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Wednesday, February 04, 2026

Wide-view: Galaxy Cluster Abell 3827 in Indus—Mass Map | Victor Blanco Telescope

Wide-view: Galaxy Cluster Abell 3827 in Indus—Mass Map | Victor Blanco Telescope

Galaxy clusters are massive collections of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies, bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction. Using the Dark Energy Camera (DEC) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) NOIRLab, astronomers are measuring weak gravitational lensing to map the distribution of mass in nearby galaxy clusters. As well as producing remarkable images like this one, the information will shed light on the relationships between the constituent parts of nearby galaxy clusters, such as gas, stellar populations, and dark matter.

The galaxy cluster Abell 3827 is the subject of this striking image. In addition to featuring a field of galaxies and foreground stars, the image is overlaid with a map with hues of red, blue and purple. Though they are attractive, these colors are not for decoration—they represent the distribution of mass in the heart of Abell 3827 with red showing the largest mass concentration.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Release Date: June 4, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GalaxyCluster #Abell3827 #MassConcentrationMapping #GravitationalLensing #Astrophysics #IndusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #NOIRLab #NSF #DECam #DOE #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Close-up: Galaxy Cluster Abell 3827 in Indus—Mass Map | Victor Blanco Telescope

Close-up: Galaxy Cluster Abell 3827 in Indus—Mass Map | Victor Blanco Telescope

Dark Energy Camera (DECam)

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/victor-blanco-4m-telescope/decam/

Learn about the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Release Date: June 4, 2020

'Eyes in The Sky': Mrk 739 in Leo—Galaxies & Supermassive Black Holes Merge

'Eyes in The Sky': Mrk 739 in Leo—Galaxies & Supermassive Black Holes Merge

Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?

This friendly-looking object is the result of two galaxies merging into one another, complete with a pair of eyes hiding two growing supermassive black holes and a swirling grin. Such mergers are rare in our galactic neighborhood. Mrk 739 is close enough (astronomically speaking) to study the event in detail, and thus gain a better understanding of the dramatic processes that take place during these cosmic mergers.

Note: The Markarian (Mrk) galaxies are a class of galaxies that have nuclei with excessive amounts of ultraviolet emissions compared with other galaxies.

By using the MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), the team of astronomers, led by master’s student Dusán Tubín at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, were able to study the effects of the merger and the radiation emitted by the growing gigantic black holes. Their study answers questions about the motion of the galaxies, the age of their stars, and the elements they are made up of. They have found that one of these galaxies is much older than its companion, and that their merging process is at an early stage.

MUSE is a 3D spectrograph that takes images—known as “datacubes”—of the object being observed over thousands of wavelengths. With MUSE, astronomers are therefore able to map in great detail the properties of the objects they study, because each individual pixel contains an impressive amount of information. Obtaining these exciting insights into galaxy merging and evolution with MUSE is enough to make anyone smile.

Credit: ESO/Tubín et al.
Release Date: April 26, 2021

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Mrk739 #InteractingGalaxies #BlackHoles #GalacticMergers #LeoConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #VLT #MUSE #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

From Sea to Stars: China's First Sea-based Spaceport

From Sea to Stars: China's First Sea-based Spaceport—Home of Orienspace

On the shores of the Yellow Sea stands China's first rocket launch vessel—the very own "starship" setting sail toward the cosmos. Since 2019, it has launched Long March 11, Gravity-1, Ceres-1 and more.

Orienspace, a private Chinese rocket manufacturer, successfully launches their 30-meter-tall Gravity 1 Y2 commercial carrier rocket with four solid-rocket boosters (SRBs) off the coast of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province from this sea-based space port. Gravity 1 is currently the world's largest and most powerful commercial solid-propellant rocket that produces 600 tonnes of thrust at liftoff. With a liftoff weight of 405 metric tons and a thrust of 600 tons, the rocket can carry a spacecraft weighing up to 6.5 tons to a low-Earth orbit, or 4.2 tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers, according to Orienspace—founded in 2020 by a group of veteran researchers from State-owned space enterprises.

Gravity 1 is the most powerful commercial rocket in China today.

Its liftoff weight and thrust surpass those of the European Space Agency's Vega-C, previously the world's most powerful solid-propellant rocket.

In addition, at this time, Gravity 1 is the first and only private rocket in China that has side boosters and the largest fairing, or nose cone—the top structure on a rocket that contains satellites or other payloads.

The use of solid fuel is "convenient and safe." It allows for the process of rocket assembly, testing and launch to be completed within a 5 kilometer radius, significantly reducing production time and cost.

Offshore launches offer additional advantages in terms of safety and frequency with potential for weekly launch missions using a single vessel, according to OrienSpace.

The Gravity-1 rocket structure is designed for rapid mass production. Its core and boosters have the same diameter, simplifying the manufacturing process and significantly improving manufacturing efficiency, while cutting production costs.

OrienSpace said it aimed to achieve liquid rocket recyclability and reusability within 1-2 years, increasing its carrying capacity to 15-20 tonnes and further driving down costs.

Video Credit: CGTN
Duration: 5 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #China #中国 #Spaceports #OrienSpace #东方空间 #SeaLaunch #Haiyang #RizhaoCity #Shandong #山东 #YellowSea #RocketLaunches #Gravity1Rockets #引力1号 #SolidFuelRockets #Ceres1Rockets #LongMarch11Rockets #CommercialSpace #ChinaSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Mars: Fly around Flaugergues Crater—Animation | Europe's Mars Express Orbiter

Mars: Fly around Flaugergues Crater—Animation | Europe's Mars Express Orbiter

The European Space Agency's Mars Express takes us on a journey across the southern highlands of Mars to Flaugergues Crater. The video begins by tracking along a swathe of ground enclosed by two steeply sloping and roughly parallel cliffs—or escarpments—named Scylla Scopulus and Charybdis Scopulus (to the left and right, respectively). This 'path' of ground is called a graben, created as tectonic plates pulled apart. It measures about 75 km wide by 1 km deep.

The prominent, 150-km-wide Bakhuysen Crater can be seen to the left.

The camera continues travelling northwards, approaching Flaugergues Crater in the distance. It moves along the crater’s eastern side before circling around to the left and ending at its western rim.

Flaugergues Crater is a roughly 240-km-wide basin found in Mars’ southern highlands, where most of the rough terrain is densely covered in craters. Half of the crater floor is also rugged, with parts rising up to elevations of around 1 kilometer. We see a valley crossing this rocky patch that was likely shaped by flows of wind and lava.

Enjoy the flight, and be sure to view the associated map of the area. It shows the route taken by the camera and highlights the key features seen throughout the journey. These features are also indicated in the voiceover.

Flaugergues Crater's Coordinates on Mars: 17.0°S 340.8°W

Learn more:
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2026

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Mars #SouthernHighlands #FlaugerguesCrater #BakhuysenCrater #ScyllaScopulus #CharybdisScopulus #Geology #Grabens #MarsExpress #MarsExpressSpacecraft #HRSC #Europe #DLR #FUBerlin #Berlin #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Cosmonaut Photos: South Georgia Island & Antarctica | International Space Station

Cosmonaut Photos: South Georgia Island & Antarctica | International Space Station

South Georgia island

The Antarctic Peninsula

These images were shared by Expedition 74 Station Commander and Cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Russia aboard the International Space Station: "A couple more photos of summer (yes, it's high summer in the Southern Hemisphere right now) Antarctica."

First Image: South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around 1,400 kilometers (870 mi) east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east–west direction, South Georgia is around 170 kilometers (106 mi) long and has a maximum width of 35 kilometers (22 mi). The terrain is mountainous, with the central ridge rising to 2,935 meters (9,629 ft) at Mount Paget. The northern coast is indented with numerous bays and fjords, serving as harbors.

Second Image: The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. The Antarctic Peninsula is part of the larger peninsula of West Antarctica, protruding 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) from a line between Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of the Eklund Islands. Beneath the ice sheet that covers it, the Antarctic Peninsula consists of a string of bedrock islands; these are separated by deep channels whose bottoms lie at depths considerably below current sea level. They are joined by a grounded ice sheet. Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America, is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away across the Drake Passage. The Antarctic Peninsula is 522,000 square kilometers (202,000 sq mi) in area and is currently eighty-percent ice-covered.

Follow Expedition 74:

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

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer: Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineer: 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: Roscosmos/S. Kud Sverchkov
Date: Jan. 28, 2026

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Planets #Earth #SouthGeorgia #UK #UnitedKingdom #Antarctica #AntarcticaPeninsula #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #SergeyKudSverchkov #CosmonautPhotography #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Planetary Nebula Abell 24 in Canis Minor | European Southern Observatory

Planetary Nebula Abell 24 in Canis Minor | European Southern Observatory

This red-hued cloud of gas is named Abell 24, and is located in the constellation of Canis Minor (The Lesser Dog). It is something known as a planetary nebula—a burst of gas and dust created when a star dies and throws its outer layers into space. Despite the name, planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. The term was coined by William Herschel, that also famously discovered Uranus. In a time of low-resolution astronomy, these nebulous objects appeared to resemble giant planets swimming in a dark cosmos.

A Sun-like star spends most of its life converting hydrogen into helium in its core. In its twilight years the star runs out of fuel and becomes unbalanced; it can no longer resist the inward crush of gravity and the core begins to collapse. The temperature in the core rises dramatically while the cooler outer layers expand, causing the entire star to bloat into a red giant. When the Sun begins its transformation into a red giant it will expand to completely engulf the innermost planets and possibly also the Earth, growing to over 250 times its current radius! Strong winds then expel the gaseous outer layers of the star, forming a shell of gas that spreads out into the vastness of space. The red giant's venting atmosphere will eventually expose its hot, luminous remnant core. This will emit fierce ultraviolet radiation and ionize the surrounding gas. This image shows the faint nebulous glow of a stellar swansong—the bright remnant of a long-dead star.

Taken with the VLT’s FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph (FORS) instrument, this image is part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Cosmic Gems program, an initiative to produce images of scientifically interesting and visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes for the purposes of education and public outreach. The program makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: July 8, 2019

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Abell24 #PlanetaryNebulae #CanisMinorConstellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #VLT #FORS #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA Crew-12 Dragon Spacecraft Launchpad Arrival | International Space Station

NASA Crew-12 Dragon Spacecraft Launchpad Arrival | International Space Station

The SpaceX Crew-12 Dragon spacecraft has arrived at its Launchpad 40 hangar ahead of the upcoming launch to the International Space Station. This will take place no earlier than February 11, 2026, from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission will see four people embark on a long-duration science expedition to the International Space Station. Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway are the NASA astronauts supporting the mission. Meir will serve as commander and Hathaway will serve as the Crew-12 pilot. The crew also has two mission specialists, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot of France and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.

They have trained for their mission across the world, including NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, SpaceX facilities in Hawthorne, California, and international training locations. Once their Dragon spacecraft arrives at the space station, they will spend their mission conducting scientific experiments and maintaining the orbiting lab.

Learn more about the mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

Follow Expedition 74:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer: Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineer: Chris Williams

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Date: Feb. 3, 2026

#NASA #Space #ISS #SpaceX #SpaceXCrew12 #CrewDragonSpacecraft #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #JackHathaway #SophieAdenot #France #Europe #ESA #Cosmonauts #AndreyFedyaev #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition74 #Expedition75 #CapeCanaveral #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Dark Matter Web in a Galactic SuperCluster: Abell 901/902 | Hubble

Dark Matter Web in a Galactic SuperCluster: Abell 901/902 | Hubble

This image reveals the distribution of dark matter in the supercluster Abell 901/902, composed of hundreds of galaxies. The image shows the entire supercluster. Astronomers assembled this photo by combining a visible-light image of the supercluster taken with the MPG/European Southern Observatory 2.2-meter telescope in La Silla, Chile, with a dark matter map derived from observations with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope.

The magenta-tinted clumps represent a map of the dark matter in the cluster. Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the universe's mass. The image shows that the supercluster galaxies lie within the clumps of dark matter.

Hubble cannot see the dark matter directly. Astronomers inferred its location by analysing the effect of so-called weak gravitational lensing, where light from more than 60,000 galaxies behind Abell 901/902 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster. Researchers used the observed, subtle distortion of the galaxies' shapes to reconstruct the dark matter distribution in the supercluster.

The image was assembled by combining a visible-light image of the supercluster with a map of the dark matter distribution.

Learn more about dark matter:
https://science.nasa.gov/dark-matter/

The image is part of the Space Telescope Abell 901/902 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES) covers one of the largest patches of sky ever observed by the Hubble telescope. The area surveyed is so wide that it took eighty Hubble images to cover the entire field.

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys made the observations in June and July 2005 and in January 2006.

Credits:
Hubble images: NASA, ESA, C. Heymans (University of British Columbia, Vancouver), M. Gray (University of Nottingham, U.K.), M. Barden (Innsbruck), and the STAGES collaboration
Ground-based image: ESO, C. Wolf (Oxford University, U.K.), K. Meisenheimer (Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg), and the COMBO-17 collaboration
Release Date: Jan. 10, 2008

#NASA #ESA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #EarlyUniverse #DarkMatter #Superclusters #Abell901 #Abell902 #GalaxyClusters #SextansConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #Cosmology #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Night Lights of Armenia and Türkiye | International Space Station

Night Lights of Armenia and Türkiye | International Space Station

Yerevan, Armenia, and its modernized bright LED city lights contrast with the older amber high-pressure sodium lights of Iğdır, Türkiye (left), in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above Earth at approximately 11:12 p.m. local time.

Villages light up the coastline in this nighttime image of Lake Sevan, one of the largest freshwater high-altitude lakes in the world, sitting at 1,900 meters above sea level in Armenia. Lake Sevan is protected as Sevan National Park for its ecological importance and for providing landlocked Armenia with most of its fish. The International Space Station was orbiting 262 miles above Earth at 11:13 p.m. local time when this photograph was taken.

These images were captured by Expedition 74 flight engineer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kim Yui.

Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. Yerevan is the capital, largest city and financial center. Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia. The lake is situated in Gegharkunik Province, at an altitude of 1,900 m (6,234 ft) above sea level. The total surface area of its basin is about 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi), making up one-sixth of Armenia's territory.

Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Iğdır is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Iğdır Province and Iğdır District.

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: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/K. Yui
Date: Jan. 3, 2026

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Yerevan #LakeSevan #Armenia #Iğdır #Türkiye #Astronauts #KimiyaYui #油井亀美也 #AstronautPhotography #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

Sunspot Region AR 4366: A Solar Flare Factory

Sunspot Region AR 4366: A Solar Flare 'Factory'

Astrophotographer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau: "Today at noon, from Argentina (UT−3), I captured this image of the Sun using my H-alpha telescope, at a moment of intense solar activity. The main feature is sunspot AR 4366, a true solar flare factory, which over the past 24 hours has produced 23 M-class flares and 4 X-class flares, including a powerful X8 event recorded yesterday. The photograph shows the full solar disk, allowing the enormous size of AR 4366 to be seen in its global context. At the time of capture, the region was particularly active, while multiple striking prominences are visible around the solar limb and several filaments can be seen across the disk, highlighting the strong magnetic instability currently affecting our star."

The most active sunspot of Solar Cycle 25 is turning toward Earth.

The light arriving here from the Sun at the H-alpha frequency (656.28 nanometers) comes from a rarified layer of hydrogen gas slightly above the photosphere, the bright surface of the Sun. This hydrogen layer is called the solar chromosphere, and it is invisible without using instruments to filter out brighter, competing bandwidths of light.

Occasionally, dark spots freckle the face of the Sun. These are sunspots, cooler regions on the Sun caused by a concentration of magnetic field lines. Sunspots are the visible component of active regions, areas of intense and complex magnetic fields on the Sun that are the source of solar eruptions. Sunspots can be seen on the Sun’s photosphere, or visible surface of the Sun. The number of sunspots goes up and down as the Sun goes through its natural 11-year cycle. Scientists use sunspots to help them track this cycle.

Learn more about sunspots:
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/sunspots/

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

Image Credit: Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau
Location: Rafaela, Provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina
Eduardo's website: https://www.eduardoschaberger.ar
Image Date: Feb. 2, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Earth #Stars #SolarSystem #Sun #Sunspots #AR4366 #SolarCycle25 #SolarFlares #CMEs #HAlphaAstronomy #MagneticFields #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #Physics #Spacecraft #Satellites #ElectricalGrids #Astrophotography #EduardoSchabergerPoupeau #Astrophotographer #Rafaela #ProvinciadeSantaFe #Argentina #STEM #Education

Fireball Passes by Mount Fuji Stratovolcano in Japan | Earth Science

Fireball Passes by Mount Fuji Stratovolcano in Japan | Earth Science

Photographer "Daichi Fujii": "This is a photograph of the fireball that occurred at 9:05:27pm on February 1, 2026, taken from Mt. Fuji. I got a hole-in-one at the Hoei crater. Recently, every month, a bright fireball has been captured seemingly overlapping with Mt. Fuji."

In astronomy, fireballs, also known as bolides, are exceptionally bright meteors that, like all meteors, heat up when they enter Earth's atmosphere at high velocities and leave a trail of glowing material in the sky. Meteors are classified as fireballs when they shine brighter than the planets—an apparent magnitude of –4 or brighter.

A fireball is a very bright meteor—one at least as bright as Venus and possibly brighter than even a full Moon. Fireballs are rare—if you see one you are likely to remember it for your whole life. Physically, a fireball is a small rock that originated from an asteroid or comet that typically leaves a fading smoke trail of gas and dust as it shoots through the Earth's atmosphere. It is unlikely that any single large ground strike occurred—much of the rock likely vaporized as it broke up into many small pieces.

Learn more about Fireballs:
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu with a summit elevation of 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft 3 in). It is the tallest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia and seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth. The mountain is located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Tokyo and is visible from the Japanese capital on clear days. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, usually covered in snow for about five months of the year, is commonly used as a cultural icon of Japan and is frequently depicted in art and photography, as well as visited by sightseers, hikers and mountain climbers. Mount Fuji last erupted between 1707 and 1708.

Source: Daichi Fujii (@dfuji1 on X)

Duration: 3 seconds
Date: Feb 1, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planets #Earth #Meteors #Fireballs #Bolides #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #MountFuji #富士山 #Honshu #Japan #日本 #Astrophotography #Astrophotographers #Photographers #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: Planetary Nebula Abell 7 in Lepus

Close-up: Planetary Nebula Abell 7 in Lepus

Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant. It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Lepus, The Hare. Posing with scattered Milky Way stars, its generally simple spherical shape about 8 light-years in diameter is revealed in this deep telescopic image. The beautiful and complex shapes seen within the cosmic cloud are visually enhanced by the use of long exposures and narrowband filters that capture emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Otherwise Abell 7 would be much too faint to be appreciated by eye. A planetary nebula represents a very brief final phase in stellar evolution that our own Sun will experience 5 billion years hence, as the nebula's central, once sun-like star shrugs off its outer layers. Abell 7 itself is estimated to be 20,000 years old. But its central star, seen here as a fading white dwarf, is some 10 billion years old.

Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

Martin's website: https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/
Release Date: Jan. 23, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebulae #Abell7 #LepusConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #MartinPugh #Astrophotographers #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Sun Sets on NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket | Kennedy Space Center

Sun Sets on NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket | Kennedy Space Center

The sun is seen setting behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher on January 31, 2026. The rocket is currently at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as teams were preparing for a wet dress rehearsal to practice timelines and procedures for the launch of Artemis II.

The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), around the Moon and back to Earth no later than April 2026.

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

NASA Artemis II Mission page:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Follow NASA updates on the Artemis Program blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Video Credit: NASA/Sam Lott
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Date: Jan. 31, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #SLS #SLSRocket #CrewedMissions #Astronauts #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #KSC #MerrittIsland #Florida #ULA #UnitedStates #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planetary Nebula Abell 74 in Vulpecula: Wide-field view | Mayall Telescope

Planetary Nebula Abell 74 in Vulpecula: Wide-field view | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Abell 74 is an ancient planetary nebula. Because of its age it is a very faint target. Ancient planetary nebulae are often distorted in shape due to interactions with the interstellar medium. Interestingly, Abell 74 is remarkably symmetric despite its age. The image was generated with observations in the Hydrogen alpha (red) and Oxygen [OIII] (blue) filters. In this image, North is left, East is down.

Learn more about the Mayall Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/kpno/telescopes/nicholas-mayall-4m-telescope

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Release Date: June 30, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebulae #Abell74 #VulpeculaConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #MayallTelescope #KPNO #Arizona #NSF #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Monday, February 02, 2026

X8-class Solar Flare Detected | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

X8-class Solar Flare Detected | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

This image is an extreme ultraviolet view of the Sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It shows the bright flash of a X8-class solar flare on the Sun’s upper left side. The rest of the surface is mottled with darker and lighter regions, and faint loops of solar material can be seen extending off the Sun’s edges.

The Sun emitted a strong X8-class solar flare on February 1, 2026 at 23:57 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watches the Sun constantly and captured images of the event.

Giant sunspot 4366 is a solar flare 'factory'. In the past 24 hours, it has produced 23 M-class solar flares and 4 X-class flares. The most intense so far was yesterday's X8-class flare, shown here in this animated Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere. This, in turn, caused a shortwave radio blackout across the South Pacific Ham radio operators in Australia and New Zealand may have experienced loss of signal below 30 MHz for hours after the flare's peak.

Update: The European Space Agency's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) SOHO and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) coronagraph images confirm that several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) emerged from yesterday's collection of flares. None of them appears to be either potent or squarely Earth-directed. Glancing blows expected on February 4-6 could spark G1 (Minor) to G2 (Moderate) geomagnetic storms.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X1.9 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.

NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Image Credits: NASA/SDO, NOAA

Text Credits: Spaceweather[dot]com, NOAA
Capture Date: Feb. 1, 2026

Release Date: Feb. 2, 2026

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