[ Sound Effects ]
Hey! I'm Kristin and this is NASA Now for February 1, 2012.
The electromagnetic spectrum contains visible
and invisible ranges of light.
NASA is about to launch a new space telescope
that will give scientists the ability to see parts
of the universe that have been previously invisible.
We will talk with an expert to tell us
about this exciting new telescope.
That's ahead, first here's what's happening at NASA Now.
[ Sound Effects ]
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope continues
to provide stunning images from deep space.
This spider web-like tangle of gas
and dust is a star-forming region called 30 Doradus.
It is one of the largest such regions located close
to the Milky Way Galaxy.
Scientists estimate that there are about 2,400 massive stars
in the center of 30 Doradus,
also known as the Tarantula Nebula.
A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas,
helium gas and other ionized gases.
Nebulae are often star-forming areas where gas, dust,
and other materials clump together to form stars.
[ Sound Effects ]
Today we are going to learn all about the new imaging telescope
that NASA is launching, called NuSTAR.
This is a different kind of telescope
that will give scientists an even better picture
of the universe.
To explain what makes this telescope
so special is Astrophysicist Dr. Ann Hornschemeier
from the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hello Ann, what is NuSTAR?
NuSTAR is a small explorer mission
that will be launching very soon.
It is going to, for the first time,
focus hard X-rays into images.
I don't know how revolutionary that sounds,
but it's a big revolution because we haven't been able
to actually focus X-rays.
And the result is it's going to be a much more sensitive view
than we have ever had before of the hard X-ray universe.
And it turns out that the universe is actually emitting an
awful lot of light at hard X-rays.
What do you mean by focusing hard X-rays into images?
It means, more or less, that we've got an X-ray camera now
and we're going to take the X-ray camera
and we're going to take a photo.
And then we're going to pinpoint where the black holes are,
and we'll be able to do things like, say,
that black hole corresponds to this galaxy.
Since we know how far away this galaxy is,
we know how far away the black hole is.
We can start measuring the properties
of the super massive black holes.
X-rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Can you tell us why this telescope is measuring X-rays?
The electromagnetic spectrum is basically light.
When we think about light, we tend to think
about just the little visible part of which we are aware
because we can see it.
But the full story, if you will, of light ranges
over quite a broader range than visible light;
from radio all the way up to gamma-ray emission.
The advantages of a telescope like NuSTAR that studies more
than just visual light, is that,
we get to see the rest of the universe.
For instance, a large faction of the normal matter
in the universe, that is, the stuff that I'm made of
and you're made of, the majority of that normal matter
out in the universe is actually really hot.
And when I say really hot, what do I mean?
I mean millions of degrees to tens of millions of degrees
and that light is so hot, something funny happens.
The light actually comes out; it's invisible in optical light.
It's sort of funny to think that you could have this huge amount
of matter sitting out there and you can't see it
until you look in X-rays.
Because gas, that is millions of degrees hot,
can only be seen in X-rays.
And you basically see the violent universe, and it is.
It's the hot, violent universe.
You know, the most dramatic things that are happening.
Gravity disrupting stars and those sorts
of things are visible at X-ray wavelengths.
What do you hope to learn from NuSTAR?
I'm very excited that we'll be able to look at nearby galaxies
and start studying black holes and neutron stars,
not just in our own galaxy, but in other galaxies
at hard X-ray wavelengths.
So, I think NuSTAR is really going to push the boundary
of understanding high-energy processes in the universe.
[ Sound Effects ]
Scientists use many tools to learn
about distant destinations.
Check out this project with real data straight from Mars.
You and your students can analyze data collected
by Mars spacecraft using three different forms
of electromagnetic energy --
visible light, infrared, and gamma rays.
Look for Electromagnetic-Spectrum:
Remote Sensing Ices on Mars, which can be found
on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus.
Well that's it for NASA Now, be sure to look us up on Facebook
and leave a comment about today's program.
We'll see you next time on NASA Now.
[ Sound Effects ]
NASA Now comes to you from the Virtual Campus
at NASA Explorer Schools.