Shenzhou-18 Astronaut Shares Fun Surprises in Space | China Space Station

Shenzhou-18 Astronaut Shares Fun Surprises in Space | China Space Station

During their time in space between April 25 and November 4, 2024, the Shenzhou-18 crew was from time to time treated to unexpected gifts aboard China's Tiangong Space Station, adding fun and excitement to their six-month mission in orbit, according to astronaut Li Cong, one of the Shenzhou-18 trio. 

The three astronauts from the Shenzhou-18 crewed mission—Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu—met the press and public on January 8, 2025, more than 60 days after returning to the Earth.

In a recent interview, Li Cong recalled the playful moments of space life, particularly the excitement of hunting for surprise packages and unboxing them with his fellow astronauts.

These gifts were carefully prepared by the support team of the Astronaut Center of China (ACC) to bring more surprises and fun moments to the astronauts' time in space.

"Before the spacecraft was loaded, the surprise boxes were hidden in various concealed corners of the cargo ship. We couldn't always find them when moving the supplies. But whenever it was the start of a new month, a major holiday, or someone's birthday, we would be told to search for surprises. It's like a treasure hunt. Once we found them, we would gather and open the boxes together," the astronaut said.

Li Cong also mentioned that the boxes contained a variety of items, including birthday gifts like longevity noodles, specially prepared for the astronaut celebrating his birthday.

After savoring the surprise treats, the astronauts would rate the food.

"At the start of each month, we would receive the most popular foods, those rated highly by the previous crew, like beef sauce. Whatever tastes good, we score it highly, and the next crew will get it as a surprise," he added.

Shenzhou-18's return capsule, carrying the three astronauts, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on November 4, 2024, after completing its six-month space station mission.

Prior to the end of the Shenzhou-18 mission, China launched into space the Shenzhou-19 mission on October 30, 2024 also for a six-month stay on the Tiangong Space Station.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:
Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)
Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)
Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 17 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Surprises #Food #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LiGuangsu #LiCong #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #LongDurationSpaceflight #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Preparing NASA’s CADRE Moon Mini-Rovers for Launch | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Preparing NASA’s CADRE Moon Mini-Rovers for Launch | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Three small lunar rovers were packed up at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the first leg of their multistage journey to the Moon. These suitcase-size rovers, along with a base station and camera system that will record their travels on the lunar surface, make up NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration.

CADRE aims to prove that a group of robots can collaborate to gather data without receiving direct commands from mission controllers on Earth, paving the way for potential future multirobot missions. 

Seen here are tests of the CADRE software in January 2024 and scenes of a rover getting flipped over, attached to an aluminum plate for transit, and sealed into a protective metal-frame enclosure that was later packed into a metal shipping container a year later, in January 2025.

The hardware was transported from JPL to Intuitive Machines’ Houston facility, where it will be integrated with the company’s Nova-C lander. Intuitive Machines’ third lunar mission (IM-3). It has a mission window extending into early 2026, will deliver CADRE and other NASA payloads to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma region. 

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages CADRE for the Game Changing Development program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. IM-3 is a mission under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. It is managed by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. 

More information about CADRE can be found at go.nasa.gov/cadre

Through the CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. 

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services

Learn more about Intuitive Machines’ third lunar mission (IM-3):

https://www.intuitivemachines.com

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 58 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 11, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ArtemisProgram #Rovers #Robotics #CADRE #IntuitiveMachines #NovaCLander #IM3Mission #IM3Spacecraft #CommercialSpace #CLPS #SpaceTechnology #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Asteroid Bennu Holds the Building Blocks of Life | NASA/CSA/CNES

Asteroid Bennu Holds the Building Blocks of Life | NASA/CSA/CNES

The origin of life is one of the deepest mysteries in science, but the clues to solving it have been buried by plate tectonics, the water cycle, and even life itself. For answers, scientists are looking beyond Earth to primitive asteroids like Bennu, the target of NASA’s daring OSIRIS-REx sample return mission conducted in cooperation with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and France (CNES). OSIRIS-REx gathered pristine material from Bennu in 2020 and delivered it to Earth in 2023. Now, rocks from Bennu are revealing a lost world from the dawn of the solar system with the right conditions to foster the building blocks of life.

OSIRIS-REx delivered 4.29 ounces (121.6 grams) of material from asteroid Bennu; the largest asteroid sample ever collected in space and over twice the mission’s mass requirement. Several samples have already been distributed to members of the OSIRIS-REx sample analysis team. They have found evidence of organic molecules and minerals bearing phosphorous and water that together could indicate the building blocks essential for life may be found in these rocks.

Canada contributed technical and scientific expertise to the OSIRIS-REx mission. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) provided the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), a LIDAR system able to scan the asteroid from up to 7 km away, and supports:
--Scientists and engineers on OLA's development and operations team
--Scientists from Canadian institutions that are part of the broader OSIRIS-REx science team

French space agency CNES did not provide instruments for this mission but is supporting the work of several co-investigators involved in the project.

Learn more about OSIRIS-REx and asteroid Bennu: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex
Follow sample-delivery updates on NASA's OSIRIS-REx Blog: 
https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/
OSIRIS-REx NASA Page: 
https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Canadian Space Agency OSIRIS-REx Mission P    age:

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/osiris-rex/
University of Arizona's OSIRIS-REx Mission Page: 
http://www.asteroidmission.org
University of Arizona's OSIRIS-APEX Mission Page:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/missions/osiris-apex

Credit: NASA, SVS, U. Arizona, CSA, York University, MDA
Visualizer: Kel Elkins (Lead, SVS)
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Astrobiology #OSIRISRExMission #OSIRISRExSpacecraft #Asteroids #AstreroidBennu #ToBennuAndBack #SampleReturn #SpaceTechnology #CSA #Canada #CNES #France #JSC #GSFC #UArizona #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #Visualization #HD #Video

International Day of Women and Girls in Science | UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

International Day of Women and Girls in Science | UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

February 11 is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! Today, we celebrate the important contributions of women to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines. 

The world needs science, and science needs women. 👩‍🔬🧪 Yet, they remain under-represented and struggle to receive recognition for their achievements.

UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini explains: “When 50% of the world’s population are women, gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the smart thing to do.”  The mission is far from over but UNOOSA has solutions…

UNOOSA website: https://www.unoosa.org

Increasing female representation in space is not just about fairness, it is key to unlocking humanity’s full potential and ensuring that our presence in space reflects our society here on Earth.

UNOOSA’s Space4Women initiative empowers women across the global space sector and inspires the next generation of female space leaders. Our Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, provides actionable solutions. Together with our partners at the Kenya Space Agency, we are also developing a new toolkit to break down barriers to STEM education for women and girls in marginalized communities.

Learn more:
Space4Women: https://space4women.unoosa.org
🔗Landmark Study on Gender Equality in the Space Sector: https://lnkd.in/dKK4PJQT
🔗 Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit: https://lnkd.in/dm4FAdM3
🔗The International Day of Women and Girls in Science
on.unesco.org/WomenInScience

Video Credit: United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)/Aarti Holla-Maini
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 11, 2025

#NASA #FoN #Space #Astronomy #Science #Aerospace #Planet #Earth #UnitedNations #InternationalCooperation #UNOOSA #AartiHollaMaini #Leadership #UNOOSA101 #Space4Women #Women #Girls #Students #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Spider (IC 417) and The Fly (NGC 1931) Nebulae in Auriga

The Spider (IC 417) and The Fly (NGC 1931) Nebulae in Auriga

Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud in the image center is actually an emission nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the left is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. About 10,000 light-years distant, these nebulas harbor young star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about ten light-years across. The featured deep image, captured over twenty hours during late January in Berkshire, United Kingdom, also shows more diffuse and red-glowing interstellar gas and dust.

Image Description: A star field has a red diffuse glow on the right-hand side. Distinct nebulas appear in the center and on the lower left.

Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Boddington

Dave's website:

https://www.instagram.com/mickael_coulon_astrophoto/
Release Date: Feb. 11, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #Nebulae #EmissionNebulae #IC417 #NGC1931 #ReflectionNebula #Auriga #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #Astrophotographer #DaveBoddington #Astrophotography #CitizenScience #Berkshire #UK #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

Dwarf Galaxy Leo P | James Webb Space Telescope

Dwarf Galaxy Leo P | James Webb Space Telescope

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the Leo P dwarf galaxy (stars at lower right represented in blue). Leo P is a star-forming galaxy located about 5 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. A team of scientists collected data from about 15,000 stars in Leo P to deduce its star formation history. They determined that it went through three phases: an initial burst of star formation, a “pause” that lasted several billion years, and then a new round of star formation that is still continuing.

The image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) combines infrared light at wavelengths of 0.9 microns (represented in blue), 1.5 microns (green), and 2.77 microns (red). The stars in Leo P appear blue in comparison to the background galaxies for several reasons. Young, massive stars that are common in star-forming galaxies are predominantly blue. Leo P also is extremely lacking in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and the resulting “metal-poor” stars tend to be bluer than Sun-like stars. A bubble-like structure at bottom center is a region of ionized hydrogen surrounding a hot, massive O-type star.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, K. McQuinn (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI)
Release Date: Jan. 16, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #DwarfGalaxy #LeoP #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JamesWebb #WebbSpaceTelescope #JWST #NIRCam #UnfoldTheUniverse #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #JPL #Caltech #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission: Launch to Splashdown Preview Animation

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission: Launch to Splashdown Preview Animation

The Artemis II Mission, slated to launch early 2026, will fly four astronauts around the Moon. This mission will last for about 10 days and will be the first crewed test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Florida needed to support them. 

Not only will this mission be the first time in over 50 years that human beings have seen the Moon close-up, Artemis II will also prepare us for future human landings on the Moon starting with the Artemis III mission and help prepare for future missions to Mars.

To learn more about the Artemis II mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 7 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2025

#NASA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #NASASLS #SLSRocket  ##Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #DeepSpaceExploration #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #ExplorationGroundSystems #EGS #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Shenzhou-18 Crew Shares Gripping Spacewalk Moments | China Space Station

Shenzhou-18 Crew Shares Gripping Spacewalk Moments | China Space Station

From their time in space between April 25 to November 4, 2024, Shenzhou-18 crew members have shared gripping moments of confronting abyssal darkness during their spacewalks in an interview. While conducting an 8.5-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) on May 28, 2024, astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu successfully installed space debris protection devices, among other tasks.

Ye and Li Guangsu were assigned to the spacewalk and safely returned to the station's Wentian lab module after the venture. This EVA marked the 15th spacewalk by Chinese astronauts during the space station's application and development phase. It was the first spacewalk for Li Guangsu, who operated the station's robotic arms during the EVA.

"I still remember the fear I felt in the shadowed area. On the sunlit side, it was fine—I could see the space station and the Earth, which made me feel reassured. But once into the shadow zone, if I didn't turn on the light, all I could see below me was an abyss of blackness. Even though my safety tether was securely attached to the handrail on the space station, I didn't dare let go of my hand. I knew logically that even if I released my grip, I wouldn't drift away because my tether was still connected to the space station—but the overwhelming darkness made me reluctant to take my hand off the handrail," said Li Guangsu.

Although this was Ye's second spacewalk, following his first on the Shenzhou-13 mission, he admitted that the darkness still kept him on high alert every second.

"I felt as if I were about to be swallowed by the darkness. At one point, I accidentally moved my body, and for a moment, I lost my sense of connection with the robotic arm, I was startled. Why? Because beneath me was nothing but an endless black void. In that moment, a wave of nervousness hit me, and I felt my hair stand on end. What was happening? No matter how drowsy I had been, I was instantly wide awake, carefully adjusting my position to ensure I was still on the robotic arm. Only then did I feel at ease. 'Alright, everything is fine,' I told myself, and I continued with my task," said Ye.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:
Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)
Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)
Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 55 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Spacewalk #EVA #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LiGuangsu #LiCong #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #LongDurationSpaceflight #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Revealing a Filament from The Cosmic Web | European Southern Observatory

Revealing a Filament from The Cosmic Web | European Southern Observatory

This image shows countless stars and galaxies in the background. Two galaxies are shown at the forefront, each with a bright nucleus. This indicates the presence of a quasar. The galaxies appear like large nebulae without a concrete shape. The content of the galaxies extend beyond their immediate shape, forming a bridge that connects the two galaxies. This bridge is a cosmic filament.

From decades of astronomical observations, scientists know that most galaxies contain massive black holes at their centers. The gas and dust falling into these black holes liberates an enormous amount of energy as a result of friction, forming luminous galactic cores, called quasars, that expel jets of energetic matter.

Is there an invisible web of dark matter surrounding us? Its influence can be observed across the cosmos, but the web remains unseen . . . for the most part. This picture shows the clearest image yet of a filament from this cosmic web. The filament was imaged with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), and is shown here in purple overlaid on a background image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. Made of gas clumped together by the influence of dark matter, the filament stretches out for 3 million light-years, connecting two distant galaxies in the early Universe.

Around 85% of all matter in the Universe is actually dark matter. Dark matter is invisible, but the gas around it is not. This gas glows extremely faintly though, making these structures very difficult to observe. However, after about 150 hours of observations, a team of astronomers led by Davide Tornotti, a PhD student at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy, managed to take this sharp image of a cosmic filament. This was possible thanks to the exceptional sensitivity of the MUSE instrument at the VLT. It has become a workhorse instrument for imaging the cosmic web. 

The light from this filament took 11 billion years to reach us, and it shows exactly what theory predicted. In the early Universe, filaments of dark matter could have created a large web that entangled gas through their gravitational pull. Once gas accumulated at the intersection between filaments, it would have provided the fuel necessary to form galaxies. As we observe more of these mysterious filaments, what else will we find trapped within this dark web?

Credit: ESO/D. Tornotti et al./Hubble: M. Revalski, P. Francis et al.
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #EarlyUniverse #Galaxies #CosmicWeb #DarkMatter #Filaments #BlackHoles #Quasars #Cosmology #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

NOAA Weather Satellites Track Atmospheric Rivers on U.S. West Coast

NOAA Weather Satellites Track Atmospheric Rivers on U.S. West Coast

Since Jan. 31, 2025, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites have been closely monitoring a series of strong atmospheric rivers bringing heavy rain and mountain snow from central California to the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra, southern Cascades, and northern Rocky mountains. 

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of concentrated water vapor that transport moisture from warm tropical oceans to higher latitudes. In these regions, heat from the sun causes large amounts of water to evaporate into the atmosphere. When this humid air meets the mountains along the West Coast, the winds blow uphill, and the air cools, condenses, and precipitates, forming a torrent of rain and wind. 

These systems vary in size and strength, but on average, they carry as much water vapor as the Mississippi River discharges at its mouth—and can even transport up to 15 times that amount. When they make landfall, they unleash heavy rain or snow, accounting for roughly 30 to 50 percent of annual precipitation in the West Coast states.

NOAA and its partners utilize advanced satellite observations to study atmospheric rivers. Satellite data, combined with land-based observations, helps refine forecast models, improving predictions of atmospheric river intensity and duration to support water resource management and public safety.

Learn more: 
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-satellites-track-powerful-atmospheric-rivers-impacting-the-west-coast

Video Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Duration: 1 minute, 56 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 6, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #AtmosphericRivers #Precipitation #UnitedStates #PacificOcean #WestCoast #PacificNorthwest #WashingtonState #Oregon #California #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #JPSS #PolarSatellites #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Bright Einstein Ring Detected: Galaxy NGC 6505 in Draco | Euclid Space Telescope

Bright Einstein Ring Detected: Galaxy NGC 6505 in Draco | Euclid Space Telescope

This wide field shows the extended stellar halo of galaxy NGC 6505 and showcases the Einstein ring, surrounded by colorful foreground stars and background galaxies.

Close-up of the Einstein ring around galaxy NGC 6505

The ring of light surrounding the center of the galaxy NGC 6505, captured by the European Space Agency's Euclid telescope, is a stunning example of an Einstein ring. NGC 6505 is acting as a gravitational lens, bending light from a galaxy far behind it. The almost perfect alignment of NGC 6505 and the background galaxy has bent and magnified the light from the background galaxy into a spectacular ring. This rare phenomenon was first theorized to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity.

The wide field in the first image shows the extended stellar halo of NGC 6505 and showcases the Einstein ring, surrounded by colorful foreground stars and background galaxies.

Image 1 Description: A sea of colorful stars and galaxies appear to swim in the vast blackness of space around a hazy halo at centre stage. In the middle of the image, the fuzzy-looking bulb of light in a warm shade of yellow extends around a small bright spot, nestled within a thin light circle that appears to be drawn closely around it. As we follow the central halo’s rim outwards, its brightness dims and blends smoothly into its surroundings. Here, extended discs of shades ranging from a warm purple to golden yellow, and piercing dots of light with sharp diffraction spikes are spread evenly across the image.

In the second image, we see a close-up view of the center of the NGC 6505 galaxy with the bright Einstein ring around its nucleus, captured by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope.

The Einstein ring is formed by gravitational lensing, with the mass of galaxy NGC 6505 bending and magnifying the light from a more distant galaxy into a ring. NGC 6505 is a well-known galaxy only around 590 million light-years from Earth, and Euclid’s discovery of a spectacular Einstein ring here was unexpected.

Image 2 Description: A thin ring of a perfect circular shape and a piercingly bright white disc in its middle are the protagonists of this image. They stand out against a uniformly coloured background of a hazy dark grey. The ring appears as if it was a faint brush stroke, where at four evenly spaced spots more pressure was applied on the brush. These stand out in the ring as four brighter and thicker spots. The white disc within the ring gives the impression of a gaping hole in the image, through its stark contrast to the dark background.

Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, G. Anselmi, T. Li; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2025

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC6505 #EinsteinRing #GravitationalLensing #Draco #Constellation #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

The Tarantula Nebula: A Cosmic Cloudscape in Dorado | Hubble Space Telescope

The Tarantula Nebula: A Cosmic Cloudscape in Dorado | Hubble Space Telescope

The Universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture shows. Featured in this image are swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). About 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Large Magellanic Cloud is one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way. The Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby Universe, home to the most massive stars known.

The colorful gas clouds of this nebula are crossed by wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust. This dust is different from ordinary household dust that can be made of bits of soil, skin cells, hair and even plastic. Cosmic dust tends to be made of carbon or of molecules called silicates that contain silicon and oxygen. The data used to create this image were collected as part of an observing program aiming to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other nearby galaxies.

Dust plays several important roles in the Universe. Even though individual dust grains are incredibly tiny, far smaller than the width of a single human hair, dust grains in discs around young stars clump together to form larger grains and eventually planets. Dust also helps cool clouds of gas so that they can condense into new stars. Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space.

Image Description: A portion of a nebula, made of variously-colored layers of dust clouds. One upper layer is dark reddish dust. This is dense and obscures light, in places so dense that it appears black. A middle layer is pale clouds that are thick like curling wisps of smoke. They form a broad bow across the center of the image. Many small, bright stars lie throughout the nebula, colored blue, purple or red depending on the depth.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
Release Date: February 10, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Space #Science #Nebulae #TarantulaNebula #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #Galaxy #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #STEM #Education

Full Moon Shines Next to Bright Star, Regulus (Feb. 10-16, 2025) | BBC Star Diary

Full Moon Shines Next to Bright Star, Regulus (Feb. 10-16, 2025)  | BBC Star Diary

The Snow Moon lights up the night sky this week, accompanied by one of the brightest stars in the sky, Regulus. To find out how you can see them for yourself, as well as all the latest stargazing highlights, tune in to the latest episode of Star Diary, the podcast from the makers of Sky at Night Magazine.

How to enter the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Competition: 
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/astronomy-photographer-of-the-year-2025-entries

Video Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Duration: 19 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #SnowMoon #Planets #SolarSystem #Stars #Regulus #StarClusters #Constellations #Nebulae #MilkyWayGalaxy #Galaxies #Universe #Skywatching #BBC #UK #Britain #Europe #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #Podcast #HD #Video

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Booster Static Fire Test | Starbase Texas

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Booster Static Fire Test | Starbase Texas

Full duration static fire test of Super Heavy. SpaceX is going through prelaunch preparations as "we continue a rapid iterative development process to build a fully and rapidly reusable space transportation system."

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 123m/403ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100–150t (fully reusable)

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission 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

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Capture Date: Feb. 9, 2025

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship8 #TestFlight8 #HeavyBooster #Mechazilla #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #StarbaseTexas #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Close-up view: Protoplanetary Disc in Taurus Molecular Cloud | LDN 1551 | Webb

Close-up view: Protoplanetary Disc in Taurus Molecular Cloud | LDN 1551 | Webb

This new NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope picture presents HH 30 in unprecedented resolution. This target is an edge-on protoplanetary disc that is surrounded by jets and a disc wind. It is located in the dark cloud LDN 1551 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud at a distance of 477 light years.

Herbig-Haro objects are small nebulae found in star formation regions, marking the locations where gas outflowing from young stars is heated into luminescence by shockwaves. HH 30 is an example of where this outflowing gas takes the form of a narrow jet. The source star is located on one end of the jet, hidden behind an edge-on protoplanetary disc that the star is illuminating.

HH 30 is of particular interest to astronomers. In fact, the HH 30 disc is considered the prototype of an edge-on disc, thanks to its early discovery with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. Discs seen from this view are a unique laboratory to study the settling and drift of dust grains.

An international team of astronomers have used Webb to investigate the target in unprecedented detail. By combining Webb’s observations with those from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the team was able to study the multiwavelength disc appearance of the system.

The long-wavelength data from ALMA trace the location of millimeter-sized dust grains. These are found in a narrow region in the central plane of the disc. The shorter-wavelength infrared data from Webb reveal the distribution of smaller dust grains. These grains are only one millionth of a meter across—about the size of a single bacterium. While the large dust grains are concentrated in the densest parts of the disc, the small grains are much more widespread.

These Webb observations were taken as part of the Webb GO program #2562 (PI F. Ménard, K. Stapelfeldt). It aims to understand how dust evolves in edge-on discs like HH 30. Combined with the keen radio-wavelength eyes of ALMA, these observations show that large dust grains must migrate within the disc and settle in a thin layer. The creation of a narrow, dense layer of dust is an important stage in the process of planet formation. In this dense region, dust grains clump together to form pebbles and eventually planets themselves.

In addition to the behavior of dust grains, the Webb, Hubble, and ALMA images reveal several distinct structures that are nested within one another. Emerging at a 90-degree angle from the narrow central disc is a high-velocity jet of gas. The narrow jet is surrounded by a wider, cone-shaped outflow. Enclosing the conical outflow is a wide nebula that reflects the light from the young star that is embedded within the disc. Together, these data reveal HH 30 to be a dynamic place, where tiny dust grains and massive jets alike play a role in the formation of new planets.

Image Description: A close-in image of a protoplanetary disc around a newly formed star. Many wavelengths of light are combined and represented by separate and various colors. A dark line across the center is the disc, corresponding to the densest parts of the disc, made of opaque dust: the star is hidden in here and creates a strong glow in the center. A band going straight up is a jet, while other outflows above and below the disc, and a tail coming off to one side.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Tazaki et al.

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #ProtoplanetaryDisc #HH30 #HerbigHaroObjects #LDN1551 #TaurusMolecularCloud #Taurus #Constellation #Universe #WebbSpaceTelescope #JWST #UnfoldTheUniverse #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #JPL #Caltech #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Protoplanetary Disc in Taurus Molecular Cloud: LDN 1551 | Webb Telescope

Protoplanetary Disc in Taurus Molecular Cloud: LDN 1551 | Webb Telescope

Protoplanetary Disc/Herbig-Haro Object 30 in Taurus Molecular Cloud

A close-in image of protoplanetary disc HH 30. Parts of the image are labelled “Jet” (above and below the disc), “Conical Outflow”, “Possible Spiral”, “Dark Lane”, “Disk”, and “Tail”. A scale marker in the bottom-left is labelled “300 au”; this is a little wider than the disc itself, but less wide than the conical outflows above and below the disc.]

A collage of four small and one large images of protoplanetary disc HH 30, from different telescopes and in various colours representing different wavelengths of light. Each displays different features of the disc and the outflows around it. They are labelled (top to bottom and left to right) “Hubble/Visible”, “Webb/Near-infrared”, “Webb/Mid-infrared”, “ALMA/Millimetre”, and (the large one) “Webb/Infrared”.]

This new NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope picture presents HH 30 in unprecedented resolution. This target is an edge-on protoplanetary disc that is surrounded by jets and a disc wind. It is located in the dark cloud LDN 1551 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud at a distance of 477 light years.

Herbig-Haro objects are small nebulae found in star formation regions, marking the locations where gas outflowing from young stars is heated into luminescence by shockwaves. HH 30 is an example of where this outflowing gas takes the form of a narrow jet. The source star is located on one end of the jet, hidden behind an edge-on protoplanetary disc that the star is illuminating.

HH 30 is of particular interest to astronomers. In fact, the HH 30 disc is considered the prototype of an edge-on disc, thanks to its early discovery with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. Discs seen from this view are a unique laboratory to study the settling and drift of dust grains.

An international team of astronomers have used Webb to investigate the target in unprecedented detail. By combining Webb’s observations with those from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the team was able to study the multiwavelength disc appearance of the system.

The long-wavelength data from ALMA trace the location of millimeter-sized dust grains. These are found in a narrow region in the central plane of the disc. The shorter-wavelength infrared data from Webb reveal the distribution of smaller dust grains. These grains are only one millionth of a meter across—about the size of a single bacterium. While the large dust grains are concentrated in the densest parts of the disc, the small grains are much more widespread.

These Webb observations were taken as part of the Webb GO program #2562 (PI F. Ménard, K. Stapelfeldt). It aims to understand how dust evolves in edge-on discs like HH 30. Combined with the keen radio-wavelength eyes of ALMA, these observations show that large dust grains must migrate within the disc and settle in a thin layer. The creation of a narrow, dense layer of dust is an important stage in the process of planet formation. In this dense region, dust grains clump together to form pebbles and eventually planets themselves.

In addition to the behavior of dust grains, the Webb, Hubble, and ALMA images reveal several distinct structures that are nested within one another. Emerging at a 90-degree angle from the narrow central disc is a high-velocity jet of gas. The narrow jet is surrounded by a wider, cone-shaped outflow. Enclosing the conical outflow is a wide nebula that reflects the light from the young star that is embedded within the disc. Together, these data reveal HH 30 to be a dynamic place, where tiny dust grains and massive jets alike play a role in the formation of new planets.

Image Description: A close-in image of a protoplanetary disc around a newly formed star. Many wavelengths of light are combined and represented by separate and various colors. A dark line across the center is the disc, corresponding to the densest parts of the disc, made of opaque dust: the star is hidden in here and creates a strong glow in the center. A band going straight up is a jet, while other outflows above and below the disc, and a tail coming off to one side.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Tazaki et al.
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #ProtoplanetaryDisc #HH30 #HerbigHaroObjects #LDN1551 #TaurusMolecularCloud #Taurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JamesWebb #WebbSpaceTelescope #JWST #UnfoldTheUniverse #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #JPL #Caltech #GSFC #STScI #ALMA #UnitedStates #Infographics #STEM #Education