The makings of new planets lie in dusty, debris-filled disks rotating around stars, held in place and shaped by the influence of their host stars. But the dust, ice, and small bodies in these planet-forming disks also feel the effects of a system’s motion through space – and interaction with interstellar gas can warp a dusty disk into a weird and unexpected shape.
We spoke with Goddard astrophysicist John Debes about his team’s research into these oddly-shaped disks. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists are investigating these disks in hopes of finding clues about how other planetary systems are formed – and perhaps even discovering the origins of our own.
Welcome to a special Halloween episode of Blueshift! It’s a time of transition here at Goddard Space Flight Center – a new Exploration Sciences Building has just been completed and the Blueshift team is on the move. For the past 50 years, Goddard’s Building 2 has been the home of cutting-edge research and development for many of NASA’s space science missions.
In the midst of our packing, we wanted to share some stories from this old building and give you an inside look at one of NASA’s
longest-operating space science facilities.
This summer, the world was watching as seven astronauts visited the Hubble Space Telescope and did the first ever on-orbit repairs in space. This fifth and final Shuttle mission to service Hubble has equipped the telescope with cutting-edge technology and extended its mission lifespan for several additional years. Here at the Astrophysics Science Division, we are excited about the data being captured by Hubble’s enhanced instruments, and the discoveries that are sure to come.
One of the astronauts on this mission, Dr. John Grunsfeld, is also an astrophysicist. We interviewed him about his experiences with Hubble as both a researcher and a repairman. He shared his thoughts about Hubble’s new capabilities, the value of astrophysics, and more. He also told us about a gorgeous image he snapped on a previous servicing mission and is now using as a screensaver – and you can download this image for your own computer! Read more »
Podcasts | Sara Mitchell | 
November 17, 2009 3:29 pm | 
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