vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
NASA - Sun-Earth Day 2010
Space Weather Forecasting costs only $5 million a year, but supports over $500 billion in annual revenue from the satellite and electrical power industries.
Over $2 billion in satellite technology was damaged or destroyed during the last sunspot cycle.
A major solar 'superstorm' such as the one in 1859 could cost $30 billion a day to the US electrical power grid, and up to $70 billion to the satellite industry.
The August 4, 1972 solar flare was so powerful that, by some estimates, a spacesuited astronaut would have received a lethal does of radiation.
Earth's climate was seriously chilled during the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) when no 11-year sunspot cycles were detected.
During a single second, the sun converts 4 million tons of matter into pure energy.
The core of the sun is nearly as dense as lead, and has a temperature of 15 million C.
During a severe solar storm, Earth loses about 100 tons of its atmosphere into space.
Toy 'rare-earth' magnets can be 5 times stronger than a sunspot magnetic field.

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 Curator: Bryan Stephenson
Make asteroids you can eat! | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
You may have heard that it might have been an asteroid slamming into Earth about 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. Hmmm. Where are the air traffic controllers when you really need them?

We think there may be about 100,000 asteroids, from 1000 kilometers (600 miles) across down to about 1 kilometer across. We are curious about asteroids because they may tell us interesting things about how our solar system (and maybe others) formed in the first place. Because they are so small, nothing much has happened to change them in all this time. No volcanoes, no water, no weather, not even much gravity to squish things together.

Asteroids are chunks of rock that never quite made it to full-fledged planet-hood when our solar system formed.

Because asteroids are so small and (we hope) far away, they are very hard to see from Earth. However, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft came closer to an asteroid than any other spacecraft at the time without actually landing on it (which the NEAR spacecraft did February 12, 2001 on asteroid Eros). Deep Space 1 flew within 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) of Braille on July 29, 1999.

Deep Space 1 took pictures and gathered information about the material making up the asteroid. It observed and measured its size, shape, surface features, and brightness. It also measured what happens to the solar wind when it flows around the asteroid. On Earth, wind is a stream of moving air particles. In space, solar wind is a stream of energetic particles blown off by the Sun.
Galaxies Actively Forming in Early Universe Caught Feeding on Cold Gas - NASA Science
; Dwarf PlanetsAsteroids, Comets &amp; MeteorsThe Kuiper BeltThe Oort CloudSkywatchingEspañol CienciaAeronáuticaCiencias TerrestresSistema SolarUniversoScience All NASA ScienceEarth SciencePlanetary ScienceAstrophysics & Space ScienceThe Sun & HeliophysicsBiological & Physical SciencesLunar ScienceCitizen ScienceAstromaterialsAeronautics ResearchHuman Space Travel ResearchExploreSearchSubmitNews & EventsMultimediaNASA+5 min readGalaxies Actively Forming in Early Universe Caught Feeding on Cold GasThis illustration shows a galaxy forming only a few hundred million years after the big bang.Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)NASA Webb Mission TeamGoddard Space Flight CenterMay 23, 2024ArticleContentsImage: Galaxy Forming in the Early Universe (Artist’s Concept)This is Only the StartDownloadsMedia ContactsRelated InformationRelated For KidsEn EspañolResearchers analyzing data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed three galaxies that may be actively forming when the universe was only 400 to 600 million years old. Webb’s data shows these galaxies are surrounded by gas that the researchers suspect to be almost purely hydrogen and helium, the earliest elements to exist in the cosmos. Webb’s instruments are so sensitive that they were able to detect an unusual amount of dense gas surrounding these galaxies. This gas will likely end up fueling the formation of new stars in the galaxies.“These galaxies are like sparkling islands in a sea of otherwise neutral, opaque gas,” explained Kasper Heintz, the lead author and an assistant professor of astrophysics at the Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. “Without Webb, we would not be able to observe these very early galaxies, let alone learn so much about their formation.”“We’re moving away from a picture of galaxies as isolated ecosystems.
Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits
Each orbit lasts 12 hours, so the slow, high-altitude portion of the orbit repeats over the same location every day and night. Russian communications satellites and the Sirius radio satellites currently use this type of orbit. (Adapted from Fundamentals of Space Systems by Vincent L. Pisacane, 2005.)

The Molniya orbit is highly eccentric: the satellite moves in an extreme ellipse with the Earth close to one edge. Because it is accelerated by our planet’s gravity, the satellite moves very quickly when it is close to the Earth. As it moves away, its speed slows, so it spends more time at the top of its orbit farthest from the Earth. A satellite in a Molniya orbit takes 12 hours to complete its orbit, but it spends about two-thirds of that time over one hemisphere. Like a semi-synchronous orbit, a satellite in the Molniya orbit passes over the same path every 24 hours. This type of orbit is useful for communications in the far north or south.
Low Earth Orbit
Most scientific satellites and many weather satellites are in a nearly circular, low Earth orbit. The satellite’s inclination depends on what the satellite was launched to monitor. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite was launched to monitor rainfall in the tropics. Therefore, it has a relatively low inclination (35 degrees), staying near the equator.

TRMM’s low orbital inclination—just 35° from the equator—allows its instruments to concentrate on the tropics. This image shows one half of the observations TRMM makes in a single day. (NASA image courtesy TRMM Project.)

Many of the satellites in NASA’s Earth Observing System have a nearly polar orbit. In this highly inclined orbit, the satellite moves around the Earth from pole to pole, taking about 99 minutes to complete an orbit. During one half of the orbit, the satellite views the daytime side of the Earth. At the pole, satellite crosses over to the nighttime side of Earth.
As the satellites orbit, the Earth turns underneath. By the time the satellite crosses back into daylight, it is over the region adjacent to the area seen in its last orbit.
May | 2012 | Terra
I interrupted my other work to do this, but found the topic of such inherent interest that my work has focused on flood remote sensing ever since then.

MISR Researcher: Dr. Larry Di Girolamo

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Tassia Owen 
	Posted in News and Events 

Dr. Larry Di Girolamo is a Professor and the Daniel Shapiro Professorial Scholar in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He uses data collected from ASTER, MISR, and MODIS to study weather, aerosol and cloud properties.  More recently, he co-authored a paper that reveals high concentration of aerosol over the Indo-Gangetic Basin region in India from data collected by MISR.  In addition to being a prolific author, he also teaches courses in meteorology and satellite remote sensing.  He is frequently ranked as one of excellent teachers at the University.
What do you study?
LDG: I study cloud, aerosol and radiation processes in our atmosphere that occur over a wide range of scales. At larger scales, say from the size of a house to the size of the globe, satellites offer the only viable way to routinely collect observations of cloud and aerosol properties over our planet. And since meteorological satellites only measure electromagnetic radiation incident on its detectors, I spend a lot of my time studying how to convert these radiation measurements into meaningful information on cloud and aerosol.
The term weather and climate are often used interchangeably; can you discuss the difference between the two?
LDG: Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a given location and time. The condition of the atmosphere is often described in terms of such variables as temperature, pressure, humidity, wind, visibility, cloudiness, and precipitation.
Climate is a statistical summary of the weather at a given location over a long period of time, several decades for example. The statistical summary is often conveyed to the public in terms of the average weather and the weather extremes at a given location over the historic data record.
As an example of weather: on August 25, 2011, at 5:00 pm over Urbana, Illinois, it was sunny with a temperature of 28°C and a relative humidity of 49%.
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 This page contains archived content and is no longer being updated. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science.

 

 

 

Five years ago NASA’s Terra satellite began measuring Earth’s vital signs with a combination of 
	 accuracy, precision, and resolution the world had never before seen. Today, Terra completes the fifth year in
	 what was scheduled to be at least a 6-year mission to advance understanding of Earth’s climate system, 
	 and to help improve our quality of life. 
Launched on December 18, 1999, Terra’s five onboard instruments began science operations in February 2000. 
	 Terra’s goal is to assess the health of the planet by providing comprehensive information about Earth’s 
	 land, oceans and atmosphere. From its vantage point 438 miles above our world, Terra orbits the Earth more than 
	 fourteen times a day and observes nearly the entire globe. 

 

High-resolution artist’s rendering of Terra satellite
	 (1.5 MB; courtesy Reto Stockli, NASA Earth Observatory)

 

Sending home roughly 1 million megabytes of data per day, Terra is helping scientists all over the world tackle 
	 important questions about the causes and effects of environmental changes. While the mission is still in the 
	 process of fulfilling its main science objectives, Terra’s portfolio of achievements to date already marks
Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits
Orbital inclination is the angle between the plane of an orbit and the equator. An orbital inclination of 0° is directly above the equator, 90° crosses right above the pole, and 180° orbits above the equator in the opposite direction of Earth’s spin. (NASA illustration by Robert Simmon.)

Together, the satellite’s height, eccentricity, and inclination determine the satellite’s path and what view it will have of Earth.

Three Classes of Orbit
High Earth Orbit
When a satellite reaches exactly 42,164 kilometers from the center of the Earth (about 36,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface), it enters a sort of “sweet spot” in which its orbit matches Earth’s rotation. Because the satellite orbits at the same speed that the Earth is turning, the satellite seems to stay in place over a single longitude, though it may drift north to south. This special, high Earth orbit is called geosynchronous.
A satellite in a circular geosynchronous orbit directly over the equator (eccentricity and inclination at zero) will have a geostationary orbit that does not move at all relative to the ground. It is always directly over the same place on the Earth’s surface.
A geostationary orbit is extremely valuable for weather monitoring because satellites in this orbit provide a constant view of the same surface area. When you log into your favorite weather web site and look at the satellite view of your hometown, the image you are seeing comes from a satellite in geostationary orbit. Every few minutes, geostationary satellites like the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellites send information about clouds, water vapor, and wind, and this near-constant stream of information serves as the basis for most weather monitoring and forecasting.

Satellites in geostationary orbit rotate with the Earth directly above the equator, continuously staying above the same spot. This position allows satellites to observe weather and other phenomena that vary on short timescales. (NASA images by Marit Jentoft-Nilsen and Robert Simmon.)

Because geostationary satellites are always over a single location, they can also be useful for communication (phones, television, radio).
Sensing the Universe - NASA Science
Cosmic particles come in two classes –neutrinos and cosmic rays.NeutrinosNeutrinos are fundamental particles – they can’t be broken down into smaller parts. They’re produced by radioactive decay and nuclear reactions, including those that occur in nuclear reactors on Earth, in the cores of stars, in supernova explosions, and when black holes shred stars. Neutrinos outnumber all the atoms in the universe, travel at nearly the speed of light, and rarely interact with other matter. These characteristics make neutrinos interesting, but also very hard to study.The National Science Foundation’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica uses a series of instruments buried in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice to detect neutrino signals. Even with that volume, IceCube only sees one neutrino every six minutes. That’s one neutrino for every 500 trillion trillion that pass through the observatory in the same amount of time.Explore how more than a century of scientific progress with gravitational waves, gamma rays, and neutrinos has helped bring about the age of multimessenger astronomy.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterCosmic raysCosmic rays are charged, high-energy particles that move through space at near-light speed. Every second, every square meter of Earth’s atmosphere is pelted by large quantities of cosmic rays. These particles are usually hydrogen nuclei, or protons. But scientists have detected examples of other subatomic particles like neutrons, electrons, and even antimatter. NASA’s Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (SuperTIGER), a balloon-borne instrument, detected cosmic rays composed of the nuclei of heavier atoms, like cobalt or barium.Cosmic rays are boosted to high speeds in cosmic events and environments that release a lot of energy. One example is the expanding debris of exploded stars called supernova shock waves.Since cosmic rays are charged – positively charged protons or nuclei, negatively charged electrons – their paths through space can be deflected by the magnetic fields of stars and other objects.Gravitational WavesGravitational waves are ripples in space-time, the fabric of the universe, that travel at the speed of light. Gravitational waves are created when objects speed up, slow down, or change direction.
What Is Antarctica? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids
What Is Antarctica? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

antarctica

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What Is Antarctica?

The Short Answer:

	Antarctica is a continent. It is Earth's fifth-largest continent and is covered almost completely in ice. Antarctica covers Earth's South Pole.
	

Antarctica is Earth's fifth largest continent. Image credit: NASA

What is Antarctica like?
Pack your snowshoes, hat, gloves, and the puffiest jacket you have – because Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth! The average temperature in Antarctica in the winter is minus 34.4 Celsius (minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature in the center of Antarctica is much lower than the temperature on the coasts. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was minus 89.4 C (minus 129 F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 15 C (59 F).
Antarctica has just two seasons: summer and winter. Antarctica has six months of daylight in its summer and six months of darkness in its winter.
The seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth's axis in relation to the sun. The direction of the tilt never changes. But as the Earth orbits the sun, different parts of the planet are exposed to direct sunlight. During summer, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted toward the sun and is in constant sunlight. In the winter, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted away from the sun, causing the continent to be dark.

Antarctica has only two seasons because of Earth’s 23 degree axial tilt. If you love long summers and winters, Antarctica is the place for you! Image credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech

Though Antarctica is really, really chilly, it is considered a desert because it receives very little rain or snowfall. The small amount of snow that does fall does not melt but builds up over hundreds and thousands of years to form large, thick ice sheets. Antarctica's terrain is made up of glaciers, ice shelves and icebergs.
Forces - NASA Science
They understand that there are four fundamental forces — gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces — that are responsible for shaping the universe we inhabit.Gravitational ForceNASAThe most familiar force is gravity. It is responsible for keeping our feet on the ground and holding Earth in its orbit around the Sun.According to the general theory of relativity, gravity can be understood as bends and curves in the fabric of space-time that affect the motions of galaxies, stars, planets, and even light. Anything with mass makes a dent in space-time, causing objects to be attracted to each other.Gravity is an attractive force that draws two objects together. Its strength approximately increases with the masses of the two objects but decreases with the square of the distance between them. That means that if the Moon were twice its current distance from Earth, the gravitational tug between the two would be just one fourth of what it is now.Despite being the weakest force, gravity works across infinite distances, making it responsible for the formation of the universe's structure.Electromagnetic ForceNASAOur television sets are powered by electromagnetism. Light carries this force, which illuminates our houses at night, keeps electrons in orbit around atomic nuclei, and allows chemical compounds to form.As the name implies, electromagnetism is the force that includes both electricity and magnetism. They are intertwined — a moving electric field produces a magnetic field, and vice versa.Like gravity, the strength of electromagnetism drops off with the square of the distance between objects and works at infinite range. However, electromagnetism only comes into play for charged objects, and whether it attracts or repels depends on the charges of each. Two negative or positive charges repel each other; one of each attracts.While electromagnetism is stronger than gravity, it is often balanced out in large objects by the equal numbers of positive and negative charges that form neutral atoms. For example, Earth has a magnetic field due to electric currents in its liquid core; however, Earth itself is electrically neutral.Strong Nuclear ForceNASANuclear forces affect our daily lives, but they work on distances smaller than atoms.The strong nuclear force, or strong force for short, holds together the building blocks of atoms. It always attracts and works at two different size scales in atoms.
Astrophysics Science Division Colloquium Series Schedule: Spring 2024
I will outline an approach from nonlinear time series analysis - called recurrence analysis - applied to the systematic and ensemble study of variable sources that can inform current and future time domain missions.

The cosmic journey of the elements, from dust to life
Lia Corrales
University of Michigan
Tuesday, Feb 06, 2024

Abstract
To understand our origins, we must understand the role that interstellar dust plays in delivering heavy elements to planetary systems. This requires an understanding of the chemical composition, sizes and shapes of interstellar dust: astromineralogy. X-ray observations provide the most direct means for astromineralogy through the absorption signatures of dust imprinted in the spectra of bright Galactic X-ray sources. I'll review the latest results in astromineralogy and our work on connecting interstellar dust with suspected extra-solar grains collected in our own Solar System. I'll also describe how the recently launched XRISM space mission is poised for major breakthroughs in astromineralogy. Finally, I'll show how I am adapting this work to study aerosols in exoplanet atmospheres, which have the power to alter planetary climate and habitability. By investigating exoplanet transits at short wavelengths, we are opening new windows on aerosols, atmospheric escape, and the role that stars play in sculpting planets.

Probing the Dipole of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background
Sasha (A.) Kashlinsky
NASA GSFC, 665
Tuesday, Feb 13, 2024

Abstract
We measured the dipole of the diffuse γ-ray background (DGB), identifying a highly significant time- independent signal coincidental with that of the Pierre Auger UHECR. The DGB dipole is determined from flux maps in narrow energy bands constructed from 13 yr of observations by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of the Fermi satellite. The γ-ray maps were clipped iteratively of sources and foregrounds similar to that done for the cosmic infrared background. The clipped narrow energy band maps were then assembled into one broad energy map out to the given energy starting at E = 2.74 GeV, where the LAT beam falls below the sky's pixel resolution.
Meteors and Meteorites - NASA Science
But we call the same object by different names, depending on where it is.Learn MoreMETEORIDSSmall, rocky, and still in spaceMeteoRsIn Earth's atmosphereMETEoritesHit the groundMETEOR SHOWERSSeveral meteors per hour Keep ExploringDiscover More Topics From NASASunPlanetsAsteroids, Comets & MeteorsKuiper BeltReturn to topThe National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.About NASA's MissionJoin UsHomeNews & EventsMultimediaNASA+MissionsHumans in SpaceEarth & ClimateThe Solar SystemThe UniverseScienceAeronauticsTechnologyLearning ResourcesAbout NASANASA en EspañolFollow NASAMore NASA Social AccountsNASA NewslettersSitemapFor MediaPrivacy PolicyFOIANo FEAR ActOffice of the IGBudget & Annual ReportsAgency Financial ReportsContact NASAAccessibilityPage Last Updated:4 months agoPage Editor:SMD Content EditorsResponsible NASA Official for Science:Dana Bolles