Posts tagged NASA
22 Boom – Left Hand Canyon Fire – Episode 33
Mar 20th
Jann Scott hosts this 22 Boom special all about the Left Hand Canyon Fire March 11th -14th, 2011. Jann gets behind the blockade and an up-close look at the fire and the Heroes of West Metro Fire Department who helped stop it from spreading. Then we get in on the Press Conference with Mary Beth Pecotte and Rick Brough who inform us of the progress of the team and we wrap up the show with a special music video by Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Wake Up Call at NASA.
Videos in this Episode
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22 Boom Intro -
Left Hand Canyon Fire -
Division Bravo -
Heroes of West Metro Fire Department -
Left Hand Canyon and Old Stage Road -
Press – Mary Beth Pecotte -
Press – Rick Brough -
Home Owner – Marsha Flint -
Heroes Walking into Harms Way -
Big Head Todd – Wake Up Call at NASA -
Outro
FLASH! Run-a-way Star blasts through spaces Nasa report and photo #boulder
Jan 25th
The blue star near the center of this image is Zeta Ophiuchi. When seen in visible light it appears as a relatively dim red star surrounded by other dim stars and no dust. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
January 24, 2011
A massive star flung away from its former companion is plowing through space dust. The result is a brilliant bow shock, seen here as a yellow arc in a new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
The star, named Zeta Ophiuchi, is huge, with a mass of about 20 times that of our sun. In this image, in which infrared light has been translated into visible colors we see with our eyes, the star appears as the blue dot inside the bow shock.
Zeta Ophiuchi once orbited around an even heftier star. But when that star exploded in a supernova, Zeta Ophiuchi shot away like a bullet. It’s traveling at a whopping 54,000 miles per hour (or 24 kilometers per second), and heading toward the upper left area of the picture.
As the star tears through space, its powerful winds push gas and dust out of its way and into what is called a bow shock. The material in the bow shock is so compressed that it glows with infrared light that WISE can see. The effect is similar to what happens when a boat speeds through water, pushing a wave in front of it.
This bow shock is completely hidden in visible light. Infrared images like this one from WISE are therefore important for shedding new light on the region.
JPL manages and operates WISE for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA’s Explorers Program managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise, http://wise.astro.ucla.edu andhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wise .
CU-BOULDER PROFESSOR WALEED ABDALATI NAMED CHIEF SCIENTIST AT NASA
Dec 13th
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden has selected University of Colorado at Boulder faculty member Waleed Abdalati to serve as the agency’s chief scientist effective Jan. 3 for a two-year appointment.
Abdalati, 46, is an associate professor in CU-Boulder’s geography department and a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Abdalati, who directs the Earth Science Observation Center at CIRES, will oversee and advocate for NASA science.
Abdalati’s research focuses on understanding changes in Earth’s ice cover and what they mean for life on our planet. Abdalati and his CIRES colleagues use satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques along with field observations and modeling to learn about ice sheets and high-latitude glaciers, their vulnerability to climate change and their contributions to sea-level rise.
“It is an honor for a research institution such as CIRES to have one of our own chosen as an elite in a national science agency,” said CIRES Director Konrad Steffen. “It’s especially helpful now given that the White House has strengthened NASA’s focus on Earth science research.”
“I’m very happy here and I hope to return from Washington, D.C., in a position to serve my CU-Boulder colleagues and students even more effectively,” said Abdalati, who will retain his faculty appointment at CU-Boulder. “But this is an opportunity I want to take advantage of because I so strongly believe in the importance of what NASA does for the nation, society and the world.”
In his new position, Abdalati will serve as chief adviser to Bolden on matters relating to agency science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of NASA’s current science investments. Abdalati also will work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget.
The new position marks his return to NASA. During his first tenure at the space agency Abdalati served as the head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He also managed the Cryospheric Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He returned to CU-Boulder from NASA more than two years ago.
“We are excited to have Waleed return to the agency during such a critical transition period,” Bolden said. “His experience, wide range of scientific knowledge and familiarity with NASA will greatly benefit the agency. He will be a true advocate for our many and diverse science research and exploration programs.”
Abdalati will continue advising his graduate students, returning a few days a month to Boulder from the Washington, D.C., area, where he will move with his family. “The administrator has told me that my university ties are very important to him, and he has been very supportive of my desire to actively maintain them throughout the assignment,” he said
Abdalati received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University in 1986, a Master of Science in aerospace engineering sciences from CU-Boulder in 1991 and a doctorate in CU-Boulder’s geography department in 1996. During this period he spent four years in Steffen’s laboratory.
Abdalati has received numerous awards for his research and service to NASA, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and two NASA Group Achievement Awards.
“I will be representing all of the science in the agency, ensuring that it is aligned with and fulfills the administration’s science objectives, and advocating for NASA science in the context of those broader government science agendas,” he said.