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Between March 23–24, 2024, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites, and others operated by international partners, observed numerous flares erupt from the sun, including a powerful X-class solar flare. Additionally, a surge of extremely hot plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), raced toward Earth resulting in geomagnetic storms and auroras.
This CME reached our planet at 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 GMT) on Sunday, March 24, 2024, triggering a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, marking the most potent solar storm since 2017. However, according to a Geomagnetic Storm Watch from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, there was no reason for the public to be alarmed.
Video Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
A Tribute to Dr. Nancy Grace Roman: NASA’s First Chief of Astronomy
As NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, the late Dr. Nancy Grace Roman paved the way for space telescopes and for women in the sciences. She is credited with making NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope a reality. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a groundbreaking, wide-field survey telescope named in her honor, will launch by May 2027 and greatly expand our view of the universe.
This video paints an intimate picture of Dr. Roman, the person. We learn from her close friend Dr. Joan Gordon, astronomer Rachael Beaton, and Dr. Roman herself about her inspiration, passion, trailblazing nature, and what she might have thought about having a space telescope named after her.
Scheduled to launch in the mid-2020s, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will function as Hubble’s wide-eyed cousin. While just as sensitive as Hubble's cameras, the Roman Space Telescope's 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument will image a sky area 100 times larger. This means a single Roman image will hold the equivalent detail of 100 pictures from Hubble.
NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara—Exploring Science | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is returning home after six months aboard the International Space Station. During her time on the orbiting laboratory, O’Hara contributed to dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to prepare for future space exploration missions and generate innovations and benefits for humanity on Earth.
Here is a look at some of the scientific activities O’Hara conducted during her mission: https://go.nasa.gov/3IQ5uJJ
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub (Russia), Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)
NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Tracy C. Dyson
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.
Collins Aerospace Zero G Spacesuit Milestone Test with Former NASA Astronauts
Danny Olivas and Dan Burbank, two former NASA astronauts, discuss how their experiences with tests have shaped their opinions regarding the next generation spacesuit designed by Collins Aerospace and the direction of commercial space travel.
Our Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Sagittarius A* in Polarized Light
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the center of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of Sagittarius A*. This image shows the polarized view of the Milky Way black hole. The lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole.
Image Description: "An orange donut-shaped object against a black background. Three blobs on the donut are particularly bright. Thin swirling lines overlaid on the donut spiral around the donut’s central hole."
First Quarter Moon Rising | International Space Station
A first quarter moon rises above Earth's horizon as the International Space Station soared nearly 270 miles above the South Atlantic Ocean.
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.
NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | CRS-30: 22 de marzo de 2024
Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional.
A New Polarized View of Our Galaxy's Black Hole Explained | ESO
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*.
Zoom into The Milky Way Galaxy's Black Hole: Polarized Light View
This zoom video takes you to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, seen now for the first time in polarized light. The video begins at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO)is a partner and that is part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
As we zoom into the heart of our galaxy, we switch from visible to infrared light to peer through the dense clouds of dust in this region. We see some stars orbiting very close to Sgr A*, observed with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Finally, we arrive at Sgr A*. The first image of this black hole was released in 2022. The swirling lines overlaid in this new image mark the orientation of polarization, which is linked to the shape of the magnetic field around the black hole.
The observations used here were taken at different times, by different teams and with different facilities, and put together for the purpose of the zoom effect. The images go from visible wavelengths at the beginning to infrared, with the very final image being taken at radio wavelengths.
Video Credits: ESO/L. Calçada, N. Risinger (skysurvey.org), DSS, VISTA, VVV Survey/D. Minniti DSS, Nogueras-Lara et al., Schoedel, NACO, GRAVITY Collaboration, EHT Collaboration
This is a newly processed image of the binary star system V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). Called a light echo, the expanding illumination of interstellar dust around the star has been revealing remarkable structures in the dusty cloud ever since the star suddenly brightened in January 2002. V838 Mon temporarily became 600,000 times brighter than our Sun, until it faded in April 2002. It was one of the brightest stars in the entire Milky Way. The reason for the eruption is still unclear.
Judy Schmidt: "This view of the V838 Monocerotis light echo uses color to show the passage of time. As the bright flash of light left the star, it illuminated the dust surrounding it. However, because space is so immense, we see actually see the light travelling and illuminating the dust as it goes along. Each time Hubble looked at the light echo, it revealed only one layer, like the layers of an onion."
"Here, I've combined multiple layers into a single view, with the innermost one colored red. Next, orange, followed by yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet. You could say red is the oldest light, and violet is the youngest. The result is a prismatic, rainbow-colored view of the dust cloud."
"As a concept, light echoes are at first confusing, because we are not used to light being anything but an instant on or off. It's my hope that this image makes it a little less confusing, or at least offers one more way to try and understand the light echo. I also wanted to be able to view the dust cloud as a whole and try to make sense of the many flowing, liquidlike patterns within it."
"I've removed the stars from each layer so that they wouldn't be too bright in the end result. Then I re-added them on their own isolated layer in white."
Views from March 2002 to September 2006 were used to create this image.
Technical details:
Red: 2002-05-20
Orange: 2002-09-02
Yellow: 2002-10-28
Gray: 2002-12-17
Green: 2004-02-08
Cyan: 2004-10-23
Blue: 2005 Oct, Nov, Dec (Multiple Dates)
Violet: 2006-09-09
North is up.
Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
Panning across Young Stars FS Tau A & FS Tau B | Hubble Space Telescope
FS Tau is a multi-star system made up of FS Tau A, the bright star-like object near the middle of the image, and FS Tau B (Haro 6-5B), the bright object to the far right that is partially obscured by a dark, vertical lane of dust. The young objects are surrounded by softly illuminated gas and dust of this stellar nursery. The system is only about 2.8 million years old, very young for a star system. Our Sun, by contrast, is about 4.6 billion years old.
FS Tau B is a newly forming star, or protostar, and is surrounded by a protoplanetary disc, a pancake-shaped collection of dust and gas leftover from the formation of the star that will eventually coalesce into planets. The thick dust lane, seen nearly edge-on, separates what are thought to be the illuminated surfaces of the disc.
FS Tau B is likely in the process of becoming a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that has not begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun. Protostars shine with the heat energy released as the gas clouds from which they are forming collapse, and from the accretion of material from nearby gas and dust. Variable stars are a class of star whose brightness changes noticeably over time.
FS Tau A is itself a T Tauri binary system, consisting of two stars orbiting each other.
Protostars are known to eject fast-moving, column-like streams of energized material called jets, and FS Tau B provides a striking example of this phenomenon. The protostar is the source of an unusual asymmetric, double-sided jet, visible here in blue. Its asymmetrical structure may be because mass is being expelled from the object at different rates.
FS Tau B is also classified as a Herbig-Haro object. Herbig–Haro objects form when jets of ionized gas ejected by a young star collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at high speeds, creating bright patches of nebulosity.
FS Tau is part of the Taurus-Auriga region, a collection of dark molecular clouds that are home to numerous newly forming and young stars, roughly 450 light-years away in the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Hubble has previously observed this region, whose star-forming activity makes it a compelling target for astronomers. Hubble made these observations as part of an investigation of edge-on dust discs around young stellar objects.
Image Description: A bright point of light shines near center-right with diffraction spikes, surrounded by glowing clouds against black space. A blue jet of material extends roughly throughout the center of the image, partially obscured by the clouds.
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Stapelfeldt (NASA JPL), G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America), N. Bartmann
Galaxy I Zwicky 18: Wide-field View | James Webb Space Telescope
The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has captured a spectacular view of the galaxy I Zwicky 18 (I Zw 18) in this new image. The galaxy was first identified by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930’s and resides roughly 59 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy has gone through several sudden bursts of star formation. This galaxy is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early Universe and it is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy (much smaller than our Milky Way).
Two major starburst regions are embedded in the heart of the galaxy. The wispy brown filaments surrounding the central starburst region are bubbles of gas that have been heated by stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by hot, young stars. A companion galaxy resides nearby to the dwarf galaxy, which can be seen at the bottom of the wider-field image. The companion may be interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered that galaxy's recent star formation. The orange blobs surrounding the dwarf galaxy are the dim glow from ancient fully formed galaxies at much larger distances.
This image was taken as part of a Webb program to study the life cycle of dust in I Zw 18. Scientists are now building off of previous research with Hubble obtained at optical wavelengths, studying individual dusty stars in detail with Webb’s equivalent spatial resolution and sensitivity at infrared wavelengths. This galaxy is of particular interest as its content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known galaxies in the local Universe. Such conditions are thought to be similar to those in some of the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, so the Webb study of I Zw 18 should shed light on the life-cycle of stars and dust in the early Universe.
Although previously believed to have only just recently begun forming its first generation of stars, the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope found fainter, older red stars contained within the galaxy, suggesting its star formation started at least one billion years ago and possibly as much as 10 billion years ago. The galaxy, therefore, may have formed at the same time as most other galaxies.
The new observations from Webb have revealed the detection of a set of candidate dusty evolved stars. It also provides details about Zw 18’s two dominant star-forming regions. Webb’s new data suggest that the dominant bursts of star formation in these regions occurred at different times. The strongest starburst activity is now believed to have happened more recently in the northwest lobe as compared to the galaxy’s southeast lobe. This is based on the relative populations of younger versus older stars found in each of the lobes.
Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Hirschauer, M. Meixner et al.
Panning over Galaxy I Zwicky 18 | James Webb Space Telescope
The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has captured a spectacular view of the galaxy I Zwicky 18 (I Zw 18) in this new image. The galaxy was first identified by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930’s and resides roughly 59 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy has gone through several sudden bursts of star formation. This galaxy is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early Universe and it is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy (much smaller than our Milky Way).
Two major starburst regions are embedded in the heart of the galaxy. The wispy brown filaments surrounding the central starburst region are bubbles of gas that have been heated by stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by hot, young stars. A companion galaxy resides nearby to the dwarf galaxy, which can be seen at the bottom of the wider-field image. The companion may be interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered that galaxy's recent star formation. The orange blobs surrounding the dwarf galaxy are the dim glow from ancient fully formed galaxies at much larger distances.
This image was taken as part of a Webb program to study the life cycle of dust in I Zw 18. Scientists are now building off of previous research with Hubble obtained at optical wavelengths, studying individual dusty stars in detail with Webb’s equivalent spatial resolution and sensitivity at infrared wavelengths. This galaxy is of particular interest as its content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known galaxies in the local Universe. Such conditions are thought to be similar to those in some of the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, so the Webb study of I Zw 18 should shed light on the life-cycle of stars and dust in the early Universe.
Although previously believed to have only just recently begun forming its first generation of stars, the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope found fainter, older red stars contained within the galaxy, suggesting its star formation started at least one billion years ago and possibly as much as 10 billion years ago. The galaxy, therefore, may have formed at the same time as most other galaxies.
The new observations from Webb have revealed the detection of a set of candidate dusty evolved stars. It also provides details about Zw 18’s two dominant star-forming regions. Webb’s new data suggest that the dominant bursts of star formation in these regions occurred at different times. The strongest starburst activity is now believed to have happened more recently in the northwest lobe as compared to the galaxy’s southeast lobe. This is based on the relative populations of younger versus older stars found in each of the lobes.
Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Hirschauer, M. Meixner et al., N. Bartmann
A Duo of Starbursts in Galaxy I Zwicky 18 | James Webb Space Telescope
The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has captured a spectacular view of the galaxy I Zwicky 18 (I Zw 18) in this new image. The galaxy was first identified by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930’s and resides roughly 59 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy has gone through several sudden bursts of star formation. This galaxy is typical of the kinds of galaxies that inhabited the early Universe and it is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy (much smaller than our Milky Way).
Two major starburst regions are embedded in the heart of the galaxy. The wispy brown filaments surrounding the central starburst region are bubbles of gas that have been heated by stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation unleashed by hot, young stars. A companion galaxy resides nearby to the dwarf galaxy, which can be seen at the bottom of the wider-field image. The companion may be interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered that galaxy's recent star formation. The orange blobs surrounding the dwarf galaxy are the dim glow from ancient fully formed galaxies at much larger distances.
This image was taken as part of a Webb program to study the life cycle of dust in I Zw 18. Scientists are now building off of previous research with Hubble obtained at optical wavelengths, studying individual dusty stars in detail with Webb’s equivalent spatial resolution and sensitivity at infrared wavelengths. This galaxy is of particular interest as its content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known galaxies in the local Universe. Such conditions are thought to be similar to those in some of the first star-forming galaxies at high redshift, so the Webb study of I Zw 18 should shed light on the life-cycle of stars and dust in the early Universe.
Although previously believed to have only just recently begun forming its first generation of stars, the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope found fainter, older red stars contained within the galaxy, suggesting its star formation started at least one billion years ago and possibly as much as 10 billion years ago. The galaxy, therefore, may have formed at the same time as most other galaxies.
The new observations from Webb have revealed the detection of a set of candidate dusty evolved stars. It also provides details about Zw 18’s two dominant star-forming regions. Webb’s new data suggest that the dominant bursts of star formation in these regions occurred at different times. The strongest starburst activity is now believed to have happened more recently in the northwest lobe as compared to the galaxy’s southeast lobe. This is based on the relative populations of younger versus older stars found in each of the lobes.
Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Hirschauer, M. Meixner et al.
Expedition 71 Soyuz MS-25 Spaceflight Highlights | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Russia, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasileyskaya launched on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 23, 2024. Following a thirty-four orbit rendezvous, the trio docked to the Prichal module of the International Space Station, opened up the hatch of the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and floated aboard the International Space Station March 25.
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.
Video Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
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