New Comet Swan 25B: From Behind The Sun

New Comet Swan 25B: From Behind The Sun

After emerging from hiding behind the Sun on Sept. 11, 2025, Comet SWAN25B is rapidly brightening. Multiple southern hemisphere observers on Sept 13th say it is near magnitude +6—that is, about three times brighter than the day before. Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger took this picture from Farm Tivoli, Namibia in southern Africa.

"This is a 12/5/5/5 min (LRGB) exposure through a 12-inch Astrograph," says Rhemann.

The comet has a green atmosphere and a long blue ion tail collimated by the solar wind. These colors are signs of C2 (green) and CO+ (blue)—compounds commonly found in Solar System comets.

The comet's orbit is still being determined. Initial astrometry suggests it has already passed through perihelion (closest approach to the sun). Next, it might make a close approach to Earth (0.25 AU) in October.

This weekend you can find Swan25B in the constellation Virgo not far from Mars and Spica. It is still close to the Sun, so be prepared to catch it near the horizon at sunset. 

Up-to-date coordinates may be found at the Minor Planet Center's Possible Comet Confirmation Page: 
https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/NEO/pccp_tabular.html

Telescope: ASA Astrograph 12" f3.6 Camera: ZWO ASI 6200 MM Pro Mount: ASA DDM 85 Exp. Time: LRGB 12/5/5/5 min.

Image Credit: Gerald Rhemann, Michael Jäger
Gerald's website: https://www.astrostudio.at

Text Credit: Gerald Rhemann/SpaceWeather [dot] com

Release Date: Sept. 13, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comets #CometSWAN25B #Coma #CometaryTails #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #GeraldRhemann #MichaelJäger #Astrophotographers #FarmTivoli #Namibia #Africa #STEM #Education

The Cosmic Glitter of Dwarf Galaxy Markarian 209 in Canes Venatici | Hubble

The Cosmic Glitter of Dwarf Galaxy Markarian 209 in Canes Venatici | Hubble

This sprinkle of cosmic glitter is a blue compact dwarf galaxy known as Markarian 209. Galaxies of this type are blue-hued, compact in size, gas-rich, and low in heavy elements. They are often used by astronomers to study star formation, as their conditions are similar to those thought to exist in the early Universe.

Markarian 209 in particular has been studied extensively. It is filled with diffuse gas and peppered with star-forming regions towards its core. This image captures it undergoing a particularly dramatic burst of star formation, visible as the lighter blue cloudy region towards the top right of the galaxy. This clump is filled with very young and hot newborn stars.

This galaxy was initially thought to be a young galaxy undergoing its very first episode of star formation, but later research showed that Markarian 209 is actually very old, with an almost continuous history of forming new stars. It is thought to have never had a dormant period—a period during which no stars were formed—lasting longer than 100 million years.

The dominant population of stars in Markarian 209 is still quite young, in stellar terms, with ages of under 3 million years. For comparison, the Sun is around 4.6 billion years old, and is roughly halfway through its expected lifespan.

The observations used to make this image were taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, and span the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared parts of the spectrum. A scattering of other bright galaxies can be seen across the frame, including the bright golden oval that could, due to a trick of perspective, be mistaken as part of Markarian 209 but is in fact a background galaxy.

Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "Mrk 209 is a dwarf galaxy with a bit of star formation going on, and thus is said to be blue . . . The ultraviolet data, which is all blue in my image, really highlights some of those young and brightly burning blue stars which make the galaxy a noteworthy dwarf."

"To the right is a local Milky Way star that appears bright to Hubble, but is actually a dim, anonymous star of little interest to the astronomical community. It looks nice in the composition, though. I think that the wider field of view allows one to see how far the fainter, highly diffuse outer reaches extend beyond what could visually define the outline of the galaxy."

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: Aug. 22, 2017

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Galaxies #Mrk209 #UGCA281 #DwarfGalaxies #CanesVenatici #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #WFC3 #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Canadarm2 & Dextre | International Space Station

Canadarm2 & Dextre | International Space Station

The International Space Station's 57.7-foot-long robotic arm, Canadarm2, with its fine-tuned robotic hand, Dextre, attached is pictured extending from the International Space Station's Harmony module. The orbital outpost was soaring 260 miles above the Saharan Desert in Libya at the time of this photograph.

The 57.7-foot-long Canadarm2 robotic arm extends from a data grapple fixture on the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Attached to its latching end effector is Dextre, the station’s fine-tuned robotic hand designed for delicate external maintenance tasks. The SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft, partially obscured, is docked to Harmony’s forward port 259 miles above a cloudy Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico.

The 17-meter-long (55+ feet) Canadarm2 robotic arm with the 3.7m (12 feet) high Dextre fine-tuned robotic hand attached is pictured here. Canadarm2 and Dextre are part of Canada's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Canadarm2 was extensively involved in the assembly of the orbiting laboratory.

Dextre tackles the tough or routine jobs that need to be done in the harsh environment of space. The Station's robotic assistant allows astronauts to spend more time doing scientific experiments instead of performing risky spacewalks. 

Each of Dextre's arms has seven joints that can move up and down, go from side to side, and rotate. This large range of motion means Dextre can actually carry out more complex movements than a human arm. Each hand has a retractable motorized wrench, a camera and lights for close-up viewing, and a retractable connector to provide power, data and video connection. The robot can carefully grip delicate equipment without causing damage. For example, it can successfully manipulate small safety caps, cables and wires with minute precision—all while being controlled from Earth, hundreds of kilometers away. Dextre can can ride on the end of Canadarm2 to move from each worksite or be ferried on the Mobile Base System to work almost anywhere on the ISS.

The robot is operated by ground control teams at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters outside Montreal, Quebec, and at NASA.

Learn more about Canadian space robotics:

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/iss/robotics/default.asp

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

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.

Image Credit: NASA/JSC/JAXA/Kimiya Yui

Release Date: July 23-Sept. 10, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #Canadarm2 #Dextre #Robotics #CSA #Canada #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #STEM #Education

New Zealand | International Space Station

New Zealand | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui: ". . . After finishing a busy day, when I looked out the window, it was right over New Zealand. It's a beautiful country, isn't it! It has become one of the countries I definitely want to visit!"

New Zealand (Māori: "Aotearoa") is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu)—and over 600 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. New Zealand is part of the Oceania geographical region.

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

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.

Image Credit: Kimiya Yui/JAXA
Release Date: Sept. 10, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Stars #Planets #Earth #PacificOcean #Oceania #NewZealand #Aotearoa #Astronauts #KimiyaYui #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #STEM

¿Qué es el viento solar? | NASA en Español

¿Qué es el viento solar? | NASA en Español

Hay un “viento” que emana del Sol y que azota todo lo que existe en el sistema solar y más allá, incluida la Tierra. A pesar de estar envueltos en un escudo protector llamado magnetosfera, nuestro planeta no es inmune a las partículas cargadas eléctricamente que conforman el viento solar, y que pueden afectar las comunicaciones y redes eléctricas en tierra. 

Mientras apuntamos a la Luna y Marte con la campaña Artemis, la NASA está desarrollando formas de proteger a los astronautas de los efectos dañinos del viento solar en sus viajes más largos al espacio profundo.  

La agencia también realiza mediciones del viento solar en nuestro vecindario cósmico, para ayudar a comprender mejor los riesgos que supone para nuestros exploradores, tanto humanos como robóticos.  

Aprende más sobre nuestra estrella y cómo la estudiamos: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/sol/ 

Corrección: En el video mencionamos que el viento solar viaja a 1.400 millones de km/h. La cifra correcta es aproximadamente 1,4 millones de km/h.

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Producción: NASA
Duration: 3 minutes, 21 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #NASAenespañol #español #Sun #SolarWind #Heliophysics #Heliosphere #Planets #Earth #SolarSystem #SolarPlasma #SolarWind #SpaceWeather #Astrophysics #Princeton #GSFC #UnitedStates #Animación #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7456 in Grus | Hubble Space Telescope

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7456 in Grus | Hubble Space Telescope

While it may appear unassuming at first glance, just another spiral galaxy among thousands in the Universe, the subject of this Hubble Space Telescope picture has plenty to study. NGC 7456 is its name, located over 51 million light-years away in the constellation Grus (the Crane).

In this image we see in fine detail the patchy spiral arms of this galaxy, followed by clumps of dark, obscuring dust. Blossoms of glowing pink are rich reservoirs of gas where new stars are forming, illuminating the clouds around them and causing the gas to emit this tell-tale red light. The Hubble program collecting this data is focused on stellar activity just like this, tracking new stars, clouds of hydrogen and star clusters to learn how the galaxy has evolved through time.

Hubble, with its ability to capture visible, ultraviolet and a portion of infrared light, is not the only observatory focused on NGC 7456. The European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite has imaged X-rays from the galaxy on multiple occasions, discovering a number of so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources. These small, compact objects emit terrifically powerful X-rays, much more than would be expected for their size. Astronomers are still trying to pin down what powers these extreme objects, and NGC 7456 contributes a few more examples.

On top of that, the region around the galaxy’s supermassive black hole is spectacularly bright and energetic, making NGC 7456 an active galaxy. Whether looking at its core or its outskirts, at visible light or X-rays, this galaxy has something interesting to show!

Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It shines brightly at the center, and most of its disc also glows in warm colors. Its two spiral arms wind outwards from the center. They are made up mostly of large patches of bright blue specks. They also contain thin, reddish clouds of dust, and bright pink bubbles of glowing gas, where stars are forming. Distant galaxies can be seen around the galaxy as small orange spots, on a dark background.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 1, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxies #NGC7456 #Grus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Lunar Eclipse over China

Lunar Eclipse over China

Did you seen the Blood Moon? A spectacular total lunar eclipse graced the skies until the early hours of Sept. 8, 2025! The Moon was at its roundest and reddest at 2:12 am Beijing Time on Monday, Sept. 7, 2025.

During a lunar eclipse, Earth gets in the way of the Sun’s light hitting the Moon. This means that during the night, a full Moon fades away as Earth’s shadow covers it up.

The Moon can also look reddish because Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the other colors while it bends sunlight toward the Moon. Sunlight bending through the atmosphere and absorbing other colors is also why sunsets are orange and red.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is shining from all the sunrises and sunsets occurring on Earth.

NASA's Lunar Eclipse Page:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

Image Credit: CFP
Release Date: Sept. 7, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #Moon #BloodMoon #BloodMoons #LunarEclipses #LunarEclipses2025 #Astrophotography #CitizenScience #Astrophotographers #China #中国 #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Bright Southern Lights: "Wait for it . . . :)" | International Space Station

Bright Southern Lights: "Wait for it . . . :)" | International Space Station

Earth auroras are assigned names based 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.

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.

Image details: Nikon Z9 | 24mm | ISO 3200, f/1.4, 1/4s

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

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.

Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center, J. Kim

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Sept. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #Aurora #SouthernLights #AuroraAustralis #ISS #AstronautPhotography #Astronauts #ZenaCardman #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Mindbending Moonset: Atmospheric Refraction | International Space Station

Mindbending Moonset: Atmospheric Refraction | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman: "Wild mirage of moonset as viewed from the International Space Station. The distortion and colors are caused by atmospheric refraction and Rayleigh scattering (and I think the ripples are likely from some temperature inversions? I’ll let the Internet correct me . . . )."

"Getting this shot as I envisioned became my white whale for more than a week. The challenge was mostly timing—finding, focusing, and tracking with a long, handheld lens during the brief few minutes we can see the Moon each orbit, then leading and stabilizing the framing on a soft horizon too dark to see."

"We get sixteen moonsets every day, so I spent a lot of time with this obsession. What a relief to finally catch it. 400mm plus 1.4x and 2x converter, 1/50s, f/22, ISO 2000, luck, and stubbornness."

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

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.

Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center, Z. Cardman

Duration: 25 seconds 

Release Date: Sept. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #ISS #Moon #Moonset #AstronautPhotography #Astronauts #ZenaCardman #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Pillars of Creation in The Eagle Nebula: Making a 3D Visualization

The Pillars of Creation in The Eagle Nebula: Making a 3D Visualization

A behind the scenes look at producing a scientific visualization of the famous Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula.

The AstroViz Project of NASA's Universe of Learning is creating an exploration into the iconic Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. This production reel provides a peek into the underlying science, the 2D image processing, and the development of 3D volumetric models of these star-forming wonders using visible and infrared data from the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes.

Video Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute

Visualization Team: Greg Bacon, Ralf Crawford, Joseph DePasquale, Leah Hustak, Danielle Kirshenblat, Joseph Olmsted, Alyssa Pagan, Frank Summers (STScI), Robert Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)
Science Advisor: Anna McLeod (Durham)
Duration: 2 minutes, 22 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 8, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #EagleNebula #PillarsOfCreation #SerpensCauda #Constellations #SpaceTelescopes #JWST #InfraredAstronomy #HST #OpticalAstronomy #Universe #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Art #Visualization #HD #Video

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Mission

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Mission

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, is a new mission that will map the boundaries of our heliosphere—a giant protective bubble created by the Sun that encapsulates our solar system. The spacecraft will study the Sun’s activity and how the heliosphere boundary interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond.

The heliosphere protects the solar system from dangerous high-energy particles called galactic cosmic rays. Mapping the heliosphere’s boundaries helps scientists understand our home in space and how it came to be habitable. 

IMAP is launching no earlier than Sept. 23, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Learn more about IMAP: 
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/imap/ 
https://imap.princeton.edu/

Video Credit: NASA/Joy Ng
Duration: 1 minute, 18 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #IMAPMission #IMAP #Stars #InterstellarMedium #ISM #Sun #Heliophysics #Heliosphere #Planets #Earth #SolarSystem #SolarPlasma #SolarWind #SpaceWeather #Astrophysics #Princeton #GSFC #NASAKennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

China's Long March-10 Crewed Moon Rocket Succeeds in Second Static Fire Test

China's Long March-10 Crewed Moon Rocket Succeeds in Second Static Fire Test

China's new-generation crewed carrier rocket Long March-10 successfully completed a second static fire test on September 12, 2025, at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan.

The move marks a breakthrough in developing the initial prototype of the Long March-10 series of carrier rockets, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

At 15:00 Beijing Time, seven engines used on the test product of the rocket's first stage were ignited simultaneously. Following this procedure, multiple test processes were completed with a total test duration of 320 seconds.

This test focused on evaluating the capabilities of the seven clustered engines of the rocket's first stage for low-thrust operating condition and secondary restart condition, obtaining complete test data. The test was a complete success, according to the agency.

Up to now, two planned static fire tests have both been completed. They have comprehensively verified the design validity and reliability of the rocket's first-stage propulsion system and the working procedure for recovery, according to the CMSA.

The first such test took place on Aug 15, 2025, with the thrust scale reaching nearly 1,000 tons, marking the largest such test ever conducted in China.

The Long March-10 carrier rocket series is developed to serve China's manned lunar exploration missions, including two configurations—the Long March-10 rocket and Long March-10A rocket.

The Long March-10 rocket is a type of three-stage rocket with two boosters. It has a diameter of 5 meters and a maximum height of 92.5 meters. It will undertake the launch missions of the crewed spacecraft and the lunar lander.

The Long March-10A is a type of two-stage reusable rocket, with a diameter of 5 meters and a maximum height of 67 meters. Its first stage can be recycled and reused. It will serve the launch missions of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and Tianzhou cargo craft in the application and development phase of the country's space station.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 37 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #China #中国 #Moon #LongMarch10 #HumanSpaceflight #LunarMissions #CrewModules #Mengzhou #LandingSpacecraft #MoonLanders #LunarLanders #Lanyue #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CMSA #国家航天局 #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #WSLC #Hainan #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Meteor & Milky Way over Gemini South Telescope

Meteor & Milky Way over Gemini South Telescope

To spot a meteor, you have to act fast. Sometimes a meteor is only visible in the sky for a few seconds. Many astronomical objects change quickly with time. The study of these fleeting changes is called time-domain astronomy. Luckily, Gemini South in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), knows all about acting fast.

Often, Gemini is one of the observatories following up on quickly changing astronomical events, including supernovae, asteroids, variable stars, active galactic nuclei, and, of course, meteors. These observations help astronomers track how these objects change over time. Just this year, follow-up observations using Gemini South helped astronomers characterize the closest supernova linked to a fast X-ray transient and near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4.

However, pointing to these targets is sometimes a matter of speed. Behind Gemini South in this image, perched atop Cerro Pachón, you can see the newly operational NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Rubin is a survey telescope that will scan the southern sky and detect up to 10 million changes every night. Each change in the night sky will trigger an alert to astronomers within minutes, initiating potential follow-up observations.

Gemini South Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/gemini-observatory/gemini-south/

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Petr Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)
Release Date: Sept. 10, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planets #Earth #Airglow #Meteors #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #InternationalGeminiObservatory #GeminiSouthTelescope #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #Astrophotographer #PetrHorálek #CerroPachón #Chile #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Close-up: Cloudy N11 Star Cluster in The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

Close-up: Cloudy N11 Star Cluster in The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

This new NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture features a cloudy starscape from an impressive star cluster. This scene is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa. With a mass equal to 10–20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small galaxies that orbit our galaxy.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is home to several massive stellar nurseries where gas clouds, like those strewn across this image, coalesce into new stars. This image depicts a portion of the galaxy’s second-largest star-forming region called N11. We see bright, young stars lighting up the gas clouds and sculpting clumps of dust with powerful ultraviolet radiation.

This image integrates observations made roughly 20 years apart, a testament to Hubble’s longevity. The first set of observations, carried out in 2002–2003, capitalized on the exquisite sensitivity and resolution of the then-newly-installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Astronomers turned Hubble toward the N11 star cluster to accomplishing a new task—cataloging all the stars in a young cluster with masses between 10% of the Sun’s mass and 100 times the Sun’s mass. 

The second set of observations came from Hubble’s newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3. These images focused on the dusty clouds that suffuse the cluster, bringing a new perspective on cosmic dust.

Image Description: Stars in a star cluster shine brightly blue with four-pointed spikes radiating from them. The center shows a small, crowded group of stars while a larger group lies out of view on the left. The nebula is mostly thick, smoky clouds of gas, lit up in blue tones by the stars. Clumps of dust hover before and around the stars; they are mostly dark, but lit around their edges where the starlight erodes them.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 8, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #StarClusters #N11 #LMCN44C #LMC #Galaxies #DwarfGalaxies #Dorado #Mensa #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #WFC3 #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Lunar Eclipse in Process: Earth Orbital Views | International Space Station

Lunar Eclipse in Process: Earth Orbital Views | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineers and NASA astronauts describe the lunar eclipse on Sept. 7-8, 2025.

Zena Cardman: " . . . It’s a challenge to catch the Moon up here—we don’t have any up-facing windows, so we can only see the Moon for a few minutes between moonrise and moonset before it disappears above the ISS or below the horizon."

Jonny Kim: "Yesterday was an extra challenge, dealing with low angle light bouncing through the multi-paned cupola glass, but Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui, and I had a lot of fun chasing those fleeting opportunities, and got some cool views of Earth’s shadow on our natural satellite, before and after totality."

The lunar eclipse was visible on the Earth's surface from areas of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, & Antarctica.

During a lunar eclipse, Earth gets in the way of the Sun’s light hitting the Moon. This means that during the night, a full Moon fades away as Earth’s shadow covers it up.

The Moon can also look reddish because Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the other colors while it bends sunlight toward the Moon. Sunlight bending through the atmosphere and absorbing other colors is also why sunsets are orange and red.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is shining from all the sunrises and sunsets occurring on Earth.

NASA's Lunar Eclipse Page:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

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

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

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.

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center, Z. Cardman, J. Kim, K. Yui

Capture Dates: Sept. 7-8, 2025
Release Dates: Sept. 7-8, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #ISS #Moon #BloodMoon #BloodMoons #LunarEclipses #LunarEclipses2025 #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #STEM #Education

Russian Progress MS-32 Cargo Spacecraft Liftoff | International Space Station

Russian Progress MS-32 Cargo Spacecraft Liftoff | International Space Station

An unpiloted Roscosmos Progress MS-32 cargo spacecraft (Russian) was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 11:54 a.m. EDT (8:54 p.m. Baikonur time) on Thursday, September 11, 2025. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 93 spacecraft is safely in orbit, headed for the International Space Station.

After a two-day, in-orbit journey to the station, the spacecraft will dock autonomously to the aft port of the station’s Zvezda module at approximately 1:27 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13. NASA’s rendezvous and docking coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m.

The spacecraft is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the International Space Station, including a brand new Orlan MKS EVA spacesuit.

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.

Image Credit: Roscosmos

Capture Date: Sept. 11, 2025

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