Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                  2019 June 1
                                      [2]
                                NICER at Night
                      Image Credit: NASA [3] , NICER [4]

Explanation: A payload on board the International Space Station, the Neutron
star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) twists and turns [5] to track
cosmic sources of X-rays as the station orbits planet Earth every 93 minutes.
During orbit nighttime [6] , its X-ray detectors remain on. So as NICER slews
from target to target bright arcs and loops are traced across this all-sky map
made from 22 months of NICER data. The arcs tend to converge on prominent
bright spots [7] , pulsars in the X-ray sky that NICER regularly targets and
monitors. The pulsars are spinning neutron stars that emit clock-like pulses
of X-rays. Their timing is so precise it can be used for navigation [8] ,
determining spacecraft speed and position. This NICER X-ray, all-sky, map is
composed in coordinates with the celestial equator [9] horizontally across the
center.

                Tomorrow's picture: live from low Earth orbit

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [21] (MTU [22] ) & Jerry Bonnell [23]
                                  (UMCP [24] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [25] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [26]
              A service of: ASD [27]  at NASA [28]  / GSFC [29]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [30]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1906/NICERNightMovesnolabels_0.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.nasa.gov/nicer
  [5] https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13031
  [6] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/
nicer-s-night-moves-trace-the-x-ray-sky
  [7] image/1906/NICERNightMoveslabels_0.jpg
  [8] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/
nasa-team-first-to-demonstrate-x-ray-navigation-in-space
  [9] ap190321.html
  [10] ap190531.html
  [11] archivepix.html
  [12] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [13] lib/aptree.html
  [14] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod...
  [15] calendar/allyears.html
  [16] /apod.rss
  [17] lib/edlinks.html
  [18] lib/about_apod.html
  [19] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [20] ap190602.html
  [21] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [22] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [23] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell...
  [24] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [25] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [26] http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priva...
  [27] http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [28] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [29] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [30] http://www.mtu.edu/

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