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Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Large Circumstellar Disc IRAS 23077+6707 in Cepheus | Hubble

Large Circumstellar Disc IRAS 23077+6707 in Cepheus | Hubble

This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image shows the largest planet-forming disc ever observed around a young star. It spans nearly 640 billion kilometers, roughly 40 times the diameter of our Solar System. Tilted nearly edge-on as seen from Earth, the dark, dusty disk resembles a hamburger. Hubble reveals it to be unusually chaotic with bright wisps of material extending far above and below the disk—more than seen in any similar circumstellar disk. Cataloged as IRAS 23077+6707, the system is located approximately 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. The discovery marks a new milestone for Hubble and offers fresh insight into planet formation in extreme environments across the galaxy.

Image Description: Near the center is an object that resembles an edge-on view of a hamburger. There is a diagonal dark strip (the meat patty) of dust, running from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock, that obscures a central star. Curving away from either side of the dark strip are glowing white clouds (the buns) where dust is reflecting starlight. Bright blue finger-like wisps of material extend far above and below the dark center plane. A few dozen stars, several with four diffraction spikes, are scattered on the black background of space.

Learn more:
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-reveals-largest-found-chaotic-birthplace-of-planets/

Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, K. Monsch (CfA) Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)

Release Date: Dec. 23, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #ProtoplanetaryDisks #IRAS230776707 #Exoplanets #Planets #Cepheus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Large Protoplanetary Disk Nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito” | Hubble Space Telescope

Large Protoplanetary Disk Nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito” | Hubble Space Telescope

Located roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth, this protoplanetary disk, nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito,” spans nearly 400 billion miles, 40 times the diameter of the solar system to the outer edge of the Kuiper belt of cometary bodies.

Nicknamed “Dracula’s Chivito,” the disk’s playful name comes from its discoverers, one from Transylvania and another from Uruguay, where the national dish is a sandwich called a chivito.

Thanks to Hubble, we now can see this disk’s surprising scale and detail. Dracula’s Chivito is not just the largest protoplanetary disk ever imaged, it is also a window into how planets are born and how systems like ours began.

Learn more: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-reveals-largest-found-chaotic-birthplace-of-planets/

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Paul Morris: Lead Producer
Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 23, 2025

Monday, December 22, 2025

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 Mission | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 Mission | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission | From left: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir in extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France in extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France

Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia in Crew Dragon spacecraft spacesuit

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway in extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit

Official mission insignia for NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission

Introducing NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 Mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot of France, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia. They are due to launch no earlier than Feb. 15, 2026.

Follow Expedition 74:

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

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Mike Fincke (NASA)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Oleg Platonov, Sergey-Kud Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineers: Zena Cardman, Chris Williams

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's Johnson Space Center

Image Dates: Jan. 11, 2023-Dec. 1, 2025

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #SpaceX #NASASpaceXCrew12 #SpaceXCrew12 #SpaceXDragonSpacecraft #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #JackHathaway #SophieAdenot #France #Europe #ESA #Cosmonauts #AndreyFedyaev #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Cosmic Holiday Greetings! | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory [Budget Alert]

Cosmic Holiday Greetings! | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory [Budget Alert]

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is sending out a holiday card with four new images of cosmic wonders. Each of the quartet of objects evokes the winter season or one of its celebratory days, either in its name or shape.

Chandra’s seasonal greetings begin with NGC 4782 and NGC 4783, a pair of colliding galaxies that when oriented in a certain way resembles a snowman. The top and bottom of the snowman are each elliptical galaxies, separated by a distance of about 170 million light-years. The galaxies, seen in an image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, are bound together through gravity. X-rays from Chandra show a bridge of hot gas between the two galaxies, like a winter scarf.

After the cosmic snowman is one of the most iconic symbols of the season, a Christmas tree. This celestial version takes an optical light image from an astrophotographer that shows the “branches” of NGC 2264, a relatively young nebula where new stars are forming. Within this cloud of gas and dust, baby stars appear as high-energy baubles in X-ray light from Chandra and XMM-Newton.

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%. NASA's total budget will become the lowest since 1961, after accounting for inflation.

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

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

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

The nebula NGC 6357 contains Pismis 24, a young cluster of stars about 5,500 light-years from Earth. This stellar landscape is reminiscent of a winter vista in a view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Chandra data punctuate the scene with bursts of colored lights representing high-energy activity from turbulent young stars.

The final image in this holiday card display is M78, a striking nebula in the Orion constellation that may also bring a partridge in the proverbial pear tree to mind. M78 is a reflection nebula, which is cloud interstellar dust that glows from the scattered light embedded within it. The bird-like structure is seen in infrared and optical light by Euclid while Chandra data provide speckled lights across the nebula.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 2 minutes, 36 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxies #NGC4782 #NGC4783 #Nebulae #NGC2264 #NGC6357 #StarCluster #Pismis24 #M78 #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #SpaceTelescopes #XrayAstronomy #MSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Astronauts Give 2025 Holiday Greetings | International Space Station

Astronauts Give 2025 Holiday Greetings | International Space Station

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and Chris Williams, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season to Earth in a message recorded on Dec. 17, 2025.

The four astronauts are in the middle of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory. The goal of their mission is to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

Follow Expedition 74:

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

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Mike Fincke (NASA)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Oleg Platonov, Sergey-Kud Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineers: Zena Cardman, Chris Williams

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 3 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #Christmas2025 #SeasonsGreetings2025 #HappyHolidays2025 #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構#Cosmonauts #Russia #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Artemis Science: Visualizing NASA’s Next Lunar Flyby | NASA Goddard

Artemis Science: Visualizing NASA’s Next Lunar Flyby | NASA Goddard

NASA’s Artemis missions are sending astronauts to explore the Moon for the first time in over fifty years. In early 2026, four Artemis II crew members will fly by the lunar far side at an altitude of approximately 3,000 to 9,000 miles, testing the Orion capsule and venturing further into deep space than anyone has gone before.

Artemis II Visualization Lead Ernie Wright has simulated views of the flyby using detailed topographic maps of the lunar terrain and photorealistic lighting scenarios. The Artemis II crew members are using these visualizations to prepare for their historic mission. It will pave the way for future exploration of the Moon’s surface and beyond.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis-ii-science/

The SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day mission around the Moon and back from Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Learn more about NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket: nasa.gov/sls

Follow updates on the Artemis blog:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Ernie Wright: Visualizer/Interviewee
Dan Gallagher: Producer/Graphics
Rob Andreoli: Videographer
John D. Philyaw: Videographer
Krystofer Kim: Animator
Michael Lentz: Animator
Chris Smith: Animator
Kelsey Young: Photographer
James Blair: Photographer
Jacob Kegerreis: Research Scientist
Duration: 6 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #SLS #SLSRocket #CrewedMissions #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Visualization #Animation #HD #Video

The Journey of NS-37 | Blue Origin

The Journey of NS-37 | Blue Origin

Blue Origin: "Space is for everyone."

Every New Shepard mission helps us build a more accessible future in space. On December 20, 2025, Blue Origin successfully launched the 37th flight of the New Shepard program.

"What a way to close out 2025! Our astronauts and the Blue Origin team just completed a successful NS-37 launch. Another step toward making spaceflight accessible for everyone. We just completed our 37th flight of the New Shepard program. This mission marked the first time a wheelchair user has flown above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space." Congratulations to Michaela (Michi) Benthaus!

The crew onboard also included Joey Hyde, Hans Koenigsmann, Neal Milch, Adonis Pouroulis, and Jason Stansell. New Shepard has flown 92 humans (86 individuals) to space.

Close-up: Arp 4—Galaxies with a Long-distance Relationship in Cetus | Hubble

Close-up: Arp 4—Galaxies with a Long-distance Relationship in Cetus | Hubble

These galaxies look to be close companions—a small, bright spiral galaxy flitting around the edge of a much larger spiral with a dark and disturbed countenance. However, looks can be deceiving—how close are they really? The celestial pair featured in this Hubble picture goes by the name Arp 4, and lies in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).

The designation Arp 4 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, compiled in the 1960s by astronomer Halton Arp. “Unusual galaxies” were selected and photographed to provide examples of weird and non-standard shapes, the better to study how galaxies evolve into these forms. Throughout its mission the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized the study of galaxies and shown us fantastically unusual examples from Arp’s atlas. In that catalog, the first few galaxies like Arp 4 are “low surface brightness” galaxies, a type of galaxy that is unexpectedly faint and hard to detect. The large galaxy here—also cataloged as MCG-02-05-050—fits this description well, with its fragmentary arms and dim disc. Its smaller companion, MCG-02-05-050a, is a much more bright and active spiral.

The trick is that these galaxies are not actually very close. The large blue galaxy MCG-02-05-050 is located 65 million light-years from Earth; its brighter smaller companion MCG-02-05-050a, at 675 million light-years away, is over ten times the distance! Owing to this, MCG-02-05-050a is likely the larger galaxy of the two, and MCG-02-05-050 comparatively small. Their pairing in this image is simply an unlikely visual coincidence. Despite this lack of a physical relation between them, our point of view on Earth allows us to enjoy the sight of Arp 4 as an odd couple in the sky.

Image Description: This image shows two galaxies side by side. The galaxy on the top left is smaller in size, and appears as a bright glowing spiral with clearly-defined arms. A larger blue galaxy dominates the full right field of the image. This galaxy is more irregularly shaped with a glowing central bar, and varying regions of concentrated hues of blue. The background is black with various stars and galaxies in the distance.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Galaxies #MCG0205050 #MCG0205050a #Arp4 #SpiralGalaxies #Cetus #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Arp 4: Galaxies with a Long-distance Relationship in Cetus | Hubble

Arp 4: Galaxies with a Long-distance Relationship in Cetus | Hubble

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA
Release Date: Dec. 22, 2025

Night Lights: Natural & Human | International Space Station

Night Lights: Natural & Human | International Space Station

The densely urbanized region surrounding the Bohai Sea (center) on China's east coast includes several major metropolitan areas, from Beijing (left center) to Changchun (top right), and Seoul, South Korea (far right). A yellow-green airglow blankets Earth's horizon in this image captured from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the surface at approximately 11:06 p.m. local time.

The Korean Peninsula—highlighted by Seoul, South Korea (bottom left)—and Northeast China—illuminated by the Beijing Municipality (top left)—are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above Asia at approximately 12:42 a.m. local time.

Warm, diffuse city lights and bright lightning storms illuminate the cloudy nighttime landscape of western Africa in this image captured from the International Space Station. A soft yellow-green atmospheric glow, created by atoms and molecules releasing energy absorbed from solar radiation earlier in the day, blankets Earth’s horizon. The orbital outpost was soaring 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 11:05 p.m. local time when this photograph was taken.

This moonlit, violet-hued view of the International Space Station’s main solar arrays, partially overlapped by a smaller set of roll-out solar arrays, was captured at approximately 5:16 a.m. local time. The orbital outpost was soaring 265 miles above the Pacific Ocean, just north of New Zealand, when this photograph was taken.

This serene, nighttime view from the International Space Station, captured from an altitude of 262 miles above the Coral Sea, reveals a star-filled sky with a soft, multi-colored atmospheric glow blanketing the city lights of the Solomon Islands. The image was taken at approximately 3:11 a.m. local time as the station orbited above the southwestern Pacific region.

A red-yellow airglow blankets Earth's horizon as the city lights of southwestern Europe and North Africa sparkle in contrast to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea that separates the two continents. The International Space Station was orbiting 262 miles above the Atlantic at approximately 7:47 p.m. local time when this photograph was taken.

A yellow-red airglow blankets Earth's horizon as village lights dot the Saharan landscape of Algeria in this photograph taken at approximately 8:50 p.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above north Africa.

A wispy aurora caps Earth's horizon as an orbital sunrise begins illuminating the atmosphere in this photograph taken at approximately 2:19 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above the Mongolia-China border region.

Follow Expedition 74:

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

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Mike Fincke (NASA)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Oleg Platonov, Sergey-Kud Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineers: Zena Cardman, Chris Williams

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: Sept. 6-Nov. 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #PacificOcean #China #Mongolia #SouthKorea #NorthKorea #Europe #Africa #AstronautPhotography #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Japan #JAXA #Cosmonauts #Russia #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Sunday, December 21, 2025

Close-up: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Subaru Telescope

Close-up: Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Subaru Telescope

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) captured by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), a wide-field optical imaging camera. HSC offers an ultra-wide field of view equivalent to nine full Moons, covering nearly the entire Andromeda Galaxy.

These pictures show how the Subaru Telescope and HSC work together to provide a wide field of view and sharp star images.

The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224.

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies have about a 50% chance of colliding with each other in the next 10 billion years, merging to potentially form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large lenticular galaxy.

The Subaru Telescope is an astronomical observation facility operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). It is located at the summit of Mauna Kea at an altitude of 4,200 meters in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Learn more about Japan's Subaru Telescope:
https://subarutelescope.org/en/

Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)

Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: April 3, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #SubaruTelescope #すばる望遠鏡 #NAOJ #国立天文台 #HyperSuprimeCam #HSC #Galaxies #Galaxy #AndromedaGalaxy #Messier31 #M31 #NGC224 #Andromeda #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #Japan #日本 #MaunaKea #Hawaii #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Andromeda Galaxy (M31): Close-up Views | Subaru Telescope

Andromeda Galaxy (M31): Close-up Views | Subaru Telescope

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) captured by Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). HSC offers an ultra-wide field of view equivalent to nine full Moons, covering nearly the entire Andromeda Galaxy.

These pictures show how the Subaru Telescope and HSC work together to provide a wide field of view and sharp star images.

The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224.

Learn more about Japan's Subaru Telescope:
https://subarutelescope.org/en/

Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Release Date: April 3, 2024

Download Free 2026 Hubble & James Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

Download Free 2026 Hubble & James Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

High Resolution Digital 2026 Calendar File (48 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdf/cal2026.pdf

Low Resolution Digital 2026 Calendar File (7 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdfsm/cal2026.pdf

Print-Ready 2026 Calendar File (180 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/announcements/pdf/hubble-webb-2026-calendar-print.pdf

The 2026 calendar features imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It is available for anyone to print, share and enjoy.

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2026 that showcases beautiful imagery from these missions.

The images featured in the calendar are as follows:

Cover: IRAS 04302+2247 is a planet-forming disc located about 525 light-years away in a dark cloud within the Taurus star-forming region. This beautiful Webb image shows an example of a protostar (a young star that is still gathering mass from its environment) surrounded by a protoplanetary disc in which baby planets might be forming.

January: As part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations, ESA/Hubble published a new image of the star cluster NGC 346, featuring new data and processing techniques. This prolific star factory is in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the largest of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies.

February: This image from Webb features a mega-monster galaxy cluster known as Abell S1063, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus. The dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs demonstrate gravitational lensing.

March: To celebrate Webb’s third year of highly productive science in July 2025, astronomers used the telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region.

April: ESA/Hubble revisited the star cluster Messier 72 in April 2025 to celebrate Hubble’s 35th anniversary with new data and image processing techniques.

May: In these Webb images taken in December 2023, our Solar System’s largest planet shows off new details in its auroras (shown in the left image), which are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth.

June: Called Pismis 24, this young star cluster resides in the core of the nearby Lobster Nebula, approximately 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Webb provides us with rare insights into large and massive stars.

July: Located around 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, this Hubble image features the Sombrero Galaxy. Viewed nearly edge on, the galaxy’s softly luminous bulge and sharply outlined disc resemble the rounded crown and broad brim of the Mexican hat from which the galaxy gets its name.

August: This image set showcases three views of the Butterfly Nebula, also called NGC 6302. The first and second of the three images shown feature the nebula in optical and near-infrared light captured by Hubble. The Webb image on the right zooms in on the object’s center.

September: This image was shared by ESA/Hubble as part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations and incorporates new data processing techniques. It shows a small portion of the Eagle Nebula that is 9.5 light-years long and 7,000 light-years away from Earth. This vast stellar nursery displays a towering spire of cosmic gas and dust.

October: Hubble captures in exquisite detail a face-on view of the remarkable-looking galaxy NGC 5335 in this image. This is a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disc. A notable bar structure slices across the center of the galaxy.

November: This image shows Webb’s view of the planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared. It highlights a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out from a variety of angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. These outflows push gas toward the equatorial plane, forming a disc.

December:A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this Hubble image. This galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).

Back Page: This Hubble image captures incredible details in the dusty clouds in the outskirts of a star-forming region called the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is located about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest of the dozens of small satellite galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, ESA/Webb
Release Date: Dec. 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planets #Stars #StarClusters #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #JWST #WebbTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #AdobePDF #PDF #FreeCalendar #Calendar2026 #STEM #Education

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 1792 in Columba—A Storm of New Stars | Hubble

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 1792 in Columba—A Storm of New Stars | Hubble

The subject of this Hubble picture is a stormy and highly active spiral galaxy named NGC 1792. Located over 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Columba (the Dove), the bright glow of the galaxy’s center is offset by the sparkling and feathery spiral arms swirling around it.

NGC 1792 is just as fascinating to astronomers as its chaotic look might imply. Classified as a starburst galaxy, it is a powerhouse of star formation with spiral arms rich in star-forming regions. In fact, it is surprisingly luminous for its mass. The galaxy is close to a larger neighbor, NGC 1808, and the strong gravitational interaction between the two is believed to be what has stirred up the reserves of gas in this galaxy. The result is a torrent of star formation, concentrated on the side where gravity has a stronger effect. It is a perfect target for astronomers seeking to understand the complex interactions between gas, star clusters and supernovae in galaxies.

Hubble provided an image of this galaxy in 2020. This image includes additional data collected throughout 2025, providing a deeper view of the tumultuous astrophysical activity taking place in the galaxy. Blossoming red lights in the arms mark out so-called H-alpha emission from dense clouds of hydrogen molecules. Stars form within these clouds and shine powerfully with ultraviolet radiation. They ionize the gas around them, causing the gas to emit a very particular red wavelength of light—a tell-tale sign of new stars.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy, seen partly from the side, with a messy, turbulent appearance. Its disc is made of multiple patchy arms that contain numerous sparkling blue and glowing red regions—star clusters and star-forming nebulae. Thick clumps of dark reddish dust swirl through the disc. The glow of the disc extends out into the dark background, where both distant and nearby stars can be seen.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

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

#NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1792 #SpiralGalaxies #StarburstGalaxies #Columba #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Aurora Borealis: View from Sweden

Aurora Borealis: View from Sweden

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 that acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.

Earth auroras have different names depending on the pole they occur at. 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.

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

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

Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east.

Image Credit: Mats Olsson

Mats' website: https://matsolsson.net
Location: Härnösand, Sweden
Release Date: Dec. 17, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planets #Earth #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #MagneticField #Magnetosphere #SolarWind #Sun #Star #Photography #MatsOlsson #Photographer #CitizenScience #Härnösand #Sweden #Sverige #STEM #Education

Close-up: Baby Stars & Gas Bubbles in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

Close-up: Baby Stars & Gas Bubbles in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | Hubble

This Hubble picture brings a distant stellar birthplace into focus. This gigantic cloud of cold hydrogen gas is called N159, and it is located about 160,000 light-years away in the constellation Dorado. N159 is one of the most massive star-forming clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is the largest of the small galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

This image shows just a portion of the N159 star-forming complex. The entire complex stretches over 150 light-years across. To put that into perspective, 150 light-years is nearly ten million times the distance between Earth and the Sun!

In the subzero interior of this gas cloud, subjected to the crushing pressure of gravity, young stars begin to gleam in the darkness. Particularly hot and high-mass stars illuminate their birthplaces with red light. This red glow is characteristic of excited hydrogen atoms, to which Hubble is exquisitely sensitive.

Though bright stars in the cloud appear to be blanketed with reddish gas, others seem to lie at the center of a reddish bubble with the dark backdrop of space is visible. These bubbles are evidence of stellar feedback, where young stars fill their habitats with high-energy radiation and blow bubbles with their intense stellar winds.

Image Description: A field filled with stars and covered by clouds of gas and dust. The center and left side are totally blanketed with billowing, bright red clouds. They are opaque some places—showing clusters of stars forming within—and transparent others. Small patches are dark black in color, while a large cloud below the center is mostly pale blue. The right side of the view, mostly gas-free, glitters with stars near and far.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Indebetouw, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 24, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #LMCN159 #StellarNursery #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #DwarfGalaxy #Dorado #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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