Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Star Cluster NGC 346 | NASA Chandra & Webb (X-ray & Infrared View)

Star Cluster NGC 346 | NASA Chandra & Webb (X-ray & Infrared View)

NGC 346 is a star cluster in a nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), about 200,000 light-years from Earth. Webb shows plumes and arcs of gas and dust that stars and planets use as source material during their formation. The purple cloud on the left seen with Chandra is the remains of a supernova explosion from a massive star. The Chandra data also reveals young, hot, and massive stars that send powerful winds outward from their surfaces. Additional data from Hubble and Spitzer is included, along with supporting data from XMM-Newton and the European Southern Observatory’s New Technology Telescope. (X-ray: purple and blue; infrared/optical: red, green, blue)

Image Description: Here, thousands of specks of light blanket the blackness of space. A ribbon of thick orange cloud runs along the bottom edge of the image, rounds our lower right corner, and streaks up the right side. A similar patch of roiling orange cloud can be found near our upper left. Between these gas plumes, centered near the top of the image, the star cluster is densely packed with specks of white, blue, and purple light. At our left, a large, bright white, gleaming dot is surrounded by purple mist. This is a hot, young, massive star, sending powerful winds outward from its surface. A patch of smaller dots, other young stars, can be found inside a faint purple mist near the center of the image.


Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL/CalTech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO; Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand

Release Date: May 23, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #StarCluster #NGC346 #SMC #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #Xray #MSFC #JWST #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #CSA #STEM #Education

NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test | Preparing for Crewed Missions

NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test Preparing for Crewed Missions

An Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 rocket engine was tested on the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand) at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, on May 23, 2023, at 2:48pm ET. This was the eighth hot fire test in a planned 12-test series of the newly redesigned RS-25 engines that will be used beginning with Artemis V. The test had a planned duration of 500 seconds, the same amount of time the engines must fire during an actual flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).

Lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne is using advanced manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, to reduce the cost and time needed to build new engines for use on missions beginning with Artemis V. Four RS-25 engines help power SLS at launch, including on its Artemis missions to the Moon.

Through Artemis, NASA is returning humans, including the first woman and the first person of color, to the Moon to explore the lunar surface and prepare for flights to Mars. SLS is the only rocket capable of sending the agency’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

For information about the Space Launch System, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

Credit: NASA's Stennis Space Center

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 9 minutes

Release Date: May 23, 2023


#NASA #Space #Artemis #ArtemisV #Moon #Rocket #SpaceLaunchSystem #SLS #Engine #RS25 #AerojetRocketdyne #MoonToMars #DeepSpace #Propulsion #Engineering #Technology #NASAStennis #Mississippi #MSFC #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Chandra Observatory & Webb Telescope Combine for Arresting Views

NASA's Chandra Observatory & Webb Telescope Combine for Arresting Views

Four composite images deliver dazzling views from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope of two galaxies, a nebula, and a star cluster. Each image combines Chandra’s X-rays—a form of high-energy light—with infrared data from previously released Webb images. Data from the Hubble Space Telescope and retired Spitzer Space Telescope, plus the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and the European Southern Observatory’s New Technology Telescope is also used. While most of these wavelengths of light are invisible to the human eye, the data have been mapped to colors so we can explore these cosmic wonders and details within. The data in these images have been released to the public before, but this is the first time they have been combined in this way.

The images include NGC 346, a star cluster in a nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, about 200,000 light-years from Earth. Webb shows plumes and arcs of gas and dust that stars and planets use as source material during their formation. The purple cloud on the left seen with Chandra is the remains of a supernova explosion from a massive star. The Chandra data also reveals young, hot, and massive stars that send powerful winds outward from their surfaces.

NGC 1672 is a spiral galaxy, but one that astronomers categorize as a “barred” spiral. In regions close to their centers, the arms of barred spiral galaxies are mostly in a straight band of stars across the center that encloses the core, as opposed to other spirals that have arms that twist all the way to their core. The Chandra data reveals compact objects like neutron stars or black holes pulling material from companion stars as well as the remnants of exploded stars.

Messier 16, also known as the Eagle Nebula, is a famous region of the sky often referred to as the “Pillars of Creation.” The Webb image shows the dark columns of gas and dust shrouding the few remaining fledgling stars just being formed. The Chandra sources, which look like dots, are young stars that give off copious amounts of X-rays.

Messier 74 is also a spiral galaxy—like our Milky Way—that we see face-on from our vantage point on Earth. It is about 32 million light-years away. In the composite, Webb outlines gas and dust in the infrared while Chandra data spotlights high-energy activity from stars at X-ray wavelengths. Hubble optical data showcases additional stars and dust along the dust lanes.


Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 3 minutes, 20 seconds

Release Date: May 23, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #StarCluster #NGC346 #EagleNebula #Messier16 #NGC1672 #Messier16 #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #Xray #MSFC #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #CSA #STEM #Education #HD #Video

China's Shenzhou-16 Crewed Mission: Launch Preparations | China Space Station

China's Shenzhou-16 Crewed Mission: Launch Preparations | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-16 crewed spacecraft is set to head for the China Space Station over the coming days as a combination of the spacecraft and the carrier rocket has been moved to the launch site at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The deputy chief designer of the China Manned Space Program's Taikonaut System told CGTN that everything is proceeding well and they are ready for the next phase of launch preparations.


Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: May 23, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou16 #神舟十六号 #LongMarch2FY16Rocket #Taikonauts #Astronauts #TiangongSpaceStation #天宫空间站 #ChinaSpaceStation #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #Science #Technology #Engineering #STEM #Education #International #UNOOSA #UnitedNations #HD #Video

Andreas Mogensen's Huginn Mission to the International Space Station | ESA

Andreas Mogensen's Huginn Mission to the International Space Station | ESA

The name of European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s second mission to the International Space Station is ‘Huginn’. Inspired by Norse mythology, the name is taken from one of two ravens who serve the god Odin. Called Huginn and Muninn, these two birds sit on Odin’s shoulders and are sent flying across the world at dawn. They return at night to inform him of the many events they have seen and heard. In Old Norse, ‘Huginn’ means ‘thought’ and ‘Muninn’ means ‘mind’ or ‘memory’.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark is going on his first long-duration mission to the International Space Station. Andreas will be the pilot on the SpaceX Crew Dragon that will carry him and the rest of Crew-7 to the Space Station—a first for a European!

Representing Europe in space, Andreas will carry out science throughout his mission and bring back the knowledge to Earth, for the benefit of humankind.

Visit esa.int/huginn for more information on the Huginn mission.

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen's Official ESA Biography:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Andreas_Mogensen


Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 4 minutes

Release Date: May 22, 2023



#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Science #ISS #Astronauts #EAC #Europe #AndreasMogensen #Astronaut #HuginnMission #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hubble Hunts for Intermediate-Sized Black Hole Close to Home | NASA Goddard

Hubble Hunts for Intermediate-Sized Black Hole Close to Home | NASA Goddard

Astronomers, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have come up with what they say is some of their best evidence yet for the presence of a rare class of “intermediate-sized” black hole that may be lurking in the heart of the closest globular star cluster to Earth, located 6,000 light-years away.

Like intense gravitational potholes in the fabric of space, virtually all black holes seem to come in two sizes: small and humongous. It is estimated that our galaxy is littered with 100 million small black holes (several times the mass of our Sun) created from exploded stars. The universe at large is flooded with supermassive black holes, weighing millions or billions of times our Sun’s mass and found in the centers of galaxies.

A long-sought missing link is an intermediate-mass black hole, weighing in somewhere between 199 and 10,000 solar masses. How would they form, where would they hang out, and why do they seem to be so rare?

For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble 


Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Paul Morris: Lead Producer 

Animation Credit: Black Hole accreting material animation by Aurore Simmonet.

Duration: 1 minute, 33 seconds

Release Date: May 23, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #BlackHoles #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #Messier4 #M4 #Scorpius #Constellation #Galaxies #MilkyWayGalaxy #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Monkey Head Nebula: Baby Stars in the Orion Constellation | NASA Spitzer

The Monkey Head Nebula: Baby Stars in the Orion Constellation | NASA Spitzer

Scores of baby stars shrouded by dust are revealed in this infrared image of the star-forming region NGC 2174, as seen by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Some of the clouds in the region resemble the face of a monkey in visible-light images, hence the nebula's nickname: the "Monkey Head." However, in infrared images such as this, the monkey disappears. This is because different clouds are highlighted in infrared and visible-light images.

Found in the northern reaches of the constellation Orion, NGC 2174 is located around 6,400 light-years away. Columns of dust, slightly to the right of center in the image, are being carved out of the dust by radiation and stellar winds from the hottest young stars recently born in the area.

Spitzer’s infrared view provides us with a preview of the next clusters of stars that will be born in the coming millennia. The reddish spots of light scattered through the darker filaments are infant stars swaddled by blankets of warm dust. The warm dust glows brightly at infrared wavelengths. Eventually, these stars will pop out of their dusty envelopes and their light will carve away at the dust clouds surrounding them.

In this image first published in 2015, infrared wavelengths have been assigned visible colors we see with our eyes. Light with a wavelength of 3.5 microns is shown in blue, 8.0 microns is green, and 24 microns in red. The greens show the organic molecules in the dust clouds, illuminated by starlight. Reds are caused by the thermal radiation emitted from the very hottest areas of dust.

Areas around the edges that were not observed by Spitzer have been filled in using infrared observations from NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.


Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #MonkeyHeadNebula #NGC2174 #Orion #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #WISE #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #Infrared #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Monday, May 22, 2023

Recientemente: La tripulación de la misión Artemis II visita Washington D.C. | NASA

Recientemente: La tripulación de la misión Artemis II visita Washington D.C. | NASA

Recientemente en la NASA, la versión en español de las cápsulas This Week at NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la NASA. 

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/

En español: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 2 minutes, 33 seconds

Broadcast Date: May 19, 2023

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #CSA #Space #nasaenespañol #español #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #Americans #Canadians #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #USCapitol #WashingtonDC #UnitedStates #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Antennae Galaxies: Panning across ALMA & Hubble Views (crossfade) | ESO

The Antennae Galaxies: Panning across ALMA & Hubble Views (crossfade) | ESO

This slow pan across the Antennae Galaxies is based on an image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, which shows the stars in this pair of colliding galaxies, including the bluish hot young stars. Superimposed on this is an image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) that shows a view of the Antennae revealing in greater detail than ever before the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form.


Credit: ALMA (European Southern Observatory/NAOJ/NRAO)

Visible Light Image: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

Duration: 44 seconds
Release Date: May 5, 2023


#NASA #ESA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Galaxies #AntennaeGalaxies #NGC4038 #NGC4039 #InteractingGalaxies #Corvus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #ALMA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Antennae Galaxies: Composite of ALMA & Hubble Observations | ESO

The Antennae Galaxies: Composite of ALMA & Hubble Observations | ESO


The Antennae Galaxies (also known as NGC 4038 and 4039) are a pair of distorted colliding spiral galaxies about 70 million light-years away, in the constellation of Corvus (The Crow). This view combines Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations with visible-light observations from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble image is the sharpest view of this object ever taken and serves as the ultimate benchmark in terms of resolution. ALMA observes at much longer wavelengths. 

While visible light—shown here mainly in blue—reveals the newborn stars in the galaxies, ALMA’s view shows us something that cannot be seen at those wavelengths: the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form. The ALMA observations—shown here in red, pink and yellow—were made at specific wavelengths of millimeter and submillimeter light (ALMA bands 3 and 7), tuned to detect carbon monoxide molecules in the otherwise invisible hydrogen clouds, where new stars are forming.

Massive concentrations of gas are found not only in the hearts of the two galaxies but also in the chaotic region where they are colliding. Here, the total amount of gas is billions of times the mass of the Sun—a rich reservoir of material for future generations of stars. Observations like these will be vital in helping us understand how galaxy collisions can trigger the birth of new stars. This is an example of how ALMA reveals parts of the Universe that cannot be seen with visible-light and infrared telescopes.


Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) 

Visible Light Image: NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope

Release Date: Oct. 3, 2011


#NASA #ESA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Galaxies #AntennaeGalaxies #NGC4038 #NGC4039 #InteractingGalaxies #Corvus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #ALMA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Axiom Space Ax-2 Crew Welcoming Ceremony | International Space Station

Axiom Space Ax-2 Crew Welcoming Ceremony | International Space Station

Axiom Space Ax-2 crew commander Peggy Whitson, pilot John Shoffner, and mission specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, were welcomed aboard the International Space Station by the Expedition 69 crew shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at 11 a.m. EDT Monday, May 22, 2023. 

The Ax-2 crew received their astronaut wings from America's most-experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson, formerly of NASA.

Rayyanah Barnawi is making history as the first Arab woman aboard the International Space Station. She has become the 600th astronaut.

Expedition 69 Crew (May 2023)
Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev
Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

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.

Credit: NASA/JSC

Acknowledgement: VideoFromSpace

Duration: 12 minutes

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #Space #ISS #Axiom #AxiomSpace #Ax2Mission #Ax2 #AX2Crew #Astronauts #PeggyWhitson #JohnShoffner #AliAlqarni #RayyanahBarnawi #SpaceX #CrewDragon #CommercialSpace #Science #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #SaudiArabia #SaudiSpaceCommission #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

Panning across The Carina Nebula | European Southern Observatory

Panning across The Carina Nebula | European Southern Observatory

The spectacular star-forming Carina Nebula has been captured in great detail by the VLT Survey Telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory. This video sequence shows many of the curious details that are visible in this wide-field picture. 

The image was taken with the help of Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, during his visit to the observatory on June 5, 2012, and released on the occasion of the telescope’s inauguration in Naples on December 6, 2012.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Acknowledgement: VPHAS+ Consortium/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: May 5, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #CarinaNebula #NGC3372 #KeyholeNebula #Stars #StarClusters #Trumpler14 #Collinder228 #EtaCarinae #BinaryStars #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Carina Nebula | European Southern Observatory

The Carina Nebula | European Southern Observatory


Color-composite image of the Carina Nebula, revealing exquisite details in the stars and dust of the region. Several well known astronomical objects can be seen in this wide field image: to the bottom left of the image is one of the most impressive binary stars in the Universe, Eta Carinae, with the famous Keyhole Nebula just adjacent to the star. The collection of very bright, young stars above and to the right of Eta Carinae is the open star cluster Trumpler 14. A second open star cluster, Collinder 228 is also seen in the image, just below Eta Carinae. The Carina Nebula also bears the NGC 3372 designation. 

On this image, North is up and East is to the left. The field of view is 0.55 x 0.55 degrees, covering a 72 x 72 light-year region at the distance of the nebula.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: Feb. 8, 2012


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #CarinaNebula #NGC3372 #KeyholeNebula #Stars #StarClusters #Trumpler14 #Collinder228 #EtaCarinae #BinaryStars #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Axiom Space Ax-2 Crew Dragon Hatch Opening | International Space Station

Axiom Space Ax-2 Crew Dragon Hatch Opening | International Space Station

The hatch of the “Freedom” Crew Dragon spacecraft was opened on May 22, 2023, at 11am EDT). The crew of the “Freedom” Crew Dragon spacecraft for Axiom Space’s Ax-2 Mission to the International Space Station includes Commander Peggy Whitson (USA), Pilot John Shoffner (USA) and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni (Saudi Arabia) and Rayyanah Barnawi (Saudi Arabia).

Axiom Space’s Ax-2 mission is the second all-private human spaceflight mission to the International Space Station. The Ax-2 crew will participate in educational outreach and conduct innovative research experiments while on the orbiting laboratory.

More information about Axiom can be found at www.axiomspace.com

Credit: Axiom Space/NASA/SpaceX

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #Space #ISS #Axiom #AxiomSpace #Ax2Mission #Ax2 #AX2Crew #Astronauts #PeggyWhitson #JohnShoffner #AliAlqarni #RayyanahBarnawi #SpaceX #CrewDragon #Falcon9Rocket #CommercialSpace #Science #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #SaudiArabia #SaudiSpaceCommission #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Supernova Discovered in Nearby Spiral Galaxy M101

Supernova Discovered in Nearby Spiral Galaxy M101

"A nearby star has exploded and humanity's telescopes are turning to monitor it. The supernova, dubbed SN 2023ixf, was discovered by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki three days ago and subsequently located on automated images from the Zwicky Transient Facility two days earlier. SN 2023ixf occurred in the photogenic Pinwheel Galaxy M101, which, being only about 21 million light years away, makes it the closest supernova seen in the past five years, the second closest in the past 10 years, and the second supernova found in M101 in the past 15 years. 

Rapid follow up observations already indicate that SN 2023ixf is a Type II supernova, an explosion that occurs after a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses. The featured image shows home spiral galaxy two days ago with the supernova highlighted, while the roll-over image shows the same galaxy a month before. SN 2023ixf will likely brighten and remain visible to telescopes for months. Studying such a close and young Type II supernova may yield new clues about massive stars and how they explode."


Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks

Craig's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/craigstocksphotography/

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Supernovae #Supernova #TypeIISupernova #SN2023ixf #Galaxy #M101 #PinwheelGalaxy #Spiral # #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Japanese #Astronomer #KoichiItagaki #Japan #日本 #Astrophotography #CraigStocks #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

Jellyfish Galaxy JW39 | Hubble

Jellyfish Galaxy JW39 in Coma Berenices | Hubble

The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, and is one of several jellyfish galaxies that Hubble has been studying over the past two years.

Despite this jellyfish galaxy’s serene appearance, it is adrift in a ferociously hostile environment; a galaxy cluster. Compared to their more isolated counterparts, the galaxies in galaxy clusters are often distorted by the gravitational pull of larger neighbors, which can twist galaxies into a variety of weird and wonderful shapes. If that was not enough, the space between galaxies in a cluster is also pervaded with a searingly hot plasma known as the intracluster medium. While this plasma is extremely tenuous, galaxies moving through it experience it almost like swimmers fighting against a current, and this interaction can strip galaxies of their star-forming gas.

This interaction between the intracluster medium and the galaxies is called ram-pressure stripping, and is the process responsible for the trailing tendrils of this jellyfish galaxy. As JW39 has moved through the cluster the pressure of the intracluster medium has stripped away gas and dust into long trailing ribbons of star formation that now stretch away from the disc of the galaxy.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It is large in the center with a lot of detail visible. The core glows brightly and is surrounded by concentric rings of dark and light dust. The spiral arms are thick and puffy with grey dust and glowing blue areas of star formation. They wrap around the galaxy to form a ring. Part of the arm is drawn out into a dark thread above the galaxy, and dust from the arm trails off to the right.

Astronomers using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 studied these trailing tendrils in detail, as they are a particularly extreme environment for star formation. Surprisingly, they found that star formation in the ‘tentacles’ of jellyfish galaxies was not noticeably different from star formation in the galaxy disc.


Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team

Release Date: May 22, 2023


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #JellyfishGalaxy #JW39 #GalaxyCluster #Spiral #ComaBerenices #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education