NASA·每日一图

Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks during the opening ceremony of the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The annual IAC conference covers the global space sector and presents the latest space information and developments from academia and industry. View the Flickr gallery. Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky 2019年10月21日，美国副总统迈克·彭斯在华盛顿特区沃尔特·E·华盛顿会议中心举行的第70届国际宇航大会开幕式上发表讲话。一年一度的IAC大会涵盖了全球航天领域，介绍了最新的航天信息以及学术界和工业界的发展。 查看Flickr相册。 图片来源:NASA/Joel Kowsky

In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe was among those who noticed a new bright object in the constellation Cassiopeia. Adding fuel to the intellectual fire that Copernicus started, Tycho showed this “new star” was far beyond the Moon, and that it was possible for the universe beyond the Sun and planets to change. Astronomers now know that Tycho’s new star was not new at all. Rather it signaled the death of a star in a supernova, an explosion so bright that it can outshine the light from an entire galaxy. This particular supernova was a Type Ia, which occurs when a white dwarf star pulls material from, or merges with, a nearby companion star until a violent explosion is triggered. The white dwarf star is…

Amy Ross, a spacesuit engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, left, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, second from left, presented the latest generation spacesuits to the world on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Standing next to the administrator is Kristine Davis, a spacesuit engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, who wore a ground prototype of NASA’s new Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), and Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, who wore the Orion Crew Survival System suit, right, wave after being introduced. The xEMU suit improves on the suits previous worn on the Moon during the Apollo era and those currently in use for spacewalks outside the International Space Station and will be worn…

In the high desert of California, some of the most important aircraft in aviation history have been built and flown. NASA’s X-59 QueSST (short for Quiet SuperSonic Technology) is an experimental piloted aircraft designed to fly faster than sound without producing the annoying – if not alarming – sonic booms of previous supersonic aircraft. It is the latest craft to take shape at Skunk Works, a renowned Lockheed Martin division that for the past 76 years has used a unique approach to design and manufacturing that has produced the nation’s most advanced airplanes. This artist’s concept of NASA’s QueSST jet reflects the airplane’s final configuration following years of research and design engineering. The jet is now under construction by Lockheed Martin at the company’s Skunk…

The center of our Milky Way galaxy is hidden from the prying eyes of optical telescopes by clouds of obscuring dust and gas. But in this stunning vista, the Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared cameras penetrate much of the dust, revealing the stars of the crowded galactic center region. The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will offer a much-improved infrared view, teasing out fainter stars and sharper details. The center of our galaxy is a crowded place: A black hole weighing 4 million times as much as our Sun is surrounded by millions of stars whipping around it at breakneck speeds. This extreme environment is bathed in intense ultraviolet light and X-ray radiation. Yet much of this activity is hidden from our view, obscured by vast…