Swirling Spiral Galaxy Messier 83 in Hydra (radio telescope view) | ALMA

Swirling Spiral Galaxy Messier 83 in Hydra (radio telescope view) | ALMA

Like a portal to another dimension, a hypnotizing swirl is featured in this picture of the spiral galaxy Messier 83 (M83), also known as the Southern Pinwheel, located approximately 15 million light-years away. It is one of the brightest galaxies in the night sky, but this image––taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA does not show how M83 looks in the light our eyes can see. Instead, it depicts the light emitted by cold gas molecules, the ingredients of star formation.

Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered M83 on February 17, 1752, at the Cape of Good Hope.

Astronomers are interested in molecular gas clouds as virtually all stars are born from their collapse. Once stars form, they heat up their surroundings, making it harder for gas to condense and form further stars. This, combined with galactic dynamics that continually stirs gas, controls the growth of galaxies. ALMA allows astronomers to map how the density and temperature of these gas clouds change at locations within a galaxy, such as the central regions, the spiral arms, or the space between them. This in turn helps us understand star formation in a variety of galactic environments. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an ALMA partner. 

M83 closely resembles our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Since M83 appears nearly face-on in the sky, astronomers enjoy a privileged view to study whether the recipe to turn gas into stars is universal or changes within M83.

Image Description: This image shows an object made of two spiral arms connected at the center, in shades of orange against a black background. The object is brightest at the center and along the spiral arms. The spirals are composed of cloud-like threads that become more diffuse further away from the center of the image, spreading out like loose tufts of wool.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan, and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of ALMA's construction, commissioning, and operation. 

Learn more about the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA):
https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/about-alma/

Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/J. Koda et al.
Release Date: Oct. 5, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Messier83 #M83 #SouthernPinwheelGalaxy #NGC5236 #SpiralGalaxies #HydraConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #ALMA #RadioAstronomy #Chile #NSF #AUI #NRAO #UnitedStates #NAOJ #Japan #ESO #Europe #STEM #Education

The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams: Messier 104 in Virgo | View from Namibia

The Sombrero Galaxy's Tidal Streams: Messier 104 in Virgo | View from Namibia

A deep image of the Sombrero galaxy reveals surprises. Messier 104 (M104) is named the Sombrero galaxy because, on shorter exposures, it looks like a hat. A key defining feature of this huge galaxy is a dark brim of dust that circles the disk galaxy's center. A much longer exposure, however, brings up a hairy past where a bright, hazy halo is revealed that extends well past the central disk and contains many unresolved stars. Surprisingly, in this stellar haze, structures can be seen that include a diagonal ring. These structures and tidal streams provide fresh evidence that M104 had a violent past and is surely the result of collisions and mergers of smaller galaxies. Light takes about 30 million years to reach us from the Sombrero galaxy. It fully spans about 150 thousand light years across. This image was taken over seven days in mid-2026 from Namibia.

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the northeast, approximating a quadripoint, Zimbabwe lies less than 200 meters (660 feet) away along the Zambezi River near Kazungula, Zambia.

Credit & Copyright: Engelbert Vollmer

Engelbert's website: https://app.astrobin.com/u/Fox368
Authors & Editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Technological University (MTU)
Release Date: Oct. 5, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Messier104 #M104 #NGC4594 #SombreroGalaxy #VirgoConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotographers #EngelbertVollmer #Astrophotography #NASAGoddard #MTU #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

Aurora Borealis over Four Mile Lake in Alberta, Canada

Aurora Borealis over Four Mile Lake in Alberta, Canada

Astrophotographer John David McKinnon: "The Aurora Borealis dancing over Four Mile Lake on a perfectly peaceful fall night."

Known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. state of Montana to its south.

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the second-largest country by total area with the longest coastline of any country. Its border with the United States is the longest international land border.

Image Credit: John David McKinnon 
Location: Four Mile Lake, Dënéndeh, Alberta, Canada
Date: Oct. 2, 2026

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Planet Mars Images: Sept. 30-Oct. 5, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Sept. 30-Oct. 5, 2026 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1999

Mars 2020 - sol 1999

Mars 2020 - sol 1999

Mars 2020 - sol 1999

Mars 2020 - sol 1994

Mars 2020 - sol 1994

Mars 2020 - sol 1994

MSL - sol 5032

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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. 30-Oct. 5, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Mars #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #MSSS #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #STEM #Education

Dying Star Creates Brand New Planet | Hubble Space Telescope

Dying Star Creates Brand New Planet | Hubble Space Telescope

What if a star’s death could give rise to an entirely new planet?

Astronomers revisiting decades-old observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found an unexpected chemical clue around a white dwarf: niobium, a heavy element forged during the final stages of a star’s life. 

Combined with observations from other NASA missions, the evidence points to an intriguing possibility: a Jupiter-sized world may have formed from material expelled when the star died.

If confirmed, this “second-generation” planet could reveal that the death of a star is not always the end of its planetary system. It may result in the beginning of a new one.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 
Paul Morris: Lead Producer
Cassandra Morris: Narrator
Video Credits:
Tracks Stars. They Look Like Meteors Video by NikitaMaykov via Pond5
White Dwarf and Exoplanet Animations created by Chris Smith and Scott Wiessinger

Death Valley National Park Milky Way Galaxy Time Lapse Night Sky Above Telescope Video by Lovemushroom via Pond5
Duration: 2 minutes, 35 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 5, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WhiteDwarfStars #Niobium #StellarEvolution #PlanetarySystems #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #NASAGoddard #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Crew-12 Farewell & Change of Command Ceremony | International Space Station

Crew-12 Farewell & Change of Command Ceremony | International Space Station

Aboard the International Space Station, Crew-12 NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway as well as European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia, provided farewell remarks on Oct. 4, 2026, ahead of their upcoming departure from the space station.

Joining Crew-12 for the farewell remarks were NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, and Anil Menon as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Josh Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Teteryatnikov, Andrey Fedyaev, Pyotr Dubrov, and Anna Kikina of Russia. Following the farewell remarks a change of command ceremony took place where Meir handed over command of the space station to Dubrov. 

Crew-12 is slated to undock on Oct. 5 and splash down off the coast of California Oct. 6 after completing a long-duration science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions that will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.

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.

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 10 minutes
Date: Oct. 4, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #SpaceXCrewDragonSpacecraft #Crew12 #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #JackHathaway #SophieAdenot #Europe #ESA #Cosmonauts #AndreyFedyaev #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition75 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planetary Nebula IC 4634 in Ophiuchus: Glowing Waves | Hubble

Planetary Nebula IC 4634 in Ophiuchus: Glowing Waves | Hubble

This striking Hubble image of the planetary nebula IC 4634 reveals two shining, S-shaped ejections from a dying star. This star, awash in glowing material at the center of the picture, bloated as it aged and launched its outer layers off into space. The star’s very hot, exposed core has since beamed intense ultraviolet radiation at these lost shells of gas, making them glow in rich colors.

This process has been far from orderly or calm, however, as revealed by the distinct, separate waves of thrown-off gases. One is more distant and therefore was spewed first, followed by a more recently ejected tide of matter that formed the tighter S-shape. The result is remarkably symmetric on each side of the central star.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) captured this image of IC 4634. It is found more than about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Holder). IC 4634 and other objects like it are known as planetary nebulae due to their appearance through early telescopes as rounded, faintly luminous discs similar to the distant planets Uranus and Neptune. 

This picture was created from images through five filters (F487N, F502N, F574M, F656N and F658N) that captured light emitted by elements in the gaseous features. The total aggregate exposure time was 4,000 seconds and the field of view is just 29 arcseconds across.

Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble and NASA
Release Date: May 10, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebulae #IC4634 #OphiuchusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #HubbleWFPC2 #NASAGoddard #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Close-up: Nebula NGC 7380 in Cepheus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

Close-up: Nebula NGC 7380 in Cepheus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

NGC 7380 is a typical star-forming region in the direction of an outer spiral arm of our galaxy (around 7,000 light years distant). It is a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. This field contains many young energetic stars that make the natal gas surrounding them glow an intense pink/red. The majority of stars in this newly formed group are out of the field to the upper left. Their winds and radiation sculpt clouds of gas and dust into the mountainous ridges seen here. The darkest parts of this image are foreground clouds of dust thick enough to extinct the light beyond them. Also note the bright star (left of center) that is in a bluish bubble of gas. This may be a Wolf-Rayet star beginning to blow a bubble. Other famous examples of this action include The Bubble Nebula and Thor's Helmut.

This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Kris Sandburg and Peter Jacobs/Adam Block
Release Date: June 11, 2014

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #NGC7380 #WizardNebula #CepheusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #KPNO #KittPeakNationalObservatory #Arizona #NOIRLab #NSF #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA’s DAVINCI Probe Model Beats The Heat for Blistering Planet Venus Descent

NASA’s DAVINCI Probe Model Beats The Heat for Blistering Planet Venus Descent

This close-up photo shows the engineering development model for NASA’s Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) probe. It was photographed prior to a major thermal evaluation, where the DAVINCI team demonstrated that it could insulate the instruments the probe will carry from the intense heat of planet Venus. The probe probe passed a key test that ran from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10, 2026.

The DAVINCI team took the engineering model to a furnace at Rex Heat Treat in Bedford, Pennsylvania. It is one of few facilities capable of heating up to Venus-like temperatures as rapidly as the probe would experience. They slid the yoga ball-sized vessel into a ceramic-lined chamber with heat-scorched walls and ratcheted up the temperature to 869 F, or 465 C, over the course of about an hour—the same pace the probe will heat up during its descent to the surface of Venus.

They repeated the thermal cycling process five more times. The engineering model made it through every cycle unscathed, indicating that the probe can withstand extreme temperatures and protect its delicate scientific instruments while traveling through Venus’ atmosphere. During the testing, hardware simulating the instruments was closely monitored via more than a hundred thermal sensors.

“The experiment was a rousing success with six runs to Venus’ surface temperature on our descent timeline of 55–60 minutes with full internal instrumentation,” said Jim Garvin, the principal investigator for DAVINCI at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “There hasn’t been such a complete assessment of spacecraft-scale hardware at Venus temperatures in the U.S. since the mid-1970s.”

The DAVINCI spacecraft is being developed to travel to Venus to investigate numerous unsolved puzzles, including whether the planet once had oceans and was habitable, like Earth. To explore these mysteries, the spacecraft will release a probe that will withstand hellish temperatures for nearly an hour as it descends through Venus’ toxic atmosphere, collecting data along the way.

“It’s a huge engineering challenge given how harsh the Venus environment is,” said Kristen Brown, the DAVINCI probe manager at NASA Goddard. “We had to create a system that can protect the instruments from the planet’s overwhelming heat while strategically letting in its high-temperature gases to study through special inlet ports.”

Encased in a corrosion resistant, strong-yet-lightweight titanium shell, the DAVINCI probe will be equipped with a suite of instruments to sample the composition of the gases of the Venusian atmosphere to determine what molecules they are made of and learn about the atmosphere’s structure. It will also contain cameras that will snap the highest-resolution images of Venus’ surface ever. Scientists will use these to make a new 3D map. The probe also has a radio system to send data back to its orbiting spacecraft 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) overhead.

This heat testing follows on the heels of a campaign earlier this summer to demonstrate the probe’s imaging system. The mission is currently working toward gaining approval to move into the final design and fabrication phase. “The DAVINCI team has now met both of the major mission milestones this year on an accelerated timeline,” Garvin said. Showing that the DAVINCI probe can withstand the Venusian heat, brings scientists one step closer to learning why Earth’s “twin” varies greatly from our home.

Previous Probe Missions at Planet Venus

NASA's Pioneer Venus Program (1978)
It consisted of two spacecraft—the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe. The orbiter mapped Venus’ atmosphere and surface using radar, while the probes measured atmospheric composition and pressure with one probe transmitting data for over an hour after impacting the surface.

The Soviet Union's Venera Program (1961-1984)

The Venera program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. A total of eighteen probes were sent, including two related Vega probes.

Thirteen probes successfully entered the Venusian atmosphere, including the two Venera-Halley probes. Ten of those successfully landed on the surface of the planet. Due to the extreme conditions, the probes could only survive for a short period on the surface, from 23 minutes to two hours.

The Venera program established a number of precedents in space exploration, among them being the first man-made devices to enter the atmosphere of another planet (Venera 3 on March 1, 1966), the first to make a soft landing on another planet (Venera 7 on December 15, 1970), the first to return images from another planet's surface (Venera 9 on June 8, 1975), the first to record sounds on another planet (Venera 13 on October 30, 1981), and the first to perform high-resolution radar mapping scans (Venera 15 on June 2, 1983). The intense pressures that led to the short lifespans of many of the probes was itself an important finding.

Image Credit: NASA/Mike Guinto
Release Date: Sept. 24, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SolarSystem #Planets #Venus #NASADAVINCIMission #PioneerVenusProgram #Atmospheres #Geology #VeneraProgram #Вене́ра #SovietUnion #History #Russia #Россия #VenusExploration #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #NASAGoddard #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China's Rocket Launches Hit Record as Commercial Space Firms Scale Up

China's Rocket Launches Hit Record as Commercial Space Firms Scale Up

China carried out a record 70 rocket launch missions in the first nine months of 2026, up by about 19 percent from a year earlier, as its commercial space industry accelerated mass production, advanced reusable rocket technology and expanded satellite services overseas.

Ten launches took place in September alone. The Pallas-1 rocket made its maiden flight, adding a new model to China's commercial launch fleet, while Zhuque-2E and Gravity-1 became the first privately developed rockets to support the deployment of a low-Earth-orbit satellite internet constellation.

The surge in constellation launches is putting pressure on rocket makers to deliver vehicles faster and at lower cost. On Sept. 20, the Lijian-1 Y18 rocket placed nine satellites into orbit, continuing a launch cadence that has become roughly monthly for the model.

CAS Space, the commercial rocket maker behind Lijian-1, has cut the vehicle's final assembly cycle from three months to about 15 days by reorganizing production.

"We have adopted a pulse-line production model, dividing the final assembly of each rocket among six or seven fixed workstations, with different assembly tasks carried out at each one," said Xiang Zebin, deputy chief designer of the Lijian-1 carrier rocket at CAS Space.

Other commercial rocket companies are also beginning production before orders are finalized, shortening the time between receiving a contract and carrying out a launch. Several are developing multiple rocket models in parallel while building the capacity for batch deliveries.

"As we move from one rocket to 100, we have to think in industrial terms: can we produce rockets at scale while continuing to deliver successful launches? This depends on ensuring consistency from one vehicle to the next," said Bu Xiangwei, chairman of private Chinese launch company Orienspace.

Reusable technology is another focus as companies seek to lower costs and increase launch frequency for large satellite constellations.

On July 10, the Long March-10B completed the world's first recovery of a rocket stage using a net system at sea. On Aug. 19, LandSpace's Zhuque-3 Y2 carried out China's first controlled land recovery of an orbital-class rocket's first stage using landing legs. The two recovered stages are being inspected and refurbished in preparation for future flights.

"Reusing rockets multiple times can significantly reduce overall launch costs. I believe that within five to 10 years, we will be able to match international benchmarks for launch costs per kilogram," said Wang Xinyan, general manager of supply chain management at private rocket developer LandSpace.

China's commercial satellite companies are also looking overseas as domestic launch capacity expands. GalaxySpace's Lingzhi-09 Thai CubeSat was launched in August, marking the first time a Chinese commercial space company had completed satellite development, launch and in-orbit delivery for a Southeast Asian country.

 "This demonstrates that our satellite products, end-to-end satellite solutions and service capabilities are ready for overseas markets. Over the next three to five years, we aim to build a well-developed network of resources and deliver successful projects in Belt and Road partner countries, particularly across ASEAN," said Huang Heping, general manager of international business development at commercial satellite maker GalaxySpace.

China's first-nine-month launch total was 11 higher than the 59 recorded in the same period last year. The rise reflects a broader shift from individual satellite missions toward constellation deployment, batch launches and a more diverse range of space-based services.

"The string of successful launches across multiple rocket types shows that both state-backed developers and private companies have reached a high level of technological maturity. Rocketry's advanced technologies are also helping drive upgrades in related products and manufacturing," said Yang Yuguang, chairman of the Space Transportation Committee of the International Astronautical Federation.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 4, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #InternetSatellites #SatelliteConstellations #GalaxySpace #Earth #China #中国 #LongMarch10 #长征十号 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #CASSpace #中科宇航 #Orienspace #东方空间 #ReusableRockets #SpaceTechnologies #JSLC #InnerMongolia #Gansu #CommercialSpace #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

NASA Flies in California’s Pacific Airshow

NASA Flies in California’s Pacific Airshow

NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flies an F/A‑18 with videographer Lori Losey in the back seat during a Pacific Airshow flyover at Huntington Beach, California, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.

NASA photographer Jim Ross rides in the back seat of the agency’s newly painted F‑15, which honors America’s 250th birthday, during a transit flight to Huntington Beach, California, piloted by NASA test pilot Wayne Ringelberg, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.

Photographer Jim Ross captures images of NASA’s F/A‑18 from the back seat of an F‑15 flying alongside during the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.

NASA test pilot Mike Lippert takes a photo with two young visitors at the NASA exhibit during the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.

These pictures show NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flying an F/A‑18 aircraft with videographer Lori Losey in the back seat during a Pacific Airshow flyover at Huntington Beach, California, Friday, October 2, 2026. We also see NASA photographer Jim Ross riding in the back seat of the agency’s newly painted F‑15 aircraft, honoring America’s 250th birthday, during a transit flight to Huntington Beach, California, piloted by NASA test pilot Wayne Ringelberg, Thursday, October 1, 2026. 

Both aircraft will fly in the Pacific Airshow, Oct. 2-4, 2026. NASA is hosting an exhibit for the air show featuring Artemis, the X‑59, SkyFall, a lunar globe, and an Apollo 15 Moon rock, with pilots and research experts available throughout the weekend.

Learn more: 

https://tickets.pacificairshow.com/event/sunday-2026

Image Credit: NASA/Jim Ross

Dates: Oct. 1-2, 2026

#NASA #Aerospace #TestPilots #Aircraft #NASAF15 #NASAF15Eagle #NASAFA18 #NASAFA18Hornet #Science #Physics #Engineering #CivilianResearch #AeronauticalResearch #FlightTests #Boeing #McDonnellDouglas #NASAArmstrong #Edwards #Airshows #PacificAirshow #Huntington #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Planetary Nebula NGC 6572 in Ophiuchus | Hubble Space Telescope

Planetary Nebula NGC 6572 in Ophiuchus | Hubble Space Telescope

The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has turned its eagle eye to the planetary nebula NGC 6572, a very bright example of these strange but beautiful objects. Planetary nebulae are created during the late stages of the evolution of certain stars that eject gas into space and emit intense ultraviolet radiation that makes the material glow. This picture of NGC 6572 shows the intricate shapes that can develop as stars exhale their last breaths. Hubble has even imaged the central white dwarf star, the origin of the dazzling nebula, but now a faint, but hot, vestige of its former glory.

NGC 6572 only began to shed its gases a few thousand years ago, so it is a fairly young planetary nebula. As a result the material is still quite concentrated. This explains why it is abnormally bright. The envelope of gas is currently racing out into space at a speed of around 15 kilometers every second and as it becomes more diffuse, it will dim.

NGC 6572 was discovered in 1825 by the German astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve. He came from a family of distinguished stargazers. The name planetary nebula is left over from the time when the telescopes of early astronomers were not good enough to reveal the true nature of these objects. To many, the discs looked like the outer planets Uranus and Neptune. The application of spectral analysis, later in the 19th century, first revealed that they were glowing gas clouds.

NGC 6572 is magnitude 8.1, easily bright enough to make it an appealing target for amateur astronomers with telescopes. It is located within the large constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer) and at low magnification it will appear to be just a colored star, but higher magnification will reveal its shape. Observers report that NGC 6572 looks blue, while others state that it is green. Color as seen through the eyepiece is often a matter of interpretation, so you may make your own decision.

This picture was created from images taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 2. Images through a blue filter that isolates the glow from hydrogen gas (Hβ, F487N, colored dark blue), a green filter that isolates emission from ionized oxygen (F502N, colored blue), a yellow broadband filter (F555W, colored green) and a red filter that passes emission from hydrogen (Hα, F656N) have been combined. The exposure times were 360 s, 240 s, 100 s and 180 s, respectively and the field of view is just 29 arcseconds across.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date: Dec. 13, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebulae #NGC6572 #OphiuchusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe  #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #NASAGoddard #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA Artemis III Rocket Nose Cone Assembly | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis III Rocket Nose Cone Assembly | Kennedy Space Center

Engineers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems complete integration of the aerodynamic nose cones onto the left and right forward segments on the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters, finishing their stacking operations for Artemis III inside the Vehicle Assembly Building’s High Bay 3 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. Each forward assembly contains an aerodynamic top, a forward skirt housing avionics, and frustum housing motors that allow the boosters to separate from the SLS core stage after launch. The twin solid boosters will help support the remaining rocket components and the Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis III rocket and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B.

Planned to launch in 2027, the Artemis III Mission will practice docking the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit. 

On future missions, including Artemis IV in 2028, landers will bring astronauts to the lunar surface. While Artemis III will not land on the Moon, it will test the complex capabilities NASA needs to return—this time to stay.

Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston/Frank Michaux
Image Dates: Sept. 24-30, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIIIMission #LunarLanders #HLS #NASASLS #BoosterSegments #OrionSpacecraft #Astronauts #RandyBresnik #FrankRubio #AndreDouglas #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Europe #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAKennedy #MerrittIsland #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 Arrival & Welcoming Remarks | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 Arrival & Welcoming Remarks | International Space Station

NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos Sergey Teteryatnikov of Russia, docked to the forward port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station Oct. 1, 2026, following their launch less than nine hours prior on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Following docking, the quartet opened the hatch and floated aboard the orbital outpost before providing welcoming remarks as their mission aboard the space station began. 

Crew-13 will conduct a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

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.

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 5 minutes
Date: Oct. 1, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #SpaceXFalcon9Rockets #CrewDragonSpacecraft #SpaceXCrew13 #Astronauts #JessicaWatkins #LukeDelaney #JoshuaKutryk #CSA #Canada #SergeyTeteryatnikov #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition75 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

Journey to Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

In this zoom sequence we start with the spectacular vista of the central regions of the Milky Way galaxy. We then close in on a fuzzy ball of stars, the globular cluster Messier 107, also known as NGC 6171. It lies about 21, 000 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The final close up view was created from exposures taken through blue, green and near-infrared filters, using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile.

Messier 107 is around 13 arcminutes across, equivalent to about 80 light-years at its distance. As is typical of globular clusters, a population of thousands of old stars in Messier 107 is densely concentrated into a volume that is only about twenty times the distance between our Sun and its nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, across. 

Learn about MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/mpg22/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ESO Imaging Survey

Duration: 49 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 8, 2010

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #Messier107 #M107 #NGC6171 #OphiuchusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #MPGESOTelescopeWFI #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Wide-view: Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

Wide-view: Globular Star Cluster Messier 107 in Ophiuchus | MPG/ESO Telescope

The globular cluster Messier 107, also known as NGC 6171, is located about 21,000 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. Messier 107 is around 13 arcminutes across, equivalent to about 80 light-years at its distance. As is typical of globular clusters, a population of thousands of old stars in Messier 107 is densely concentrated into a volume that is only about twenty times the distance between our Sun and its nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, across. 

This image was created from exposures taken through blue, green and near-infrared filters, using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile.

Learn about MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/mpg22/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ESO Imaging Survey

Release Date: Dec. 8, 2010

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #Messier107 #M107 #NGC6171 #OphiuchusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #MPGESOTelescopeWFI #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Earth Flyby: Europe's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) | Jupiter Arrival in 2031

Earth Flyby: Europe's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) | Jupiter Arrival in 2031

On September 28, 2026, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) successfully completed a gravity assist flyby of Earth. Flight controllers guided the spacecraft close to our home planet to increase its velocity by 3.5 km/s and deflect its trajectory by an angle of 20°. As JUICE flew just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean, it snapped a series of images with its onboard monitoring cameras, giving us a unique ‘JUICE eye view’ of our home planet.

JUICE is the first interplanetary spacecraft to the outer Solar System planets not launched by the United States and the first intended to orbit a moon other than Earth's Moon. It was launched by the European Space Agency from its Guiana Space Center in French Guiana in April 2023. Airbus was the main contractor. It is expected to reach Jupiter in July 2031 after four gravity assists and eight years of travel. In December 2034, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Ganymede for its close-up science mission. Its period of operations will overlap with NASA's Europa Clipper mission, launched in October 2024.

JUICE’s monitoring cameras provide 1024 x 1024 pixel snapshots that can be processed in color. Their main purpose is to monitor the spacecraft’s various booms and antennas, especially during the challenging period after launch. The photos they captured of Earth during the flyby are a bonus.

In the first seconds of the video we see a view from Juice monitoring camera 2—or JMC2—with Earth appearing as a thin crescent at the bottom right of the frame. Around ten seconds in, we switch to a view from JMC1, with almost the entire disc of Earth visible at the top right of the frame. The large land mass that we see is Africa. Even the Moon is visible as a tiny grey dot to Earth’s right. At the very end of the video, JMC1 gives us a final view of Earth in the distance as it flies away on September 29.

Read more about the flyby: 
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Successful_Earth_flyby_improves_Juice_s_course_to_Jupiter

Read more about Juice’s monitoring cameras: 
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/05/A_guide_to_Juice_s_monitoring_cameras

Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/Juice/JMC
Acknowledgments: Simeon Schmauß
Duration: 55 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 2, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Earth #Jupiter #Moons #Europa #Callisto #Ganymede #JUICE #JUICEMission #InterplanetarySpacecraft #GravitationalAssists #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JupiterExploration #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Barnard 68: The Black Cloud in Ophiuchus | European Southern Observatory

Barnard 68: The Black Cloud in Ophiuchus | European Southern Observatory

Barnard 68 is a molecular cloud, dark absorption nebula or Bok globule, towards the southern constellation Ophiuchus and well within the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 407 light-years. It is close and dense enough that stars behind it cannot be seen from Earth. It is known as Barnard 68 (B68) after the American astronomer, Edward E. Barnard (1857-1923). He included it in a list of such objects, published in 1919. It appears as a compact, opaque and rather sharply defined object against a rich, background star field. Even on this image that registers many faint stars in the area, not a single foreground star is observed. This is a clear sign that this globule must be relatively nearby. Interstellar clouds consist of gas and dust, including many molecules that contain carbon atoms (i.e. organic). 

For a long time considered to be "holes in the sky", molecular clouds are now known to be among the coolest objects in the Universe (the temperature is approx. 10 K, or -263 °C). Moreover, and most importantly, they are nurseries of stars and planets. It still remains a mystery how a dark cloud like Barnard 68 at one moment begins to contract and subsequently transforms itself into hydrogen-burning stars. However, deep images of these clouds, such as this one obtained by the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS1) on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope's ANTU, may provide important clues. This small cloud seems to be in its very earliest phase of collapse.

This three-color composite was reproduced from one blue (B), one green-yellow (V) and one near-infrared (I) exposure that were obtained with VLT ANTU and FORS1 in the early morning of March 27, 1999. The field measures 6.8x6.8 arcmin 2. The image consists of 2048x2048 pixels, each measuring 0.20 arcsec. North is up and East is to the left.

Learn more about ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile:

https://www.hq.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: April 30, 1999

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #BokGlobule #BlackClouds #Barnard68 #B68 #LDN57 #OphiuchusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #VLTANTU #VLTFORS1 #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Hot-staging Maneuver on SpaceX Starship Flight 14 (Starship 1st stage view)

Hot-staging Maneuver on SpaceX Starship Flight 14 (Starship 1st stage view)

After a successful first-stage ascent on its Super Heavy Booster, watch a hot-staging maneuver where Starship’s upper stage ignited all six of its Raptor engines to continue onward to space. The 14th test flight occurred on Monday morning, September 28, 2026, from Starbase Texas. It was the first morning launch from Starbase since Flight 5 in 2024. Starship later deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) for the first time.

Watch a replay of Flight Test#14 and read a summary of the results here:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-14

NASA plans to use a lunar lander version of Starship to deliver astronauts and cargo to the Moon during the Artemis IV mission and beyond through the Human Landing System (HLS) Program.

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: SpaceX

Duration: 16 seconds

Date: Sept. 28, 2026

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIV #Starship #StarshipV3 #FlightTest14 #ReusableSpacecraft #SuperHeavy #SuperHeavyV3 #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #StarbaseTexas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hot-staging Maneuver on SpaceX Starship Flight 14 (Starship 2nd stage view)

Hot-staging Maneuver on SpaceX Starship Flight 14 (Starship 2nd stage view)

After a successful first-stage ascent on its Super Heavy Booster, watch a hot-staging maneuver where Starship’s upper stage ignited all six of its Raptor engines to continue onward to space. The 14th test flight occurred on Monday morning, September 28, 2026, from Starbase Texas. It was the first morning launch from Starbase since Flight 5 in 2024. Starship later deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) for the first time.

Watch a replay of Flight Test#14 and read a summary of the results here:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-14

NASA plans to use a lunar lander version of Starship to deliver astronauts and cargo to the Moon during the Artemis IV mission and beyond through the Human Landing System (HLS) Program.

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: SpaceX

Duration: 17 seconds

Date: Sept. 28, 2026

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #ArtemisIV #Starship #StarshipV3 #FlightTest14 #ReusableSpacecraft #SuperHeavy #SuperHeavyV3 #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #StarbaseTexas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

¿Qué pasa en el cielo en octubre? | NASA/JPL

¿Qué pasa en el cielo en octubre? | NASA/JPL

¡Atención, exploradores del cielo! Este mes, Saturno toma un lugar protagonista, una lluvia de meteoros ilumina el cielo y la Luna visita a las Siete Hermanas, las Pléyades. 

Esto es lo que pasa en el cielo en octubre de 2026.

Adaptación al español por el equipo de NASA en español

What's Up for October 2026: Skywatching Tips from NASA | JPL

Saturn takes center stage, a meteor shower lights up the sky, and the Moon visits the Seven Sisters.

On October 4, Saturn reaches opposition, giving skywatchers one of the year's best opportunities to see the ringed planet. In addition, learn about a 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn's south pole that was recently revealed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks October 21-22. Debris from Halley's Comet produces the meteors, but this year, a bright Moon will obscure some of the fainter streaks. The best viewing chances will likely be the hours before dawn, after the Moon sets.

Then, on October 27-28, look east in the evening for the Moon passing close to the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. The star cluster is visible to the unaided eye and even more spectacular through binoculars.

0:00 Intro

0:10 Saturn at Opposition

0:30 Saturn's South Pole Decagon 

1:01 The Orionids Peak

1:39 The Pleiades aka Seven Sist    ers

2:20 Phases of the Moon 

Créditos: Laboratorio de propulsión a chorro de la NASA (JPL) 
Release Date: Oct. 2, 2026

Duration: 2 minutes, 49 seconds

#NASA #NASAenespañol #español #Astronomy #Space #Science #Skywatching #Earth #Meteors #Orionids #Moon #Planets #Saturn #SolarSystem #Nebulae #Stars #ThePleiades #SevenSisters #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Skywatching #JPL #California #UnitedStates #Canada #Mexico #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #HD #Video