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Touch Tomorrow: Gordon Library and Space Exploration!: Jigsaw Puzzles

Resources & activities on space exploration from the Gordon Library and beyond ...

The puzzles have been created from NASA images of various space-related entities. 


Click on the IMAGE icon to see the full image.

You can view just EDGE pieces, or CAPTURE & RELEASE pieces.

Use the TOOLBAR to change the number of pieces, the color background and the rotation of the image. 

Earth from space: Puzzle

NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this stunning view of the Americas on Earth Day, April 22, 2014 at 11:45 UTC/7:45 a.m. EDT. The data from GOES-East was made into an image by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

In North America, clouds associated with a cold front stretch from Montreal, Canada, south through the Tennessee Valley, and southwest to southern Texas bringing rain east of the front today. A low pressure area in the Pacific Northwest is expected to bring rainfall in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, stretching into the upper Midwest, according to NOAA's National Weather Service.  Near the equator, GOES imagery shows a line of pop up thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms are associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ encircles the Earth near the equator.  In South America, convective (rapidly rising air that condenses and forms clouds) thunderstorms pepper Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and northwestern and southeastern Brazil.

For more information about GOES satellites, visit: www.goes.noaa.gov/ or goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Image Credit: NASA/NOAA/GOES Project   Last Updated: Aug 7, 2017

https://www.nasa.gov/content/satellite-view-of-the-americas-on-earth-day

Spiral Galaxy: Puzzle

The luminous heart of the galaxy M61 dominates this image, framed by its winding spiral arms threaded with dark tendrils of dust. As well as the usual bright bands of stars, the spiral arms of M61 are studded with ruby-red patches of light. Tell-tale signs of recent star formation, these glowing regions lead to M61’s classification as a starburst galaxy.

Though the gleaming spiral of this galaxy makes for a spectacular sight, one of the most interesting features of M61 lurks unseen at the center of this image. The heart of the galaxy shows widespread pockets of star formation, and hosts a supermassive black hole more than five million times as massive as the Sun..

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-takes-a-spiral-snapshot

Space Joke of the Page!

Why aren’t astronauts hungry when they get to space?
They had a big launch.

Apollo 13 space ship: Puzzle

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 lifted off for the moon with Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise aboard. Two days later, with the spacecraft well on its way to the moon, an oxygen tank exploded, scrubbing the lunar landing and putting the crew in jeopardy.  Working with Mission Control in Houston, the crew used their lunar module as a "lifeboat," and even rigged an adapter so than a command module "air scrubber" would work in the lunar module, preventing a dangerous buildup of carbon dioxide.  The mission ended safely when the crew splashed down on April 17, 1970, but its "can-do" spirit lives on at NASA. It shows in the efforts of thousands to return the shuttle fleet to flight, and it will ultimately help NASA fulfill its exploration Vision - returning to the moon, journeying to Mars and beyond.

Additional images: Damage from the explosion; the lunar module Aquarius; the improvised air scrubberHaise, Lovell and Swigert.

Image Credit: NASA  Last Updated: Nov 9, 2017 

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_305.html

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: Puzzle

 

The flight model of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.

A technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars. The helicopter rode to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover.

For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/.

View, download and interact with the Ingenuity 3D model.

 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter