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A Star and A Galaxy: A Matter of Distance | Hubble
In space, being outshone is an occupational hazard. This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image captures a galaxy named NGC 7250. Despite being remarkable in its own right—it has bright bursts of star formation and recorded supernova explosions—it blends into the background somewhat thanks to the gloriously bright star hogging the limelight next to it.
This bright object is a single and little-studied star named TYC 3203-450-1, located in the constellation of Lacerta (The Lizard), much closer than the much more distant galaxy. Only this way a normal star can outshine an entire galaxy, consisting of billions of stars. Astronomers studying distant objects call these stars “foreground stars” and they are often not very happy about them, as their bright light is contaminating the faint light from the more distant and interesting objects they actually want to study.
In this case TYC 3203-450-1 million times closer than NGC 7250 which lies over 45 million light-years away from us. Would the star be the same distance as NGC 7250, it would hardly be visible in this image.
Star-formation Region RCW 34: Wide-field View | ESO
This image shows the area around the star-forming region Gum 19 (also known as RCW 34), in the direction of the constellation of Vela (The Sails), as seen by the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The image covers an area of 3 by 3 degrees on the sky.
Distance:about 10,000 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
This video gives a close-up look at a richly colored cloud of gas called RCW 34, a site of star formation in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This image was taken using the FORS instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile.
This video sequence takes the viewer from a broad view of the southern skies deep into the constellation of Vela (The Sails). Many glowing gas clouds are seen, including some of the strange blue filaments of the Vela supernova remnant. The final image shows the star forming cloud RCW 34 in a very detailed new image from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
Distance:about 10,000 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger
This richly colored cloud of gas called RCW 34 is a site of star formation in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This image was taken using the FORS instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile.
Image Description: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen during sunrise atop a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as preparations for launch continue, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems.
SpaceX Starlink Mission: August 30, 2022 | Vandenberg Space Force Base
On Tuesday, August 30, 2022, at 10:40 p.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
This was the 7th flight for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, and now five Starlink missions.
Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
NASA's Commercial Crew Program Mission Highlights | Kennedy Space Center
NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, completed several milestones with partners SpaceX and Boeing. SpaceX launched astronauts aboard Crew Dragons to the International Space Station (ISS), and Boeing completed a successful Orbital Flight Test-2, docking its uncrewed Starliner spacecraft to the space station.
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. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Exoplanet WASP-96 b Webb Telescope Data Translated to Sound | NASA
Experience the first full-color images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in a brand new way. Webb observed the atmospheric characteristics of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b—which contains clear signatures of water—and the resulting transmission spectrum’s individual data points were translated into sound.
Data sonifications support blind and low-vision listeners first, but are designed to be captivating to anyone who tunes in. This sonification, which scans the spectrum from left to right, was adapted to a video to allow sighted viewers to watch the progression as the vertical line moves across the graph, ringing out a musical note for each data point. From bottom to top, the y-axis ranges from less to more light blocked. The x-axis represents wavelength of light, and ranges from 0.6 microns on the left to 2.8 microns on the right. The pitches of each data point correspond to the frequencies of light each point represents. Longer wavelengths of light have lower frequencies and are heard as lower pitches. The volume also indicates the amount of light detected in each data point.
The four water signatures are represented by the sound of water droplets falling. These sounds simplify the data—water is detected as a signature that has multiple data points. The sounds align only to the highest points in the data.
This sonification does not represent sounds recorded in space. Two musicians converted Webb’s transmission spectrum to musical pitches to help listeners hear its data.
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; Accessibility Production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI), and Christine Malec (consultant)
Southern Ring Nebula: Webb Telescope Data Translated to Sound | NASA
Experience the first full-color images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in a brand new way. In this video, each of Webb's two views of the Southern Ring Nebula—in near-infrared light (at left) and mid-infrared light (at right)—has been adapted to sound.
Sonifications support blind and low-vision listeners first, but are designed to be captivating to anyone who tunes in. This sonification, which scans the images from left to right, was adapted to a video to allow sighted viewers to watch as a vertical line moves across the frame.
Two stars orbit one another at the center of this planetary nebula. The smaller, fainter red star in the mid-infrared image at right is at the end of its lifetime. It has puffed off layers of gas and dust for thousands of years. Its companion, the brighter, larger star in both images, has stirred up those ejections. Now, listeners can hear the stars and surrounding shells of material in each image clearly.
The colors in the images were mapped to pitches of sound, with frequencies of light converted directly to frequencies of sound. Near-infrared light is represented by a higher range of frequencies at the beginning of the track. Mid-way through, the notes change, becoming lower overall to reflect that mid-infrared includes longer wavelengths of light.
Listen carefully at 15 seconds and 44 seconds. These notes align with the centers of the near- and mid-infrared images, where the stars at the center of the “action” appear. In the near-infrared image that begins the track, only one star is heard clearly, with a louder clang. In the second half of the track, listeners will hear a low note just before a higher note, which denotes that two stars were detected in mid-infrared light. The lower note represents the redder star that created this nebula, and the second is the star that appears brighter and larger.
This sonification does not represent sounds recorded in space. Two musicians mapped the telescope’s data to sound, carefully composing music that represents near- and mid-infrared light, specifically to hear their contrasts. In a way, this sonification is like modern dance or an abstract painting—it converts two of Webb’s images into a new medium to engage and inspire listeners.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; Accessibility Production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI), and Christine Malec (consultant).
The Carina Nebula's Cosmic Cliffs: Webb Telescope Data Translated to Sound | NASA
Experience the first full-color images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in a brand new way. This data sonification maps a near-infrared image of the Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula, captured by NASA’s Webb Telescope, to a symphony of sounds. Musicians assigned unique notes to the semi-transparent, gauzy regions and very dense areas of gas and dust in the nebula, culminating in a buzzing soundscape.
Sonifications support blind and low-vision listeners first, but are designed to be captivating to anyone who tunes in. This sonification, which scans the image from left to right, was adapted to a video to allow sighted viewers to watch as a vertical line moves across the frame.
The soundtrack is vibrant and full, representing the detail in this gigantic, gaseous cavity that has the appearance of a mountain range. The Carina Nebula is a large cloud of gas and dust where stars are forming or have already formed.
The gas and dust in the top half of the image are represented in blue hues and windy, drone-like sounds. The bottom half of the image, represented in ruddy shades of orange and red, has a clearer, more melodic composition.
Brighter light in the image is louder. The vertical position of light also dictates the frequency of sound. For example, bright light near the top of the image sounds loud and high, but bright light near the middle is loud and lower pitched. Dimmer, dust-obscured areas that appear lower in the image are represented by lower frequencies and clearer, undistorted notes.
This sonification does not represent sounds recorded in space. Two musicians mapped the telescope’s data to sound, carefully composing music to accurately represent details the team would like listeners to focus on. In a way, this sonification is like modern dance or an impressionist painting—it converts Webb’s image to a new medium to engage and inspire listeners.
Credits: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI; Accessibility Production: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and Kimberly Arcand (CXC/SAO), Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida (SYSTEM Sounds), Quyen Hart (STScI), Claire Blome (STScI), and Christine Malec (consultant).
This pan video takes a close up look at an image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It reveals a cloud of hydrogen and newborn stars called Gum 41 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). In the middle of this little-known nebula, brilliant hot young stars emit energetic radiation that causes the surrounding hydrogen to glow with a characteristic red hue.
Zooming in on the Star Formation Region Gum 41 | ESO
This zoom sequence starts with a broad view of the Milky Way and closes in on one of the more spectacular sections in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). In the final sequence, we see the star formation region known as Gum 41 in a new image from the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Distance:7,500 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/N. Risinger/Hisayoshi Kato
This image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile reveals a cloud of hydrogen and newborn stars called Gum 41. In the middle of this little-known nebula, brilliant hot young stars emit energetic radiation that causes the surrounding hydrogen to glow with a characteristic red hue.
Artist's Impression of the Famous Exoplanet Tau Boötis b | ESO
This video based on an artist's impression shows the exoplanet Tau Boötis b. This was one of the first exoplanets to be discovered back in 1996, and it is still one of the closest planetary systems known to date.
Distance: about 51 light-years away
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have caught and studied the faint light from the planet Tau Boötis b for the first time. By employing a clever observational trick the team find that the planet's atmosphere seems to be cooler higher up, the opposite of what was expected.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/L. Calçada
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