Animation showing a wide view of SGR 1830, a magnetar that underwent an outburst in October 2020. NICER measurements from the first day of the event show that the X-ray emission exhibited three close peaks with every rotation. Astronomers think the triple peak occurred when three individual surface regions much hotter than their surroundings spun into and out of our view from Earth. NICER tracked the magnetar nearly every day for more than a month. Over that time, the hot spots dimmed, drifted relative to each other, and two even merged – a phenomenon not seen before. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_Still.png (1920x1080) [2.3 MB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [44.5 KB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [52.6 KB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.4 KB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [36.0 MB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_web.webm (1920x1080) [3.5 MB] || 02_Magnetar_Wide_BlipOnly1 (1920x1080) [64.0 KB] || 02_MAGNETAR_Wide_view_BlipOnly_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [502.4 MB] ||

Animated video and stills of the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload.

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission will study neutron stars, the densest known objects in the cosmos. These neutron star animations and graphics highlight some of their unique characteristics.For more information about NICER visit: nasa.gov/nicer. ||

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission will study neutron stars, the densest known objects in the cosmos. These neutron star animations and graphics highlight some of their unique characteristics.For more information about NICER visit: nasa.gov/nicer. ||

This video shows Richard Koenecke, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, creating the body of one of the NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) patches.0:00 Two blocks of aluminum sit on a counter in front of a laptop that displays the schematics for the NICER patches. 0:06 Koenecke puts one block on the bed of a saw littered with metal shavings and then trims the block. 0:23 Koenecke sands down the block’s rough edges. 0:30 Koenecke walks into another part of his workshop. 0:37 Koenecke preps the machining chamber. 0:49 Inside the chamber, the machine starts to carve out the shape of the patch. Fluid sprayed from the nozzles above the tool helps cool the metal. 0:56 Koenecke looks into the chamber. 0:59 The chamber is shown at different angles. 1:15 Koenecke walking up to the chamber window. 1:22 Inside the chamber, the patch’s shape is now visible amidst a sea of aluminum shavings. 1:25 The cutting tool refines the shape of the patch. 1:40 Koenecke looks at a computer readout for the machining chamber. 1:45 Inside the chamber, the cutting tool lowers to hollow out the patch. 1:56 Koenecke holds and turns a block of the aluminum. 2:45 Koenecke’s dog Sara guards his shop on the Eastern Shore. 2:53 Koenecke sands a block of aluminum. 3:01 He closes the doors to the machining chamber and adjusts the settings on a computer screen. 3:10 Numbers change on the chamber’s computer screen. 3:31 Koenecke holds and turns the fully machined patch body. 3:51 In slow motion, Koenecke walking through his shop. 4:25 In slow motion, Koenecke holds the patch in close-up shots.Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Machine_Shop_B-roll_-Part_1.03720_print.jpg (1024x576) [111.0 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.03720_searchweb.png (320x180) [82.6 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.03720_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.webm (3840x2160) [74.7 MB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [18.0 GB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-_Part_1.mp4 (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] ||

This video shows engineering technician Katrina Harvey anodizing NICER’s patches at the Plating Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.0:00 One of the NICER patch bodies hangs from a spiky stick by a wire. 0:05 Patch lids attached to a similar stick are seen submerged in a dark blue liquid. 0:07 Harvey lifts the lids and one patch body from a chemical bath and submerges them in a container of deionized water. 0:24 Several lids have been dyed black. 0:29 Harvey submerges the black lids into a chemical bath covered with white plastic balls. 0:42 Harvey lifts undyed patch bodies from a deionized water rinse. 0:47 Harvey lifts patch bodies from a chemical bath covered in white plastic balls and dunks them in deionized water. 1:07 A wider view of Harvey as she works on the patch bodies in the plating lab. 1:24 The patch bodies are shown submerged in a blue liquid. 1:28 A pan across patch bodies submerged in blue liquid. 1:34 Harvey lifts the patch bodies on their individual wires out of a well where nozzles spray them with deionized water. She then dunks them several times in a container of black dye. 1:54 She adds more patch bodies to the black dye. 2:22 She hangs the dyed bodies in a well where nozzles spray them with deionized water. 2:35 Harvey sprays the patches with deionized water. 2:40 Keith Gendreau (NASA), Steve Kenyon (NASA), and Isiah Holt (NASA) cluster together, looking at one of the dyed NICER patch bodies. 2:48 Harvey rinses dyed patch bodies. 2:58 Harvey holds several dyed patch bodies still on their wires. She lifts them and starts walking through the lab. 3:18 Gendreau and Kenyon help remove plugs from holes in the patch bodies. These protected screw threads during the anodizing process. 3:32: Someone dries one of the patch bodies with compressed air. 3:42 The dyed patch bodies rest on a table. 3:58 Close-ups of various features of the lab, like labels, knobs, readouts, buttons, clamps, and wires.Credit:NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [72.4 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [61.0 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_thm.png (80x40) [5.0 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [18.3 GB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.webm (3840x2160) [99.1 MB] ||

This video shows different components of NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer). The damaged thermal shield is a flight spare used during the patch testing process.0:00 A NICER patch slowly rotates counterclockwise. 0:14 A top-down view of the same patch, still rotating. 0:21 Another side view of the patch rotating. A gloved hand enters from the right-hand side, picks up the patch, and turns it on its side. The patch begins rotating again, so the tab on the bottom becomes visible. 1:03 A gloved hand slowly tilts a damaged thermal shield. 1:41 The thermal shield rests in a container that slowly rotates. 2:08 A gloved hand rotates a NICER X-ray concentrator. 2:30The camera moves past the X-ray concentrator. 2:52 A hand places a NICER sunshade on the table. 2:58 The sunshade rotates counterclockwise. 3:00 The sunshade rotates on its side.Credit:NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_print.jpg (1024x540) [16.9 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [23.1 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_thm.png (80x40) [2.1 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.mov (4096x2160) [12.7 GB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.mp4 (4096x2160) [1.9 GB] ||

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload undergoes electromagnetic testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Electromagnetic testing serves to verify that NICER’s electrical subsystems do not interfere with each other or with International Space Station electrical systems through, for example, conducted or transmitted emissions. This test also verifies that NICER is not susceptible to malfunction due to the electromagnetic environment of the space station.Two time-lapse videos show the NICER payload deploy during electromagnetic testing and return to its stowed configuration following the tests. ||

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) box-shaped X-ray Timing Instrument (XTI) is lifted and integrated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.The time-lapse shows the XTI, with attached flight electronics and the payload's pointing system, being lifted and joined to the flight Adapter Plate, NICER's connection to the International Space Station-provided hardware for installation on station. ||

Time-lapse of the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) range of motion test was taken on April 11, 2016, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission was built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.In addition to NASA Goddard scientists and engineers, the mission team includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and commercial partners, who provided spaceflight hardware. ||

This image of the whole sky shows 22 months of X-ray data recorded by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload aboard the International Space Station during its nighttime slews between targets. NICER frequently observes targets best suited to its core mission (“mass-radius” pulsars) and those whose regular pulses are ideal for the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) experiment. One day they could form the basis of a GPS-like system for navigating the solar system.Credits: NASA/NICER || NICERNightMoveslabels.jpg (3299x1650) [13.7 MB] ||

First image in presentation || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01.png (1560x1063) [488.1 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_print.jpg (1024x576) [148.2 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_searchweb.png (320x180) [76.1 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_web.png (320x218) [81.8 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_thm.png (80x40) [7.4 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01.hwshow [185 bytes] || Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian's AAS presentation from January 2015 ||

Imagine a technology that would allow space travelers to transmit gigabytes of data per second over interplanetary distances or to navigate to Mars and beyond using powerful beams of light emanating from rotating neutron stars. The concept isn't farfetched.In fact, Goddard astrophysicists Keith Gendreau and Zaven Arzoumanian plan to fly a multi-purpose instrument on the International Space Station to demonstrate the viability of two groundbreaking navigation and communication technologies and, from the same platform, gather scientific data revealing the physics of dense matter in neutron stars. ||

First image in presentation || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01.png (1560x1063) [488.1 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_print.jpg (1024x576) [148.2 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_searchweb.png (320x180) [76.1 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_web.png (320x218) [81.8 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01_thm.png (80x40) [7.4 KB] || JasonLogo_SCREEN-01.hwshow [185 bytes] || Dr. Zaven Arzoumanian's AAS presentation from January 2015 ||

Imagine a technology that would allow space travelers to transmit gigabytes of data per second over interplanetary distances or to navigate to Mars and beyond using powerful beams of light emanating from rotating neutron stars. The concept isn't farfetched.In fact, Goddard astrophysicists Keith Gendreau and Zaven Arzoumanian plan to fly a multi-purpose instrument on the International Space Station to demonstrate the viability of two groundbreaking navigation and communication technologies and, from the same platform, gather scientific data revealing the physics of dense matter in neutron stars. ||

Watch how NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) has expanded our understanding of pulsars, the dense, spinning corpses of exploded stars. Pulsar J0030+0451 (J0030 for short), located 1,100 light-years away in the constellation Pisces, now has the most precise and reliable measurements of both a pulsar’s mass and size to date. The shapes and locations of its hot spots challenge textbook depictions of these incredible objects. Music: "Uncertain Ahead" and "Flowing Cityscape" (underscore). Both from Universal Production MusicCredit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Two_NS_Model_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [308.5 KB] || Two_NS_Model_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [140.4 KB] || Two_NS_Model_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [87.0 KB] || Two_NS_Model_Still_thm.png (80x40) [8.0 KB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [301.1 MB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [804.5 MB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.9 GB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_1080.webm (1920x1080) [33.5 MB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [5.9 KB] || 13240_NICER_J0030_MassRadius_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [5.9 KB] ||

Two views of a Neutron Star: First, a closeup view of a neutron star cycling before, during and after a gamma ray burst and second, crossing a Protoplanetary Nebula toward an elusive Neutron Star ||

A pulsar is a neutron star which emits beams of radiation that sweep through the earth's line of sight. Like a black hole, it is an endpoint to stellar evolution. The "pulses" of high-energy radiation we see from a pulsar are due to a misalignment of the neutron star's rotation axis and its magnetic axis. Pulsars pulse because the rotation of the neutron star causes the radiation generated within the magnetic field to sweep in and out of our line of sight with a regular period. External viewers see pulses of radiation whenever this region above the the magnetic pole is visible. Because of the rotation of the pulsar, the pulses thus appear much as a distant observer sees a lighthouse appear to blink as its beam rotates. The pulses come at the same rate as the rotation of the neutron star, and, thus, appear periodic. ||

A pulsar is a rapidly spinning and highly magnetized neutron star, the crushed core left behind when a massive sun explodes. Most were found through their pulses at radio wavelengths, which are thought to be caused by narrow, lighthouse-like beams emanating from the star's magnetic poles. When it comes to gamma-rays, pulsars are no longer lighthouses. A new class of gamma-ray-only pulsars shows that the gamma rays must form in a broader region than the lighthouse-like radio beam. Astronomers now believe the pulsed gamma rays arise far above the neutron star. ||

This animation takes us into a spinning pulsar, with its strong magnetic field rotating along with it. Clouds of charged particles move along the field lines and their gamma-rays are beamed like a lighthouse beacon by the magnetic fields. As our line of sight moves into the beam, we see the pulsations once every rotation of the neutron star. ||

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On May 16, 2024, astronauts Don Pettit and Nick Hague participated in a training exercise at the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They were rehearsing activities related to repairing NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station.Before any spacewalk, astronauts practice and refine procedures in the NBL to simulate — as closely as possible on Earth — the conditions under which they’ll complete the task in space.In May 2023, damage to thin thermal shields protecting NICER allowed sunlight to reach its sensitive X-ray detectors. This saturated sensors and interfered with NICER’s X-ray measurements during orbital daytime.The NICER team developed five wedge-shaped patches to cover the largest areas of damage. The plan calls for astronauts to insert these patches into the instrument’s sunshades and lock them in place. ||

In Spring 2024, scientists and engineers at NASA prepared and packed a patch kit for NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station. In May 2023, damage to thin thermal shields protecting NICER allowed sunlight to reach its sensitive X-ray detectors. This saturated sensors and interfered with NICER’s measurements during orbital daytime. The NICER team five wedge-shaped patches to cover the largest areas of damage. The plan calls for astronauts to insert these patches into the instrument’s sunshades and lock them in place. ||

This video shows different components of NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer). The damaged thermal shield is a flight spare used during the patch testing process.0:00 A NICER patch slowly rotates counterclockwise. 0:14 A top-down view of the same patch, still rotating. 0:21 Another side view of the patch rotating. A gloved hand enters from the right-hand side, picks up the patch, and turns it on its side. The patch begins rotating again, so the tab on the bottom becomes visible. 1:03 A gloved hand slowly tilts a damaged thermal shield. 1:41 The thermal shield rests in a container that slowly rotates. 2:08 A gloved hand rotates a NICER X-ray concentrator. 2:30The camera moves past the X-ray concentrator. 2:52 A hand places a NICER sunshade on the table. 2:58 The sunshade rotates counterclockwise. 3:00 The sunshade rotates on its side.Credit:NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_print.jpg (1024x540) [16.9 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [23.1 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.00001_thm.png (80x40) [2.1 KB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.mov (4096x2160) [12.7 GB] || Studio_Shoot_Single_Components.mp4 (4096x2160) [1.9 GB] ||

This video shows engineering technician Katrina Harvey anodizing NICER’s patches at the Plating Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.0:00 One of the NICER patch bodies hangs from a spiky stick by a wire. 0:05 Patch lids attached to a similar stick are seen submerged in a dark blue liquid. 0:07 Harvey lifts the lids and one patch body from a chemical bath and submerges them in a container of deionized water. 0:24 Several lids have been dyed black. 0:29 Harvey submerges the black lids into a chemical bath covered with white plastic balls. 0:42 Harvey lifts undyed patch bodies from a deionized water rinse. 0:47 Harvey lifts patch bodies from a chemical bath covered in white plastic balls and dunks them in deionized water. 1:07 A wider view of Harvey as she works on the patch bodies in the plating lab. 1:24 The patch bodies are shown submerged in a blue liquid. 1:28 A pan across patch bodies submerged in blue liquid. 1:34 Harvey lifts the patch bodies on their individual wires out of a well where nozzles spray them with deionized water. She then dunks them several times in a container of black dye. 1:54 She adds more patch bodies to the black dye. 2:22 She hangs the dyed bodies in a well where nozzles spray them with deionized water. 2:35 Harvey sprays the patches with deionized water. 2:40 Keith Gendreau (NASA), Steve Kenyon (NASA), and Isiah Holt (NASA) cluster together, looking at one of the dyed NICER patch bodies. 2:48 Harvey rinses dyed patch bodies. 2:58 Harvey holds several dyed patch bodies still on their wires. She lifts them and starts walking through the lab. 3:18 Gendreau and Kenyon help remove plugs from holes in the patch bodies. These protected screw threads during the anodizing process. 3:32: Someone dries one of the patch bodies with compressed air. 3:42 The dyed patch bodies rest on a table. 3:58 Close-ups of various features of the lab, like labels, knobs, readouts, buttons, clamps, and wires.Credit:NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [72.4 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [61.0 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.00001_thm.png (80x40) [5.0 KB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [18.3 GB] || Anondizing_Patches_at_4k.webm (3840x2160) [99.1 MB] ||

This video shows Richard Koenecke, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, creating the body of one of the NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) patches.0:00 Two blocks of aluminum sit on a counter in front of a laptop that displays the schematics for the NICER patches. 0:06 Koenecke puts one block on the bed of a saw littered with metal shavings and then trims the block. 0:23 Koenecke sands down the block’s rough edges. 0:30 Koenecke walks into another part of his workshop. 0:37 Koenecke preps the machining chamber. 0:49 Inside the chamber, the machine starts to carve out the shape of the patch. Fluid sprayed from the nozzles above the tool helps cool the metal. 0:56 Koenecke looks into the chamber. 0:59 The chamber is shown at different angles. 1:15 Koenecke walking up to the chamber window. 1:22 Inside the chamber, the patch’s shape is now visible amidst a sea of aluminum shavings. 1:25 The cutting tool refines the shape of the patch. 1:40 Koenecke looks at a computer readout for the machining chamber. 1:45 Inside the chamber, the cutting tool lowers to hollow out the patch. 1:56 Koenecke holds and turns a block of the aluminum. 2:45 Koenecke’s dog Sara guards his shop on the Eastern Shore. 2:53 Koenecke sands a block of aluminum. 3:01 He closes the doors to the machining chamber and adjusts the settings on a computer screen. 3:10 Numbers change on the chamber’s computer screen. 3:31 Koenecke holds and turns the fully machined patch body. 3:51 In slow motion, Koenecke walking through his shop. 4:25 In slow motion, Koenecke holds the patch in close-up shots.Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts and Scott Wiessinger || Machine_Shop_B-roll_-Part_1.03720_print.jpg (1024x576) [111.0 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.03720_searchweb.png (320x180) [82.6 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.03720_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1.webm (3840x2160) [74.7 MB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-Part_1_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [18.0 GB] || Machine_Shop_B-roll-_Part_1.mp4 (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] ||