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Galaxy Cluster Abell S1063: Glimpses of the Distant Past | Webb Telescope
The eye is first drawn, in this new NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope picture, to the central mega-monster that is galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This behemoth collection of galaxies, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the scene. Looking more closely, this dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs are the true object of scientists’ interest: faint galaxies from the Universe’s distant past.
Abell S1063 was previously observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Frontier Fields program. It features a strong gravitational lens: the galaxy cluster is so massive that the light of distant galaxies aligned behind it is bent around it, creating the warped arcs that we see here. Like a glass lens, it focuses the light from these faraway galaxies. The resulting images, albeit distorted, are both bright and magnified—enough to be observed and studied. This was the aim of Hubble’s observations, using the galaxy cluster as a magnifying glass to investigate the early Universe.
The new imagery from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) takes this quest even further back in time. This image showcases an incredible forest of lensing arcs around Abell S1063 that reveal distorted background galaxies at a range of cosmic distances, along with a multitude of faint galaxies and previously unseen features.
This image is what is known as a deep field—a long exposure of a single area of the sky, collecting as much light as possible to draw out the most faint and distant galaxies that do not appear in ordinary images. With 9 separate snapshots of different near-infrared wavelengths of light, totalling around 120 hours of observing time and aided by the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, this is Webb’s deepest gaze on a single target to date. Focusing such observing power on a massive gravitational lens, like Abell S1063, therefore has the potential to reveal some of the very first galaxies formed in the early Universe.
The observing program that produced this data, GLIMPSE (#3293, PIs: H. Atek & J. Chisholm), aims to probe the period known as Cosmic Dawn, when the Universe was only a few million years old.
Image Description: A field of galaxies in space, dominated by an enormous, bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of a massive galaxy cluster. Many other elliptical galaxies can be seen around it. Also around it are short, curved, glowing red lines that are images of distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with long spikes around them.
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Atek, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb); CC BY 4.0 Acknowledgement: R. Endsley Release Date: May 27, 2025
Boot Camp for The Moon | NASA's Johnson Space Center
The Joint Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Test Team (JETT), led out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is a specialized group that develops, integrates, and executes tests and analog missions that enable evaluations of lunar surface systems and operations for Artemis missions.
This field test is the fifth in the series and is the highest fidelity Artemis moonwalk mission simulation to date. The test consists of two integrated teams working together as they practice end-to-end lunar operations with a team of astronauts, NASA engineers, and field experts in the Arizona desert conducting the simulated moonwalks, and a team of flight controllers and scientists at NASA Johnson monitoring and guiding their activities. The test evaluates gaps and challenges associated with lunar South Pole operations, including data collection and communications between the flight control team and science team in Houston for rapid decision-making protocols. The week-long test was conducted in the San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona in May 2024.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis| James Webb Space Telescope
What’s happening in the center of spiral galaxy NGC 2566? First, the eight rays that appear to be coming out of the center in the featured infrared image are not real—they are diffraction spikes caused by the mechanical structure of the Webb space telescope itself. The center of NGC 2566 is bright but not considered unusual. This means that it likely contains a supermassive black hole, although currently not very active. At only 76 million light years away, the light we see from NGC 2566 today left when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
This picturesque galaxy is close enough so that Earthly telescopes, including Webb and Hubble, can resolve the turbulent clouds of gas and dust where stars can form and so allows study of stellar evolution. NGC 2566, similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy, is notable for its bright central bar and its prominent outer spiral arms.
'Prehistoric' Mars? New NASA Perseverance Rover Image| JPL
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Right Mastcam-Z camera on May 25, 2025 (sol 1515), at the local mean solar time of 10:35:28. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast.
Pareidolia: Dictionaries describe this term as a human tendency to see recognizable shapes in objects or data that are otherwise not familiar to us.
Celebrating 4+ 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
Image Description: Bright and dark streaks covering the slopes of the Olympus Mons aureole, as seen by the Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) onboard the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. An aureole describes an area of metamorphosed rock surrounding an igneous intrusion.
As if someone has been sweeping the surface of Mars with a broom, the origin of odd, streaked slopes has intrigued scientists for decades.
These enigmatic features come and go spontaneously, a portion last for years while others quickly fade. They change color and brightness and show up during certain seasons on opposite hemispheres of the Red Planet.
Scientists first saw these enigmatic streaks extending for hundreds of meters down sloped terrain in images from the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. How they form, where and when has fueled scientific debate ever since.
Researchers have interpreted these streaks as flows of salty water, or brine, that could remain liquid long enough to form them. This hypothesis suggests rare habitable zones might exist on this otherwise desert world where temperatures rarely rise above freezing.
However, a new study led by planetary scientists at the University of Bern and Brown University challenges the water-based explanation. Their paper in Nature Communications argues that these slope streaks result from dry processes involving wind and dust activity.
Researchers turned to a machine learning algorithm to scan and catalog slope streaks in over 86,000 satellite images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Scientists combined several decades’ worth of orbital data and the neural power of deep learning to produce a global map with almost 500,000 streak features across Mars. The new study created the largest database yet of these features on Mars.
The team also turned to other cameras orbiting Mars, such as the CaSSIS imager on ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter and MRO’s HiRISE, to collect more color information in high resolution, as well as to monitor how the streaks evolved over time.
The correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases helped the team shed new light on a decades-old debate. With no evidence of water, scientists concluded that dry processes—rather than liquid flow—drive the appearance of streaked slopes on Mars.
The study found that these winding features most likely form when layers of fine dust suddenly slide off steep terrain. Multiple triggers could unleash this process, such as rocks falling, small meteoroid impacts or wind gusts causing shockwaves and shaking loose dust.
To bring out these features, the contrast in these CaSSIS images is stretched—the image is re-scaled between the minimum and maximum brightness within each color before combining them to produce the published image.
ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter continues to image Mars from orbit to understand its ancient past and potential habitability. The spacecraft returns spectacular images and provides the best inventory of atmospheric gases and mapping the planet’s surface for water-rich locations.
Understanding the history of water on Mars and whether it once allowed life to flourish is at the heart of ESA’s ExoMars missions.
“Streaks on Martian Slopes are Dry,” by Valentin Bickel and Adomas Valantinas, was published in Nature Communications on May 19, 2025.
The image covers an area of approximately 50 square kms and was captured on October 3, 2024. Mars location: 26.5°N, 223.8°E. CaSSIS image MY37_030618_155_3.
Credits: ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO Release Date: May 26, 2025
China Tianwen-2 Asteroid & Comet Mission Launch Set for May 29, 2025
The launch date for China's Tianwen-2 deep space mission to an asteroid and a comet has been confirmed for Thursday, May 29, 2025, by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). This will be the country's first asteroid flyby and sample-return mission. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft was transported to the launch site at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on May 18 and is now atop a Long March 3B rocket.
The Tianwen-2 robotic probe will first collect samples from a small near Earth asteroid called 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, also known as 2016HO3, and return them to Earth in 2027. The asteroid is roughly 40 to 100-meters in diameter. Then, Tianwen-2 will visit a main belt comet, named comet 311P/PANSTARRS. China's Tianwen-2 Mission follows similar missions by the United States, Russia, and Japan, except China will explore an asteroid and a comet in a single mission for the first time in history.
The next Tianwen mission after this one is a Mars sample return mission in 2028. Of course, Tianwen-2 is the second in the Tianwen (meaning “Heavenly Questions” or “Questions to Heaven”) exploration series. The first, Tianwen-1, included a Mars orbiter and surface rover, named Zhurong. Tianwen-4 will launch around 2030. It will include a solar-powered Jupiter orbiter which will observe the system and then enter orbit around the moon Callisto—potentially including a lander—and a smaller, radioisotope-powered spacecraft to make a flyby of Uranus. These missions are also part of a wider, planetary exploration roadmap focused on astrobiology and habitability, and a long-term plan for space science.
China’s first asteroid flyby of 4179 Toutatis was in 2012, when the Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter made this an extended mission objective. Tianwen-2 aims to provide vital data to help us understand the nature of asteroids and comets. The Kamoʻoalewa asteroid travels in a similar orbit to Earth. A Tianwen-2 reentry module containing the samples will be released for atmospheric entry, descent and landing, but the main Tianwen-2 spacecraft will use the Earth’s gravity for a swingby, setting it on course for a six-year-voyage to comet 311P/PANSTARRS that orbits between 1.94 and 2.44 astronomical units from the Sun. Tianwen-2 carries multispectral and infrared spectrometers to study surface composition, while high-resolution cameras will map geological features. A radar sounder will probe subsurface structures, and a magnetometer will search for residual magnetic fields. Dust and gas analyzers will examine comet activity, and charged particle detectors will investigate solar wind interactions. The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is understood to have contributed to the particle detectors.
Tianwen-2 Mission Timeline (Tentative):
Arrival at asteroid Kamoʻoalewa: July 4, 2026
👋 Departure: April 24, 2027
🌏 Reentry capsule landing: Nov. 29, 2027
☄️Arrival at comet 311P: Jan. 24, 2035
The CNSA has described 311P/PanSTARRS as a “living fossil”, making it useful for studying the early material composition, formation process and evolutionary history of the solar system. Comet 311P orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids reside, containing over 90 percent of the asteroids in the solar system. It displays features of both comets and asteroids. It has become the seventh main-belt comet confirmed by human beings, and it is also the most peculiar one so far. According to the conventional theory, comets typically originate from the outer edges of the solar system and are rich in ice. As they approach the sun, the heat causes the ice to vaporize, forming their characteristic tails. However, Comet 311P, located in the asteroid belt—far closer to the sun than typical comets—faces intense solar radiation, making it unlikely to retain volatile substances like water ice. This comet challenges astronomers' traditional understanding.
Tianwen-2 will conduct remote sensing of the comet to characterize its orbit, shape, and rotation, examine its surface composition and volatile elements, and investigate dust emissions and activity mechanisms to understand cometary behavior in the main belt.
Comet 311P/PanSTARRS also known as P/2013 P5 (PanSTARRS) was discovered by Bryce T. Bolin using the Pan-STARRS telescope on August 27, 2013. Observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that it had six comet-like tails. The tails are suspected to be streams of material ejected by the asteroid as a result of a rubble pile asteroid spinning fast enough to remove material from it. This is similar to 331P/Gibbs that was found to be a quickly-spinning rubble pile as well.+
The Tianwen-2 Mission aims to advance China’s planetary exploration capabilities, provide new insights into the understanding of small planetary bodies and their evolutions, and potentially for planetary defense and the origins of life.
Asteroid 2016 HO3 was first spotted on April 27, 2016, by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy and funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The size of this object has not yet been firmly established, but it is likely larger than 120 feet (40 meters) and smaller than 300 feet (100 meters).
While China has conducted two successful lunar sample return missions, the velocity of the reentry module will be greater for Tianwen-2, marking China’s first second-cosmic-velocity atmospheric reentry, at 12 kilometers per second, adding new challenges. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) conducted high-altitude parachute deployment tests for the mission in 2023. In contrast to the lunar sampling missions, Kamoʻoalewa will have negligible gravity, requiring specialized approaches for orbiting, approaching and sampling.
The spacecraft will attempt up to three methods of sampling: hover sampling, collecting samples with a robotic arm while matching the asteroid’s rotation; touch-and-go (TAG), using a rotating brush head; and anchored sampling. Its landing legs will use drills to press into the asteroid, if the surface composition and terrain allow. The TAG approach was used by both NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2.
The asteroid is considered a quasi-satellite of Earth due to its co-orbital dynamics. Kamoʻoalewa is possibly a piece of the moon blasted into space following an impact event, according to researchers, based on spectral analyses. Analysis of the samples aims to reveal the nature and origin of the asteroid, analyze its mineral content and provide comparisons with other asteroids. Leah-Nani Alconcel at the University of Birmingham, UKShe says that the mission is daring, as Kamoʻoalewa is spinning. This will make landing harder. Navigation algorithms are likely to demand such powerful computers that images and sensor readings will be sent back to Earth for computation. “If we were to always pick lovely, cooperative objects, we wouldn’t learn a lot,” she says. “There’s a lot that could potentially go wrong.”
Video Credit: CGTN Duration: 20 seconds Release Date: May 26, 2025
Close-up: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 3507 in Leo | Hubble Space Telescope
A single member of a galaxy pair takes center stage in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture. This beautiful spiral galaxy is NGC 3507, situated about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. NGC 3507 is classified as a barred spiral because the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms emerge from the ends of a central bar of stars rather than the central point of the galaxy.
Though pictured solo here, NGC 3507 actually travels the Universe with a galactic partner named NGC 3501 that is located outside the frame. While NGC 3507 is a quintessential galactic pinwheel, its partner resembles a streak of quicksilver across the sky. Despite looking completely different, both are spiral galaxies, simply seen from different angles.
For galaxies that are just a few tens of millions of light-years away, like NGC 3507 and NGC 3501, features like spiral arms, dusty gas clouds, and brilliant star clusters are on full display. More distant galaxies appear less detailed. See if you can spot any faraway galaxies in this image: they tend to be orange or yellow and can be anywhere from circular and starlike to narrow and elongated, with hints of spiral arms. Astronomers use instruments called spectrometers to split the light from these distant galaxies to study the nature of these objects in the early Universe.
In addition to these far-flung companions, NGC 3507 is joined by a far nearer object, marked by four spikes of light: a star within the Milky Way, a mere 436 light-years away from Earth.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen face-on. Its centre is crossed by a broad bar of light. A glowing spiral arm extends from each end of this bar, both making almost a full turn through the galaxy’s disc before fading out. The arms contain sparkling blue stars, pink spots of star formation, and dark threads of dust that follow both spiral arms into and across the central bar. A foreground star sits atop the galaxy.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 3507 in Leo | Hubble Space Telescope
A single member of a galaxy pair takes center stage in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture. This beautiful spiral galaxy is NGC 3507, situated about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. NGC 3507 is classified as a barred spiral because the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms emerge from the ends of a central bar of stars rather than the central point of the galaxy.
Though pictured solo here, NGC 3507 actually travels the Universe with a galactic partner named NGC 3501 that is located outside the frame. While NGC 3507 is a quintessential galactic pinwheel, its partner resembles a streak of quicksilver across the sky. Despite looking completely different, both are spiral galaxies, simply seen from different angles.
For galaxies that are just a few tens of millions of light-years away, like NGC 3507 and NGC 3501, features like spiral arms, dusty gas clouds, and brilliant star clusters are on full display. More distant galaxies appear less detailed. See if you can spot any faraway galaxies in this image: they tend to be orange or yellow and can be anywhere from circular and starlike to narrow and elongated, with hints of spiral arms. Astronomers use instruments called spectrometers to split the light from these distant galaxies to study the nature of these objects in the early Universe.
In addition to these far-flung companions, NGC 3507 is joined by a far nearer object, marked by four spikes of light: a star within the Milky Way, a mere 436 light-years away from Earth.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen face-on. Its centre is crossed by a broad bar of light. A glowing spiral arm extends from each end of this bar, both making almost a full turn through the galaxy’s disc before fading out. The arms contain sparkling blue stars, pink spots of star formation, and dark threads of dust that follow both spiral arms into and across the central bar. A foreground star sits atop the galaxy.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker Release Date: May 26, 2025
Southeast Asia by Night with Lightning Storm Clusters | International Space Station
Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Anne McClain: "Incredible storms over Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. While we see lightning somewhere on Earth every night pass, it’s not as common to see one this active."
"Did you know lightning is essential to maintain the earth-atmosphere electrical balance? If all the lightning stopped, that balance would disappear in 5 minutes and create an unsurvivable condition for humans. Check out the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory‘s FAQ on lightning . . . it’s fascinating."
NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim
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.
Central America by Night: Red Sprite over Lightning | International Space Station
Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers:"Soooooo much going on in this picture. This shot came from a time-lapse sequence that I set up in the Cupola. You can see Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama with South America off in the distance. The first eye-catching thing is the lightning strike just north of Panama City. The red line is a sprite, which is upward directed lightning that gets up into the upper atmosphere and is difficult to catch in a picture. The next thing I noticed was the reflection of that lightning strike on the structure! It was so bright you can see it on the metal exterior of the Station."
"Finally, you can see the faint red air glow above the vibrant orange of the base atmospheric layer. This is due to atomic oxygen in the f-region of the atmosphere and occurs 300-600 kilometers above Earth."
"What else catches your eye about this picture?!"
Red Sprites: These mysterious bursts of light in the upper atmosphere momentarily resemble gigantic jellyfish. One unusual feature of sprites is that they are relatively cold. They operate more like long fluorescent light tubes than hot compact light bulbs. In general, red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.
NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim
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.
The spiral galaxy IC 4633 in the Apus constellation seen surrounded by gas and dust.
Distance: around 100 million light years
Image details: 1 night of data, Askar 130PHQ telescope, QHY268M camera, Astronomik LRGB filters, Warp Astron WD-20 EQ mount, shot at Bendelby on a clear and calm night. Processing with APP, PS etc.
Image Credit: Ian Inverarity Release Date: May 24, 2025
The Ax-4 crew is on their way to quarantine. Before they go, Axiom Space employees came together to celebrate. Crew Send-off is a tradition that pays tribute to the dedication and tireless efforts of staff prior to the crew embarking on their mission.
From Team Axiom, Godspeed Ax-4!
SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Sunday, June 8, 2025, for Falcon 9 to launch Ax-4, for Axiom Space's fourth mission to the International Space Station, from Pad 39A in Florida.
The Axiom Space Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) is the company’s fourth commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The Ax-4 crew includes Commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of the European Space Agency (ESA)/Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Ax-4 crew aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from Florida. Once docked, the Ax-4 astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days onboard implementing a full mission comprised of microgravity research, technology demonstrations, educational outreach, and media events.
The Ax-4 mission will “realize the return” to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each nation’s first government-sponsored flight in more than 40 years. While Ax-4 marks these countries' second human spaceflight mission in history, it will be the first time all three nations will execute a mission on board the International Space Station. This historic mission underscores how Axiom Space is elevating national space programs globally.
The Ax-4 research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe. This will be the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date, underscoring the mission's global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
"Axiom Space is building the world’s first commercial space station – Axiom Station. Axiom Space is the principal provider of commercial human spaceflight services to the International Space Station and developer of advanced spacesuits for the Moon and low-Earth orbit. Axiom Space is building era-defining space infrastructure that will empower our civilization to transcend Earth for the benefit of every human, everywhere."
Video Credit: Axiom Space Duration: 1 minute, 23 seconds Release Date: May 25, 2025
Expedition#73 Crew Photos: May 2025 | International Space Station
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers swaps sample cartridges inside the Material Science Laboratory (MSL) that supports high temperature space physics research using furnaces aboard the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. The properties of many types of materials such as metals, alloys, polymers, semiconductors, ceramics, crystals, and glasses, can be studied in the MSL to discover new applications for existing materials and new or improved materials.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Jonny Kim swaps hardware that promotes physical science and crystallization research inside the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 (ADSEP-4) aboard the International Space Station. The ADSEP-4 is supporting a technology demonstration potentially enabling the synthesis of medications during deep space missions and improving the pharmaceutical industry on Earth.
(From top) Expedition 73 Flight Engineers Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, both NASA astronauts, pose for a portrait while verifying the functionality and replacing hardware on the Exploration Potable Water Dispenser (xPWD). The xPWD is located in the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module and is demonstrating advanced water sanitization methods, microbial growth reduction, and a heater to dispense hot water for use aboard the orbital outpost and future spacecraft.
(From left) Expedition 73 Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both NASA astronauts, take a break and pose for a portrait aboard the International Space Station Destiny laboratory module.
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, Expedition 73 flight engineer and commander respectively, are pictured together inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. The astronauts called down to students at Long Beach Middle School in Lido Beach, New York, and answered their questions about living in space.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Jonny Kim wears goggles while working on computer network maintenance aboard the International Space Station's Harmony module.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and Expedition 73 Commander Takuya Onishi services hardware that promotes physical science and crystalization research inside the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 (ADSEP-4) aboard the International Space Station. The ADSEP-4 is supporting a technology demonstration potentially enabling the synthesis of medications during deep space missions and improving the pharmaceutical industry on Earth.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Jonny Kim photographs genetically modified, extemely dwarf tomato plants growing inside specialized research hardware, called Rhodium BioCuvettes, aboard the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. The space botany experiment tests the plants ability to grow without photosynthesis and survive in confined environments in weightlessness potentially supporting crop production on spacecraft.
NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim
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.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Selfie Image Explained| JPL
These are cropped, annotated versions of a Perseverance Mars rover selfie. They highlight examples of the rover's components and of Martian surface features.
Perseverance Rover Image 1 Details:
A: aluminum plate with U.S. flag
B: Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) calibration target
C: serial number on the front hazard-avoidance camera sunshade assembly
D: wire bundle that supports entry, descent, and landing (EDL) hardware
E: rover evolution plate
F: Mastcam-Z calibration target
G: high-gain antenna
H: ultra-high frequency antenna
I: JPL insignia plate
J: Perseverance's arm (not seen). Just like humans taking a selfie on Earth, Perseverance's imaging team does their best to keep the rover's arm out of the shot, as they have here. When the images are combined for the selfie, it looks like there is no arm on the rover. The rover's process for taking a selfie is explained in this video.
K: SkyCam
L: SuperCam calibration target
M: navigation cameras
N: Mastcam-Z imagers
O: SuperCam
Oa: SuperCam microphone
P: Mars dust accumulated on the rover's exterior
Q: differential, part of Perseverance's "rocker-bogie" suspension system. The differential pivots around the silver-colored disk in the center, connecting the rockers to the body and each other, helping even out loads and reducing rover-body tilt.
T: "Send Your Name to Mars" plate carrying 10,932,295 names on three fingernail-sized chips
U: robotic arm harness bulkhead
V: Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)
Perseverance Rover Image 2 Details:
aluminum plate with U.S. flag
dust devil
Bell Island sample borehole
rover tracks
Celebrating 4+ 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
Globular Star Cluster NGC 6366 & Binary Star System 47 Ophiuchi
Most globular star clusters roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy, but globular cluster NGC 6366 lies close to the galactic plane. About 12,000 light-years away toward the constellation Ophiuchus, the cluster's starlight is dimmed and reddened by the Milky Way's interstellar dust when viewed from planet Earth. As a result, the stars of NGC 6366 look almost golden in this telescopic scene, especially when seen next to relatively bright, bluish, and nearby star 47 Ophiuchi. Compared to the hundred thousand stars or so gravitationally bound in distant NGC 6366, 47 Oph itself is a binary star system a mere 100 light-years away. Still, the co-orbiting stars of 47 Oph are too close together to be individually distinguished in the image.
NGC 6366 was discovered by the German astronomer Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke on April 12, 1860.
47 Ophiuchi (47 Oph) is a binary star system located about 105.3 light-years away. The primary star is an F-type main-sequence star that is 1.5 times the mass of the Sun and around twice as wide. Its companion star is 1.34 times the mass of the Sun, and 1.36 times the radius of the Sun. The two stars orbit each other every 26.3 days, and its orbital eccentricity is 0.481.
Chinese Astronomers Discover Rare Compact Binary System of Pulsar, Helium Star
Chinese astronomers have discovered a rare compact binary system consisting of a millisecond pulsar and a companion helium star formed by common envelope evolution. This sheds light for future research on stellar evolution theory.
The research, conducted by a team led by professor Han Jinlin from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences using China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), was published on Science online on Thursday, May 22, 2025: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0769
FAST is the world's largest radio telescope. It is located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in China's southwestern province of Guizhou.
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