Orion Crew Module Separates from Service Module | NASA Artemis II Moon Mission

Orion Crew Module Separates from Service Module | NASA Artemis II Moon Mission

Before reentering Earth’s atmosphere at the end of NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission and prior to landing, the Orion spacecraft’s crew module—carrying the astronauts—separated from the European Service Module (ESM) that provided propulsion and power throughout their journey.

The Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down on Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean following its approximate 10-day journey around the Moon carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century. 

The crew completed a record-setting lunar flyby, taking them 252,756 miles at their farthest distance from Earth and 4,067 miles above the lunar surface at their closest approach. 

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Learn more about NASA's Artemis II Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Video Credit: NASA/JSC/R. Wiseman

Duration: 10 seconds

Release Date: May 15, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #Astronauts #ReidWiseman #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #CSA #Canada #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #PacificOcean #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How Do Planets Form? | We Asked a NASA Expert

How Do Planets Form? | We Asked a NASA Expert

How do planets form? After a star is born, leftover material forms a spinning disk around it. Within that disk, tiny particles of dust collide and gradually grow into larger and larger objects called planetesimals. These are the building blocks of planets.

Over time, these planetesimals combine to form the worlds we see today, from rocky planets like Earth to giant planets like Jupiter and Neptune.

A NASA scientist explains how planets like Earth came to be.

Learn more: https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/how-do-planets-form/

Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: May 15, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Planets #Earth #Exoplanets #ProtoplanetaryDisks #Protoplanets #Planetesimals #Jupiter #Neptune #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAGoddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Astrophysics #Animation #HD #Video

China CAS Space Lijian-1 Y13 Rocket Launch of Five Satellites

China CAS Space Lijian-1 Y13 Rocket Launch of Five Satellites

China on Friday, May 15, 2026, at 12:33 p.m. (Beijing Time), launched a Lijian1 Y13 carrier rocket from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, delivering five satellites, including Taijing-3 05A/05B, Tianyi-50, Tianyan-27, and Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D55 into their planned orbits.

The Lijian-1 rocket was developed by CAS Space, a commercial firm established by the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The rocket serves the small satellite launch market, offering dedicated launches for single customers and rideshare missions.

The mission marked the 13th flight of the Lijian-1 carrier rocket and the 14th launch of the Lijian series. To date, the Lijian series has successfully sent a total of 100 satellites into space with the total mass of payloads placed into orbit exceeding 18 tonnes. 

The Lijian-1, developed by CAS Space, is a solid-fuel carrier rocket featuring rapid-response capabilities. It adopts a universal platform-based design, enabling diversified adaptation between the rocket body and satellite missions, according to the company.  

The Tianyan-27 satellite, also known as Youxi, launched in this mission, is equipped with a space display screen, a space surveillance camera, an infrared camera and an onboard intelligent processing payload.  

It will conduct in-orbit verification of new infrared remote sensing technologies, as well as missions including in-orbit display and selfie-taking, and intelligent data processing.  

CAS Space said it will continue to deepen work in key areas such as modular overall optimization design, rocket recovery and reuse, plus rocket health monitoring and maintenance.

CAS Space is a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Guangzhou, capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. CAS Space was founded in 2018 and is majority owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Image Credit: CAS Space
Text Credits: Xinhua, CGTN
Date: May 15, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #China #中国 #CASSpace #中科宇航 #CAS #中国科学院 #Kinetica1 #Lijian1 #Lijian1Y13Rocket #Lijian1Y13 #LaunchVehicles #SolidFuelRockets #Tianyan27Satellite #SatelliteLaunches #CommercialSpace #CAS #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #InnerMongolia #STEM #Education

China CAS Space Lijian-1 Y13 Rocket Launch of Five Satellites

China CAS Space Lijian-1 Y13 Rocket Launch of Five Satellites

China on Friday, May 15, 2026, at 12:33 p.m. (Beijing Time), launched a Lijian1 Y13 carrier rocket from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, delivering five satellites, including Taijing-3 05A/05B, Tianyi-50, Tianyan-27, and Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D55 into their planned orbits.

The Lijian-1 rocket was developed by CAS Space, a commercial firm established by the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The rocket serves the small satellite launch market, offering dedicated launches for single customers and rideshare missions.

The mission marked the 13th flight of the Lijian-1 carrier rocket and the 14th launch of the Lijian series. To date, the Lijian series has successfully sent a total of 100 satellites into space with the total mass of payloads placed into orbit exceeding 18 tonnes. 

The Lijian-1, developed by CAS Space, is a solid-fuel carrier rocket featuring rapid-response capabilities. It adopts a universal platform-based design, enabling diversified adaptation between the rocket body and satellite missions, according to the company.  

The Tianyan-27 satellite, also known as Youxi, launched in this mission, is equipped with a space display screen, a space surveillance camera, an infrared camera and an onboard intelligent processing payload.  

It will conduct in-orbit verification of new infrared remote sensing technologies, as well as missions including in-orbit display and selfie-taking, and intelligent data processing.  

CAS Space said it will continue to deepen work in key areas such as modular overall optimization design, rocket recovery and reuse, plus rocket health monitoring and maintenance.

CAS Space is a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Guangzhou, capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. CAS Space was founded in 2018 and is majority owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Video Credit: CAS Space
Text Credits: Xinhua, CGTN
Duration: 37 seconds
Date: May 15, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Earth #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #China #中国 #CASSpace #中科宇航 #CAS #中国科学院 #Kinetica1 #Lijian1 #Lijian1Y13Rocket #Lijian1Y13 #LaunchVehicles #SolidFuelRockets #Tianyan27Satellite #SatelliteLaunches #CommercialSpace #CAS #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #InnerMongolia #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Galaxy NGC 1365 in Fornax | Webb Telescope & Chandra X-ray Observatory

Galaxy NGC 1365 in Fornax | Webb Telescope & Chandra X-ray Observatory

"A black hole walks into a buffet . . .⚫"

At the heart of galaxy NGC 1365, a supermassive black hole is "basically feasting at an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet" in this image from Chandra and Webb. Located about 60 million light-years from Earth, this gobbling black hole has a mass of roughly 2 million suns and growing.

Image Description: A close up image of spiral galaxy NGC 1365 and the supermassive black hole at its center. Here, the galaxy is shown at a dramatic angle, as if the bright pink core is gazing past our right shoulder. Swirls of pale, grey-blue material, resembling waves in a dark ocean, spiral toward the radiant pink core that hangs at our lower left. Glowing pink circles, and flecks of red, dot the churning spiral galaxy.

Credits: X-ray, Chandra X-ray Observatory: NASA/CXC/SAO

Infrared, Webb Space Telescope: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #NGC1365 #BlackHoles #FornaxConstellation #NASAChandra #InfraredAstronomy #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescopes #JWST #InfraredAstronomy #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #CXC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 in Fornax | Victor Blanco Telescope

The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 in Fornax | Victor Blanco Telescope

This image captures the elegant galaxy NGC 1365 in the Fornax Cluster of galaxies. Also known as The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC 1365 is a strikingly perfect example of a barred spiral galaxy. This image shows the galaxy’s prominent bar and its graceful spiral arms, with lanes of dust obscuring the extended diffuse glow of stars. The central bar of NGC 1365 influences star formation throughout the entire galaxy and conceals a supermassive black hole hidden behind multitudes of newly formed stars. Astronomers are interested in barred spiral galaxies like NGC 1365 for more than just their elegance—these galaxies provide insights into our home galaxy, the Milky Way, that is also a barred spiral galaxy.

Distance from Earth: 60 million light years

This image was built up using data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), an ambitious project which mapped hundreds of millions of galaxies across the Universe using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). The analysis of data from the Dark Energy Survey is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the DECam science archive is curated by the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC) at NSF NOIRLab. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and CSDC are Programs of NOIRLab.

One of the highest-performance, wide-field CCD imagers in the world, the 570-megapixel DECam was designed specifically for the DES and operated by the DOE and NSF between 2013 and 2019. DECam was funded by the DOE and was built and tested at DOE's Fermilab.

Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)

Release Date: July 7, 2021

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #NGC1365 #GreatBarredSpiralGalaxy #BlackHoles #GalaxyClusters #FornaxGalaxyCluster #FornaxConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CTIO #NOIRLab #NSF #DOE #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

New NASA Artemis II Moon Crew Photos

New NASA Artemis II Moon Crew Photos

NASA astronaut Christina Koch smiles at the camera as she holds a pipette and saliva booklet for the Artemis II Immune Biomarkers study. Samples will be analyzed for proteins, enzymes, and other biomarkers that monitor immunity, inflammation, nutritional status, bone health, and radiation effects, to determine how crewmembers adapted to deep spaceflight conditions.

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman holds a sample booklet as he prepares to collect a saliva sample aboard the Orion spacecraft. 

NASA astronaut Victor Glover shows off the sample bag for the Immune Biomarkers study aboard the Orion spacecraft. During the Artemis II mission, the crew collected saliva samples for this study. Samples will be analyzed for proteins, enzymes, and other biomarkers that monitor immunity, inflammation, nutritional status, bone health, and radiation effects, to determine how crewmembers adapted to deep spaceflight conditions.

Artemis II emblem

During the nearly 10-day Artemis II Moon Mission, crew members blotted saliva samples on special paper for the Immune Biomarkers study. On Earth, scientists are analyzing those samples, looking at proteins, enzymes, and other biomarkers to understand how the crew adapted to deep space conditions aboard Orion. These biomarkers give insight into crews' immune health, inflammation, nutritional status, bone health, and more. 

The Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down on Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean following its journey around the Moon, carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century. 

The crew completed a record-setting lunar flyby, taking them 252,756 miles at their farthest distance from Earth and 4,067 miles above the lunar surface at their closest approach. 

Learn more about NASA's Artemis II Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Image Credit: NASA

Date: April 8, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #Astronauts #ReidWiseman #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #CSA #Canada #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAKennedy #KSC #MPPF #MerrittIsland #Florida #Spaceport #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 Launch of Constellation Test Satellite

China Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 Launch of Constellation Test Satellite

The Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 carrier rocket blasted off at 11:00 am Beijing time on May 14, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, delivering a 2.8-ton test payload into a 900 km orbit, paving the way for satellite constellation networking.

What’s New in the ZQ-2E Y5 Rocket?

• Increased propellant capacity & structural optimization

The extended first-stage tanks, combined with full subcooled propellant loading, increased propellant capacity by ~15%. Structural mass is further reduced through partial insulation removal, optimized cable routing fairings, and removeal of first-stage fins, reflecting a system-level design optimization approach.

• Three-ignition second stage with high-orbit disposal

ZQ-2E Y5 pioneers, among China’s commercial missions, a three-ignition second-stage flight profile featuring tank-pressure ignition + high altitude deorbit. This approach ensures ignition reliability while enabling rapid high-altitude deorbit, addressing traditional challenges and supporting space debris mitigation requirements.

• Toward “Smart Launch Vehicles”

The first stage introduces in-flight engine anomaly detection and thrust self-correction, while the second stage debuts a propellant utilization system. These enable autonomous diagnosis and response to off-nominal conditions (e.g., thrust deviation, mixture ratio shifts), significantly improving flight reliability and service capability.

• Rapid launch capability

Leveraging mature mission operations, the campaign achieved a 13-day launch cycle and ~1.5-hour pre-launch fueling timeline, laying the foundation for high-frequency launch operations with both ZQ-2E and ZQ-3.

Beijing-based LandSpace is a leading Chinese private space company. With its Zhuque-2 rocket, LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone is located near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in nortwestern China that was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.

Credit: Landspace

Date: May 14, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #SatelliteConstellations #Earth #LEO #China #中国 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #Zhuque2Rocket #Zhuque2EY5 #Rockets #LaunchVehicles #JSLC #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #酒泉卫星发射中心 #InnerMongolia #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceflight #STEM #Education

China Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 Launch of Constellation Test Satellite

China Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 Launch of Constellation Test Satellite

The Landspace Zhuque-2E Y5 carrier rocket blasted off at 11:00 am Beijing time on May 14, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, delivering a 2.8-ton test payload into a 900 km orbit, paving the way for satellite constellation networking.

What’s New in the ZQ-2E Y5 Rocket?

• Increased propellant capacity & structural optimization

The extended first-stage tanks, combined with full subcooled propellant loading, increased propellant capacity by ~15%. Structural mass is further reduced through partial insulation removal, optimized cable routing fairings, and removeal of first-stage fins, reflecting a system-level design optimization approach.

• Three-ignition second stage with high-orbit disposal

ZQ-2E Y5 pioneers, among China’s commercial missions, a three-ignition second-stage flight profile featuring tank-pressure ignition + high altitude deorbit. This approach ensures ignition reliability while enabling rapid high-altitude deorbit, addressing traditional challenges and supporting space debris mitigation requirements.

• Toward “Smart Launch Vehicles”

The first stage introduces in-flight engine anomaly detection and thrust self-correction, while the second stage debuts a propellant utilization system. These enable autonomous diagnosis and response to off-nominal conditions (e.g., thrust deviation, mixture ratio shifts), significantly improving flight reliability and service capability.

• Rapid launch capability

Leveraging mature mission operations, the campaign achieved a 13-day launch cycle and ~1.5-hour pre-launch fueling timeline, laying the foundation for high-frequency launch operations with both ZQ-2E and ZQ-3.

Beijing-based LandSpace is a leading Chinese private space company. With its Zhuque-2 rocket, LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone is located near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in nortwestern China that was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.

Credit: Landspace

Time: 1 minute
Date: May 14, 2026

#NASA #Space #Satellites #SatelliteConstellations #Earth #LEO #China #中国 #LandSpace #蓝箭 #Zhuque2Rocket #Zhuque2EY5 #Rockets #LaunchVehicles #JSLC #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #酒泉卫星发射中心 #InnerMongolia #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 3432 in Leo Minor | Hubble Space Telescope

Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 3432 in Leo Minor | Hubble Space Telescope

Believe it or not, this long, luminous streak, speckled with bright blisters and pockets of material, is a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way. 

How could that be? 

It turns out that we see this galaxy, named NGC 3432, orientated directly edge-on to us from our vantage point here on Earth. The galaxy’s spiral arms and bright core are hidden, and we instead see the thin strip of its very outer reaches. Dark bands of cosmic dust, patches of varying brightness, and pink regions of star formation help with making out the true shape of NGC 3432. However, it is still somewhat of a challenge! This is because observatories such as the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope have seen spiral galaxies at every kind of orientation, astronomers can tell when we happen to have caught one from the side.

The galaxy is located in the constellation of Leo Minor (The Lesser Lion).

Distance from Earth: 27-40 million light years

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko, R. Jansen
Release Date: July 29, 2019

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #NGC3432 #SpiralGalaxies #LeoMinorConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Russian Soyuz MS-29 Crew Member Portraits | International Space Station

Russian Soyuz MS-29 Crew Member Portraits | International Space Station

Soyuz MS-29 prime crew members (from left) NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina of Russia pose for a portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Soyuz MS-29 flight engineer Anna Kikina of Russia poses for a portrait in her Sokol launch and entry suit at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City.

NASA astronaut and Soyuz MS-29 flight engineer Anil Menon poses for a portrait in his Sokol launch and entry suit at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Soyuz MS-29 commander Pyotyr Dubrov of Russia poses for a portrait in his Sokol launch and entry suit at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

Soyuz MS-29 crew emblem

Expedition 75 emblem

The official portrait of the seven‑member Expedition 75 crew that will live and work aboard the International Space Station. From left, are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon; Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina of Russia; NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway; and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot.

Official portraits of three members in their Soyuz MS-29 spacesuits from the seven‑member Expedition 75 crew that will live and work aboard the International Space Station: NASA astronaut Anil Menon, plus Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina of Russia.

The Soyuz MS-29 mission, targeted to launch Tuesday, July 14, 2026, from Kazakhstan will carry NASA astronaut Anil Menon and his crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina of Russia, to the International Space Station for an eight-month stay as part of Expeditions 74/75. It will be Menon’s first spaceflight.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon's biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/nasa-astronaut-anil-menon/

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

Expedition 74 Crew
Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Sergei Mikaev

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, 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 Credits: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), NASA/Josh Valcarcel
Dates: Aug. 14, 2020-July 2, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #Earth #ISS #SoyuzMS29CrewSpacecraft #Astronauts #AnilMenon #Cosmonauts #PyotrDubrov #AnnaKikina #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition75 #JSC #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #STEM #Education

Following the Stars with America's New Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Following the Stars with America's New Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Are you dizzy yet? Mesmerizing star trails spin above Cerro Pachón, a mountain in northern Chile and home to NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE/SC). Rubin is a joint program of NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory that cooperatively operate Rubin.

The star trails in this image suggest the multitude of colors and brightnesses of stars. This extra-long-exposure image also captures the stars’ apparent movement (as well as other moving objects, such as air traffic and satellites). At the center of the circular star trails is the southern celestial pole, residing in the dim constellation of Octans (the Octant). 

By observing characteristics of stars with observatories like Rubin, scientists can gain insight into stellar evolution. Rubin is expected to observe and measure about 17 billion stars during its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Additionally, when Rubin detects a change in a star’s brightness, it will send out an alert within minutes. This will allow astronomers to investigate both short and long-term changes in stars that are difficult to monitor without continuous survey operations. These include flickers or pulses that precede supernovae, new variable stars with multi-year periods of variation, and rare events like the merging of dense neutron stars. The dazzling night will yield dazzling discoveries.

Hernán Stockebrand, the photographer, is a DevOps Engineer with Rubin Observatory and a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.

Learn more about the new Vera Rubin Observatory:

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/vera-c-rubin-observatory

An Introduction to Vera Rubin:

https://rubinobservatory.org/about/vera-rubin

Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand
Date: May 13, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #LSSTCam #SimonyiSurveyTelescope #RubinObservatory #VeraRubin #CerroPachón #Chile #NOIRLab #NSF #DOE #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Returns to Earth in 2020 | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Returns to Earth in 2020 | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Christina Koch completed a record 328-day mission in space returning to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz crew spacecraft with European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, both of whom completed 201 days in space. They landed in Kazakhstan.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch spent many of her hours on science activities aboard the International Space Station and wore many hats: farmer, biologist, physicist, engineer, test subject and many more.

Six years before her Artemis II Moon Mission, NASA astronaut, scientist, mission specialist, flight engineer, and spacewalker Christina Koch spent almost a year in space on International Space Station Expeditions 59-61 (March 2019-February 2020), before coming home. During the longest-ever single spaceflight by a female astronaut, NASA astronaut Christina Koch also completed six spacewalks. 

When Koch returned to Earth, she set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Additionally, Christina participated in the first all-female spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, currently serving aboard the International Space Station on Expedition 74.

Christina Koch Biographies:
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-h-koch
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christina-hammock-koch/biography

Artemis II mission specialist and NASA astronaut Christina Koch joined NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a nearly 10-day lunar flyby mission, surpassing the Apollo 13 record for farthest crewed spaceflight and observing the lunar surface like never before, capturing iconic views.

Learn more about NASA's Artemis II Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

How to Become a NASA Astronaut:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/become-an-astronaut/

Video Credit: NASA/JSC

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Feb. 6, 2020

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #SoyuzCrewSpacecraft #Russia #Roscosmos #Expedition59 #Expedition60 #Expedition61 #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #Scientists #ElectricalEngineers #WomenInSTEM #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAJohnson #UnitedStates #Kazakhstan #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Wide-Field View: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

Wide-Field View: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

This image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows galaxy NGC 7714 and its surroundings. This galaxy is in the process of merging with its neighbor NGC 7715, also visible in this wide-field image. Together, these two form the merging pair Arp 284.

NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth—a relatively close neighbor in cosmic terms. The galaxy has witnessed violent and dramatic events in its recent past.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Release Date: Jan. 29, 2015

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Arp284 #NGC7714 #NGC7715 #NGC7176 #InteractingGalaxies #PiscesConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Journey to Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

Journey to Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

This video zooms in on NGC 7714, one of a pair of merging galaxies. The sequence begins with a view of the night sky near the constellation of Pisces. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, and ends with a view of the galaxy obtained by Hubble. NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth—a relatively close neighbor in cosmic terms. The galaxy has witnessed violent and dramatic events in its recent past. Tell-tale signs of this can be seen in NGC 7714's strangely shaped arms, and in the smoky golden haze that stretches out from the galactic center—caused by an ongoing merger with its smaller galactic companion NGC 7715, outside the frame of this image.

Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 and A. Fuji

Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2015

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Arp284 #NGC7714 #NGC7715 #NGC7176 #InteractingGalaxies #PiscesConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

Close-up: Spiral Galaxy NGC 7714 in Pisces | Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble image of NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth—a relatively close neighbor in cosmic terms. The galaxy has witnessed violent and dramatic events in its recent past. Tell-tale signs of this can be seen in NGC 7714's strangely shaped arms, and in the smoky golden haze that stretches out from the galactic center—caused by an ongoing merger with its smaller galactic companion NGC 7715, outside the frame of this image.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA), NASA

Acknowledgement: A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science)

Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2015

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Arp284 #NGC7714 #NGC7715 #NGC7176 #InteractingGalaxies #PiscesConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video