Thursday, November 07, 2019

The Sunburst Arc Galaxy | Hubble

The Sunburst Arc Galaxy | Hubble
This video pans over the galaxy called the Sunburst Arc.
This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a massive galaxy about 4.6 billion light years away. Along its borders four bright arcs are visible; these are copies of the same distant galaxy, nicknamed the Sunburst Arc.

The Sunburst Arc galaxy is almost 11 billion light-years away and the light from it is being lensed into multiple images by gravitational lensing. The Sunburst Arc is among the brightest lensed galaxies known and its image is visible at least 12 times within the four arcs.


Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Rivera-Thorsen et al.
Duration: 20 seconds
Release Date: November 7, 2019



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Sunburst #Arc #PSZ1G311651848 #Cluster #Gravitational #Lens #Apus #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Sunburst Arc Doppelgangers | Hubble

Sunburst Arc Doppelgangers | Hubble
Warped Space Creates Kaleidoscope View of Faraway Galaxy
This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows an astronomical object whose image is multiplied by the effect of strong gravitational lensing. The galaxy, nicknamed the Sunburst Arc, is almost 11 billion light-years away from Earth and has been lensed into multiple images by a massive cluster of galaxies 4.6 billion light-years away [1].

The mass of the galaxy cluster is large enough to bend and magnify the light from the more distant galaxy behind it. This process leads not only to a deformation of the light from the object, but also to a multiplication of the image of the lensed galaxy.

In the case of the Sunburst Arc the lensing effect led to at least 12 images of the galaxy, distributed over four major arcs. Three of these arcs are visible in the top right of the image, while one counterarc is visible in the lower left—partially obscured by a bright foreground star within the Milky Way.

Hubble uses these cosmic magnifying glasses to study objects otherwise too faint and too small for even its extraordinarily sensitive instruments. The Sunburst Arc is no exception, despite being one of the brightest gravitationally-lensed galaxies known.

The lens makes various images of the Sunburst Arc between 10 and 30 times brighter. This allows Hubble to view structures as small as 520 light-years across—a rare detailed observation for an object that distant. This compares reasonably well with star forming regions in galaxies in the local Universe, allowing astronomers to study the galaxy and its environment in great detail.

Hubble’s observations showed that the Sunburst Arc is an analogue of galaxies which existed at a much earlier time in the history of the Universe: a period known as the epoch of reionization—an era which began only 150 million years after the Big Bang [2].

The epoch of reionization was a key era in the early Universe, one which ended the “dark ages”, the epoch before the first stars were created when the Universe was dark and filled with neutral hydrogen [3]. Once the first stars formed, they started to radiate light, producing the high-energy photons required to ionize the neutral hydrogen [4].

This converted the intergalactic matter into the mostly ionized form in which it exists today. However, to ionize intergalactic hydrogen, high-energy radiation from these early stars would have had to escape their host galaxies without first being absorbed by interstellar matter. So far only a small number of galaxies have been found to “leak” high-energy photons into deep space. How this light escaped from the early galaxies remains a mystery.

The analysis of the Sunburst Arc helps astronomers to add another piece to the puzzle—it seems that at least some photons can leave the galaxy through narrow channels in a gas rich neutral medium. This is the first observation of a long-theorized process [5]. While this process is unlikely to be the main mechanism that led the Universe to become reionized, it may very well have provided a decisive push.

Notes
[1] The official designation of the Sunburst Arc galaxy is PSZ1 G311.65-18.48.

[2] The further we look into space, the further back we look in time. This allows astronomers to study different epochs of the Universe, by studying objects at different distances.

[3] Ionization is the process of gaining or losing electrons to leave electrically charged particles. The era is known as reionization because, after the Big Bang, matter formed first into protons and electrons. Then, during the era of recombination—about 380 000 years after the Big Bang—neutral hydrogen formed from these particles for the first time.

[4] While an ionized hydrogen atom consists of only the core of the atom (one proton) a neutral hydrogen atom contains a nucleus of one proton which is orbited by one electron.

[5] The paper outlining these observations will appear in the journal, Science, on November 8, 2019.

Image Credit: ESA, NASA, E. Rivera-Thorsen et al.
Release Date: November 7, 2019



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Sunburst #Arc #PSZ1G311651848 #Cluster #Gravitational #Lens #Apus #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Monday, November 04, 2019

Islands and Clouds | International Space Station

Islands and Clouds | International Space Station
Iceberg-like blades cutting through the clouds in Earth's South Atlantic Ocean. This image shows the islands of: Zavodovski; Visokoi; (small un-named outcrops towards right); Candlemas and Vindication; Saunders; Montagu; and Bristol; and three at the top (left to right): Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule. It was captured by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano during his Beyond mission on the International Space Station.

Learn about Luca's Beyond mission:
http://lucaparmitano.esa.int

Credit: NASA/ESA
Image Date: October 29, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Technology #Earth #Islands #SouthSandwich #Zavodovski #Visokoi #SouthAtlantic #Atlantic #Ocean #Astronaut #ESA #LucaParmitano #MissionBeyond #Italia #Italy #Expedition60 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective

A Cosmic Bat in Flight | ESO

A Cosmic Bat in Flight | ESO
Hidden in one of the darkest corners of the Orion constellation, this Cosmic Bat is spreading its hazy wings through interstellar space two thousand light-years away. It is illuminated by the young stars nestled in its core—despite being shrouded by opaque clouds of dust, their bright rays still illuminate the nebula. Too dim to be discerned by the naked eye, NGC 1788 reveals its soft colors to ESO's Very Large Telescope in this image—the most detailed to date.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: March 14, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Nebula #NGC1788 #Stars #Orion #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Nov. 1, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Nov. 1, 2019
The Space Launch System core stage pathfinder—a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's actual core stage—was loaded back onto NASA's Pegasus barge for its return trip to the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. While at Kennedy, the pathfinder allowed teams to practice offloading, maneuvering and stacking techniques. Also, SpaceX fired up the Crew Dragon's SuperDraco engines in preparation of the company's In-Flight Abort Test.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 1 minute, 42 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SpaceX #CrewDragon #ElonMusk #LaunchAmerica #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Important Cargo Headed to International Space Station | This Week@NASA

Important Cargo Headed to International Space Station
This Week@NASA
This Week@NASA | Nov. 2, 2019: Important cargo headed to the space station, installing the thrust behind our return to the Moon, and a devastating wildfire seen from space . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: November 2, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthrupGrumman #Antares #Rocket #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #SpaceStation20th #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Moon #Artemis #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

Saturday, November 02, 2019

Skywatching: What's Up for November 2019 | NASA/JPL

Skywatching: What's Up for November 2019 | NASA/JPL
Highlights of the November sky include how to watch as Mercury transits the Sun on Nov. 11, plus how to observe the regular dimming and brightening of the "Demon star," Algol, with your own eyes.

Algol animation is licensed as CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Credit NASA-JPL/Caltech
Duration: 3 minutes, 5 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019



#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Skywatching #Moon #Planets #Mercury #Transit #Sun #SolarSystem #Stars #Star #Algol #Perseus #Constellations #MilkyWay #Galaxy #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, November 01, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Continuous Station Presence for 19 Years

NASA's Space to Ground: 
Continuous Station Presence for 19 Years
Week of Nov. 1, 2019: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
A U.S. cargo craft is poised to resupply the International Space Station just days after a Japanese space freighter departed the orbiting lab Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Expedition 61 crew today continued an array of microgravity research and spacewalk preparations.

Flight Engineer Christina Koch with back-up support from NASA astronaut Jessica Meir used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release Japan’s HTV-8 cargo spacecraft at 1:21 p.m. EDT today. The cargo craft spent five weeks attached to the orbiting lab following a Sept. 24 launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

HTV-8 delivered some five tons of supplies and experiments to the orbital complex as well as new lithium-ion batteries. The batteries were installed in the electronics system of the far port truss of the complex replacing older nickel-hydrogen batteries and upgrading the station’s power supply.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply ship sits atop an Antares rocket loaded with 8,200 pounds of science experiments and station hardware. Liftoff will take place on Saturday at 9:59 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Meir and Koch will be in the cupola Monday morning awaiting the arrival of Cygnus. Meir will command the Canadarm2 to reach out and grapple Cygnus at 4:10 a.m. EST. Koch will back up Meir as astronaut Andrew Morgan of NASA monitors Cygnus’ approach and rendezvous.

Morgan and Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) are also getting up to speed with repair techniques for an external cosmic particle detector. The duo is reviewing procedures to replace the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s (AMS) thermal control system during a series of spacewalks tentatively planned for this month. The AMS measures the charge, velocity and mass of cosmic rays in its search for evidence of dark matter and anti-matter.

Morgan also watered plants and set up biology hardware that will house rodents shipped aboard Cygnus. Parmitano monitored the free-flying Astrobee robotic assistant testing its autonomous ability to perform tasks inside the space station’s Kibo laboratory module.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka focused on Russian spacecraft work and science in their segment of the space station. The duo charged Soyuz crew ship batteries and packed a Progress cargo craft. Skvortsov then studied how pain adjusts to microgravity while Skripochka moved on to plumbing tasks.

Credit; NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 25 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthrupGrumman #Antares #Rocket #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #SpaceStation20th #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, October 31, 2019

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble
This ghostly image shows what can happen when an interstellar cloud passes too close to a star. Barnard's Merope Nebula, also known as IC 349, is a cloud of interstellar gas and dust travelling through the Pleiades star cluster at a relative speed of 11 kilometers per second. It is passing close to the star Merope, located 0.06 light years away from the cloud, which is equivalent to about 3 500 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This passage is disrupting the nebula and creating the wispy effect seen in the image.

Merope is located just out of the frame at the top right. Light from the star is reflected from the surface of the cloud, which illuminates it to become what astronomers call a reflection nebula. The beams of light at the upper right from the star are an effect produced by the telescope but the eerie wisps of light from the lower left to upper right are real.

Astronomers believe that radiation pressure from the star is acting like a sieve to separate dust particles of different sizes. As the nebula approaches Merope, the starlight decelerates dust particles, but the small particles slow down more than the large particles. As an effect, the almost straight lines that are reaching out towards Merope in this view are made of large particles, whereas smaller-sized particles lag behind to create the wispy structure on the lower left.

The nebula will continue its approach towards Merope over the next few thousand years and will eventually move past the star, if it survives. Studying the nebula's interaction with the star is important as it provides a chance to observe interstellar material in an unusual situation and learn more about interstellar dust.

The nebula near Merope was discovered in 1890 by E.E. Barnard using the 36 inch telescope at the Lick Observatory in California. This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on September 19, 1999 and was originally published in 2000.

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), George Herbig and Theodore Simon (University of Hawaii); CC BY 4.0
Image Date: September 19, 1999



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #Merope #IC349 #Pleiades #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble
Galaxies may seem lonely, floating alone in the vast, inky blackness of the sparsely populated cosmos—but looks can be deceiving. The subject of this Picture of the Week, NGC 1706, is a good example of this. NGC 1706 is a spiral galaxy, about 230 million light-years away, in the constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish).

NGC 1706 is known to belong to something known as a galaxy group, which is just as the name suggests—a group of up to 50 galaxies which are gravitationally bound and hence relatively close to each other. Around half of the galaxies we know of in the Universe belong to some kind of group, making them incredibly common cosmic structures. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, belongs to the Local Group, which also contains the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Triangulum Galaxy.

Groups are the smallest of galactic gatherings; others are clusters, which can comprise hundreds of thousands of galaxies bound loosely together by gravity, and subsequent superclusters, which bring together numerous clusters into a single entity.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Bellini et al.
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #NGC1706 #Galaxy #Spiral #Dorado #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Falling in Fornax | ESO

Falling in Fornax | ESO
This strikingly simple and serene view of NGC 1404—a giant elliptical galaxy located 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace)—hides the galaxy’s cruel reality.

NGC 1404 is one of the galaxies comprising the massive Fornax Cluster—and it is slowly falling inwards towards the cluster’s core. As it moves towards the cluster’s large centermost galaxy, NGC 1399, the galaxy’s reserves of hot gas are being forcibly ripped and stripped away, leaving an elongated tell-tale trail of gas in its wake. While not visible in this image, this gas stream can be seen clearly in X-ray images of the galaxy; in time, NGC 1404 will lose most of its hot gas, and therefore its ability to form new stars.


The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS instrument. The bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Stars #NGC1404 #Galaxy #Elliptical #Fornax #Star #HD22862 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019
The NASA Business Opportunities Expo 2019 attracted about 200 business and government exhibitors. The event, which highlighted women-owned small businesses—and other socioeconomic categories—was held in Port Canaveral. Also, the rock band X Ambassadors toured unique areas around Kennedy Space Center, including Launch Complex 39B and Swamp Works.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 1 minute, 58 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Music #XAmbassadors #Band #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 25, 2019

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars | This Week @NASA

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars
This Week @NASA
Week of October 25, 2019: International partnerships for the Moon and Mars, an update on that historic all-woman spacewalk, and a milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope . . . a few of the stories to tell you about This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 2 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Astronomy #JWST #ISS #Science #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #Artemis #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam | Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam
Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

The six residents living aboard the International Space Station are busy today ensuring advanced microgravity research continues to provide benefits for citizens on Earth and in space. The Expedition 61 crew is also brushing up on repair techniques for a cosmic particle detector attached to the outside of the orbiting lab.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch juggled an array of life science activities throughout Thursday. Meir cared for plants for a new field of botany research exploring how to provide fresh food for long-term space crews. Meir later swapped out a failed computer hard drive that supports combustion experiments. Koch organized biology hardware for a study seeking therapies for aging-related conditions. Koch then serviced microbial DNA samples to understand how microorganisms adapt to weightlessness.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is due for an upgraded thermal control system after being installed on the outpost’s Starboard-3 truss structure in 2011. NASA is planning a series of spacewalks to restore the AMS-02 to full service. Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan are reviewing the tools and techniques necessary to complete the AMS repair job.

Over in the station’s Russian segment, composed of five modules, a pair of cosmonauts focused on hardware and systems maintenance. Alexander Skvortsov inspected lab windows and checked batteries. Fellow cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka worked on air conditioning and plumbing tasks inside the orbital lab. The duo also explored how to improve accuracy when detecting and photographing Earth landmarks.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir reflect on the historic spacewalk they performed on Oct. 18—the first ever to be conducted by two women. They spent a total of 7 hours and 17 minutes in the vacuum of space. It was Koch’s fourth spacewalk and Meir’s first.

It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 28 seconds
Release Date: October 23, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir waves at the camera during her first spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Monday, October 21, 2019

Reach High | International Space Station

Reach High | International Space Station
Christina: "To all those reaching to new heights: yes you can."
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir is pictured during a spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A Fleeting Moment in Time: A Dying Star | ESO

A Fleeting Moment in Time: A Dying Star | ESO
The faint, ephemeral glow emanating from the planetary nebula ESO 577-24 persists for only a short time—around 10,000 years, a blink of an eye in astronomical terms. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope captured this shell of glowing ionized gas—the last breath of the dying star whose simmering remains are visible at the heart of this image. As the gaseous shell of this planetary nebula expands and grows dimmer, it will slowly disappear from sight.


This stunning planetary nebula was imaged by one of the VLT’s most versatile instruments, FORS2. The instrument captured the bright, central star, Abell 36, as well as the surrounding planetary nebula. The red and blue portions of this image correspond to optical emission at red and blue wavelengths, respectively.

An object much closer to home is also visible in this image—an asteroid wandering across the field of view has left a faint track below and to the left of the central star. And in the far distance behind the nebula a glittering host of background galaxies can be seen.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: January 22, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Nebula #Planetary #ESO57724 #Star #Abell36 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #FORS2 #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Starshine in Canis Major | ESO

Starshine in Canis Major | ESO
Distance: 5000 light years
It is impossible to miss the star in this European Southern Observatory (ESO) Picture of the Week—beaming proudly from the center of the frame is the massive multiple star system Tau Canis Majoris, the brightest member of the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster (NGC 2362) in the eponymous constellation of Canis Major (The Great Dog). Tau Canis Majoris aside, the cluster is populated by many young and less attention-seeking stars that are only four or five million years old, all just beginning their cosmic lifetimes.

The Tau Canis Majoris Cluster is an open cluster—a group of stars born from the same molecular cloud. This means that all of the cluster’s inhabitants share a common chemical composition and are loosely bound together by gravity. Having been born together, they make an ideal stellar laboratory to test theories of stellar evolution, the chain of events that leads from a star’s birth in a cool, dense cloud of gas through to its eventual death.

Though the stars in this image were all created at the same time, their various different masses mean they will lead very different lives. As Tau Canis Majoris is one of the most massive and short-lived types of star, it will burn through its nuclear fuel long before its smaller companions, which will keep on shining for billions of years.

This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The program makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: March 18, 2019



#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Stars #NGC2362 #TauCanisMajoris #Cluster #CanisMajor #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ALMA #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Towers under the Milky Way | ESO

Towers under the Milky Way | ESO
This picture shows in the foreground some of the towers supporting the telescopes that compose BlackGEM. In the background, the magnificent southern Milky Way shines in the sky.

BlackGEM is a wide-field array of optical telescopes located at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile’s Atacama desert.

BlackGEM’s scientific goals are to detect and characterize optical counterparts to gravitational wave detections. To enable this, it will conduct an all-sky survey of the southern sky, perform a bi-weekly scan of the southern sky, and characterize intra-night transients, new stars that appear or disappear within a single night.

Events that produce detectable gravitational waves are expected to occur within approximately 650 million light-years of Earth. Many will therefore be located in or near resolved galaxies and will be faint. It is essential for BlackGEM to have high spatial resolution in order to resolve and accurately locate these sources against the background of the night-sky, making La Silla—with its excellent weather and thin atmosphere—an ideal observing site.

Credit: ESO/P. Horálek
Release Date: October 14, 2019


#ESO #Earth #Astronomy #Space #Science #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Stars #ZodiacalLight #BlackGEM #Telescopes #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #LaSilla #Observatory #Chile #Atacama #Desert #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 18, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 18, 2019

Practice makes perfect! Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, rehearsed lifting procedures of the Space Launch System core stage using a full-scale mock-up, called pathfinder, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Kennedy employees recently assembled the flight hardware for NASA's Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, inside a laboratory at the center. OSCAR will be used to study technology that converts trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 18, 2019

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA




The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA
History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up

Oct. 18, 2019: The International Space Station Expedition 61 crew pauses for a photo as NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch prepare to exit the International Space Station to begin the first all female spacewalk in history on Oct. 18, 2019.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.

Commander Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan assisted the spacewalkers. Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan provided airlock and spacesuit support.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA



The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA
History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch (right) prepare to leave the hatch of the International Space Station and begin the historic first-ever all-female spacewalk.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.


It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA

History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up

Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch (right) prepare to leave the hatch of the International Space Station and begin the historic first-ever all-female spacewalk.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.


It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalk | This Week @NASA

The First All Woman Spacewalk | This Week @NASA
Week of October 18, 2019: A first aboard the International Space Station, some gear well-suited for the Artemis generation, and ensuring astronaut safety . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 43 seconds
Release Date: October 18, 2019




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First All-Woman Spacewalk: History Made | NASA's Space to Ground

First All-Woman Spacewalk: History Made 
NASA's Space to Ground
Week of Oct. 18, 2019: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

At 2:55 p.m. EDT, Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA concluded their spacewalk, the first with only women. During the 7-hour, 17-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts completed the replacement a failed power charging component, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems. Mission control activated the newly installed BCDU and reported it is operating properly.

The astronauts were also able to accomplish some get-ahead tasks including installation of a stanchion on the Columbus module for support of a new external ESA (European Space Agency) payload platform called Bartolomeo scheduled for launch to the station in 2020.

Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan assisted the spacewalkers. Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan provided airlock and spacesuit support.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

The faulty BCDU is due to return to Earth on the next SpaceX Dragon resupply ship for inspection. Station managers will reschedule the three battery replacement spacewalks for a future date. In the meantime, the five planned spacewalks to repair a cosmic particle detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, are still on the calendar for November and December.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: October 18, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, October 17, 2019

First All-Woman Spacewalk on October 18 | NASA
Watch Live on NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/ntv
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch are set to conduct the first spacewalk to be performed by two women on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.

They will be replacing a faulty battery charge/discharge unit that failed to activate after a spacewalk Oct. 11. The faulty unit is preventing a set of recently installed batteries from providing increased power. It must be replaced before continuing a series of spacewalks to install new batteries.

Watch live coverage here on NASA TV and nasa.gov/live Friday beginning at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at about 7:50 a.m.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds
Release Date: October 17, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

First Quarter Moon | International Space Station

First Quarter Moon | International Space Station
A first quarter Moon is pictured from the International Space Station just above the Earth's limb.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 5, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Moon #Artemis #Astronauts #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Spacewalkers Jessica & Christina | NASA

Spacewalkers Jessica & Christina | NASA
Upcoming spacewalking duo Jessica Meir and Christina Koch
Oct. 15, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch are inside the Quest airlock of the International Space Station preparing the U.S. spacesuits and tools they will use on their first spacewalk together. The Expedition 61 flight engineers are holding the pistol grip tools they will use to swap out a failed power controller, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit, that regulates the charge to batteries that collect and distribute power to the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: Oct. 15, 2019



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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov: Animation | Hubble

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov: Animation | Hubble
On October 12, 2019, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Comet 2I/Borisov at a distance of approximately 420 million kilometers from Earth. The comet is believed to have arrived here from another planetary system elsewhere in our galaxy.

This is a time-lapse sequence compressing Hubble Space Telescope observations of comet 2I/Borisov, spanning a seven-hour period. As the first confirmed interstellar comet to enter our solar system, comet 2I/Borisov is moving along at a breakneck speed of 110,000 miles per hour. To photograph the comet Hubble has to track it, like a photographer tracking a racetrack horse. Therefore, background stars are streaked in the exposure frames. An artificial satellite also crosses the field of view. Hubble reveals a central concentration of dust around an unseen nucleus. Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second such interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system. In 2017, the first identified interstellar visitor, an object formally named 'Oumuamua, swung within 24 million miles of the Sun before racing out of the solar system.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. DePasquale (STScI)
Duration: 11 seconds
Release Date: October 16, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comet #Comet2IBorisov #Interstellar #Planets #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #Timelapse #Animation #HD #Video

Space is Hard | NASA

Space is Hard | NASA

Space travel is hard and unforgiving, but we have never been more ready to meet the unknown.

Team members from NASA’s Artemis program share the risks and rewards of this next era of exploration. Artemis will push the boundaries of human exploration and send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, preparing for missions to Mars and beyond.



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Orbital Path of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

Orbital Path of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Deep Space Visitor Provides Clues to Birth of Planetary Systems
This illustration shows the path of comet 21/Borisov through our Solar System. This visitor came from interstellar space along a hyperbolic trajectory. It is only the second known intruder to zoom through our Solar System (the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua was detected in 2017).

As the graphic shows, the comet’s straight path across interstellar space is slightly deflected by the gravitational pull of our Sun. The comet is travelling so fast, at over 155 000 kilometers per hour, it will eventually leave the Solar System.


The panel on the right shows the comet’s position relative to Earth when the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed it on October 12, 2019, when it was 420 million kilometers from Earth.

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted, F. Summers (STScI)
Release Date: October 16, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comet #Comet2IBorisov #Interstellar #Planets #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #Illustration #Art #STEAM #STEM #Education