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Heat is on in Andromeda CHANDRA X-RAY CENTER NEWS RELEASE Posted: June 8, 2006
Analysis of the X-ray data shows that the point sources are associated with binary star systems that contain either a neutron star or black hole that is pulling matter away from a normal star. As the matter falls toward the neutron star or black hole, it is heated by frictional forces to tens of millions of degrees, and produces X-rays. The diffuse X-ray cloud is due to gas that has accumulated in the central region and been heated to millions of degrees, probably by shock waves from supernova explosions. The energy input from the supernovae could also be driving gas out of the central region. This process may affect both the shape and evolution of the galaxy by depleting the raw material for the formation of new stars and preventing more gas from accumulating there. Andromeda, a large spiral galaxy much like our Milky Way Galaxy, is relatively nearby and can be easily seen with binoculars in the autumn sky. The galaxy's central region is called the galactic bulge because the stars are distributed in a region shaped like a ball a few thousand light years in diameter that extends above and below the disk of the galaxy. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass. |
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Space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale and launch director Mike Leinbach hold this news conference May 31 from Kennedy Space Center to offer a status report on STS-121 mission preparations. The briefing was held at the conclusion of the debris verification review, which examined the external fuel tank and threats to the shuttle from impacts during launch.
Dial-up: 
NASA created its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to serve as a constellation of orbiting spacecraft that would replace the costly ground tracking stations scattered around the globe for communications with space shuttles and other satellites. Space shuttle Discovery's STS-29 mission in March 1989 launched the massive TDRS-D craft. This post-flight film narrated by the crew shows the deployment, the astronauts running a series of medical tests and the monitoring of a student-developed chicken embryo experiment.
Space shuttle Columbia began mission STS-61C with a beautiful sunrise launch in January 1986 after several delays. Led by commander Hoot Gibson, the astronauts deployed a commercial communications satellite and tended to numerous experiments with the Materials Science Laboratory, Hitchhiker platform and Getaway Special Canisters in the payload bay. The crew included Congressman Bill Nelson of Florida, the first U.S. Representative to fly in space. Watch this post-flight film narrated by the astronauts.