NASA Daily News Summary For Release: Oct. 26, 1999 Media Advisory m99-222 Summary: No News Releases today. Video File for Oct. 26, 1999 ITEM 1 - HUBBLE IDENTIFIES SOURCE OF ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT IN AN OLD GALAXY ITEM 2 - CHANDRA IMAGES EXTENDED X-RAY JETS THAT REVEAL ENERGY SOURCE IN NEARBY GALAXY (replay) ITEM 3 - INSPECTION '99 PSAs - JSC (replay) ********** If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will e- mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list. Index of 1999 NASA News Releases: http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html ********** Video File for Oct. 26, 1999 ITEM 1 - HUBBLE IDENTIFIES SOURCE OF ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT TRT :33 IN AN OLD GALAXY Hubble Space Telescope's exquisite resolution has allowed astronomers to resolve, for the first time, hot blue stars deep inside an elliptical galaxy. The swarm of nearly 8,000 blue stars resembles a blizzard of snowflakes near the core (lower right) of the neighboring galaxy M32, located 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Hubble confirms that the ultraviolet light comes from a population of extremely hot helium- burning stars at a late stage in their life. Unlike the Sun, which burns hydrogen into helium, these old stars exhausted their central hydrogen long ago, and now burn helium into heavier elements. Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray Villard (Phone 410/338-4707). Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Thomas Brown (Phone 301/286-5765). Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage (Phone 202/358-1547). For further information see: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/40/ High resolution digital versions (300 dpi JPEG and TIFF) are available at: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/40/pr-photos.html ITEM 2 - CHANDRA IMAGES EXTENDED X-RAY JETS THAT REVEAL ENERGY SOURCE IN NEARBY GALAXY (replay) NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has made an extraordinary image of Centaurus A, a nearby galaxy noted for its explosive activity. The image shows X-ray jets erupting from the center of the galaxy over a distance of 25,000 light years. Also detected are a group of X-ray sources clustered around the nucleus, which is believed to harbor a supermassive black hole. The X-ray jets and the cluster of sources may be a byproduct of a titanic collision between galaxies several hundred Million years ago. Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage (Phone: 202-358-1547). Contact at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL: Steve Roy (Phone: 256-544-6535). Contact at Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA: Dr. Wallace Tucker (Phone: 617-496-7998). ITEM 2a - CENTAURUS A (NGC 5128) IN X RAY TRT :15 The Chandra X-ray image of Centaurus A shows a bright source in the nucleus of the galaxy, which is thought to be due to a supermassive black hole. The main jet extending to the upper left far outside the galaxy is caused by explosive activity around the black hole. A smaller "counter jet" extending to the lower right can also be seen. The faint arc on the lower right is thought to represent a shock wave produced by energetic particles expanding away from the nucleus. Numerous point-like sources of X-rays are also apparent. These are probably due to neutron stars or black holes that are accreting matter from nearby companion stars. Images from Chandra X-ray Observatory/ High Resolution Camera. CREDIT: (NASA/CXC/SAO) ITEM 2b - CENTAURUS A (NGC 5128): OPTICAL-X RAY TRT :15 COMPARISON This picture shows the Chandra X-ray image overlaid on the optical image of Centaurus A. The optical image shows that Centaurus A is an elliptical galaxy with huge dust lanes across the middle of the galaxy. This has led astronomers to speculate that Centaurus A was the site of a merger between a small spiral galaxy and a large elliptical galaxy several hundred million years ago. This merger could have provided a large supply of gas for a central black hole that triggered the explosive activity observed by X-ray and radio telescopes. The energetic central region, or nucleus, is obscured by the dust lanes in optical images, but shines clearly in X-rays, as do the dramatic jet structures extending in either direction from the nucleus well beyond the edges of the galaxy. X RAY: Chandra X Ray Observatory/High Resolution Camera image (Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO) OPTICAL: Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory 4-meter Blanco telescope image (Credit: AURA/NOAO/NSF) To follow Chandra's progress, visit the Chandra site at: http://chandra.harvard.edu AND http://chandra.nasa.gov High resolution digital versions of the x-ray image (300 dpi JPG, TIFF) and other information associated with this release are available on the Internet at: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/0157/index.html or via links in: http://chandra.harvard.edu ITEM 3 - INSPECTION '99 PSAs (replay) TRT: one @ :10 & one @ :30 The following videos are public service announcements for NASA's Technology Showcase Inspection '99 at Johnson Space Center on November 3 - 5, 1999. Contact at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX: Ed Campion 281/483-5111. ---------- Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN. ANY CHANGES TO THE LINE-UP WILL APPEAR ON THE NASA VIDEO FILE ADVISORY ON THE WEB AT ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt WE UPDATE THE ADVISORY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. The NASA Video File normally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time. NASA Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz. Refer general questions about the video file to NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or Elvia Thompson, 202/358-1696, elvia.thompson@hq.nasa.gov During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will continue to be posted at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html For general information about NASA TV see: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/ ********** Contract Awards Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html ********** The NASA Daily News Summary is issued each business day at approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time. Members of the media who wish to subscribe or unsubscribe from this list, please send e-mail message to: Brian.Dunbar@hq.nasa.gov ********** end of daily news summary