NASA announced the approval of a new astrophysics mission based on a space telescope called WFIRST (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope). It’s a next-generation Instrument for a long-term project since it will be probably launched around the middle of next decade. It will have a mirror as large as Hubble’s but a field of view a hundred times wider to investigate even better on the secrets of the universe.
A little while ago the Japanese Astro-H space telescope was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on a H-IIA rocket. After about fifteen minutes it regularly separated from the rocket’s last stage. It will reach the low-Earth orbit, where it will be positioned at an altitude of about 575 kilometers (about 357 miles).
NASA has published a photograph taken by the Cassini space probe that frames Tethys, one of Saturn’s moons, in front of the planet’s rings. They have such a relative position Tethys seems to float between two sets of rings but it’s just an optical effect. The result is a particularly striking image even by the standards of a mission that has been offering stunning portraits of the planet Saturn, its rings and its moons.
NASA scientists found a new geological activity on the dwarf planet Pluto which is truly unique: there are floating hills that move over time, albeit at very low speeds. These hills in the area informally called Sputnik Planum are probably smaller versions of the great mountains at the western border of the area. For their behavior, they have been compared to the Earth’s icebergs.
Using data obtained by its SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) space probe, NASA scientists have created a simulation of the solar magnetic field. This represents an aid in the understanding of its influence on what happens in the Sun, a series of phenomena that have important effects in the solar system. Solar explosions causing auroras are the most visible consequence but there are also other ones such as the interplanetary magnetic field and the radiation that spacecraft must go through to travel through the solar system.
