ChinaSat-9C Communications Satellite Launch | Xichang Satellite Launch Center

ChinaSat-9C Communications Satellite Launch | Xichang Satellite Launch Center

China successfully launched the Zhongxing-9C (ChinaSat-9C) communications satellite into geostationary orbit (GEO) at 8:37 pm (Beijing Time) on Friday, June 20, 2025, using a LongMarch-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan province. The satellite entered its planned orbit smoothly, marking the complete success of the mission. This 5.5 ton satellite is designed to provide communications services for live television broadcasts over 15 years. This launch was the 582nd flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets. This replaces the original ChinaSat-9 launched 17 years ago this month.

Video Credit: CCTV News

Caption Credit: Xinhua

Duration: 23 seconds

Capture Date: June 20, 2025 

#NASA #CNSA #Space #Satellite #Zhongxing9CSatellite #CommunicationsSatellite #Telecommunications #GEO #Science #Planet #Earth #China #中国 #LongMarchRocket #LongMarch3B #CZ3B #XSLC #西昌卫星发射中心 #SichuanProvince #四川 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

"Wishing for Peace on Planet Earth" | International Space Station

"Wishing for Peace on Planet Earth" | International Space Station

"Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind."

—John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

“Peaceful coexistence does not mean the absence of tension, but rather the ability to manage and resolve conflicts through peaceful means.”

—Nikita Khrushchev/Никита Хрущёв (1894-1971)

The sun's glint beams off a partly cloudy southern Pacific Ocean in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above. At top, a partially obscured SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft can be seen docked to the orbital outpost's forward port on the Harmony module.

Follow Expedition 73:

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy

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 ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Image Date: June 2, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Sun #SolarSystem #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Ocean #Sunglint #PacificOcean #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #JSC #Expedition73 #STEM #Education

Milky Way Galaxy & Earth Airglow over Colorado

Milky Way Galaxy & Earth Airglow over Colorado

With our naked eyes, we can see about 6,000 stars, out of around 200 billion in the Milky Way. And this does not include many other astronomical objects!

The Fading Milky Way
Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 
(Source: NASA)

International Dark-Sky Association
https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution
Globe at Night
https://www.globeatnight.org
Night Sky Network (NASA)
https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/night-sky-network/

Colorado is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, and Oklahoma to the southeast.

Image details:
Taken with Fujifilm X-T5, Fujinon 16-55mm f/2.8 @ 16mm, iso 3200, 399x 13s. Timelapse from 10PM-11:47PM with 5s interval.
Each frame was post processed in Camera Raw to enhance contrast and color. The Milky Way in Bortle 3 skies was much dimmer near the horizon and especial as the moon rose. The airglow was not visible to the naked eye although its presence was suspected by the hazy transparence of the cloudless sky.

Video Credit: Northern_Nights

Duration: 13 seconds
Capture Date: June 16, 2025
Release Date: June 19, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Stars #MilkyWayGalaxy #Galaxies #LightPollution #CitizenScience #Astrophotographer #Northern_Nights #Astrophotography #Skywatching #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #PagosaSprings #Colorado #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Earth Aurora Captured by NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim | International Space Station

Earth Aurora Captured by NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim: "Caught a fish! Hope you enjoy this round of space fishing for beautiful auroras. If you’re wondering what the reflections in the lower left are, I made a rookie mistake of not having the shroud completely cover the window so you can see some crew activity (the cupola is located adjacent to one of our exercise devices)."

On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, which acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.

Earth auroras have different names depending on the pole where they occur. Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights, is the name given to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.

Follow Expedition 73:

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center / JonnyKim

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: June 20, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Sun #SolarSystem #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Aurora #Astronauts #JonnyKim #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #Japan #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #JSC #Expedition73 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Juno Spacecraft at Jupiter: Active Science Mission Canceled in FY2026 Budget

NASA Juno Spacecraft at Jupiter: Active Science Mission Canceled in FY2026 Budget

NASA’s Juno Mission is the only human spacecraft currently operating at the planet Jupiter. NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request is cancelling all funding for the mission, although the Juno spacecraft can continue to capture precious science data on Jupiter with its 97 moons—at least four support the conditions for life as we know it. Why is this unique national asset being deactivated prematurely to the detriment of the international scientific community?

Moreover, NASA's total science budget is being cut nearly 50%. This will result in the cancellation of 19 active science missions and end several planned ones deemed crucial by the National Academy of Sciences, including those involving partnerships with international space agencies.

Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about severe budget cuts at NASA:

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PDF) Document Download: https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/ (See Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request Summary)

Since it arrived at Jupiter in 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been probing beneath the dense, forbidding clouds encircling the giant planet—the first orbiter to peer so closely. It seeks answers to questions about the origin and evolution of Jupiter, our solar system, and giant planets across the cosmos. Each perijove passes near a new part of Jupiter's cloud tops. A perijove indicates the point in the Juno spacecraft's orbit when it comes closest to planet Jupiter's center. If we measure by volume, approximately 1,300 Earths could fit inside Jupiter.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program. This is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

Learn more about NASA's Juno mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu

Image Data: 

Jupiter NEB - PJ35-61

Image rotated 90⁰, North to the right.

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

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Release Date: June 19, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planet #Jupiter #Perijove35 #Atmosphere #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #Moons #NASAFY2026BudgetRequest #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

🔥China commercial rocket provider Landspace conducted the first static fire of Zhuque-3's first stage propulsion system at 04:00 UTC June 20, 2025, on the newly built Zhuque-3 launch pad. Several factors make this rocket special: a stainless steel body, nine Tianque-12A metholox engines, and 7542kN of thrust.

Beijing-based LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.

Image Credit: Landspace

Capture Date: June 20, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #LEO #China #中国 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #Zhuque3Rocket #Zhuque3 #LaunchVehicle #FirstStageStaticFire #MethaneLiquidOxygen #Methalox #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #InnerMongolia #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceflight #STEM #Education

China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

China's Landspace: Static Fire Test of Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket 1st Stage

🔥China commercial rocket provider Landspace conducted the first static fire of Zhuque-3's first stage propulsion system at 04:00 UTC June 20, 2025, on the newly built Zhuque-3 launch pad. Several factors make this rocket special: a stainless steel body, nine Tianque-12A metholox engines, and 7542kN of thrust.

Beijing-based LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.

Video Credit: Landspace

Duration: 29 seconds

Release Date: June 20, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #LEO #China #中国 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #Zhuque3Rocket #Zhuque3 #LaunchVehicle #FirstStageStaticFire #MethaneLiquidOxygen #Methalox #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #InnerMongolia #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

'A Spiral Galaxy in a Bubble': Wide-field view of NGC 3521 in Leo

'A Spiral Galaxy in a Bubble': Wide-field view of NGC 3521 in Leo

Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is almost 40 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It is hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning across 50,000 light-years, the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. The deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter, gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.

The British astronomer William Herschel discovered this object in 1784. Through backyard telescopes, NGC 3521 can have a glowing, rounded appearance, giving rise to its nickname, the Bubble Galaxy.

Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander
Vikas' website: 

https://www.instagram.com/vikaschanderastrophotography/
Release Date: June 19, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Hubble35 #Galaxies #Galaxy #BubbleGalaxy #NGC3521 #SpiralGalaxy #FlocculentGalaxy #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #VikasChander #Astrophotographer #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

The Bubble Galaxy: NGC 3521 in Leo—A 'Flocculent' Spiral | Hubble

The Bubble Galaxy: NGC 3521 in Leo—A 'Flocculent' Spiral | Hubble

This image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3521 from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope is not out of focus. Instead, the galaxy itself has a soft, woolly appearance as it a member of a class of galaxies known as flocculent spirals.

Like other flocculent galaxies, NGC 3521 lacks the clearly defined, arcing structure to its spiral arms that shows up in galaxies, such as Messier 101 that are called grand design spirals. In flocculent spirals, fluffy patches of stars and dust show up here and there throughout their discs. Sometimes the tufts of stars are arranged in a generally spiralling form, as with NGC 3521, but illuminated star-filled regions can also appear as short or discontinuous spiral arms.

About 30 percent of galaxies share NGC 3521's patchiness, while approximately 10 percent have their star-forming regions wound into grand design spirals.

NGC 3521 is located almost 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). The British astronomer William Herschel discovered the object in 1784. Through backyard telescopes, NGC 3521 can have a glowing, rounded appearance, giving rise to its nickname, the Bubble Galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast)
Acknowledgement: Robert Gendler
Release Date: Sept. 21, 2015

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Hubble35 #Galaxies #Galaxy #BubbleGalaxy #NGC3521 #SpiralGalaxy #FlocculentGalaxy #Leo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Close-up: Starburst Galaxy NGC 4449 in Canes Venatici: Small but mighty | Hubble

Close-up: Starburst Galaxy NGC 4449 in Canes Venatici: Small but mighty | Hubble

This portrait from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope puts the nearby galaxy NGC 4449 in the spotlight. The galaxy is situated just 12.5 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). It is a member of the M94 galaxy group that is near the Local Group of galaxies where the Milky Way belongs.

NGC 4449 is a dwarf galaxy. This means that it is far smaller and contains fewer stars than the Milky Way. However, NGC 4449's strengths come from its ability to produce stars. This galaxy is currently forming new stars at a much faster rate than expected for its size. It makes it known as a starburst galaxy. Most starburst galaxies churn out stars mainly in their centers, but NGC 4449 is alight with brilliant young stars throughout. Researchers believe that this global burst of star formation came about because of NGC 4449’s interactions with its galactic neighbors. Because NGC 4449 is so close, it provides an excellent opportunity for Hubble to study how interactions between galaxies can influence the formation of new stars.

A Hubble image of NGC 4449 was previously released in 2007. This new version incorporates several additional wavelengths of light that Hubble collected for multiple observing programs. These programs encompass an incredible range of science, from a deep dive into NGC 4449’s star-formation history to the mapping of the brightest, hottest, and most massive stars in more than two dozen nearby galaxies.

Image Description: This Hubble image shows the galaxy NGC 4449. The field is dominated by dust that appears in dark red with scattered brighter regions of star formation as bright pink globules. The background shows countless blue stars peeking around the dusty regions.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Sabbi, D. Calzetti, A. Aloisi, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: June 16, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Hubble35 #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC4449 #DwarfGalaxy #StarburstGalaxy #InteractingGalaxies #M94GalaxyGroup #CanesVenatici #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planet Mars Images: June 16-18, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: June 16-18, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1535

Mars 2020 - sol 1536

Mars 2020 - sol 1531

Very large dust devil at center left. Ovular bright spot at bottom center right is a lens flare.

MSL - sol 4573

MSL - sol 4570

MSL - sol 4571

MSL - sol 4571

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 12+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)

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 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

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

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

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: June 16-18, 2025

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

Planet Earth: A Case Study of Monitoring Sea Level Change | NASA

Planet Earth: A Case Study of Monitoring Sea Level Change | NASA

The city of Mobile, Alabama, is working with NASA’s Sea Level Change Team to plan for future infrastructure projects and to protect Mobile’s coastal resources. As sea levels rise globally, coastal cities feel the effects of more frequent and more severe storms and flooding. NASA’s sea level change data, in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data, helps Mobile and other coastal communities plan for a more resilient future.

Learn about NASA's Sea Level Change Team (N-SLCT):
https://sealevel.nasa.gov/science-team/overview

NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request is cutting NASA's total science budget by nearly 50%.

Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about NASA's severe science budget cuts and climate change: 

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

Review NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PDF) Documents:
https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/

Video Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

Duration: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: June 17, 2025

#NASA #NOAA #Space #Science #Satellites #Planet #Earth #Oceans #SeaLevels #NSLCT #SeaTemperatures #Oceanography #Environment #Weather #Meteorology #Climate #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #CivilianSpace #STEM #Education #Mobile #Alabama #UnitedStates #HD #Video

Earth's Atmosphere: Monitoring Greenhouse Gases | NASA + Smithsonian

Earth's Atmosphere: Monitoring Greenhouse Gases | NASA + Smithsonian

A feature presentation, 'NASA + Smithsonian and Greenhouse Gases' created for the Earth Information Center (EIC). The Earth Information Center (EIC) aims to provide a holistic view of how the planet is changing in ways that affect the lives and livelihoods of individuals across the globe. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and one monitored via instruments on the ground, on airplanes, aboard satellites, and the International Space Station. Tracking methane, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases is crucial to monitoring our climate as it changes.

NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request cancels funding for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) and several other Earth science missions, including the OCO-3 follow-up mission. Moreover, NASA's total science budget is being cut nearly 50%. Since launching in 2014, OCO-2 has become widely regarded as the “gold standard” in CO2 measurements from space. OCO-2 measurements have been used to quantify how CO2 emissions are offset by natural carbon sinks like forests and oceans and how those carbon sinks can be transformed to carbon emitters due to drought, deforestation, or wildfires. As extreme events intensify with global warming, tracking changes to our carbon sinks will be increasingly important. The mission has also uncovered insights into CO2 emissions from cities, and contributes data supporting the Paris Agreement. As an unexpected bonus, OCO-2 has even been able to track growing seasons and crops by measuring the “glow” plants emit when they photosynthesize.

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
https://ocov2.jpl.nasa.gov/

Earth Information Center (EIC)

The EIC was created by NASA and is enabled by contributions across EPA, FEMA, NASA, NOAA, USDA and USGS.

Learn more: https://earth.gov

NASA's Earth Science Work
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/missions/earth-system-observatory/

Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about NASA's severe science budget cuts and climate change: 

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

Review NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PDF) Documents:
https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/

Video Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
Duration: 4 minutes
Release Date: June 17, 2025

#NASA #Planet #Earth #ISS #Science #NASAEarthObservatory #EarthSatellites #OCO2 #EarthScience #Atmosphere #CO2 #Methane #CarbonCycle #Climate #ClimateChange #GreenhouseGases #GlobalWarming #GlobalHeating #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #Smithsonian #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Lightning Storm over Singapore | International Space Station

Lightning Storm over Singapore | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers: "Sometimes we see lightning strikes that illuminate an entire city at once. This is Singapore last night, and that was a huge thunderstorm. It’s hard to believe, but these pictures were taken all in the span of 1/40 of a second!"

Follow Expedition 73:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/N. Ayers
Release Date: June 16, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Sun #Planet #Earth #Asia #Singapore #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #LightningStorms #Astronauts #NicholeAyers #UnitedStates #Japan #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #JSC #Expedition73 #STEM #Education

The Sculptor Galaxy in a Myriad of Colors | European Southern Observatory

The Sculptor Galaxy in a Myriad of Colors | European Southern Observatory

This animation shows the depth of information that is contained in a new portrait of the Sculptor galaxy. While a normal image contains information in just a handful of colors, here we see the Sculptor Galaxy in thousands of them. 

The data were captured with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT). As the video goes through colors (or wavelengths), the galaxy lights up as we see the specific color emitted by certain elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur or nitrogen. We also see one side of the galaxy light up before the other. This is due to the Doppler effect: as the galaxy rotates, one side of the galaxy is moving towards us, and its light is shifted to bluer wavelengths, whereas the light from the receding side is shifted to redder wavelengths.

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/E. Congiu et al.
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: June 18, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #SculptorGalaxy #NGC253 #Sculptor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Astronomers Capture Sculptor Galaxy in Thousands of Colors | ESO

Astronomers Capture Sculptor Galaxy in Thousands of Colors | ESO

Astronomers have captured a unique thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy. To create this highly detailed image, the team of researchers spent over 50 hours observing the galaxy with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT). By mapping this galaxy at thousands of colors or wavelengths astronomers can know everything about the stars, gas and dust in this galaxy.

Credit: ESO
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Written by:  Amy Briggs and Sean Bromilow
Footage and photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Cristoph Malin, Angelos Tsaousis, Mahdi Zamani, Enrico Congiu et al
Scientific consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova

Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: June 18, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #SculptorGalaxy #NGC253 #Sculptor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video