Thursday, November 07, 2019

Sunburst Arc Doppelgangers | Hubble

Sunburst Arc Doppelgangers | Hubble
Warped Space Creates Kaleidoscope View of Faraway Galaxy
This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows an astronomical object whose image is multiplied by the effect of strong gravitational lensing. The galaxy, nicknamed the Sunburst Arc, is almost 11 billion light-years away from Earth and has been lensed into multiple images by a massive cluster of galaxies 4.6 billion light-years away [1].

The mass of the galaxy cluster is large enough to bend and magnify the light from the more distant galaxy behind it. This process leads not only to a deformation of the light from the object, but also to a multiplication of the image of the lensed galaxy.

In the case of the Sunburst Arc the lensing effect led to at least 12 images of the galaxy, distributed over four major arcs. Three of these arcs are visible in the top right of the image, while one counterarc is visible in the lower left—partially obscured by a bright foreground star within the Milky Way.

Hubble uses these cosmic magnifying glasses to study objects otherwise too faint and too small for even its extraordinarily sensitive instruments. The Sunburst Arc is no exception, despite being one of the brightest gravitationally-lensed galaxies known.

The lens makes various images of the Sunburst Arc between 10 and 30 times brighter. This allows Hubble to view structures as small as 520 light-years across—a rare detailed observation for an object that distant. This compares reasonably well with star forming regions in galaxies in the local Universe, allowing astronomers to study the galaxy and its environment in great detail.

Hubble’s observations showed that the Sunburst Arc is an analogue of galaxies which existed at a much earlier time in the history of the Universe: a period known as the epoch of reionization—an era which began only 150 million years after the Big Bang [2].

The epoch of reionization was a key era in the early Universe, one which ended the “dark ages”, the epoch before the first stars were created when the Universe was dark and filled with neutral hydrogen [3]. Once the first stars formed, they started to radiate light, producing the high-energy photons required to ionize the neutral hydrogen [4].

This converted the intergalactic matter into the mostly ionized form in which it exists today. However, to ionize intergalactic hydrogen, high-energy radiation from these early stars would have had to escape their host galaxies without first being absorbed by interstellar matter. So far only a small number of galaxies have been found to “leak” high-energy photons into deep space. How this light escaped from the early galaxies remains a mystery.

The analysis of the Sunburst Arc helps astronomers to add another piece to the puzzle—it seems that at least some photons can leave the galaxy through narrow channels in a gas rich neutral medium. This is the first observation of a long-theorized process [5]. While this process is unlikely to be the main mechanism that led the Universe to become reionized, it may very well have provided a decisive push.

Notes
[1] The official designation of the Sunburst Arc galaxy is PSZ1 G311.65-18.48.

[2] The further we look into space, the further back we look in time. This allows astronomers to study different epochs of the Universe, by studying objects at different distances.

[3] Ionization is the process of gaining or losing electrons to leave electrically charged particles. The era is known as reionization because, after the Big Bang, matter formed first into protons and electrons. Then, during the era of recombination—about 380 000 years after the Big Bang—neutral hydrogen formed from these particles for the first time.

[4] While an ionized hydrogen atom consists of only the core of the atom (one proton) a neutral hydrogen atom contains a nucleus of one proton which is orbited by one electron.

[5] The paper outlining these observations will appear in the journal, Science, on November 8, 2019.

Image Credit: ESA, NASA, E. Rivera-Thorsen et al.
Release Date: November 7, 2019



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Sunburst #Arc #PSZ1G311651848 #Cluster #Gravitational #Lens #Apus #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Monday, November 04, 2019

Islands and Clouds | International Space Station

Islands and Clouds | International Space Station
Iceberg-like blades cutting through the clouds in Earth's South Atlantic Ocean. This image shows the islands of: Zavodovski; Visokoi; (small un-named outcrops towards right); Candlemas and Vindication; Saunders; Montagu; and Bristol; and three at the top (left to right): Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule. It was captured by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano during his Beyond mission on the International Space Station.

Learn about Luca's Beyond mission:
http://lucaparmitano.esa.int

Credit: NASA/ESA
Image Date: October 29, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Technology #Earth #Islands #SouthSandwich #Zavodovski #Visokoi #SouthAtlantic #Atlantic #Ocean #Astronaut #ESA #LucaParmitano #MissionBeyond #Italia #Italy #Expedition60 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective

A Cosmic Bat in Flight | ESO

A Cosmic Bat in Flight | ESO
Hidden in one of the darkest corners of the Orion constellation, this Cosmic Bat is spreading its hazy wings through interstellar space two thousand light-years away. It is illuminated by the young stars nestled in its core—despite being shrouded by opaque clouds of dust, their bright rays still illuminate the nebula. Too dim to be discerned by the naked eye, NGC 1788 reveals its soft colors to ESO's Very Large Telescope in this image—the most detailed to date.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: March 14, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Nebula #NGC1788 #Stars #Orion #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Nov. 1, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Nov. 1, 2019
The Space Launch System core stage pathfinder—a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's actual core stage—was loaded back onto NASA's Pegasus barge for its return trip to the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. While at Kennedy, the pathfinder allowed teams to practice offloading, maneuvering and stacking techniques. Also, SpaceX fired up the Crew Dragon's SuperDraco engines in preparation of the company's In-Flight Abort Test.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 1 minute, 42 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SpaceX #CrewDragon #ElonMusk #LaunchAmerica #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Important Cargo Headed to International Space Station | This Week@NASA

Important Cargo Headed to International Space Station
This Week@NASA
This Week@NASA | Nov. 2, 2019: Important cargo headed to the space station, installing the thrust behind our return to the Moon, and a devastating wildfire seen from space . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: November 2, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthrupGrumman #Antares #Rocket #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #SpaceStation20th #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Moon #Artemis #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

Saturday, November 02, 2019

Skywatching: What's Up for November 2019 | NASA/JPL

Skywatching: What's Up for November 2019 | NASA/JPL
Highlights of the November sky include how to watch as Mercury transits the Sun on Nov. 11, plus how to observe the regular dimming and brightening of the "Demon star," Algol, with your own eyes.

Algol animation is licensed as CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Credit NASA-JPL/Caltech
Duration: 3 minutes, 5 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019



#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Skywatching #Moon #Planets #Mercury #Transit #Sun #SolarSystem #Stars #Star #Algol #Perseus #Constellations #MilkyWay #Galaxy #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, November 01, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Continuous Station Presence for 19 Years

NASA's Space to Ground: 
Continuous Station Presence for 19 Years
Week of Nov. 1, 2019: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
A U.S. cargo craft is poised to resupply the International Space Station just days after a Japanese space freighter departed the orbiting lab Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Expedition 61 crew today continued an array of microgravity research and spacewalk preparations.

Flight Engineer Christina Koch with back-up support from NASA astronaut Jessica Meir used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release Japan’s HTV-8 cargo spacecraft at 1:21 p.m. EDT today. The cargo craft spent five weeks attached to the orbiting lab following a Sept. 24 launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

HTV-8 delivered some five tons of supplies and experiments to the orbital complex as well as new lithium-ion batteries. The batteries were installed in the electronics system of the far port truss of the complex replacing older nickel-hydrogen batteries and upgrading the station’s power supply.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply ship sits atop an Antares rocket loaded with 8,200 pounds of science experiments and station hardware. Liftoff will take place on Saturday at 9:59 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Meir and Koch will be in the cupola Monday morning awaiting the arrival of Cygnus. Meir will command the Canadarm2 to reach out and grapple Cygnus at 4:10 a.m. EST. Koch will back up Meir as astronaut Andrew Morgan of NASA monitors Cygnus’ approach and rendezvous.

Morgan and Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) are also getting up to speed with repair techniques for an external cosmic particle detector. The duo is reviewing procedures to replace the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s (AMS) thermal control system during a series of spacewalks tentatively planned for this month. The AMS measures the charge, velocity and mass of cosmic rays in its search for evidence of dark matter and anti-matter.

Morgan also watered plants and set up biology hardware that will house rodents shipped aboard Cygnus. Parmitano monitored the free-flying Astrobee robotic assistant testing its autonomous ability to perform tasks inside the space station’s Kibo laboratory module.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka focused on Russian spacecraft work and science in their segment of the space station. The duo charged Soyuz crew ship batteries and packed a Progress cargo craft. Skvortsov then studied how pain adjusts to microgravity while Skripochka moved on to plumbing tasks.

Credit; NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 25 seconds
Release Date: November 1, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthrupGrumman #Antares #Rocket #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #SpaceStation20th #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, October 31, 2019

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble
This ghostly image shows what can happen when an interstellar cloud passes too close to a star. Barnard's Merope Nebula, also known as IC 349, is a cloud of interstellar gas and dust travelling through the Pleiades star cluster at a relative speed of 11 kilometers per second. It is passing close to the star Merope, located 0.06 light years away from the cloud, which is equivalent to about 3 500 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This passage is disrupting the nebula and creating the wispy effect seen in the image.

Merope is located just out of the frame at the top right. Light from the star is reflected from the surface of the cloud, which illuminates it to become what astronomers call a reflection nebula. The beams of light at the upper right from the star are an effect produced by the telescope but the eerie wisps of light from the lower left to upper right are real.

Astronomers believe that radiation pressure from the star is acting like a sieve to separate dust particles of different sizes. As the nebula approaches Merope, the starlight decelerates dust particles, but the small particles slow down more than the large particles. As an effect, the almost straight lines that are reaching out towards Merope in this view are made of large particles, whereas smaller-sized particles lag behind to create the wispy structure on the lower left.

The nebula will continue its approach towards Merope over the next few thousand years and will eventually move past the star, if it survives. Studying the nebula's interaction with the star is important as it provides a chance to observe interstellar material in an unusual situation and learn more about interstellar dust.

The nebula near Merope was discovered in 1890 by E.E. Barnard using the 36 inch telescope at the Lick Observatory in California. This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on September 19, 1999 and was originally published in 2000.

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), George Herbig and Theodore Simon (University of Hawaii); CC BY 4.0
Image Date: September 19, 1999



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #Merope #IC349 #Pleiades #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble
Galaxies may seem lonely, floating alone in the vast, inky blackness of the sparsely populated cosmos—but looks can be deceiving. The subject of this Picture of the Week, NGC 1706, is a good example of this. NGC 1706 is a spiral galaxy, about 230 million light-years away, in the constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish).

NGC 1706 is known to belong to something known as a galaxy group, which is just as the name suggests—a group of up to 50 galaxies which are gravitationally bound and hence relatively close to each other. Around half of the galaxies we know of in the Universe belong to some kind of group, making them incredibly common cosmic structures. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, belongs to the Local Group, which also contains the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Triangulum Galaxy.

Groups are the smallest of galactic gatherings; others are clusters, which can comprise hundreds of thousands of galaxies bound loosely together by gravity, and subsequent superclusters, which bring together numerous clusters into a single entity.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Bellini et al.
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #NGC1706 #Galaxy #Spiral #Dorado #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Falling in Fornax | ESO

Falling in Fornax | ESO
This strikingly simple and serene view of NGC 1404—a giant elliptical galaxy located 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace)—hides the galaxy’s cruel reality.

NGC 1404 is one of the galaxies comprising the massive Fornax Cluster—and it is slowly falling inwards towards the cluster’s core. As it moves towards the cluster’s large centermost galaxy, NGC 1399, the galaxy’s reserves of hot gas are being forcibly ripped and stripped away, leaving an elongated tell-tale trail of gas in its wake. While not visible in this image, this gas stream can be seen clearly in X-ray images of the galaxy; in time, NGC 1404 will lose most of its hot gas, and therefore its ability to form new stars.


The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS instrument. The bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Stars #NGC1404 #Galaxy #Elliptical #Fornax #Star #HD22862 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019
The NASA Business Opportunities Expo 2019 attracted about 200 business and government exhibitors. The event, which highlighted women-owned small businesses—and other socioeconomic categories—was held in Port Canaveral. Also, the rock band X Ambassadors toured unique areas around Kennedy Space Center, including Launch Complex 39B and Swamp Works.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 1 minute, 58 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Music #XAmbassadors #Band #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 25, 2019

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars | This Week @NASA

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars
This Week @NASA
Week of October 25, 2019: International partnerships for the Moon and Mars, an update on that historic all-woman spacewalk, and a milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope . . . a few of the stories to tell you about This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 2 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Astronomy #JWST #ISS #Science #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #Artemis #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam | Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam
Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

The six residents living aboard the International Space Station are busy today ensuring advanced microgravity research continues to provide benefits for citizens on Earth and in space. The Expedition 61 crew is also brushing up on repair techniques for a cosmic particle detector attached to the outside of the orbiting lab.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch juggled an array of life science activities throughout Thursday. Meir cared for plants for a new field of botany research exploring how to provide fresh food for long-term space crews. Meir later swapped out a failed computer hard drive that supports combustion experiments. Koch organized biology hardware for a study seeking therapies for aging-related conditions. Koch then serviced microbial DNA samples to understand how microorganisms adapt to weightlessness.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is due for an upgraded thermal control system after being installed on the outpost’s Starboard-3 truss structure in 2011. NASA is planning a series of spacewalks to restore the AMS-02 to full service. Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan are reviewing the tools and techniques necessary to complete the AMS repair job.

Over in the station’s Russian segment, composed of five modules, a pair of cosmonauts focused on hardware and systems maintenance. Alexander Skvortsov inspected lab windows and checked batteries. Fellow cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka worked on air conditioning and plumbing tasks inside the orbital lab. The duo also explored how to improve accuracy when detecting and photographing Earth landmarks.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir reflect on the historic spacewalk they performed on Oct. 18—the first ever to be conducted by two women. They spent a total of 7 hours and 17 minutes in the vacuum of space. It was Koch’s fourth spacewalk and Meir’s first.

It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 28 seconds
Release Date: October 23, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir waves at the camera during her first spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Monday, October 21, 2019

Reach High | International Space Station

Reach High | International Space Station
Christina: "To all those reaching to new heights: yes you can."
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir is pictured during a spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education