STUNNING NASA PICTURES ADDED TO 'AMESNEWS' WEB SITE

RELEASE 02-35AR

A stunning gallery of NASA pictures, with each image linked to news releases and other related items, recently was added to a NASA public affairs web site at:

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/imagearchive/archive.html

Most images are provided in preview versions, as well as in higher resolution files. Almost all of the larger files are suitable for publication in newspapers and magazines. A help section describes various levels of quality, rights issues and how to download images through the Internet to a user's computer.

"We redesigned how we present images to make the site more efficient to the news media, general public and students," said the image gallery's author, Anil Jindia, at NASA Ames Research Center, located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. "These images can help readers to better comprehend our news items."

"The new image gallery is part of a comprehensive re-design of the Web site," said Jonas Diņo, the site's curator. "The Web site has been simplified to make sure people, including those with physical challenges, can easily access information."

General groups of images in the gallery include: 'Popular Images,' 'Aerospace,' 'Educational & Commercial Technology,' 'Information Technology,' 'Earth Sciences,' 'NASA/Ames/Moffett Field,' and 'Astrobiology.' Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

More pictures and image subject groups will be added over time. In addition, the 'amesnews' site (at http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/ ) links to other NASA Ames scientific and technical Web pages, NASA Ames educational materials and the Ames employee newspaper, the 'Astrogram.'