Hubble Views a Galaxy on Edge

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an edge-on view of the spiral galaxy NGC 5023. Due to its orientation we cannot appreciate its spiral arms, but we can admire the elegant profile of its disk. The galaxy lies over 30 million light-years away from us.

NGC 5023 is part of the M51 group of galaxies. The brightest galaxy in this group is Messier 51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, which has been captured by Hubble many times. NGC 5023 is less fond of the limelight and seems rather unsociable in comparison — it is relatively isolated from the other galaxies in the group.

Astronomers are particularly interested in the vertical structure of disks like these. By analyzing the structure above and below the central plane of the galaxy they can make progress in understanding galaxy evolution. Astronomers are able to analyze the distribution of different types of stars within the galaxy and their properties, in particular how well evolved they are on the Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram — a scatter graph of stars that shows their evolution.

NGC 5023 is one of six edge-on spiral galaxies observed as part of a study using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. They study this vertical distribution and find a trend which suggests that heating of the disc plays an important role in producing the stars seen away from the plane of the galaxy.

In fact, NGC 5023 is pretty popular when it comes to astronomers, despite its unsociable behavior. The galaxy is also one of 14 disk galaxies that are part of the GHOSTS survey — a survey which uses Hubble data to study galaxy halos, outer disks and star clusters. It is the largest study to date of star populations in the outskirts of disk galaxies.

The incredible sharp sight of Hubble has allowed scientist to count more than 30,000 individual bright stars in this image. This is only a small fraction of the several billion stars that this galaxy contains, but the others are too faint to detect individually even with Hubble.

European Space Agency

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Boarding the Soyuz Spacecraft on Launch Day

Expedition 43 Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), top, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, center, and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos wave farewell as they board the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, Friday, March 27, 2015 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Kelly and Kornienko will spend a year in space and return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer.

The Soyuz is set to lift off at 3:42 p.m. EDT, Friday, March 27 on a six-hour, four-orbit flight to the station.

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Expedition 43 Soyuz Rolls Out for Launch

The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 28, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time.) As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

More information on one year crew.

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Mars ‘Marathon Valley’ Overlook

This view from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows part of “Marathon Valley,” a destination on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, as seen from an overlook north of the valley.

The scene spans from east, at left, to southeast. It combines four pointings of the rover’s panoramic camera (Pancam) on March 13, 2015, during the 3,958th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity’s work on Mars.

The rover team selected Marathon Valley as a science destination because observations of this location using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter yielded evidence of clay minerals, a clue to ancient wet environments. By the time Opportunity explores Marathon Valley, the rover will have exceeded a total driving distance equivalent to an Olympic marathon. Opportunity has been exploring the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since January 2004.

This version of the image is presented in approximate true color by combining exposures taken through three of the Pancam’s color filters at each of the four camera pointings, using filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet).

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Sweet Briar’s Imminent Closing Stirs Small Uprising in a College Idyll by SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

The decision to shutter the college, a women’s liberal arts school in Virginia, has stunned students, teachers and alumnae, some of whom are rallying to try to save it.

Published: March 23, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Solar Eclipse From the International Space Station

Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti took a series of photographs of the March 20, 2015 solar eclipse from the International Space Station. Cristoforetti wrote, “Orbital sunrise and the #SolarEclipse… could it go any better?”

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow over Earth. The moon’s shadow masks the solar surface and blocks sunlight from reaching Earth directly – but the amount of sunlight blocked depends on location.

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More Options for Comics Artists by GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

The digital world is booming with resources to help people who want to become comic book professionals, learn the tools of the trade or improve their craft.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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In the Age of Information, Specializing to Survive by J. PEDER ZANE

By J. PEDER ZANE

As the amount of human-created information spirals ever higher, our ability to sift through it has not kept pace. Increasingly condensed specialization is one result.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Luring Working Executives to M.B.A. Programs by ROBERT STRAUSS

By ROBERT STRAUSS

Schools that offer these programs aim at commuters and use billboards, radio and a variety of social and other digital marketing tools.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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25 Minutes of Silence in the City of Angels by JOHN HANC

By JOHN HANC

The free meditation class offered weekly at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles is credited with starting a community-mindfulness trend among American institutions.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Turning to Education for Fun by GREG BEATO

By GREG BEATO

People are turning to education for entertainment, whether from online lectures, learning vacations or television, for the love of learning new things and to stay economically viable.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Anyone Can Be a Teacher in This Online School by JONAH BROMWICH

By JONAH BROMWICH

Students pay $10 a month for unlimited access to Skillshare’s 1,000 courses, and 850,000 users are signed up with the service, the company said.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Managing Student Loan Debt as an Older Adult by JOHN F. WASIK

By JOHN F. WASIK

Debt held by those 65 and older has risen significantly in recent years, but the load may be eased with careful planning or government aid, or through an employer.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Not Digital Art, but Art Learned Digitally by ROBIN POGREBIN

By ROBIN POGREBIN

Schools, museums and some entrepreneurial individuals are experimenting with ways to teach art techniques online.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Free Online Courses Keep Retirees in the Know by WALECIA KONRAD

By WALECIA KONRAD

Classes offer the opportunity to continue education from the comfort of home, but they can restrict the chance to build in-person social connections.

Published: March 20, 2015 at 12:00AM

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Vanguard Satellite, 1958

One of the Vanguard satellites is checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. Vanguard 1, the world’s first solar-powered satellite, launched on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) 1958. It was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. Vanguard 1 was the second U.S. satellite in orbit, following Explorer 1, and remains the oldest artificial object orbiting Earth to this day. Vanguard began as a program at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington and transferred over to NASA (along with many of its personnel) after the agency was founded by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

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Launch of Magnetospheric Multiscale Spacecraft Aboard Atlas V Rocket

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft onboard launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, March 12, 2015, Florida. NASA’s MMS mission studies the mystery of how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy via a process known as magnetic reconnection. MMS consists of four identical spacecraft that work together to provide the first three-dimensional view of this fundamental process, which occurs throughout the universe.

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