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Expedition 73 Crew Birthday & Milestone Celebrations | International Space Station
"Station Commander and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi celebrates 200 days in space!"
Expedition 73 mission specialist and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers: "We like to celebrate milestones and birthdays on the International Space Station with cakes! You have to be creative when you can’t bake. We use cinnamon buns, muffin tops, pudding, fruit, and other things we can find in the pantry to make them special and delicious. Sometimes we get frosting as well and then we get to decorate them.🙂"
"We have definitely upped our cake game with each iteration. Trying to sneak in a cake build while someone is doing an activity in a different module has become one of my favorite parts!"
NASA astronauts Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov of Russia are now turning their attention to the end of their mission with a return to Earth targeted for early August. Before the Crew-10 quartet leaves, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than July 31 with Commander Zena Cardman of NASA leading Pilot Mike Fincke of NASA and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui of JAXA and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos (Russia).
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 Bahamas & Russian Soyuz Spacecraft| International Space Station
Expedition 73 commander and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi: "Japan seems hot, doesn't it? Inside the ISS, there's hardly any change in temperature or humidity, so there's no sense of seasons. At the very least, I tried to capture something summer-like in a photo. Titled, Soyuz spacecraft and the Bahamas.
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an island country of the Lucayan Archipelago consisting of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean; north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic); northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands; southeast of the U.S. state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. Its capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence.
Station Update: Waiting on Earth to replace Crew-10 is NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission with Commander Zena Cardman and Pilot Mike Fincke, both from NASA, and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos (Russia). Crew-11 will begin their countdown to a launch inside their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than 12:09 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
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.
Galaxy NGC 1309: A Supernova-rich Spiral in Eridanus | Hubble
Rich with detail, the spiral galaxy NGC 1309 shines in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture. NGC 1309 is situated about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. Hubble shows NGC 1309’s bluish stars, dark brown gas clouds, and pearly white center, as well as hundreds of distant background galaxies. Nearly every smudge, streak and blob of light in this image is an individual galaxy. The only exception to the extragalactic ensemble is a star that can be identified near the top of the frame by its diffraction spikes. It is positively neighborly, just a few thousand light-years away in the Milky Way galaxy.
Hubble has turned its attention toward NGC 1309 several times; previous Hubble images of this galaxy were released in 2006 and 2014. Much of NGC 1309’s scientific interest derives from two supernovae, SN 2002fk in 2002 and SN 2012Z in 2012. SN 2002fk was a perfect example of a Type Ia supernova when the core of a dead star (a white dwarf) explodes.
SN 2012Z, on the other hand, was a bit of a renegade. It was classified as a Type Iax supernova. While its spectrum resembled that of a Type Ia supernova, the explosion was not as bright as expected. Hubble observations showed that in this case, the supernova did not destroy the white dwarf completely, leaving behind a ‘zombie star’ that shone even brighter than it did before the explosion. Hubble observations of NGC 1309 taken across several years also made this the first time the white dwarf progenitor of a supernova has been identified in images taken before the explosion.
Image Description: A top-down view of a spiral galaxy, showing its brightly shining center, its broad spiral arms and the faint halo around its disc, as well as distant galaxies and stars on a dark background. Large blue clouds of gas speckled with small stars and strands of dark dust swirl around the galaxy’s disc. A couple of the background galaxies are large enough that their own swirling spiral arms can be seen.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Galbany, S. Jha, K. Noll, A. Riess Release Date: July 28, 2025
Expedition 73 Photos—May to July 2025 | International Space Station
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers stows physics research hardware from inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox located inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. Ayers was completing operations with the Ring Sheared Drop investigation that may benefit pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques and 3D printing in space.
Expedition 73 Commander Takuya Onishi from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) assists Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers from NASA as she tries on a spacesuit and tests its components during a fit check inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.
Expedition 73 Commander Takuya Onishi from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) assists Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers from NASA as she tries on a spacesuit and tests its components during a fit check inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.
Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov of Russia poses for a playful portrait in the Zvezda service module seemingly holding its treadmill above his head aboard the International Space Station. Ryzhikov was working on treadmill maintenance inspecting, removing, and replacing components on the exercise device.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers works inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module and cleans components behind the Microgravity Science Glovebox.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers works inside the International Space Station's Tranquility module swapping out a remote power controller module and inspecting components on the Avionics Rack.
Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky of Russia poses on the Zvezda service module's treadmill aboard the International Space Station. Zubritskiy was working on treadmill maintenance inspecting, removing, and replacing components on the exercise device.
Roscosmos cosmonauts (from left) Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, both Expedition 73 flight engineers, join each other and photograph treadmill components for inspection inside the International Space Station's Zvezda service module.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov of Russia are now turning their attention to the end of their mission with a return to Earth targeted for early August. Before the Crew-10 quartet leaves, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than July 31 with Commander Zena Cardman of NASA leading Pilot Mike Fincke of NASA and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui of JAXA and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos (Russia).
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.
Planet Mars: A Slice of Polar Layer Cake | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Martian ice cap is like a cake with every layer telling a story. In this case, the story is one of climate change on Mars. In this image is an exposed section of the north polar layered deposits (NPLD). Like a delicious slice of layered tiramisu, the NPLD is made up of water-ice and dust particles stacked one on top of the other. However, instead of icing, layers are topped with seasonal carbon dioxide frost. We can observe lingering frost adhering to one of the layers.
The high-resolution and color capabilities of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) provide details on the variations in the layers. Scientists are also using radar data. This show us that they have continuity in the subsurface. During deposition, these complex layers might encapsulate tiny air pockets from the atmosphere that, if sampled, could be studied to understand linkages to previous climates.
In the end, it is not always a piece of cake studying NPLD on Mars but, where there is cake, there is hope!
This HiRISE camera image was captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) at an altitude of 319 kilometers (198 miles).
The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. It was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Washington.
Lunar Science: Mountains of The Moon | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Most mountains on the Earth are formed as plates collide and the crust buckles. Not so for the Moon, where mountains are formed as a result of impacts. Images taken looking across the landscape rather than straight down really bring out topography and help us visualize the lunar landscape. However such images can only be taken as the spacecraft rolls to the side, in this case about 70°, so the opportunities are limited. Foreground is about 15 km wide, view is northeast across the north rim of Cabeus Crater.
Panoramic view looking across the North rim of Cabeus Crater from the SW. The distance from left to right is about 75-km and from foreground to background in the center is about 50-km. The U.S. Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impact on October 9, 2009, was just off the bottom center of the panorama.
Cabeus Crater is relatively old, 100 km in diameter, and contains significant areas of permanent shadow. Such regions are of great interest because they may harbor significant deposits of ices (water, methane, etc). Cabeus Crater is most famous as the site of the U.S. Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur rocket upper stage impact (October 9, 2009) that was intended to excavate and eject any volatiles that may be in the regolith (what we call the lunar soil). Though analyses of data collected during the impact are still ongoing, preliminary results suggest that yes, significant amounts of water ice may be trapped in these shadowed regions (at least at this one spot).
Cabeus is a lunar impact crater that is located about 100 km (62 mi) from the south pole of the Moon. At this location the crater is seen obliquely from Earth, and it is almost perpetually in deep shadow due to lack of sunlight. Hence, not much detail can be seen of this crater, even from orbit. Through a telescope, this crater appears near the southern limb of the Moon, to the west of the crater Malapert and to the south-southwest of Newton.
Two and a half days after the LCROSS impact the LRO spacecraft slewed 70° back towards Cabeus Crater to allow the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) to acquire an overview image of a portion of the northern rim. The large mountain (or massif) in the right background is a portion of the ancient rim of the South Pole-Aitken basin, it rises some 6000 meters (19,685 feet) above the surrounding plains, and more than 9200 meters (30,184 feet) above the floor of Cabeus Crater—taller than any mountain on the Earth. On the Moon mountains are formed in only minutes as huge amounts of energy are released when asteroids and comets slam into the surface at velocities greater than 16 km per second (more than ten times faster than a speeding bullet). In contrast, mountains on the Earth typically form over millions of years during slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates.
Future astronauts will see the same view as they descend to the surface for a polar landing. Explore the rim of Cabeus on your own as you plan your landing spot!
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
Text Credit: Mark Robinson Release Date: Nov. 17, 2009
Shenzhou-20 Crew Completes a Wide Variety of Tasks | China Space Station
The Shenzhou-20 crew aboard China's Tiangong space station conducted an assortment of scientific experiments and tests last week, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). China launched the cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-9 on July 15, 2025, and it successfully delivered supplies for its orbiting Tiangong space station.
Tianzhou-9 is loaded with essential supplies, totaling approximately 6.5 tonnes, including consumables for the orbiting crew, propellant, and equipment for application experiments and tests. This is the largest amount of cargo sent to the space station since Tianzhou-6.
After receiving the equipment and supplies, the Shenzhou-20 crew conducted various experiments, research tasks, and tests.
In the field of aerospace medicine, the crew transported cell experiment units to the human system research cabinet to carry out relevant experiments, and completed manual observation of sample images, sample recovery and preservation, plus other related tasks.
This research not only contributes to the study of the impact of long-term space flights on astronauts' physical functions, but it also relates to general health issues of people back on Earth.
In the field of space life science and biotechnology, multiple scientific experiments have been carried out using the biotechnology experiment cabinet, including the study of the influence and mechanism of the microgravity environment in space on the migration of skeletal muscle precursor cells, and research on the biological functions of nucleic acid lipid nanocarriers in the microgravity environment. The obtained data will help expand researchers' understanding of the physiology and pathology of organisms, and provide fundamental support for human health concerns.
Additionally, during the past week, the Shenzhou-20 crew carried out musculoskeletal research experiments by collecting foot pressure and joint kinematics data during running and resistance exercises under a range of load conditions during flight, and obtained the mapping relationship between exercise state parameters and foot pressure.
Furthermore, astronauts used equipment to complete sliding tests and obtained data for studying the variation laws and cognitive mechanisms of fine motor control under microgravity conditions.
In the field of microgravity physical science, the crew, in accordance with the scientific experiment arrangement of microgravity combustion, completed the replacement of the sampling cover of the gas experiment plug-in, along with the setting and restoration of the state of exhaust gas emission, and other tasks.
Finally, the Shenzhou-20 crew completed assignments that included equipment inspection and maintenance of the regenerative life support system, environmental monitoring within the station, transfer of cargo packages and material organization, routine medical examinations and weightlessness protection exercises.
Shenzhou-20 Crew
Chen Dong (陈冬) - Commander - Third spaceflight
Chen Zhong Rui (陈中瑞) - Operator - First spaceflight
Wang Jie (王杰) - Flight Engineer - First spaceflight
Video Credit: CCTV Duration: 2 minutes Release Date: July 27, 2025
Nebula NGC 2020: A Stellar Nursery in Neighboring LMC Galaxy | Hubble
This panorama features the nebula NGC 2020 in the constellation Dorado. It forms part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, approximately 163,000 light-years away. NGC 2020 is an HII Region surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star BAT99-59. HII regions are vast areas of ionized hydrogen in space, crucial for star formation and the study of the universe.
Wolf–Rayet stars, often abbreviated as WR stars, are a rare heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionized helium and highly ionized nitrogen or carbon. The spectra indicate very high surface enhancement of heavy elements, depletion of hydrogen, and strong stellar winds. The surface temperatures of known Wolf–Rayet stars range from 20,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars.
Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "My own processing of the recent Hubble anniversary image of NGC2020. FITS mosaic was assembled by the OPO team at STScI. Tried to keep the brightness and saturation to a moderate level to keep it easy on the eyes."
Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt Release Date: July 18, 2019
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 Arrive in Florida for Launch | Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 from left to right: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia, and NASA astronaut Mike Fincke.
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Crew-11 commander, speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, July 26, 2025.
Crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, from left to right: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia.
NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Crew-11 commander, speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Crew-11 pilot, speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Crew-11 pilot, speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
Roscosmos cosmonaut mission specialist Oleg Platonov of Russia speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut mission specialist Kimiya Yui speaks to the news media during crew arrival for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission.
Crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, pose for photographs and talk to media representatives following their arrival on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-11 mission is slated to launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A no earlier than 12:09 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
Once aboard the International Space Station, the Commercial Crew foursome will spend several months studying stem cell production methods to develop advanced cures, new ways to treat bacterial infections, space agriculture techniques, and more.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke are serving as commander and pilot of the mission. The crew also has two mission specialists, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia. They have trained for their mission across the world, including NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, SpaceX facilities in Hawthorne, California, and international training locations.
The flight is the 11th crew rotation with SpaceX to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions to the Moon, as well as benefit people on Earth.
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.
Commander Onishi's Earth Cloud Collection | International Space Station
"When I gaze at Earth from the ISS, I’m always overwhelmed by the massive scale of atmospheric circulation."
"Recalling the weather knowledge I studied during my pilot days, it’s fun to imagine the movements of the troposphere’s atmosphere while thinking things like (a front is forming over there) 😃" —T. Onishi, May 11, 2025
I can’t help but take photos of the clouds.
A few days ago, I saw a cloud that looked like a flower.
The weekend on the ISS is almost over.
This might be the last weekend I can take it easy.
Wishing everyone a great weekend too.
—T. Onishi, July 26, 2025
"Cumulonimbus clouds lined up (probably)."
—T. Onishi, July 20, 2025
"If I had woken up at 5:20 this morning, it would have been a perfect orbit passing beautifully over Japan, but I woke up at 8."
"Giving up on photos of Japan, here’s another photo instead."
"A huge cluster of clouds ☁️"
"It’s hard to gauge the altitude, but I think they might be cumulus clouds.
If anyone knows more, please let me know 🙇♂️"
"Since I had to work a substitute shift earlier this month, I’m getting a three-day weekend this week. Wishing everyone a great weekend too♪"
—T. Onishi, May 24, 2025
Last year, I visited the Canary Islands for ESA's PANGAEA training.
The airflow was disturbed by the islands, and it was visualized as swirling in the wake of the islands.
—T. Onishi, June 7, 2025
"One more weather topic."
"The low-pressure systems familiar from weather forecasts—did you know that the way their spirals rotate is opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?"
"This is because of something called the 'Coriolis force,' which acts in opposite directions depending on whether you're north or south of the equator."
"The first photo shows the spiral of a low-pressure system as seen in Japan. 🌀" —T. Onishi, May 11, 2025
"Good morning 😃"
"The ISS, living in the Greenwich Mean Time zone, has just passed 8:30 AM."
"The photo shows Canada’s Manicouagan Crater, glowing under the sunlight."
"Its size, clearly visible to the naked eye even from here, speaks to the magnitude of the impact back then."
"Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend."
—T. Onishi, May 31, 2025
One more weather topic.
The low-pressure systems familiar from weather forecasts—did you know that the way their spirals rotate is opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? This is because of something called the "Coriolis force," which acts in opposite directions depending on whether you're north or south of the equator. The first photo shows the spiral of a low-pressure system as seen in Japan 🌀
—T. Onishi, May 11, 2025
These are examples of Earth cloud photos taken by Expedition 73 Station Commander and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi.
Station Update: Waiting on Earth to replace Crew-10 is NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission with Commander Zena Cardman and Pilot Mike Fincke, both from NASA, and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos (Russia). Crew-11 will begin their countdown to a launch inside their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center no earlier than 12:09 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
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.
Astronomical Treasures over Portugal: Four Planets & more
Night sky over Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal
Night sky over Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal (labeled)
Astrophotographer Rui Santos: "The night sky and planetary alignment featured . . . was captured from Pinhal de Leiria, Portugal. I decided to view the alignment from here because I knew I'd have a clear view of the horizon. Since the planets were stretched out across the sky, I had to do a panorama and try to avoid light pollution (lower left and lower right) from surrounding cities and towns. Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Uranus are included above, but because I wasn't able to arrive as the Sun was setting, Saturn, Neptune and Mercury aren't in the frame."
"At bottom center is the Crastinha Lookout Point, one of several watchtowers in the Forest of Leiria. The building to its right is the reconstruction of what used to be the guard's house, dating from 1883. This tower is still in use today."
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east—sharing the longest uninterrupted border in the European Union; to the south and the west is the North Atlantic Ocean.
Photo Details: Panorama of 4 panels x 10 photos on each panel; Sony A6000 camera; Samyang 12mm F2; 40 x 20 seconds exposure; 6400 ISO; F2.8; 8:16 pm local time. Tripod: Geekoto AT24Pro Dreamer + Andoer Q08S Rotating Head. Processing: PTGUI, Lightroom, Photoshop, RCplugins, Luminar.
Image Credit: Rui Santos Text Credit: Rui Santos Image Date: Feb. 28, 2025 Release Date: June 26, 2025
Rare Intermediate-sized Black Hole Found Eating a Star | NASA Hubble & Chandra
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have teamed up to identify a new possible example of a rare class of black holes. Called NGC 6099 HLX-1, this bright X-ray source seems to reside in a compact star cluster in a giant elliptical galaxy. This discovery shows how space telescopes working together across wavelengths can unveil the complete story of these cosmic phenomena, helping us understand the full spectrum of black holes shaping our universe.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is being canceled in NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request, along with 18 other active science missions. NASA's science budget is being reduced by nearly 50%.
Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about severe science budget cuts at NASA: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/
NGC 6099 is a elliptical galaxy in the Hercules constellation. It is located close to the celestial equator and is partly visible from Earth's southern and northern hemispheres at certain times of year.
Just a few years after its 1990 launch, Hubble discovered that galaxies throughout the universe can contain supermassive black holes at their centers weighing millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun. In addition, galaxies also contain as many as millions of small black holes weighing less than 100 times the mass of the Sun. These form when massive stars reach the end of their lives.
Far more elusive are intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), weighing between a few hundred to a few 100,000 times the mass of our Sun. This not-too-big, not-too-small category of black holes is often invisible to us because IMBHs do not gobble as much gas and stars as the supermassive ones, which would emit powerful radiation. They have to be caught in the act of foraging in order to be found. When they occasionally devour a hapless bypassing star—in what astronomers call a tidal disruption event—they pour out a gusher of radiation.
The newest probable IMBH, caught snacking in telescope data, is located on the galaxy NGC 6099’s outskirts at approximately 40,000 light-years from the galaxy’s center, as described in a new study in the Astrophysical Journal. The galaxy is located about 450 million light-years away in the constellation Hercules.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, Yi-Chi Chang (National Tsing Hua University); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Release Date: July 25, 2025
The Crepuscular Rays of Galaxy IC 5063 in Indus | Hubble
Many of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays formed by the clouds’ shadows and the beams of light scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. These are called crepuscular rays. Astronomers studying the nearby galaxy IC 5063 are tantalized by a similar effect in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. Here, a collection of narrow bright rays and dark shadows is seen beaming out of the blazingly bright center of the active galaxy, shooting across at least 36,000 light-years. IC 5063 resides 156 million light-years from Earth.
Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. The black hole is feeding on infalling material, producing a powerful gusher of light from superheated gas near it. Although the researchers have developed several plausible theories for the lightshow, the most intriguing idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole.
Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "Revisiting our old friend IC 5063, this time with a bit of color, clearly revealing the emission line features emerging nearly perpendicular from the crepuscular rays. These features, in cyan, are most easily viewed zoomed in on the nucleus. They are thought to be formed by the actively accreting supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy. In this case, the black hole may have a dark 'donut' of dust around its equatorial axis, and the extremely bright light creates ionizing cones and jets of material out of the polar axis."
"The processing here is not only extreme, but also a combination of data from two separate HST snapshot proposals, and the wondrous Legacy Survey DR9 release. I used my hacky Photoshop subtraction model to clearly reveal the center of the galaxy in the Hubble data, while the outer parts are partially filled using the LS DR9 imagery, more smoothly and confidently illustrating the galaxy's outer tidal structures."
Credit: NASA/European Space Agency (ESA)/Aaron Barth/Julianne Dalcanton/DECaM Legacy Survey
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt Release Date: Aug. 27, 2021
Globular Cluster Omega Centauri: Over Ten Million Stars
Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It is the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri's red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp, color telescopic view. A two-decade-long exploration of the dense star cluster with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed evidence for a massive black hole near the center of Omega Centauri.
Image Credit & Copyright: Data acquisition - SkyFlux Team Image Processing - Leo Shatz
On Friday July 25th, 2025, at 11:03 p.m. local time (02:03 a.m. UTC, 04:03 a.m. CEST, on July 26th, 2025), Arianespace successfully launched the MicroCarb satellite for French space agency, CNES. This launch mission, called “VV27” was performed using an Arianespace operated Vega C rocket, launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
The auxiliary passenger, MicroCarb, was placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 650 km and separated 1 hour and 41 minutes after lift-off. It is Europe’s first mission to monitor and map atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The CNES' MicroCarb mission is designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the most important greenhouse gas, on a global scale. The satellite's dispersive spectrometer instrument will measure atmospheric concentration of CO₂ globally with a high degree of precision. MicroCarb's platform is based out of the lastest CNES Myriade model. Its instrument was built by Airbus Defence and Space, and the integration was realized by Thales Alenia Space UK through a dedicated partnership implemented with the UK Space Agency.
MicroCarb is a joint mission between the UK Space Agency and French Space Agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), serving as the prime contractor. The mission is co-financed by these two agencies, as well as by the European Commission and the French government within the framework of the Investments for the Future Program (PIA), managed by the National Research Agency (ANR). The satellite is designed to precisely map atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), capturing detailed data on emissions from human activities as well as absorption by natural sinks such as oceans and forests.
The satellite is built on the CNES Myriade platform. Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), completed the assembly, integration, and testing of the satellite platform at RAL Space in Harwell, UK, and was responsible for launch preparations. Airbus Defence and Space provided the instrument payload, the infrared spectrometer.
MicroCarb will operate in low Earth orbit, at an altitude of 650 km, and serves as a precursor to the European Union’s Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission—a constellation of three satellites, with payloads supplied by Thales Alenia Space, which will deliver precise measurements for human-induced atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane. MicroCarb complements the CO2M mission by providing early observations and valuable data, enhancing our capability for CO₂ and methane monitoring to inform climate policy makers.
Additionally, a special city-scanning mode will enable the mapping of CO₂ distribution within urban areas.
The VV27 launch at a glance:
354th launch by Arianespace, 5th Vega C launch 10% of the satellites launched by Arianespace are Earth observation satellites 147th-150th spacecraft built by Airbus Defence and Space launched by Arianespace (CO3D, 4 satellites) 108th spacecraft built by Thales Alenia Space launched by Arianespace (MicroCarb platform)
Video Credit: Arianespace Duration: 1 minute, 14 seconds Release Date: July 26, 2025
The Changing Surface of Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Oribter (MRO) commonly takes images of recent craters on Mars that are usually found by the MRO Context Camera where they disturb surface dust. An impact site in this area was first imaged in December 2017.
Dust has since eroded from the surface, probably due to the planet-encircling dust storm back in 2018. The dark spots around the fresh craters have vanished because they only affected the dust that has since disappeared.
This HiRISE image was captured by NASA's MRO at an altitude of 290 kilometers (180 miles).
The MRO is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006.
The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). It was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Washington.
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