NASA Deep Space Network’s DSS-23 Antenna Now Online | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Deep Space Network’s DSS-23 Antenna Now Online | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This footage shows the latest antenna of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) to go online at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. 

Called Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23), the antenna began communicating with spacecraft on Aug. 3, 2026. It is part of the Deep Space Network’s Aperture Enhancement Project, which began in 2009 to upgrade and expand the network by adding six new 34-meter multifrequency beam-waveguide antennas. These versatile DSN dishes can enhance many missions operating over different radio frequencies. 

The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft at its three complexes at Goldstone, in Canberra, Australia, and in Madrid, Spain. It is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech, in Southern California for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program, located at NASA Headquarters within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate.

After completing a testing campaign from May through July to demonstrate its capabilities, the new DSS-23 began operations on Aug. 3, tracking NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Since then, it has been communicating with dozens of missions such as NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Psyche, Juno, Voyager 1, and other robotic spacecraft in deep space.

Enhanced capabilities
Construction of DSS-23 began in February 2020. After the 133-ton metal reflector framework was placed and bolted atop the antenna’s pedestal in December 2024, engineers installed the panels to the framework that reflect radio frequency signals transmitted to and received from spacecraft. Then came the careful process of calibrating the antenna so it can work in concert with the rest of the network.

It is the fifth antenna at Goldstone (joining three 34-meter antennas and one 70-meter, or 230-foot, antenna) and the fifth enhancement project antenna to join the network, which includes antennas at the DSN’s Goldstone, Madrid, and Canberra, Australia, complexes. Multifrequency beam waveguide antennas direct signals down to a stable, climate-controlled underground room, rather than housing heavy, sensitive electronic equipment on the moving antenna dish. In addition to offering versatility, this design allows easy access for maintenance and upgrades to the system.

“The biggest challenge wasn’t actually constructing the antenna. It was transforming a complex collection of mechanical, electrical, software, radio frequency, and infrastructure systems into a single, mission-ready asset,” said Germaine Aziz, manager of the Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Project at JPL. “Every subsystem must be integrated, calibrated, and verified to operate with extraordinary precision and reliability before it can support NASA’s deep space missions.”

The enhancement project will be complete when a sixth enhancement-project antenna, Deep Space Station 33, comes online at the Canberra facility in 2029, bringing the total number of 34-meter antennas across the network to 13. The 34-meter antennas can be arrayed (combined and operated together) to provide an equivalent communications backup for each facility’s single 70-meter antenna, which, after more than 50 years of near-continuous operation, are getting increasingly costly to maintain and repair.

Managed by Caltech for NASA, JPL manages the agency’s Deep Space Network with the oversight of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on the Deep Space Network and Near Space Network. They include missions that support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitoring Earth, exploring the Moon, and exploring the solar system and beyond.

For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn

Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

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Meir & Adenot on Spacewalk | International Space Station

Meir & Adenot on Spacewalk | International Space Station

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir of NASA points her camera toward her spacesuit’s helmet visor and takes an out-of-this-world “space selfie.”

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir (red stripes) of NASA on spacewalk

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir of NASA on spacewalk

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot at work on spacewalk

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot at work on spacewalk

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot on spacewalk

Expedition 75 emblem

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3:29 p.m. EDT, September 1, 2026.

During the 6-hour, 49-minute spacewalk, Meir and Adenot installed a new retroflector on the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module to support spacecraft navigation during rendezvous and docking operations. The duo replaced a high-definition camera on the station’s truss and completed a swab of the space station’s exterior for microorganisms. They also partially completed work to install jumper cables for electrical systems and started work to prepare for the replacement of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s heat-rejecting radiator on a future spacewalk.

Mission Control deferred installing the remaining guide studs for the spectrometer’s replacement radiator so engineers can develop a plan to finish the work during a future spacewalk. As the crew fell behind the timeline, the mission control team also shifted completion of the remaining jumper cables and other noncritical tasks to a later date.

During the spacewalk, Adenot experienced mobility issues with her left arm. Meir took a look at Adenot’s suit and determined the glove heater harness was likely getting caught and causing limited movement in the left shoulder joint. Unzipping the joint seemed to resolve the issue ahead of the crew entering the airlock.

U.S. spacewalk 99 was Meir’s seventh and Adenot’s third. Meir now ranks third all-time among women at NASA for total spacewalks, behind Peggy Whitson (10) and Suni Williams (9). It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Follow Expedition 75:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Jessica Meir
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center/ESA/J. Meir/S. Adenot
Image Date: Sept. 1, 2026

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China's Tianwen-3 Mars Sample Return Mission Development Progressing Smoothly

China's Tianwen-3 Mars Sample Return Mission Development Progressing Smoothly

The Tianwen-3, China's first Mars sample-return mission, is progressing smoothly, entering the prototype development phase with several technical breakthroughs and with scientific preparations underway simultaneously, said the mission's chief scientist on Thursday, Sept 3, 2026. 

The Tianwen-3 mission, part of China's planetary exploration program, is planned for launch around 2028. It aims to bring Martian samples back to the Earth around 2031.

If everything goes according to plan, the mission will become the first to return the Red Planet's substances to the Earth, helping drive research across various disciplines, such as astrobiology and planetary geology, while expanding human understanding of Mars and supporting efforts to explore extraterrestrial life.

"The Tianwen-3 mission is progressing smoothly with intensified efforts being made to overcome technical challenges. The probe equipment has entered the prototype development phase, and scientifically, many scientist teams from across the country are working together to tackle the challenges in accordance with the mission's scientific objectives," said Hou Zengqian, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and principal investigator of the Tianwen-3 mission, on the sidelines of the International Deep Space Exploration Conference 2026 in east China's Hefei City.

Meanwhile, the China National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft has been orbiting and operating at Mars since February 2021. This robotic probe originally contained six elements: an orbiter, two deployable cameras, a lander, a remote camera, and the Zhurong rover. The spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly five tons, was one of the heaviest probes launched to Mars and carried 14 scientific instruments. China is the second country after the United States to make a successful soft landing and to establish communication from the Martian surface. This is the first in a series of planned interplanetary missions undertaken by CNSA as part of China's planetary exploration program. 

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Sept. 4, 2026

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Planet Mars Images: Sept. 2-3, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Sept. 2-3, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

MSL - sol 5003

MSL - sol 5003

MSL - sol 5003

MSL - sol 5003

Mars 2020 - sol 1967

Mars 2020 - sol 1967

Mars 2020 - sol 1967

Mars 2020 - sol 1967

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Celebrating 14+ Years on Mars (2012-2026)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 5+ Years on Mars

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Release Dates: Sept 2-3, 2026

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Black Hole Ignites Star Formation in Dwarf Galaxy Henize 2-10 in Pyxis | Hubble

Black Hole Ignites Star Formation in Dwarf Galaxy Henize 2-10 in Pyxis | Hubble

Black holes are often described as the monsters of the universe—tearing apart stars, consuming anything that comes too close, and holding light captive. Detailed evidence from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, however, shows a black hole in a new light—fostering, rather than suppressing, star formation. Hubble imaging and spectroscopy of the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 clearly show a gas outflow stretching from the black hole to a bright star birth region like an umbilical cord, triggering the already dense cloud into forming clusters of stars. Astronomers have previously debated that a dwarf galaxy could have a black hole analogous to the supermassive black holes in larger galaxies. Further study of dwarf galaxies that have remained small over cosmic time may shed light on the question of how the first seeds of supermassive black holes formed and evolved over the history of the universe.

This dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 sparkles with young stars in this Hubble visible-light image. The bright region at the center, surrounded by pink clouds and dark dust lanes, indicates the location of the galaxy's massive black hole and active stellar nurseries.

Often portrayed as destructive monsters that hold light captive, black holes take on a less villainous role in the latest research from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. A black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 is creating stars rather than gobbling them up. The black hole is apparently contributing to the firestorm of new star formation taking place in the galaxy. The dwarf galaxy lies 30 million light-years away, in the southern constellation Pyxis.

A decade ago this small galaxy set off debate among astronomers as to whether dwarf galaxies were home to black holes proportional to the supermassive behemoths found in the hearts of larger galaxies. This new discovery has little Henize 2-10, containing only one-tenth the number of stars found in our Milky Way, poised to play a big part in solving the mystery of where supermassive black holes came from in the first place.

"Ten years ago, as a graduate student thinking I would spend my career on star formation, I looked at the data from Henize 2-10 and everything changed," said Amy Reines, who published the first evidence for a black hole in the galaxy in 2011 and is the principal investigator on the new Hubble observations, published in the January 19 issue of Nature.

"From the beginning I knew something unusual and special was happening in Henize 2-10, and now Hubble has provided a very clear picture of the connection between the black hole and a neighboring star forming region located 230 light-years from the black hole," Reines said.

That connection is an outflow of gas stretching across space like an umbilical cord to a bright stellar nursery. The region was already home to a dense cocoon of gas when the low-velocity outflow arrived. Hubble spectroscopy shows the outflow was moving about 1 million miles per hour, slamming into the dense gas like a garden hose hitting a pile of dirt and spreading out. Newborn star clusters dot the path of the outflow's spread, their ages also calculated by Hubble.

This is the opposite effect of what's seen in larger galaxies, where material falling toward the black hole is whisked away by surrounding magnetic fields, forming blazing jets of plasma moving at close to the speed of light. Gas clouds caught in the jets' path would be heated far beyond their ability to cool back down and form stars. However, with the less-massive black hole in Henize 2-10, and its gentler outflow, gas was compressed just enough to precipitate new star formation.

"At only 30 million light-years away, Henize 2-10 is close enough that Hubble was able to capture both images and spectroscopic evidence of a black hole outflow very clearly. The additional surprise was that, rather than suppressing star formation, the outflow was triggering the birth of new stars," said Zachary Schutte, Reines' graduate student and lead author of the new study.

Ever since her first discovery of distinctive radio and X-ray emissions in Henize 2-10, Reines has thought they likely came from a massive black hole, but not as supermassive as those seen in larger galaxies. Other astronomers, however, thought that the radiation was more likely being emitted by a supernova remnant, which would be a familiar occurrence in a galaxy that is rapidly pumping out massive stars that quickly explode.

"Hubble's amazing resolution clearly shows a corkscrew-like pattern in the velocities of the gas, which we can fit to the model of a precessing, or wobbling, outflow from a black hole. A supernova remnant would not have that pattern, and so it is effectively our smoking-gun proof that this is a black hole," Reines said.

Reines expects that even more research will be directed at dwarf galaxy black holes in the future, with the aim of using them as clues to the mystery of how supermassive black holes came to be in the early universe. It is a persistent puzzle for astronomers. The relationship between the mass of the galaxy and its black hole can provide clues. The black hole in Henize 2-10 is around 1 million solar masses. In larger galaxies, black holes can be more than 1 billion times our Sun's mass. The more massive the host galaxy, the more massive the central black hole.

Current theories on the origin of supermassive black holes break down into three categories: 1) they formed just like smaller stellar-mass black holes, from the implosion of stars, and somehow gathered enough material to grow supermassive, 2) special conditions in the early universe allowed for the formation of supermassive stars, which collapsed to form massive black hole "seeds" right off the bat, or 3) the seeds of future supermassive black holes were born in dense star clusters, where the cluster's overall mass would have been enough to somehow create them from gravitational collapse.

So far, none of these black hole seeding theories has taken the lead. Dwarf galaxies like Henize 2-10 offer promising potential clues, because they have remained small over cosmic time, rather than undergoing the growth and mergers of large galaxies like the Milky Way. Astronomers think that dwarf galaxy black holes could serve as an analog for black holes in the early universe, when they were just beginning to form and grow.

"The era of the first black holes is not something that we have been able to see, so it really has become the big question: where did they come from? Dwarf galaxies may retain some memory of the black hole seeding scenario that has otherwise been lost to time and space," Reines said.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Zachary Schutte (XGI), Amy Reines (XGI)

Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)
Release Date: Jan. 19, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Henize210 #DwarfGalaxies #StarburstGalaxies #BlackHoles #StarFormation #PyxisConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

China's PALLAS-1 Rocket to Focus on Middle-Weight Low Earth Orbit Payloads​

China's PALLAS-1 Rocket to Focus on Middle-Weight Low Earth Orbit Payloads​

China's PALLAS-1 Y1 carrier rocket will concentrate on middle-weight payload deployments for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, said a Chinese expert after its successful launch on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China.

The mission was the first flight of PALLAS-1, a medium-sized, two-stage liquid carrier rocket independently developed by Galactic Energy, a Chinese private space launch enterprise.

The rocket is 52 meters long and has a core-stage diameter of 3.35 meters, a liftoff mass of 283 tons and a liftoff thrust of 350 tons. Designed to be re-used at least 25 times, it can carry five to seven tons to low Earth orbit.

"We used to see many models in the four-to-five-ton payload class, then some other models' payload capacity jumped straight to around 20 tons. The five-to-seven-ton range, even up to eight tons, remains relatively few. That is exactly the niche PALLAS-1 is built for," said Liu Baiqi, chairman of Galactic Energy.

PALLAS-1 is Galactic Energy's first product in the liquid rocket field, following the company's solid-fuel Ceres (Gushenxing) series.

Its successful debut means the company now runs two parallel product lines side by side, marking a new phase of development as it sets its sights on the large-scale constellation deployment market.

The September 1 launch was the 1st for the Pallas-1 launch vehicle and Galactic Energy’s 25th orbital launch. This was also the 61st launch from China in 2026.

Galactic Energy successfully conducted its first launch in November 2020 with a Ceres-1 rocket. Galactic Energy became the second private company in China to put a satellite in orbit successfully.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Satellites #LEO #Earth #China #中国 #Rockets #PALLAS1 #PALLASY1Rocket #LiquidFueledRockets #CQ50Engines #ReusableRockets #GalacticEnergy #星河动力 #CommercialSpace #Gansu #甘肃 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Artemis III Mission: "Our Next Step Back to The Moon"

NASA's Artemis III Mission: "Our Next Step Back to The Moon"

In April 2026, we flew humans to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years during the Artemis II Mission. However, this mission was only the beginning.

Soon after, the crew of Artemis III was announced: NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano. Their mission will involve testing lunar lander systems in low Earth orbit.

The astronauts of Artemis II passed the baton to the Artemis III crew, as they are our next step in sending humanity back to the Moon—this time, to stay.

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Learn more about Artemis III: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-iii/

Video Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIIIMission #LunarLanders #HLS #NASASLS #OrionSpacecraft #Astronauts #RandyBresnik #FrankRubio #AndreDouglas #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Europe #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAJohnson #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

The N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

This sprawling cosmic vista and subject of this Hubble picture comes from the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC. The LMC is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy. At just 160,000 light-years away, the LMC offers a close look at highly active stellar birthsites like the nebula shown here. This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it is located in the constellation Dorado.

The appearance of this photogenic nebula is dominated by two features—a vast central void and a shell of dense, dusty gas. The central void is a ‘superbubble’ spanning roughly 210 by 140 light-years. The glittering stars at the center of the void are responsible for its creation. Through their powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae, these stars have expelled much of the gas from which they were born.

When the stars of N44’s central star cluster swept away this gas, the expelled gas formed a shell around the superbubble. New stars are forming in this compressed gas shell, making N44 an interesting target for researchers studying the process of star formation. In particular, astronomers have turned to this nebula as an ideal place to time this process from start to finish. Their goal is to understand how long it takes from the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots to the moment nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star.

Researchers used Hubble to survey N44 and take a census of its stars, cataloging nearly half a million stars within the cluster as well as interlopers drifting in front of it. Of the stars surveyed, nearly 30,000 are what astronomers call pre-main-sequence stars that have yet to begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores. This treasure trove of baby stars was discoverable thanks to the high sensitivity and fine spatial resolution of Hubble’s instruments that can pick out faint objects in crowded clusters.

The gas shell surrounding the superbubble is energized by ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, causing it to glow and highlighting several distinct features. Each feature within the broader N44 star-forming complex was catalogued by astronomer Karl Henize in the 1950s. One feature is a smaller bubble, cataloged as N44F, that is located near the upper-right corner of this image. N44F is an interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds of a single hot and massive star. As this previously released Hubble closeup shows, the star’s furious winds and radiation have sculpted the surrounding bubble and created pillars of dusty gas.

The data used to create this image come from an observing program (#14689; PI: Gouliermis) that aimed to probe stars in the N44 complex that have not yet begun fusing hydrogen into heavier elements in their cores. These data help to determine how long the process of star formation takes, as well as what masses newborn stars typically have. Hubble's sensitive observations of the lowest-mass stars in this region open a new window onto star formation in regions that, like the LMC or the galaxies of the early Universe, are poor in elements heavier than helium.

Image Description: A dense field of stars fills the image, surrounded by wispy clouds of gas and dust. Pale blue and grey nebulosity forms an intricate web across the scene with darker clouds of dust concentrated towards the lower right. Numerous bright stars appear in shades of blue, white and orange.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis

Duration: 1 minute, 18 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #LHA120N44 #N44 #N44F #Superbubble #DoradoConstellation #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

Journey to N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

This sprawling cosmic vista and subject of this Hubble picture comes from the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC. The LMC is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy. At just 160,000 light-years away, the LMC offers a close look at highly active stellar birthsites like the nebula shown here. This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it is located in the constellation Dorado.

The appearance of this photogenic nebula is dominated by two features—a vast central void and a shell of dense, dusty gas. The central void is a ‘superbubble’ spanning roughly 210 by 140 light-years. The glittering stars at the center of the void are responsible for its creation. Through their powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae, these stars have expelled much of the gas from which they were born.

When the stars of N44’s central star cluster swept away this gas, the expelled gas formed a shell around the superbubble. New stars are forming in this compressed gas shell, making N44 an interesting target for researchers studying the process of star formation. In particular, astronomers have turned to this nebula as an ideal place to time this process from start to finish. Their goal is to understand how long it takes from the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots to the moment nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star.

Researchers used Hubble to survey N44 and take a census of its stars, cataloging nearly half a million stars within the cluster as well as interlopers drifting in front of it. Of the stars surveyed, nearly 30,000 are what astronomers call pre-main-sequence stars that have yet to begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores. This treasure trove of baby stars was discoverable thanks to the high sensitivity and fine spatial resolution of Hubble’s instruments that can pick out faint objects in crowded clusters.

The gas shell surrounding the superbubble is energized by ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, causing it to glow and highlighting several distinct features. Each feature within the broader N44 star-forming complex was catalogued by astronomer Karl Henize in the 1950s. One feature is a smaller bubble, cataloged as N44F, that is located near the upper-right corner of this image. N44F is an interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds of a single hot and massive star. As this previously released Hubble closeup shows, the star’s furious winds and radiation have sculpted the surrounding bubble and created pillars of dusty gas.

The data used to create this image come from an observing program (#14689; PI: Gouliermis) that aimed to probe stars in the N44 complex that have not yet begun fusing hydrogen into heavier elements in their cores. These data help to determine how long the process of star formation takes, as well as what masses newborn stars typically have. Hubble's sensitive observations of the lowest-mass stars in this region open a new window onto star formation in regions that, like the LMC or the galaxies of the early Universe, are poor in elements heavier than helium.

Image Description: A dense field of stars fills the image, surrounded by wispy clouds of gas and dust. Pale blue and grey nebulosity forms an intricate web across the scene with darker clouds of dust concentrated towards the lower right. Numerous bright stars appear in shades of blue, white and orange.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis

Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #LHA120N44 #N44 #N44F #Superbubble #DoradoConstellation #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

Close-up: N44 Nebula in Dorado—A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble | Hubble

This sprawling cosmic vista and subject of this Hubble picture comes from the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC. The LMC is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy. At just 160,000 light-years away, the LMC offers a close look at highly active stellar birthsites like the nebula shown here. This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it is located in the constellation Dorado.

The appearance of this photogenic nebula is dominated by two features—a vast central void and a shell of dense, dusty gas. The central void is a ‘superbubble’ spanning roughly 210 by 140 light-years. The glittering stars at the center of the void are responsible for its creation. Through their powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae, these stars have expelled much of the gas from which they were born.

When the stars of N44’s central star cluster swept away this gas, the expelled gas formed a shell around the superbubble. New stars are forming in this compressed gas shell, making N44 an interesting target for researchers studying the process of star formation. In particular, astronomers have turned to this nebula as an ideal place to time this process from start to finish. Their goal is to understand how long it takes from the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots to the moment nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star.

Researchers used Hubble to survey N44 and take a census of its stars, cataloging nearly half a million stars within the cluster as well as interlopers drifting in front of it. Of the stars surveyed, nearly 30,000 are what astronomers call pre-main-sequence stars that have yet to begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores. This treasure trove of baby stars was discoverable thanks to the high sensitivity and fine spatial resolution of Hubble’s instruments that can pick out faint objects in crowded clusters.

The gas shell surrounding the superbubble is energized by ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, causing it to glow and highlighting several distinct features. Each feature within the broader N44 star-forming complex was catalogued by astronomer Karl Henize in the 1950s. One feature is a smaller bubble, cataloged as N44F, that is located near the upper-right corner of this image. N44F is an interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds of a single hot and massive star. As this previously released Hubble closeup shows, the star’s furious winds and radiation have sculpted the surrounding bubble and created pillars of dusty gas.

The data used to create this image come from an observing program (#14689; PI: Gouliermis) that aimed to probe stars in the N44 complex that have not yet begun fusing hydrogen into heavier elements in their cores. These data help to determine how long the process of star formation takes, as well as what masses newborn stars typically have. Hubble's sensitive observations of the lowest-mass stars in this region open a new window onto star formation in regions that, like the LMC or the galaxies of the early Universe, are poor in elements heavier than helium.

Image Description: A dense field of stars fills the image, surrounded by wispy clouds of gas and dust. Pale blue and grey nebulosity forms an intricate web across the scene with darker clouds of dust concentrated towards the lower right. Numerous bright stars appear in shades of blue, white and orange.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #LHA120N44 #N44 #N44F #Superbubble #DoradoConstellation #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

N44 Nebula in Dorado: A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble Scene | Hubble

N44 Nebula in Dorado: A Large Magellanic Cloud Superbubble Scene | Hubble

This sprawling cosmic vista and subject of this Hubble picture comes from the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC. The LMC is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit our Milky Way galaxy. At just 160,000 light-years away, the LMC offers a close look at highly active stellar birthsites like the nebula shown here. This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it is located in the constellation Dorado.

The appearance of this photogenic nebula is dominated by two features—a vast central void and a shell of dense, dusty gas. The central void is a ‘superbubble’ spanning roughly 210 by 140 light-years. The glittering stars at the center of the void are responsible for its creation. Through their powerful stellar winds and explosive supernovae, these stars have expelled much of the gas from which they were born.

When the stars of N44’s central star cluster swept away this gas, the expelled gas formed a shell around the superbubble. New stars are forming in this compressed gas shell, making N44 an interesting target for researchers studying the process of star formation. In particular, astronomers have turned to this nebula as an ideal place to time this process from start to finish. Their goal is to understand how long it takes from the collapse of cold gas clouds into dense knots to the moment nuclear fusion ignites in the heart of a newborn star.

Researchers used Hubble to survey N44 and take a census of its stars, cataloging nearly half a million stars within the cluster as well as interlopers drifting in front of it. Of the stars surveyed, nearly 30,000 are what astronomers call pre-main-sequence stars that have yet to begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores. This treasure trove of baby stars was discoverable thanks to the high sensitivity and fine spatial resolution of Hubble’s instruments that can pick out faint objects in crowded clusters.

The gas shell surrounding the superbubble is energized by ultraviolet radiation from massive stars, causing it to glow and highlighting several distinct features. Each feature within the broader N44 star-forming complex was catalogued by astronomer Karl Henize in the 1950s. One feature is a smaller bubble, cataloged as N44F, that is located near the upper-right corner of this image. N44F is an interstellar bubble blown by the intense stellar winds of a single hot and massive star. As this previously released Hubble closeup shows, the star’s furious winds and radiation have sculpted the surrounding bubble and created pillars of dusty gas.

The data used to create this image come from an observing program (#14689; PI: Gouliermis) that aimed to probe stars in the N44 complex that have not yet begun fusing hydrogen into heavier elements in their cores. These data help to determine how long the process of star formation takes, as well as what masses newborn stars typically have. Hubble's sensitive observations of the lowest-mass stars in this region open a new window onto star formation in regions that, like the LMC or the galaxies of the early Universe, are poor in elements heavier than helium.

Image Description: A dense field of stars fills the image, surrounded by wispy clouds of gas and dust. Pale blue and grey nebulosity forms an intricate web across the scene with darker clouds of dust concentrated towards the lower right. Numerous bright stars appear in shades of blue, white and orange.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #LHA120N44 #N44 #N44F #Superbubble #DoradoConstellation #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Close-up: NGC 6717—A Glittering Globular Cluster in Sagittarius | Hubble

Close-up: NGC 6717—A Glittering Globular Cluster in Sagittarius | Hubble

This star-studded image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope depicts NGC 6717. It lies more than 20,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. NGC 6717 is a globular cluster, a roughly spherical collection of stars tightly bound together by gravity. Globular clusters contain more stars in their centers than their outer fringes, as this image aptly demonstrates. The sparsely populated edges of NGC 6717 are in stark contrast to the sparkling collection of stars at its center.

The center of the image also contains some interlopers from closer to home. Bright foreground stars close to Earth are surrounded by criss-cross diffraction spikes formed by starlight interacting with the structures supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror.

The area of the night sky that contains the constellation Sagittarius also has the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It is filled with light-absorbing gas and dust. This absorption of light is what astronomers refer to as extinction. It makes studying globular clusters near the Galactic center a challenging endeavor. To determine the properties of NGC 6717, astronomers relied on a combination of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Sarajedini

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 6, 2021

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #NGC6717 #SagittariusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HubbleWFC3 #HubbleACS #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NGC 6717: A Glittering Globular Cluster in Sagittarius | Hubble Space Telescope

NGC 6717: A Glittering Globular Cluster in Sagittarius | Hubble Space Telescope

This star-studded image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope depicts NGC 6717. It lies more than 20,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. NGC 6717 is a globular cluster, a roughly spherical collection of stars tightly bound together by gravity. Globular clusters contain more stars in their centers than their outer fringes, as this image aptly demonstrates. The sparsely populated edges of NGC 6717 are in stark contrast to the sparkling collection of stars at its center.

The center of the image also contains some interlopers from closer to home. Bright foreground stars close to Earth are surrounded by criss-cross diffraction spikes formed by starlight interacting with the structures supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror.

The area of the night sky that contains the constellation Sagittarius also has the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It is filled with light-absorbing gas and dust. This absorption of light is what astronomers refer to as extinction. It makes studying globular clusters near the Galactic center a challenging endeavor. To determine the properties of NGC 6717, astronomers relied on a combination of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Sarajedini 
Release Date: Sept. 6, 2021

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #NGC6717 #SagittariusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HubbleWFC3 #HubbleACS #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

China's Kinastra-1 Upper Stage expected to make first flight next year

China's Kinastra-1 Upper Stage expected to make first flight next year

The Kinastra-1 Upper Stage, independently developed by Chinese company CAS Space, is expected to make its maiden flight in Q1 next year, the country’s Science and Technology department reported recently.

As the upper stage, the Kinastra-1 will work like a transport vehicle for satellites. After it is launched into space along with the satellite payload, the rocket drops off, and the Kinastra-1 Upper Stage takes over, transfering satellites between orbits.

And now, after completing months of testing, the upper stage has accumulated over 5,200 seconds of engine ignition tests and is ready for flight tests.

The chief designer of the Kinastra-1 says in the future, it will be used in tandem with the Kinetica-2 rocket (also known as Lijian-2) for a number of scenarios.

Kinetica-2 is a Chinese medium-lift orbital launch vehicle developed by CAS Space. Kinetica-2 uses two liquid-propellant rocket stages. In its initial configuration, first stage propulsion uses a modular rocket design with three identical rockets strapped together side-by-side. It is capable of lifting 12 t (12 long tons; 13 short tons) to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 8.0 t (7.9 long tons; 8.8 short tons) to a 500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

CAS Space is a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Guangzhou, capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. CAS Space was founded in 2018 and is majority owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

China's 15th Five Year Plan, started this year, aims turn the country's space industry into one of its "emerging pillar" industries along with integrated circuits and biomedicine.

Video Credit: SMG
Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds
Date: Sept. 1, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #China #中国 #CASSpace #中科宇航 #CAS #中国科学院 #Kinetica2 #力箭二号 #Kinetica2Rocket #Lijian2 #Kinastra1 #Kinastra1UpperStage #CommercialSpace #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Meir & Adenot on Spacewalk | International Space Station

Meir & Adenot on Spacewalk | International Space Station

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, with her spacesuit’s gold‑plated helmet visor down, is tethered to the International Space Station.

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir of NASA points her camera toward her spacesuit’s helmet visor and takes an out-of-this-world “space selfie.”

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir of NASA rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk for navigation and science maintenance outside the International Space Station.

From left, the Soyuz MS‑29 crew spacecraft, docked to the Prichal module, and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft, berthed to the Unity module, are pictured as the International Space Station orbited 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Peru.

From left, flight engineer Jack Hathaway, station commander Jessica Meir, and flight engineer Anil Menon—NASA astronauts and members of Expedition 75—pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock.

From left, Expedition 75 crewmates Sophie Adenot of European Space Agency (ESA) and Jessica Meir of NASA, flight engineer and station commander respectively, smile for a portrait while working together inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock.

From left, astronauts Jessica Meir of NASA and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency (ESA) pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock while configuring spacesuits the day before they conducted a spacewalk together.

From left, astronauts Jessica Meir of NASA and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency (ESA) pose for a portrait inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock while configuring spacesuits the day before they conducted a spacewalk together. 

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 3:29 p.m. EDT, September 1, 2026.

During the 6-hour, 49-minute spacewalk, Meir and Adenot installed a new retroflector on the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module to support spacecraft navigation during rendezvous and docking operations. The duo replaced a high-definition camera on the station’s truss and completed a swab of the space station’s exterior for microorganisms. They also partially completed work to install jumper cables for electrical systems and started work to prepare for the replacement of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s heat-rejecting radiator on a future spacewalk.

Mission Control deferred installing the remaining guide studs for the spectrometer’s replacement radiator so engineers can develop a plan to finish the work during a future spacewalk. As the crew fell behind the timeline, the mission control team also shifted completion of the remaining jumper cables and other noncritical tasks to a later date.

During the spacewalk, Adenot experienced mobility issues with her left arm. Meir took a look at Adenot’s suit and determined the glove heater harness was likely getting caught and causing limited movement in the left shoulder joint. Unzipping the joint seemed to resolve the issue ahead of the crew entering the airlock.

U.S. spacewalk 99 was Meir’s seventh and Adenot’s third. Meir now ranks third all-time among women at NASA for total spacewalks, behind Peggy Whitson (10) and Suni Williams (9). It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

It also was the 284th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Follow Expedition 75:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Jessica Meir
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center/A. Menon/S. Adenot
Image Dates: Aug. 28-Sept. 1, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planets #Earth #Astronauts #Spacewalks #USSpacewalk99 #EVAs #Spacesuits #AnilMenon #SophieAdenot #France #CNES #AstronautPhotography #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition75 #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

A New Decagon Detected Encircling Saturn’s South Pole | Hubble Space Telescope

A New Decagon Detected Encircling Saturn’s South Pole | Hubble Space Telescope

Two views of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal a giant, evolving 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling the planet’s south pole. The feature, called a decagon, is the first large, persistent, regular-sided pattern observed at Saturn’s southern hemisphere.

By comparing observations taken over several years, researchers found that the pattern has become increasingly distinct since 2023, suggesting they may be witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon develop on the gas giant. The “X” and dashed circle in the image on the right represent where data was not captured by Hubble.

A single wavelength of light from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 provides a particularly clear view of the 10-sided atmospheric wave discovered encircling Saturn’s south pole. The feature, labeled “decagon,” is embedded within one of Saturn’s powerful jet streams. The wave is centered around 63 degrees south latitude, and its apparent position shifts slightly depending on the wavelength of light observed. Observations from Hubble at different wavelengths of light reveal the structure at different altitudes. Hubble observations also show that the feature was present as early as 2023 and has become more pronounced over subsequent years.

The “X” and dashed circle in the image represents where data was not captured by Hubble.

Recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope images show the gas giant Saturn and its southern pole, where astronomers have discovered a 10-sided atmospheric wave. Observations show the decagon extends through multiple layers of Saturn’s atmosphere.

Recent observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, ten-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn's south pole. This discovery marks the first time a large, regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet's southern hemisphere. The feature appears remarkably similar to Saturn's famous hexagon at its northern pole, but is also distinctly different, suggesting scientists may be witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon develop on the iconic gas giant.

The results published Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in the journal Science Advances. 

By piecing together several years of Hubble observations dating back to 2023, researchers found subtle hints of the structure beginning to emerge before it became a clearly defined pattern. Those observations were taken as part of Hubble’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. It has photographed the outer planets annually for more than a decade. 

"We've never seen anything quite like this in Saturn's southern hemisphere," said Amy Simon, study co-author and OPAL principal investigator, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The northern hexagon has been there every time we've looked for more than 40 years. This feature is different—it appears to be strengthening, giving us the rare opportunity to watch a giant atmospheric pattern develop."

The discovery was possible because Saturn's changing seasons gradually brought the planet's south pole back into view from Earth, where astronomers that collectively analyze images of Saturn from ground-based observatories first identified it.

Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, lead author of the new study, is a researcher at the University of the Basque Country in Spain. The university manages a website, called Planetary Virtual Observatory Laboratory, that accepts ground-based images of solar system planets contributed by observers all over the world. It was in those images, first in 2024, that Sánchez-Lavega and amateur astronomers Trevor Barry and Jean-Paul Oger noticed a subtle undulating band along the southern pole. Additional 2025 imagery taken from the ground hinted even more strongly toward this decagon structure.

This is when the Hubble observations come into the picture. Hubble’s view from space offers unmatched image sharpness and spatial resolution over full rotations of Saturn without smearing by Earth’s atmosphere. 

“Given Saturn’s symmetry in its north-south jet stream system, we have been searching for a counterpart to Saturn’s northern hexagon on the south pole in Hubble images since 1990,” Sánchez-Lavega said. “Images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn between 2004 and 2017, showed no inkling of a long-lived formation, either. The Hubble data confirmed the feature’s presence back to 2023.”

The wave sits within one of Saturn's powerful jet streams and extends through multiple layers of the atmosphere, indicating it is not just a cloud-level feature, but a vertically extended atmospheric structure. The decagon’s apparent position shifts slightly, because Hubble captures images from a range of wavelengths for a variety of altitudes in Saturn's atmosphere.

“The most intriguing part to me is that this seems to have just formed recently,” said Simon. “The question is, why did it suddenly form now when we haven't seen one before?” 

The authors say further study is needed from Hubble and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, as well as analysis of computer models, to understand how the decagon formed, how long it may last, and how it compares to the long-lived hexagon in the north.

Hubble’s long duration in operation has allowed astronomers to track changes over time in solar system planets and other astronomical objects as well.

Rather than providing a single snapshot, the OPAL program allows scientists to follow seasonal changes, track short-lived storms, and identify other atmospheric features that evolve slowly over time.

"When we started the OPAL program, we expected compelling surprises, but we didn't know what to expect specifically,” said Mike Wong, study co-author, University of California, Berkeley. “A lot of the discoveries we see coming from OPAL are not just based on one observation, but on years and years of data. Regular observations over time are enabling a lot of new findings."

The team plans to continue observing Saturn to determine whether the decagon settles into a long-lived, stable configuration like the northern hexagon or continues to evolve. Future observations also could help scientists determine what drives the wave, what it reveals about the atmospheric dynamics of giant planets throughout the solar system, and how they may relate to those we see here on Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

Image Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, Agustin Sánchez-Lavega (UPV), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley)
Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan

Text Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Release Date: Sept. 2, 2026

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planets #Saturn #Atmospheres #SouthPole #Decagon #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #WFC3 #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education