Departing Crew-11 Members Suit Up | International Space Station

Departing Crew-11 Members Suit Up | International Space Station

Four SpaceX Crew-11 members gather together for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. Clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui.

Updates: NASA astronaut Mike Fincke handed over command of the International Space Station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Russia at 2:35 p.m. EST, Monday, January 12, 2026. The traditional Change of Command Ceremony precedes the targeted departure of Fincke with Zena Cardman of NASA, Kimiya Yui of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos of Russia aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is targeted undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing port at 5:05 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 14. Crew-11 will then complete a parachute-assisted landing inside Dragon to a splashdown off the coast of California less than 12 hours later at about 3:40 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15. NASA and SpaceX support personnel will retrieve Dragon and the crew from the Pacific Ocean and return them to California before the crewmates fly back to their home agencies.

Follow Expedition 74:

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

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Oleg Platonov, Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineers: Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Chris Williams

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Release Date: Jan. 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #SpaceXCrew11 #Astronauts #MikeFincke #ZenaCardman #KimiyaYui #CrewHealth #AstronautHealth #UnitedStates #Japan #JAXA #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #OlegPlatonov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #STEM #Education

Wide-field View: Area around Dead White Dwarf Star RXJ0528+2838

Wide-field View: Area around Dead White Dwarf Star RXJ0528+2838

This image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) shows the region of the sky around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, located at the very center of the image. 

Image Description: This image shows the night sky, filled with blue- and orange-colored stars. Most of the stars are small dots, but several are larger and have four visible diffraction spikes. The star, called RXJ0528+2838, is a white dwarf in a binary system with a Sun-like star orbiting it. It is 730 light-years away from planet Earth. 

New images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope show shock waves around the dead star RXJ0528+2838. When a star moves through space it can push away nearby material creating a so-called bow shock that is glowing in red, green and blue in this image. The colors represent hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, respectively. These shocks are usually produced by a strong outflow expelled from the star. However, in the case of RXJ0528+2838––a white dwarf with a Sun-like companion––astronomers discovered that the shock wave cannot be explained by any known mechanism. A hidden energy source, perhaps magnetic fields, could be the answer to this mystery.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Acknowledgement: D. De Martin
Release Date: Jan. 12, 2026

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WhiteDwarfStars #RXSJ0528325283824 #BowShocks #CircumstellarMaterial #BinaryStarSystems #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #DSS2 #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

An Unexpected Stellar Shock Wave from a Dead Star | ESO

An Unexpected Stellar Shock Wave from a Dead Star | ESO

Astronomers are surprised by a mysterious shock wave around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, studied with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. The dead star moves through space creating a so-called bow shock, as the surrounding material is pushed away. Structures like this one are typically caused by a strong outflow from the star. However, in the case of RXJ0528+2838, no known mechanism could be causing the outflow. A hidden energy source, perhaps magnetic fields, might be the answer to this mystery. 

This video summarizes the discovery. 

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed & Edited by: Angelos Tsaousis, Martin Wallner
Written by: Malika Nora Duffek, Kira-Marie Mikosch
Footage and photos: ESO, Luis Calçada, Christoph Malin, PanSTARRS, K. Iłkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al., H. Bond et al., C. Carter, J. Talbot, P. Goodhew
Fact-checking: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova.
Based on research by: K. Ilkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al.
Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Jan. 12, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WhiteDwarfStars #RXSJ0528325283824 #BowShocks #CircumstellarMaterial #BinaryStarSystems #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to A Dead Star Creating Shockwaves | European Southern Observatory

Journey to A Dead Star Creating Shockwaves | European Southern Observatory

This video zooms into RXJ0528+2838, a dead star creating a shock wave as it moves through space. The star is a white dwarf in a binary system with a Sun-like star orbiting it. It is located 730 light-years away. The video is a sequence of images taken with several telescopes, at distinct times. The journey begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light, transitioning into an image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) and then the PanSTARRS survey, also in the visible light. The final image of the star was taken with the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, showing the trail the star forms as it moves through space. 

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/Digitized Sky Survey 2/PanSTARRS/K. Iłkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al.
Duration: 1 minute Release Date: Jan. 12, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WhiteDwarfStars #RXSJ0528325283824 #BowShocks #CircumstellarMaterial #BinaryStarSystems #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #DSS2 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Motion of Dead Star Creating Shockwaves | European Southern Observatory

Motion of Dead Star Creating Shockwaves | European Southern Observatory

White dwarf star RXJ0528+2838 (close-up)

The star, called RXJ0528+2838, is a white dwarf in a binary system with a Sun-like star orbiting it. It is located 730 light-years away. 

These images, taken with the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, show shock waves around the dead star RXJ0528+2838. When a star moves through space it can push away nearby material creating a so-called bow shock that is glowing in red, green and blue in this image. The colors represent hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, respectively. These shocks are usually produced by a strong outflow expelled from the star. However, in the case of RXJ0528+2838––a white dwarf with a Sun-like companion––astronomers discovered that the shock wave cannot be explained by any known mechanism. A hidden energy source, perhaps magnetic fields, could be the answer to this mystery.

Image#2 Description: This image is made up of two parts. At the center is a square image with a white border showing a bright object moving through space. This is surrounded by a colourful cloud, and the outer part glows red. The inner parts have an additional green and blue hue. There are more glowing spots around the object of interest. This core image is embedded in another image showing pinkish stars, which gives the central image a special touch.

Credit: ESO/K. Iłkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al. Background: PanSTARRS
Release Date: Jan. 12, 2026

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WhiteDwarfStars #RXSJ0528325283824 #BowShocks #CircumstellarMaterial #BinaryStarSystems #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Young Stellar Object IRAS 13481-6124 in its 'cradle' | NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

Young Stellar Object IRAS 13481-6124 in its 'cradle' | NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

The object IRAS 13481-6124 (the bright "star" upper left), consisting of a young central star, about twenty times the mass of our Sun and five times its radius, surrounded by its pre-natal cocoon, is the first massive baby star that astronomers could obtain an image of a dusty disc closely encircling it, providing direct evidence that massive stars do form in the same way as their smaller brethren—and closing an enduring debate.

Distance: ~10,000 light years from Earth

From archival images obtained by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope (seen here) as well as from observations done with the APEX 12-meter sub-millimeter telescope, astronomers discovered the presence of a jet, hinting at the presence of a disc. This was then confirmed by observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer.

More About the Mission
JPL managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington until the mission was retired in January 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive operated by IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spitzer, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

Credit: ESO/Spitzer/NASA/JPL/S. Kraus
Release Date: July 14, 2010

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #YoungStellarObjects #CircumstellarMaterial #CentaurusConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #NASASpitzer #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #SST #InfraredAstronomy #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #APEXTelescope #ESO #Chile #STEM #Education

Planet Earth: Bright Auroral Curtains with Stars | International Space Station

Planet Earth: Bright Auroral Curtains with Stars | International Space Station

Expedition 74 flight engineer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kim Yui: "I'm continuing to take photos during breaks at work. Knowing that I would soon return, the sun must have tried its best, as I was able to capture a very beautiful aurora. I was happy to have captured it, but above all, imagining everyone smiling with joy upon seeing the footage. I smiled to myself with a laugh."

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.

Video Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/K. Yui
Duration: 33 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2026

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Stars #Planets #Earth #Aurora #AuroralCurtains #Astronauts #AstronautVideography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Pandora Space Telescope Launch | SpaceX Falcon 9

NASA Pandora Space Telescope Launch | SpaceX Falcon 9

NASA’s Pandora space telescope satellite is in sun-synchronous orbit following separation of SpaceX’s second stage on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. A SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Pandora, and several other payloads launched at 5:44 a.m. PST from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg, California.

Today, January 11, 2026, at 5:44 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), NASA’s Pandora space telescope satellite was successfully launched via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission secured through the Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract, managed by NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pandora is now in sun-synchronous orbit, preparing to study planets and their respective host stars beyond our solar system.

This was the fifth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission which previously launched Sentinel-6B and three Starlink missions.  Pandora is LSP's first launch of 2026!

Pandora will spend the next year conducting detailed observations of twenty exoplanets to determine whether any of their atmospheres contain water vapor, hazes, and clouds. It will simultaneously study their stars to discover whether they are producing or affecting the signals of those substances.

Two other NASA-sponsored CubeSats, Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) and Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope (BlackCAT), also separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage.

The agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected SPARCS in 2022 for a ride to orbit. The initiative is a low-cost pathway for conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, enabling students, teachers, and faculty to gain hands-on experience with flight hardware design, development, and building. The CubeSat is manifested as part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 60 launch grouping.

Confirmation of signal acquisition from Pandora is the next expected milestone . . .

Pandora Mission Profile:
https://smallsat.wff.nasa.gov/missions/pandora.php

Learn about NASA's LSP:
https://www.nasa.gov/kennedy/launch-services-program/

Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SpaceX #Falcon9Rocket #Stars #StarSystems #Exoplanets #ExoplanetTransits #PlanetaryAtmospheres #Habitability #NASAPandoraMission #PandoraMission #CubeSats #SPARCS #BlackCAT #GSFC #LLNL #Vandenberg #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Pandora Space Telescope Liftoff | SpaceX Falcon 9

NASA Pandora Space Telescope Liftoff | SpaceX Falcon 9

Today, January 11, 2026, at 5:44 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), NASA’s Pandora space telescope satellite was successfully launched via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission secured through the Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract, managed by NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pandora is now in sun-synchronous orbit, preparing to study planets and their respective host stars beyond our solar system.

This was the fifth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission which previously launched Sentinel-6B and three Starlink missions.  Pandora is LSP's first launch of 2026!

Pandora will spend the next year conducting detailed observations of twenty exoplanets to determine whether any of their atmospheres contain water vapor, hazes, and clouds. It will simultaneously study their stars to discover whether they are producing or affecting the signals of those substances.

Two other NASA-sponsored CubeSats, Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) and Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope (BlackCAT), also separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage.

The agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected SPARCS in 2022 for a ride to orbit. The initiative is a low-cost pathway for conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, enabling students, teachers, and faculty to gain hands-on experience with flight hardware design, development, and building. The CubeSat is manifested as part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 60 launch grouping.

Confirmation of signal acquisition from Pandora is the next expected milestone . . .

Pandora Mission Profile:
https://smallsat.wff.nasa.gov/missions/pandora.php

Learn about NASA's LSP:
https://www.nasa.gov/kennedy/launch-services-program/

Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Duration: 32 seconds

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SpaceX #Falcon9Rocket #Stars #StarSystems #Exoplanets #ExoplanetTransits #PlanetaryAtmospheres #Habitability #NASAPandoraMission #PandoraMission #CubeSats #SPARCS #BlackCAT #GSFC #LLNL #Vandenberg #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

'Fairy Tale' Auroras over Tromsø, Norway

'Fairy Tale' Auroras over Tromsø, Norway

Astrophotographer Eva Kristiansen:"Spectacular Northern Lights as a G2-class geomagnetic storm struck Earth—like something out of a fairly tale, slightly otherworldly. "

Solid Colored Aurora

Green is common at the upper latitudes, while red is rare. On the other hand, aurora viewed from lower latitudes tend to be red.

Element Emission Colors

Oxygen: The big player in the aurora is oxygen. Oxygen is responsible for the vivid green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and also for a deep brownish-red (wavelength of 630.0 nm). Pure green and greenish-yellow aurorae result from the excitation of oxygen.

Nitrogen: Nitrogen emits blue (multiple wavelengths) and red light.

Other Gases: Other gases in the atmosphere become excited and emit light, although the wavelengths may be outside of the range of human vision or else too faint to see. Hydrogen and helium, for example, emit blue and purple. Although our eyes cannot see all of these colors, photographic film and digital cameras often record a broader range of hues.

Aurora Colors According to Altitude

Above 150 miles: red, oxygen

Up to 150 miles: green, oxygen

Above 60 miles: purple or violet, nitrogen

Up to 60 miles: blue, nitrogen

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

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

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast.

Image Credit: Eva Kristiansen

Eva's website: https://www.instagram.com/xevitak/

Image Details: Nikon D850 Nikkor 14-24mm ISO 2000, f/2.8, 2.5sec.
Image Date: Jan. 10, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Earth #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #SolarSystem #Sun #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #EvaKristiansen #Tromsø #Norway #Norge #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Glowing Stellar Nursery Nebula RCW120 in Scorpius | ESO

Glowing Stellar Nursery Nebula RCW120 in Scorpius | ESO

Color composite image of RCW120. It reveals how an expanding bubble of ionized gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps where new stars are then formed. RCW 120 is an emission nebula and H II region in the southern Milky Way located around 4,300 light-years from Earth. The 870-micron submillimeter-wavelength data were taken with the LABOCA camera on the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope. Here, the submillimeter emission is shown as the blue clouds surrounding the reddish glow of the ionized gas (shown with data from the SuperCosmos H-alpha survey). The image also contains data from the Second Generation Digitized Sky Survey (I-band shown in blue, R-band shown in red).

Learn more about APEX
https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/apex/

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Credit: ESO/APEX/DSS2/SuperCosmos/Deharveng (LAM)/Zavagno (LAM)
Release Date: Nov. 11, 2008

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Sharpless23 #RCW120 #EmissionNebulae #ScorpiusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #APEX #RadioAstronomy #ChajnantorPlateau #AtacamaDesert #Chile #Europe #MPIfR #Germany #Deutschland #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Planet Earth: Human 'Night Light' Networks | International Space Station

Planet Earth: Human 'Night Light' Networks | International Space Station

Expedition 74 flight engineer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kim Yui: "This is a time-lapse I shot after today's work to calm my mind. When I think that each light has a life of its own, I feel like sending encouragement to every single one of them. It's different from the grandeur I feel when looking at the stars in the universe, but it touches the heart, doesn't it? Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground."

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.

Video Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/K. Yui
Duration: 41 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 10, 2026

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #Humans #Humanity #Civilizations #CityLights #Nightflights #Astronauts #AstronautVideography #UnitedStates #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The APEX Radio Astronomy Telescope: Beginning of a New Chapter | ESO

The APEX Radio Astronomy Telescope: Beginning of a New Chapter | ESO

This video provides a glimpse into one of the highest altitude observatories on Earth: the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). APEX is a telescope designed to explore cold, dark regions of our Universe, such as dense clouds of gas and cosmic dust where new stars are born. While visible light is obscured by the dust, these regions glow bright at the (sub)millimeter wavelengths that APEX observes. APEX allows astronomers, among other things, to study the chemical conditions within these clouds, detecting a variety of molecules in these dark, distant regions of our Universe.

Water vapor in the atmosphere absorbs these wavelengths. This is the reason APEX is located on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert at an altitude of 5,100 meters (over 16,000 feet)—one of the driest regions on Earth with few clouds.

Once a joint project of the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and the European Southern Observatory, APEX now enters a new chapter and becomes a project solely of the MPIfR. However, the science continues!

This caption was written by Julian Seeholzer, one of the winners of the European Contest for Young Scientists in 2023.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Editing: A. Tsaousis
Footage and photos: ESO, A. Tsaousis, B. Tafreshi, S. Molyneux, F. Mac Auliffe, ALMA/NAOJ/NRAO/General Dynamics C4 Systems
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Dec. 29, 2025

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Gas #Dust #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #APEX #RadioAstronomy #ChajnantorPlateau #AtacamaDesert #Chile #Europe #MPIfR #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #HD #Video

CAFFEINE Survey Gives Astronomers "a Latte" to Think About | ESO

CAFFEINE Survey Gives Astronomers "a Latte" to Think About | ESO

Creating a star is hard work, and the process is not very efficient. Current knowledge suggests that a stellar nursery must have a minimum density of gas and dust for a star to form. Only 1-2% of all the gas and dust in these clouds is utilized to ignite a star. Could even denser regions be more efficient at forming stars?

[Note: a latte is a type of coffee made with espresso and hot steamed milk, milkier than a cappuccino.]

In this picture, we are looking at GAL316, one of the many stellar nurseries a team of astronomers observed to answer this question. This region is part of a survey called CAFFEINE—an astronomer’s best friend—carried out using the ArTéMiS camera at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), a radio-telescope in the Chajnantor plateau. Now operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, this telescope captures the faint glow of cold gas clouds, seen here as a blue glow. This glow has been overlaid on a starry background captured with the European Southern Observatory’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) telescope. GAL316 is a star-forming region located approximately 11,400 light-years away in the constellation Compass.

Results from the study show that, unlike astronomers that can become more efficient with a bit of caffeine, the densest regions observed with this CAFFEINE survey seemed no more efficient at producing stars than any other stellar nursery above the minimum density.

Image Description: A blue filamentary cloud across a backdrop of thousands of stars.

VISTA Telescope
https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vista.html

Learn more about APEX
https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/apex/

Read science paper "Understanding the star formation efficiency in dense gas: Initial results from the CAFFEINE survey with ArTéMiS⋆"
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2024/08/aa49908-24.pdf

Credit: ESO/M. Mattern, P. André et al. Background: VVV
Release Date: Jan. 5, 2026

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarFormation #Nebulae #StellarNurseries #CAFFEINESurvey #GAL316 #Compass #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #APEX #RadioAstronomy #VISTATelescope #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Planet Mars Images: Dec. 17-30, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Dec. 17-30, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

MSL - sol 1750

MSL - sol 1728

Mars 2020 - sol 1717

Mars 2020 - sol 1717

MSL - Sol 4755

MSL - Sol 4755

MSL - Sol 4755

MSL - Sol 4755

Updates: Fewer photos, including color-processed ones, are currently available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory due to the holidays and because NASA's Mars MAVEN Mission has experienced a serious anomaly that makes it unable to relay image data from the rovers on the Martian surface. Older NASA Mars orbiters or those from partner agencies will be increasingly needed to fulfill this role in the future, until a new generation replacement orbiter for Earth-Mars communications arrives.

Become a monthly Friends of NASA supporter on our website: 

https://www.friendsofnasa.org/p/friends-of-nasa.html

Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education. 

We depend on public donations.

One-time Donations to Friends of NASA (PayPal) accepted here: https://www.paypal.me/FriendsofNASA

Celebrating 13+ Years on Mars (2012-2025)

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: Dec. 17-30, 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

Historic Saturn V Rocket & Space Shuttle Test Stands Removed | NASA Marshall

Historic Saturn V Rocket & Space Shuttle Test Stands Removed | NASA Marshall

On Jan. 10, 2026, two test stands at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center near Huntsville, Alabama,—the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility and the Dynamic Test Facility—were removed by carefully coordinated implosions. The demolition of these historic structures is part of a larger project that began in spring 2022, targeting several inactive structures as the Marshall Space Flight Center prepares for the next era of space exploration.

Learn more about these structures and their legacies here:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/nasa-marshall-prepares-for-demolition-of-historic-test-simulation-facilities/

Crews also began demolition in mid-December at the Marshall Space Flight Center's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, a facility built in the late 1960s that once enabled NASA astronauts and researchers to experience near-weightlessness. The facility was also used to conduct underwater testing of space hardware and practice runs for servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. The simulator was closed in 1997.

Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator allowed engineers and astronauts to develop hardware and to practice procedures in this tank from its completion in 1968 through its decommissioning in 1997. Marshall recognized the need for underwater simulations of extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) and developed three successively larger tanks for the purpose. The Neutral Buoyancy Simulator contributed significantly to the American crewed space program. Skylab, the Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station have all benefited from the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. Until Johnson Space Center constructed the Weightless Environment Test Facility in the mid-1970s, MSFC had the only NASA-owned test facility that allowed engineers and astronauts to become familiar with the dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions.

Learn more about NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center: https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/

Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Duration: 38 seconds
Capture Date: Jan. 10, 2026

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