Journey to Didymos Asteroid System: A Year Later | Europe's Hera Mission

Journey to Didymos Asteroid System: A Year Later | Europe's Hera Mission

What a difference a year makes! Today Hera’s asteroid mission for planetary defense is cruising through deep space on the far side of the Sun, headed to its final destination: the Didymos binary asteroid system. However, a year ago, on October 7, 2024, it was uncertain if the mission was ever going to take off at all.

Its launcher was grounded due to a launch anomaly and Hurricane Milton was closing on Cape Canaveral! The mission needed to lift off then and there because it had to perform a flyby of Mars to speed it on its way to Didymos. Any delay would add years to its travel time. Thankfully, Hera received permission for launch and the heavens cleared just half an hour before launch. Liftoff happened to plan—the team had their mission in space!

Since then Hera has been testing out the ‘self-driving’ technology it will use around the asteroids on Earth and the Moon. It performed its flyby of Mars and imaged its very first asteroid from three million kilometers, proving the capability of its main Asteroid Framing Camera. Next, Hera is heading for aphelion, its furthest distance from the Sun. It will reach Didymos in autumn 2026, where it will begin its mission to find out what happened to the smaller asteroid after NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted it in September 2022.

The Hera spacecraft will revisit the Dimorphos asteroid to gather vital close-up data about the deflected body after NASA's DART Mission performed a grand-scale experiment by applying a well-understood and potentially repeatable planetary defense technique. 

On September 26, 2022, moving at 6.1 km/s, NASA’s DART spacecraft crashed into the Dimorphos asteroid. Part of our Solar System changed. The impact shrunk the orbit of the Great Pyramid-sized Dimorphos around its parent asteroid, the mountain-sized Didymos. 

The Hera Mission will also perform the most detailed exploration yet of a binary asteroid system—although binaries make up 15% of all known asteroids, one has never been surveyed in detail.

Learn more about the Hera Mission:
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera

Video Credit: European Space Agency
Duration: 8 minutes
Release Date: Oct. 7, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #MarsFlyby #Moons #Deimos #Asteroids #Dimorphos #Didymos #Asteroid #Hera #HeraSpacecraft #CubeSats #Earth #PlanetaryDefense #DeepSpace #SolarSystem #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Young Stars of The Carina Nebula | Hubble Space Telescope

Young Stars of The Carina Nebula | Hubble Space Telescope

Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "The colors here mean a mix of things. Darker parts are dust or molecular clouds for sure. I want to say the bluer things are reflection [nebulae], while the whitish patch on the right is a combination of emission, reflection, and dust all together. The mouse-shaped cloud at the bottom of the picture is surely surrounded by emission."

HD 93250 is a highly luminous hot blue binary star in the Carina Nebula in the constellation Carina. It is the brightest and slightly off-center star in the picture. Distance: 400 light years

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: Aug. 16, 2014

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #EmissionNebulae #ReflectionNebulae #CarinaNebula #NGC3372 #Stars #StarHD93250 #Carina #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #JudySchmidt #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon: View from Austria

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon: View from Austria

Comet Lemmon is brightening and moving into morning northern skies. Besides Comet SWAN25B and Comet ATLAS, Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is now the third comet currently visible with binoculars and on long camera exposures. Comet Lemmon was discovered early this year and is still headed into the inner Solar System. The comet will round the Sun on November 8, 2025, but first it will pass its nearest to the Earth—at about half the Earth-Sun distance—on October 21. 

Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, optimistic estimates have Comet Lemmon then becoming visible to the unaided eye. The comet should be best seen in predawn skies until mid-October, when it also becomes visible in evening skies.

Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. 

Image Credit: Michael Jaeger
Details: under best mountain conditions after Moonrise, 1.45 UT LRGB 450/90/90/90sec 16"/3.2 QHY 600 2x2 bin Michael Jäger, Gerald Rhemann G00
Capture Location: Astronomical Centre Martinsberg (AZM), Austria
Release Date: Oct. 4, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comets #CometC2025A6Lemmon #Coma #CometaryTails #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #MichaelJaeger #Astrophotographers #Martinsberg #Austria #Europe #STEM #Education

Chinese Scientists Find Moon's Far Side "Colder" than Near Side

Chinese Scientists Find Moon's Far Side "Colder" than Near Side

Chinese scientists found the far side of the Moon is colder deep within its interior than the side that always faces Earth. They discovered that the rocks were formed from lava deep within the Moon's interior at a temperature of about 1,100 degrees Celsius, about 100 degrees Celsius cooler than existing samples from the near side.

The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, come from an analysis of the rock fragments collected by China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft in 2024 from the far side of the Moon.

The research team from the China National Nuclear Corporation, Beijing University and Shandong University, confirmed that the sampled rocks were about 2.8 billion years old.

Scientists also compared remote sensing data of the Chang'e-6 landing site on the far side with equivalent data from the near side. The results showed a difference of 70 degrees Celsius, closely matching the results of the sample analysis.

"The temperature of the lunar mantle on the far side of the Moon is lower than that on the near side. The basalt samples we collected were formed about 2.8 billion years ago. So the temperatures we have calculated reflect conditions in the past, not the present. They reflect conditions deep inside the Moon—the lunar mantle, not the lunar surface," said He Sheng, a researcher of the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology of China National Nuclear Corporation.

China's Chang'e-6 mission in 2024 accomplished humanity's first-ever sampling from the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon. The Chang'e-5 probe landed in 2020 on the northwest region of the Ocean of Storms.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Oct. 6, 2025

#NASA #CNSA #Change6  #嫦娥六号 #Space #Astronomy #Science #China #中国 #Moon #LunarSampleReturn #Geology #LunarNearSide #LunarFarSide #SouthPole #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #CLEP #InternationalCooperation #Pakistan #SouthAfrica #France #Italy #ASI #Sweden #STEM #Education #HD #Video

"Blinking Eye" Planetary Nebula NGC 6826 in Cygnus | Hubble Space Telescope

"Blinking Eye" Planetary Nebula NGC 6826 in Cygnus | Hubble Space Telescope

NGC 6826's eye-like appearance is marred by two sets of blood-red 'fliers' that lie horizontally across the image. The surrounding faint green 'white' of the eye is believed to be gas that made up almost half of the star's mass for most of its life. The hot remnant star (in the center of the blue oval) drives a fast wind into older material, forming a hot interior bubble which pushes the older gas ahead of it to form a bright rim. (The star is one of the brightest stars in any planetary nebula.) NGC 6826 is 2,200 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. This Hubble telescope observation was taken Jan. 27, 1996 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

Credit: Bruce Balick (University of Washington), Jason Alexander (University of Washington), Arsen Hajian (U.S. Naval Observatory), Yervant Terzian (Cornell University), Mario Perinotto (University of Florence, Italy), Patrizio Patriarchi (Arcetri Observatory, Italy) and NASA/ESA
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2013

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebulae #NGC6826 #Cygnus #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #JudySchmidt #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

'Sunset Glow' in Orion: Reflection Nebula NGC 2023 | Hubble Space Telescope

'Sunset Glow' in Orion: Reflection Nebula NGC 2023 | Hubble Space Telescope

The magnificent reflection nebula NGC 2023 lies nearly 1500 light-years from Earth. It is located within the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) in a prestigious area of the sky close to the well-known Flame and Horsehead Nebulae. The entire structure of NGC 2023 is vast at four light-years across. This NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope picture just takes in the southern part with the subtle shades of color closely resembling those of a sunset on Earth.

NGC 2023 surrounds a massive young B-type star. These stars are large, bright and blue-white in color, and have a high surface temperature, being several times hotter than the Sun. The energy emitted from NGC2023’s B-type star illuminates the nebula, resulting in its high surface brightness—good news for astronomers that wish to study it. The star itself lies outside the field of view, at the upper left, and its brilliant light is scattered by Hubble’s optical system, creating the bright flare across the left side of the picture. This is not a real feature of the nebula.

Stars are forming from the material comprising NGC 2023. This Hubble image captures the billowing waves of gas, 5,000 times denser than the interstellar medium. The unusual greenish clumps are thought to be Herbig–Haro objects. These peculiar features of star-forming regions are created when gas ejected at hundreds of kilometers per second from newly formed stars impacts the surrounding material. These shockwaves cause the gas to glow and result in the strange shapes seen here. Herbig–Haro objects typically only last for a few thousand years. This is the blink of eye in astronomical terms.

This picture was created from multiple images taken with the Wide Field Camera of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: May 3, 2012

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebulae #NGC2023 #ReflectionNebulae #HerbigHaroObjects #Orion #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #JudySchmidt #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Shenzhou-20 Crew Sends Mid-Autumn Festival Wishes | China Space Station

Shenzhou-20 Crew Sends Mid-Autumn Festival Wishes | China Space Station

China's Shenzhou-20 crew sent their best wishes to the people and the nation for the Mid-Autumn Festival on October 6, 2025, from the orbiting space station Tiangong.

The Shenzhou-20 astronauts Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie shared their specially prepared space meals, delivering a distinctive festival greeting to their country from hundreds of kilometers away from Earth.

Early on the morning of the festival, the trio first watered the space garden. The plants growing there are not just part of scientific experiments but also carry the vitality from their earthly home, accompanying the astronauts as they enjoy the same Moon with people across the nation on Earth.

"After removing the old leaves, new leaves could stretch out well. Look at this mint plant, it's really flourishing. It has bloomed with small flowers in space, truly beautiful," said Chen Zhongrui.

"Give the larger plants more water, forming big water droplets," said Wang Jie.

The astronauts also shared their space mooncakes and specially prepared dishes.

"We also have plenty of dishes for the Mid-Autumn Festival," said Chen Dong.

"First, we have delicious white king oyster mushrooms, the second is braised bamboo shoots, the third is bean curd rolls called 'golden rolls,' the fourth is minced pork with mushrooms, and the fifth is shrimp balls with water chestnuts. We also have some side dishes like rice noodles, space zongzi, and sweet osmanthus cheese rice cakes," said Wang.

"Today we have extra dishes, several more than usual," said Chen Dong.

"The portions are very generous. Now let's look at our meat dishes. First, braised pork, this is everyone's favorite. Second, spicy lamb, mildly spicy with a small chili icon on the pack. Then we have black pepper beef fillet, and our eight-treasure chicken. All taste pretty good!" said Chen Zhongrui.

"Mooncakes are essential for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The ground crew thoughtfully prepared mooncakes for us. We naturally share all good things," said Chen Dong.

"It's delicious with the red bean paste filling," said Wang.

"Yes, It's delicious," said Chen Zhongrui.

After sharing their meal, the astronauts sent sincere cosmic-level Mid-Autumn Festival regards via camera.

"Now the space station has entered the airspace over our motherland. This is the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Although we are in our space home 400 kilometers from the Earth, we always think of our homeland. We always like to gaze through the window from one home to another. Although the Earth is always within our sight, with this concern and longing, the motherland in our eyes and minds becomes three-dimensional rather than flat, becomes vivid rather than silent. My motherland, I am proud of you. Beijing is within our camera's view," said Chen Dong.

"With the full moon in mid-autumn night, may all families be reunited," said by three astronauts together.

"Although we are in the vast space, unable to get reunited with our families, our hearts are always closely linked with our motherland and people, and with our families," said Chen Dong.

"From China's space station, we wish everyone a happy festival. May all your families enjoy your reunions, everyone keep fit, and live in harmony," said the astronauts together.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: Oct. 6, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #China #中国 #MidAutumnFestival #MidAutumnFestival2025 #Shenzhou20Mission #神舟二十号 #Shenzhou20Crew #Taikonauts #ChenDong #ChenZhongrui #WangJie #Astronauts #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #Video

Mars Images: Oct. 3-5, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars Images: Oct. 3-5, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1644

Mars 2020 - sol 1644

Mars 2020 - sol 1644

Mars 2020 - sol 1644

MSL - sol 4679

Mars 2020 - sol 1643

MSL - sol 4679

Mars 2020 - sol 1644

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 13+ 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: Oct. 3-5, 2025

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

Galaxy NGC 6951 in Cepheus: A Starbursting Center | Hubble

Galaxy NGC 6951 in Cepheus: A Starbursting Center | Hubble

The glittering galaxy in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture is NGC 6951. It resides about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Cepheus.

As this Hubble image shows, NGC 6951 is a spiral galaxy with plenty of intriguing structures. Most eye-catching are its spiral arms dotted with brilliant red nebulae, bright blue stars and filamentary dust clouds. The spiral arms loop around the galactic center. It has a golden glow that comes from a population of older stars. The center of the galaxy is also distinctly elongated, revealing the presence of a slowly rotating bar of stars.

NGC 6951’s bar may be responsible for another remarkable feature: a white-blue ring that encloses the very heart of the galaxy. This is called a circumnuclear starburst ring—essentially, a circle of enhanced star formation around the nucleus of a galaxy. The bar funnels gas toward the center of the galaxy, where it collects in a ring about 3800 light-years across. Two dark dust lanes that run parallel to the bar mark the points where gas from the bar enters the ring.

The dense gas of a circumnuclear starburst ring is the perfect environment to churn out an impressive number of stars. Using data from Hubble, astronomers have identified more than 80 potential star clusters within NGC 6951’s ring. Many of the stars formed less than 100 million years ago, but the ring itself is longer-lived, potentially having existed for 1–1.5 billion years.

Astronomers have imaged NGC 6951 with Hubble for a wide variety of reasons, including mapping the dust in nearby galaxies, studying the centers of disc galaxies and keeping tabs on recent supernovae (of which NGC 6951 has hosted five or six).

Image Description: A spiral galaxy with large, open arms. A bar of yellow light, where old stars are gathered, crosses the middle of the disk. The very center is a white point surrounded by a small, shining ring of star clusters. Thin lanes of dust swirl around this ring, reaching out to follow the spiral arms; also visible across the arms are red, glowing spots where stars are forming. To the right a star shines large and bright.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. C. Ho, G. Brammer, A. Filippenko, C. Kilpatrick
Release Date: Oct. 6, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Galaxies #NGC6951 #StarburstGalaxies #Cepheus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon: View from New Mexico

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon: View from New Mexico

Comet Lemmon is brightening and moving into morning northern skies. Besides Comet SWAN25B and Comet ATLAS, Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is now the third comet currently visible with binoculars and on long camera exposures. Comet Lemmon was discovered early this year and is still headed into the inner Solar System. The comet will round the Sun on November 8, but first it will pass its nearest to the Earth—at about half the Earth-Sun distance—on October 21. 

Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, optimistic estimates have Comet Lemmon then becoming visible to the unaided eye. The comet should be best seen in predawn skies until mid-October, when it also becomes visible in evening skies.

New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders the state of Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south.

Image Credit: Rolando Ligustri

Image Details: NW 300/1140 (Astrottica) CCD ASI 2600MM in bin2 RGB=3x60s L=15x60s field of view of 44'x65', Astroart and PS processing

Location: Astrottica Observatory, New Mexico, USA

Rolando's website: 

https://www.facebook.com/astrottica

Capture Date: Oct. 5, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comets #CometC2025A6Lemmon #Coma #CometaryTails #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #RolandoLigustri #Astrophotographers #NewMexico #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Herodotus Omega Dome on Moon's Near-side | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Herodotus Omega Dome on Moon's Near-side | NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

This video, created by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team using data from the digital terrain model (DTM), showcases the relief of Herodotus Omega dome as a three-dimensional model, offering a clearer view of its topography.

Although active volcanism on the Moon largely ceased over a billion years ago, remnants of ancient volcanic activity persist in many landforms we still see today. These include the lunar maria, as well as rilles, cones, and domes. The focus of this featured image post is the dome, Herodotus Omega, located in central Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") on the western lunar nearside (20.25°N, 309.93°E). Unlike most lunar domes, typically found in clusters, Herodotus Omega stands alone. While the full extent of this dome is difficult to discern in the above image due to its relatively gentle slope and low relief, its diameter measures about 12 kilometers, and it rises to a maximum height of about 220 meters above the surrounding mare surface. As is typical for lunar domes, Herodotus Omega is named by appending a Greek letter to the name of a nearby major crater—Herodotus crater, located about 70 kilometers north of the dome.

Scientists estimate that lunar domes formed over a roughly one-billion year period beginning around 3.7 billion years ago. Although the specific origin of Herodotus Omega remains unknown, it exhibits characteristics similar to other domes found throughout the lunar maria. Mare domes are much more common than non-mare domes, and can be divided into seven distinct classes. Although Herodotus Omega has not been officially classified, characteristics of its (likely) summit pit, cross-sectional shape, diameter, and slope suggest that it belongs to Class 1 or 2 (Head and Gifford, 1980). Like most mare domes, Herodotus Omega also exhibits relatively low albedo (the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body) when compared to non-mare domes, such as those found in the Gruithuisen region.

The western mare features widespread evidence of past volcanic activity. The domes of these lunar seas have long been of interest to the scientific community. NASA once even considered the Hortensius Domes, a group of mare domes in nearby Mare Insularum ("Sea of Islands"), as a possible target for crewed exploration under the Constellation program. However, the program's unfortunate cancellation in 2010 halted those plans. While we hope that Herodotus Omega and the other domes of the western mare eventually welcome their first robotic or human explorer, they currently stand silently awaiting their arrival.

Video Credit: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/GSFC/Arizona State University
Article Credit: Steven Nystrom
Duration: 2 minutes, 25 seconds
Release Date: July 2, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #Geology #Geoscience #Topography #LunarDomes #HerodotusOmega #HerodotusOmegaDome #LunarNearSide #HerodotusCrater  #OceanusProcellarum #LRO #LROC #LunarOrbiter #LunarSpacecraft #SpaceTechnology #GSFC #ASU #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

'Dome Alone': A Lunar Mystery Near Herodotus Crater | NASA LRO

'Dome Alone': A Lunar Mystery Near Herodotus Crater | NASA LRO

The Herodotus Omega dome rises gradually above the surrounding mare. The large, irregularly shaped depression towards the right is likely a summit pit. Image width is 7.5 kilometers, centered at 20.25°N, 309.93°E. The dark mare surface of Oceanus Procellarum is visible, along with its scars of many bright impact craters. The possible summit pit of the dome stands out as a large S-shaped depression.

This view shows the same area as the previous image, but is overlaid with graduated colors to indicate the elevation of the surface. The outside of the dome's boundaries is colored light blue, which gradually changes to dark red as the elevation increases towards the center of the dome, before sharply falling to dark blue at the bottom of the possible summit pit. This color-shaded digital terrain model DTM helps reveal the relief of the Herodotus Omega dome. The elevation ranges from -1,916 m (blue) to -1,523 (red). Image width is 7.5 kilometers, centered at 20.25°N, 309.93°E.

Although active volcanism on the Moon largely ceased over a billion years ago, remnants of ancient volcanic activity persist in many landforms we still see today. These include the lunar maria, as well as rilles, cones, and domes. The focus of this featured image post is the dome, Herodotus Omega, located in central Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") on the western lunar nearside (20.25°N, 309.93°E). Unlike most lunar domes, typically found in clusters, Herodotus Omega stands alone. While the full extent of this dome is difficult to discern in the above image due to its relatively gentle slope and low relief, its diameter measures about 12 kilometers, and it rises to a maximum height of about 220 meters above the surrounding mare surface. As is typical for lunar domes, Herodotus Omega is named by appending a Greek letter to the name of a nearby major crater—Herodotus crater, located about 70 kilometers north of the dome.

Scientists estimate that lunar domes formed over a roughly one-billion year period beginning around 3.7 billion years ago. Although the specific origin of Herodotus Omega remains unknown, it exhibits characteristics similar to other domes found throughout the lunar maria. Mare domes are much more common than non-mare domes, and can be divided into seven distinct classes. Although Herodotus Omega has not been officially classified, characteristics of its (likely) summit pit, cross-sectional shape, diameter, and slope suggest that it belongs to Class 1 or 2 (Head and Gifford, 1980). Like most mare domes, Herodotus Omega also exhibits relatively low albedo (the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body) when compared to non-mare domes, such as those found in the Gruithuisen region.

The western mare features widespread evidence of past volcanic activity. The domes of these lunar seas have long been of interest to the scientific community. NASA once even considered the Hortensius Domes, a group of mare domes in nearby Mare Insularum ("Sea of Islands"), as a possible target for crewed exploration under the Constellation program. However, the program's unfortunate cancellation in 2010 halted those plans. While we hope that Herodotus Omega and the other domes of the western mare eventually welcome their first robotic or human explorer, they currently stand silently awaiting their arrival.

Image Credit: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/GSFC/Arizona State University
Article Credit: Steven Nystrom
Release Date: July 16, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #Geology #Geoscience #Terrain #Topography #LunarDomes #HerodotusOmega #HerodotusOmegaDome #LunarNearSide #HerodotusCrater  #OceanusProcellarum #LRO #LROC #LunarOrbiter #LunarSpacecraft #SpaceRobotics #SpaceTechnology #GSFC #ASU #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education

Europe's Upcoming ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission: Sample Processing | ESA

Europe's Upcoming ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission: Sample Processing | ESA

The intricate mechanisms of what will be the most sophisticated laboratory on Mars yet are revealed in this video on the European Space Agency's ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. The Rosalind Franklin rover’s drill has a maximum reach of two meters—deeper than any other mission has ever attempted on the Red Planet. This depth allows access to well-preserved organic material from four billion years ago, when conditions on the surface of Mars were more like those on infant Earth. 

After receiving a sample from the drill, Rosalind’s laboratory must prepare the sample to make a detailed study of its mineral and chemical composition. The rover’s Analytical Laboratory Drawer (ALD) mechanisms execute a pre-programmed choreography of sample manipulations to make sure that the instruments can do their job.   

The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin mission is part of Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars.

When can the Rosalind Franklin Rover be launched?

It will take at least 2-3 years to build and qualify a new European lander. Then it is down to launch windows. The best opportunities to launch to Mars occur every two years when Earth and Mars are optimally aligned. The earliest launch opportunity for the Rosalind Franklin Mission has been identified as 2028, which will see a two-year transfer to Mars. This balances the time needed to build the necessary mission elements with a good mission scenario of landing in 2030. The time of arrival on Mars is important, as we need to ensure at least six months of operations before the start of Mars’ northern hemisphere fall and winter when the atmosphere is generally more dusty, and when Mars’ global dust storms may happen. In this respect, it is better to adopt a longer transfer profile (two years) and land in a favourable time to perform the rover mission, than to make a shorter trip that brings the rover earlier to Mars, but too close to the start of the Global Dust Season, an event where the survivability of the rover cannot be guaranteed.

Learn more about ExoMars:
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Exploration/ExoMars

Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
Production: Mlabspace for ESA
3D Animation: ESA/Mlabspace
Release Date: Oct. 5, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Mars #ExoMars #Rover #RosalindFranklin #Geology #Astrobiology #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Star Formation Region N11 in Nearby Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

Star Formation Region N11 in Nearby Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

This broad vista of young stars and gas clouds in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, was captured by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). This region is named LHA 120-N 11, informally known as N11, and is one of the most active star formation regions in the nearby Universe. Distance: 170,000 light years

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: August 5, 2012

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Nebulae #LHA120N11 #StellarNursery #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #Galaxies #Dorado #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #CitizenScience #JudySchmidt #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Pink & Green Aurora 'Ribbons' over Alberta

Pink & Green Aurora 'Ribbons' over Alberta

Photographer Karsten Berger: "It was the last night of my vacation and it was truly memorable. Again, the northern lights came out very early during sunset and put on a show. After several coronas, they turned bright pink and didn’t stop shining for several minutes. I have never seen them last that long."

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, acting 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 where 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 are named depending on the pole they occur at. Aurora Borealis, or the southern 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.

The Colors of the Aurora (U.S. National Park Service)

https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. state of Montana to its south. Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two landlocked Canadian provinces.

Image Credit: Karsten Berger
Capture Location: High Level, Alberta
Image Date: Oct. 2, 2025

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Comet C\2025 A6 Lemmon: View from Italy

Comet C\2025 A6 Lemmon: View from Italy

Discovered in early 2025 by the Mount Lemmon Survey, Comet Lemmon is brightening and moving into morning northern skies. In addition to Comet SWAN25B and Comet ATLAS, Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is now the third comet currently visible with binoculars and on long camera exposures. Comet Lemmon is still headed into the inner Solar System. The comet will round the Sun on November 8, but first it will pass its nearest to the Earth—at about half the Earth-Sun distance—on October 21. 

Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, optimistic estimates have Comet Lemmon then becoming visible to the unaided eye. The comet should be best seen in predawn skies until mid-October, when it also becomes visible in evening skies.

Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares land borders with France to the west; Switzerland and Austria to the north; Slovenia to the east; and the two enclaves of Vatican City and San Marino.

Image Credit: Gianni Lacroce
Release Date: Oct. 4, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comets #CometC2025A6Lemmon #Coma #CometaryTails #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #GianniLacroce #Astrophotographers #CitizenScience #Italy #Italia #STEM #Education