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Created 12 Feb 2013
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Peter Menzel Photography
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![Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. [1977]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000SxiPVZJ1vf8/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000SxiPVZJ1vf8.jpg)
![Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. [1977]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000hXAbX2O0pA0/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000hXAbX2O0pA0.jpg)
![Pre-flight preparation of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). This is a converted Lockheed C-141A Starlifter aircraft, operated by NASA since 1974. Its main instrument is a 90-cm infrared telescope. The KAO can cruise at up to 12,500 meters, well above most of the atmospheric water vapor that absorbs far infrared radiation and prevents ground-based far-IR astronomy. Here, the liquid nitrogen tanks in the rear of the aircraft are being filled, venting gas producing the cloud. Liquid nitrogen is used in the cryogenics system used to maintain the temperature of the KAO's instruments to within one degree of absolute zero (-273 Celsius). NASA AMES Research Center at Moffett Field, Mt. View, California. [1992]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000KcwrrBioY6o/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000KcwrrBioY6o.jpg)
![Airborne infrared astronomy. Alan Meyer (left) and Roger Hildebrand seen during a flight of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). The screen displays show the image made by the alignment telescope (left) and the infrared telescope (right). The KAO is a converted Lockheed C-141A Starlifter aircraft, containing a 90-cm infrared telescope. Flying at up to 12,500 meters, the KAO can cruise well above most of the atmospheric water vapor,, which absorbs far-infrared radiation. The KAO also contains computerized data reduction and analysis stations. Operated by NASA, the first flight of the KAO was in January [1992] NASA AMES Research Center at Moffett Field, Mountain View, California. Infrared telescope looking at gas clouds. [1992]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000QSUuCy_gNDY/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000QSUuCy_gNDY.jpg)
![Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. [1977]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000fIlgT_JCTls/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000fIlgT_JCTls.jpg)
![Mountain View, California.Vials of chemicals known as P.A.H. (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) luminesce in ultraviolet light. These molecules, naturally occuring throughout the depths of space, are believed by these and and other researchers to be possible origins of life on earth. P.A.H.s have been found to become chemically modified when surrounded by ice and exposed to ultraviolet radiation -- a situation likely to occur in space.iOnce molecularly altered, the modified P.A.H.s closely resemble known organic molicules that are found in abundance on earth. Thus P.A.H.s may be found to be the first stage in a chain of molecules that led to life on earth. Researchers at NASA/Ames are simulating the conditions in space in order to study these alterations in the molecular structure of P.A.H.s. They also track P.A.H.s as they travel through interstellar space towards developing solar systems where they may become transformed into the seeds of life, all to hypothesize about the origins of life on earth..[1999]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000Xise9yQw_IU/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000Xise9yQw_IU.jpg)
![Mountain View, California.David Koch, a researcher at the NASA/Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, displays an area in the sky that can be approximated by two handfuls of sky at arms length. David Koch is planning to search an area of this size with the KEPLER space telescope/photometer for as of yet undiscovered terrestrial planets in the "habitable zone". The area he plans to study is located in the Milky Way, and is known as the H-2 area. Koch plans to search this area using the KEPLER orbiting telescope, looking at 100,000 stars every four minutes for four years. In doing so, he expects to find about 400 earth sized planets as well as 800 planets twice the size of earth. Koch is double exposed with the 120 inch telescope at the Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton and the night sky. MODEL RELEASED [1999]](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000cs253P9J3A4/fit=180x180/fill=/g=G0000JZ0JIjgtNa4/I0000cs253P9J3A4.jpg)