 Reds 5. WP: SF M Reynolds (0-1) LP: CIN R Stephenson (2-3) (ESPN)

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Giants Video: Brandon Belt, Jeff Samardzija and Madison Bumgarner discuss impact of early 2016 playoff exit on this season (ESPN)

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Final: Giants 6 Reds 4. WP: SF N Ramirez (0-0) LP: CIN K Shackelford (ESPN)

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Orion Spacecraft Progress Continues With Installation of Module to Test Propulsion Systems

On Feb. 22, engineers successfully installed ESA’s European Service Module Propulsion Qualification Module (PQM) at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico that was delivered by Airbus – ESA’s prime contractor for the Service Module. The module will be equipped with a total of 21 engines to support NASA’s Orion spacecraft. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lNu6cD

MLB: Jake Peavy just wants to pitch, but baseball taking backseat after year of personal and financial turmoil - Jerry Crasnick (ESPN)

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Sounding Rocket Launches to Study Auroras

A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket soars skyward into an aurora over Alaska following a 5:13 a.m. EST, Feb. 22, 2017 launch from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The rocket carried an Ionospheric Structuring: In Situ and Groundbased Low Altitude StudieS (ISINGLASS) instrumented payload examining the structure of an aurora. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lp4hz6

Giants: Johnny Cueto expects to report to spring training this weekend; currently in Dominican Republic visiting ill father (ESPN)

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Giants Interview: Mike Krukow talks about bond with broadcast partner Duane Kuiper; listen now in ESPN App (ESPN)

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Rays of Creusa

When viewed from a distance with the sun directly behind Cassini, the larger, brighter craters really stand out on moons like Dione. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kHYR3n

Liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon From Launch Complex 39A

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the company's 10th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 9:39 a.m. EST from the historic launch site now operated by SpaceX under a property agreement with NASA. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kNCo03

Penumbral Eclipse Rising

As seen from Cocoa Beach Pier, Florida, planet Earth, the Moon rose at sunset on February 10 while gliding through Earth's faint outer shadow. In progress was the first eclipse of 2017, a penumbral lunar eclipse followed in this digital stack of seaside exposures. Of course, the penumbral shadow is lighter than the planet's umbral shadow. That central, dark, shadow is easily seen on the lunar disk during a total or partial lunar eclipse. Still, in this penumbral eclipse the limb of the Moon grows just perceptibly darker as it rises above the western horizon. The second eclipse of 2017 could be more dramatic though. With viewing from a path across planet Earth's southern hemisphere, on February 26 there will be an annular eclipse of the Sun. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kJzVUb

Polar Ring Galaxy NGC 660

NGC 660 is featured in this cosmic snapshot. Over 40 million light-years away and swimming within the boundaries of the constellation Pisces, NGC 660's peculiar appearance marks it as a polar ring galaxy. A rare galaxy type, polar ring galaxies have a substantial population of stars, gas, and dust orbiting in rings strongly tilted from the plane of the galactic disk. The bizarre-looking configuration could have been caused by the chance capture of material from a passing galaxy by a disk galaxy, with the captured debris eventually strung out in a rotating ring. The violent gravitational interaction would account for the myriad pinkish star forming regions scattered along NGC 660's ring. The polar ring component can also be used to explore the shape of the galaxy's otherwise unseen dark matter halo by calculating the dark matter's gravitational influence on the rotation of the ring and disk. Broader than the disk, NGC 660's ring spans over 50,000 light-years. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lqfIr5

Falcon 9 Rocket With Dragon Spacecraft Vertical at Launch Complex 39A

NASA provider SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are vertical at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff of SpaceX's tenth Commercial Resupply Services cargo mission to the International Space Station is scheduled for 10:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lr9OFB

The Tulip and Cygnus X-1

Framing a bright emission region, this telescopic view looks out along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the nebula rich constellation Cygnus the Swan. Popularly called the Tulip Nebula, the reddish glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust is also found in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless as Sh2-101. About 8,000 light-years distant and 70 light-years across the complex and beautiful nebula blossoms at the center of this composite image. Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE 227018, ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. HDE 227018 is the bright star near the center of the nebula. Also framed in the field of view is microquasar Cygnus X-1, one of the strongest X-ray sources in planet Earth's sky. Driven by powerful jets from a black hole accretion disk, its fainter visible curved shock front lies above and right, just beyond the cosmic Tulip's petals via NASA http://ift.tt/2lVUygT

Thomas Byrdsong, Aerospace Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center

On March 2, 1963 Engineer Thomas Byrdsong checks the Apollo/Saturn 1B Ground-wind-loads model in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. via NASA http://ift.tt/2ku7vT9

Glacial 'Aftershock' Spawns Antarctic Iceberg

Pine Island Glacier has shed another block of ice into Antarctic waters. The loss was tiny compared to the icebergs that broke off in 2014 and 2015, but the event is further evidence of the ice shelf’s fragility. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lhOlz6

Space Station Flight Over Venice

Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency shared this photograph from the International Space Station on Feb. 14, 2017, writing, "Venice, city of gondoliers and the lovers they carry along the canals. Happy Valentine's Day!" via NASA http://ift.tt/2kti7fZ

Giants: Matt Cain facing competition for fifth spot in starting rotation; "It's good competition... I'm up for the challenge" (ESPN)

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F for Fabulous

When seen up close, the F ring of Saturn resolves into multiple dusty strands. This Cassini view shows three bright strands and a very faint fourth strand off to the right. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lc53zv

Comet 45P Passes Near the Earth

A large snowball has just passed the Earth. Known as Comet 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková", or 45P for short, the comet came 10 times closer to Earth yesterday than the Earth ever gets to the Sun. During this passage, the comet was photographed sporting a thin ion tail and a faint but expansive green coma. The green color is caused mostly by energized molecules of carbon. Comet 45P became just bright enough to see with the unaided eye when it came closest to the Sun in December. Now, however, the comet is fading as it heads back out to near the orbit of Jupiter, where it spends most of its time. The kilometer-sized nucleus of ice and dirt will return to the inner Solar System in 2022. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kGZb0R

Hubble Sees Spiral in Andromeda

The Andromeda constellation is one of the 88 modern constellations and should not be confused with our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kcRMCB

Giants Image: Hunter Pence, Brandon Belt and others react to Javier Lopez's retirement on social media; Lopez won 3 WS rings with SF (ESPN)

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Giants Image: Former RP Brian Wilson sheds his iconic beard as he pursues MLB comeback in 2017 (ESPN)

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Jeanette A. Scissum, Scientist and Mathematician at NASA Marshall

Jeanette Scissum joined NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in 1964 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Alabama A&M University. Scissum published a NASA report in 1967, “Survey of Solar Cycle Prediction Models,” which put forward techniques for improved forecasting of the sunspot cycle. via NASA http://ift.tt/2lofO2M

Giants: RP Javier Lopez, 39, retiring after 14 seasons in MLB; 17-8 with 2.47 ERA during 7 seasons in San Francisco (ESPN)

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Giants, IF Gordon Beckham agree to minor league deal; .212 BA, 5 HR, 31 RBI in 88 games with Braves, Giants in 2016 (ESPN)

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Sunrise at Rogers Dry Lake

A sunrise photo of Edwards Air Force Base’s Rogers Dry Lake was taken after heavy rainfall in southern California. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center is seen in the foreground. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kmG89u

NGC 6357: The Lobster Nebula

Why is the Lobster Nebula forming some of the most massive stars known? No one is yet sure. Near the more obvious Cat's Paw nebula on the upper right, the Lobster Nebula, on the lower left and cataloged as NGC 6357, houses the open star cluster Pismis 24, home to these tremendously bright and blue stars. The overall red glow near the inner star forming region results from the emission of ionized hydrogen gas. The surrounding nebula, featured here, holds a complex tapestry of gas, dark dust, stars still forming, and newly born stars. The intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between interstellar winds, radiation pressures, magnetic fields, and gravity. The full zoomable version of this image contains about two billion pixels, making it one of the largest space images ever released. NGC 6357 spans about 400 light years and lies about 8,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Scorpion. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kIKlYr

Antarctica’s Changing Larsen Ice Shelf

The Larsen Ice Shelf is situated along the northeastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the fastest-warming places on the planet. In the past three decades, two large sections of the ice shelf (Larsen A and B) collapsed. A third section (Larsen C) seems like it may be on a similar trajectory, with a new iceberg poised to break away soon. via NASA http://ift.tt/2khVD2e

Potentially Hospitable Enceladus

Seen from outside, Enceladus appears to be like most of its sibling moons: cold, icy and inhospitable. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kdYKIB

Milky Way with Airglow Australis

Captured last April after sunset on a Chilean autumn night an exceptionally intense airglow flooded this scene. The panoramic skyscape is also filled with stars, clusters, and nebulae along the southern Milky Way including the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Commonly recorded with a greenish tinge by sensitive digital cameras, both red and green airglow emission here is predominately from atmospheric oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present in southern hemisphere nights during the last few years. Like the Milky Way on that dark night the strong airglow was visible to the eye, but seen without color. Mars, Saturn, and bright star Antares in Scorpius form the celestial triangle anchoring the scene on the left. The road leads toward the 2,600 meter high mountain Cerro Paranal and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescopes. via NASA http://ift.tt/2jKOpmn

Hubble Captures Brilliant Star Death in “Rotten Egg” Nebula

The Calabash Nebula, pictured here is a spectacular example of the death of a low-mass star like the sun. via NASA http://ift.tt/2k9Nu2t

NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide

An example of violence on a cosmic scale, enormous elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 lies about 75 million light-years away toward Fornax, the southern constellation of the Furnace. Investigating the startling sight, astronomers suspect the giant galaxy of colliding with smaller neighbor NGC 1317 seen just above, causing far flung loops and shells of stars. Light from their close encounter would have reached Earth some 100 million years ago. In the deep, sharp image, the central regions of NGC 1316 and NGC 1317 appear separated by over 100,000 light-years. Complex dust lanes visible within also indicate that NGC 1316 is itself the result of a merger of galaxies in the distant past. Found on the outskirts of the Fornax galaxy cluster, NGC 1316 is known as Fornax A. One of the visually brightest of the Fornax cluster galaxies it is one of the strongest and largest radio sources with radio emission extending well beyond this telescopic field-of-view, over several degrees on the sky. via NASA http://ift.tt/2jAxVC0

Giants announce 11 non-roster invitees to spring training, including top pitching prospect Tyler Beede (ESPN)

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Looking Back: Dr. George Carruthers and Apollo 16 Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph

Dr. George Carruthers, right, and William Conway, a project manager at the Naval Research Institute, examine the gold-plated ultraviolet camera/spectrograph, the first moon-based observatory that Carruthers developed for the Apollo 16 mission. Apollo 16 astronauts placed the observatory on the moon in April 1972. via NASA http://ift.tt/2kwxJTs

Lake Powell and Grand Staircase-Escalante

This panorama, photographed by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, shows nearly the full length of Lake Powell, the reservoir on the Colorado River in southern Utah and northern Arizona. Note that the ISS was north of the lake at the time, so in this view south is at the top left of the image. via NASA http://ift.tt/2jw0kt1