Download Video
Video Information
Subscribe to Series
Mini Soccer Balls in Space
This animation illustrates that buckyballs -- discovered in space by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- closely resemble old fashioned, black-and-white soccer balls, only on much smaller scales.
The structures of soccer balls and buckyballs both contain 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons (the pentagons are black on soccer balls). The pentagons are needed to make the spherical shapes -- they allow the grids of hexagons to bend at just the right points. Soccer balls have 60 intersecting points at the same places where buckyballs have 60 carbon atoms.
Related Media
 |
News Release NASA Telescope Finds Elusive Buckyballs in Space for First Time ssc2010-06 |
 |
Image Jiggling Soccer-Ball Molecules in Space ssc2010-06a |
|
Image Space Balls ssc2010-06b |
 |
Video Mini Soccer Balls in Space ssc2010-06v1 |
 |
Video Buckyballs Jiggle Like Jello ssc2010-06v2 |
Most Popular Videos
Spitzer Podcasts
Browse Videos in Science Animations
11.29.07 Pulling Back the Curtain of DustThis artist's animation begins by showing a dark and dusty corner of space where little visible light can escape. The... |
05.09.07 Blacker than BlackThis artist's animation illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "ho... |
05.09.07 Mapping Exotic WorldsThis animation shows the first-ever map of the surface of an exoplanet, or a planet beyond our solar system. The map,... |
05.09.07 How to Map a Very Faraway PlanetScientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were able to create the first-ever map of the surface of a planet bey... |
04.18.07 Infrared RoseThis movie begins by showing an optical image of the Rosette nebula, a turbulent star-forming region located 5,000 li... |
04.18.07 Highway to the Danger Zone"The further on the edge, the hotter the intensity," sings Kenny Loggins in "Danger Zone," a song made famous by the ... |
03.29.07 Two Suns Raise Family of Planetary BodiesThis artist's animation depicts a faraway solar system like our own -- except for one big difference. Planets and ast... |
02.21.07 Hot, Dry, and Cloudy (Artist Concept)This artist's concept animation shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star. NASA... |
12.18.06 Stars Spring Up Out of the DarknessThis artist's animation illustrates the universe's early years, from its explosive formation to its dark ages to its ... |
11.07.06 Hubble-Spitzer OrionThis video cycles between the Hubble view, the Spitzer view, and the combined Hubble-Spitzer view of the Orion Nebula. |
11.07.06 Making a Great Observatories CompositeThis video shows how a Hubble image and a Spitzer image of the Orion Nebula were combined to create a new, multi-wave... |
10.30.06 Who Ya Gonna Call?NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is a galactic ghost buster, spotting hidden massive stars and other monsters lurking i... |
10.26.06 Order Amidst Chaos of Star's ExplosionThis artist's animation shows the explosion of a massive star, the remains of which are named Cassiopeia A. NASA's Sp... |
10.12.06 Fire and Ice PlanetThis artist's animation shows a blistering world revolving around its nearby "sun." NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Tel... |
10.12.06 Fire and Ice Planet (without data plot)This artist's animation shows a blistering world revolving around its nearby "sun." NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Tel... |
08.14.06 Journey to OrionThis movie begins with a visible view of the famous Orion constellation. Superimposed on the area near Orion's sword ... |
07.24.06 Stars Can't Spin Out of ControlThis artist's animation demonstrates how a dusty planet-forming disk can slow down a whirling young star, essentially... |
06.05.06 Fade to RedThis animation shows the Andromeda galaxy, first as seen in visible light by the National Optical Astronomy Observato... |
04.05.06 Birth of 'Phoenix' Planets?This artist's animation depicts the explosive death of a massive star, followed by the creation of a disk made up of ... |
03.16.06 Cigar Galaxy up in SmokeThis movie compares a visible-light view of the "Cigar galaxy" to an infrared view from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescop... |
