Zoom into The Milky Way Galaxy's Black Hole: Polarized Light View

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

Duration:  52 seconds

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #BlackHoles #SagittariusA #SgrA #PolarizedLight #MilkyWayGalaxy #ALMA #Chajnantor #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #EHT #EHTCollaboration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

V838 Mon Light Echo | Hubble Space Telescope

V838 Mon Light Echo | Hubble Space Telescope

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)

Processing: Judy Schmidt

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Star #V838Mon #IRAS070150346 #Monoceros #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #JudySchmidt #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Panning across Young Stars FS Tau A & FS Tau B | Hubble Space Telescope

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  

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #FSTau #FSTauA #Protostars #FSTauB #Haro65B #Jet #HerbigHaroObject #TTauriStars #Taurus #Auriga #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Galaxy I Zwicky 18: Wide-field View | James Webb Space Telescope

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.

Release Date: March 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxy #IZwicky18 #IZw18 #DwarfGalaxy #IrregularGalaxy #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Panning over Galaxy I Zwicky 18 | James Webb Space Telescope

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

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: March 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxy #IZwicky18 #IZw18 #DwarfGalaxy #IrregularGalaxy #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Duo of Starbursts in Galaxy I Zwicky 18 | James Webb Space Telescope

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.

Release Date: March 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxy #IZwicky18 #IZw18 #DwarfGalaxy #IrregularGalaxy #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Expedition 71 Soyuz MS-25 Spaceflight Highlights | International Space Station

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)

Duration: 25 minutes

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzMS25Spacecraft #СоюзМС25 #Astronaut #TracyDyson #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #OlegNovitskiy #ОлегНовицкий #Russia #Россия #MarinaVasilevskaya #МарынаВасілеўская #Belarus #Беларусь #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition71 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Expedition 71 Soyuz MS-25 Crew Arrival | International Space Station

Expedition 71 Soyuz MS-25 Crew Arrival | International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft hatch was opened on March 25, 2024, at 1:26pm EDT. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Russia and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson begin a six-and-a-half-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS), while Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya starts a short-term scientific mission. 

Vasilevskaya is the first citizen of Belarus in space.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.

The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 70 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.

Dyson, Novitskiy, and Vasilevskaya joined NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, already living and working aboard the space station.

Dyson will spend six months aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, returning to Earth in September with Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos (Russia), who will complete a year-long mission on the laboratory.

Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be aboard the station for 12 days, providing the ride home for O’Hara on Saturday, April 6, aboard Soyuz MS-24 for a parachute-assisted landing on steppe of Kazakhstan. O’Hara will have spent 204 days in space when she returns.

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: NASA/Roscosmos

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzMS25Spacecraft #СоюзМС25 #Astronaut #TracyDyson #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #OlegNovitskiy #ОлегНовицкий #Russia #Россия #MarinaVasilevskaya #МарынаВасілеўская #Belarus #Беларусь #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition71 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Young Stars FS Tau A & FS Tau B | Hubble Space Telescope

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)

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #FSTau #FSTauA #Protostars #FSTauB #Haro65B #Jet #HerbigHaroObject #TTauriStars #Taurus #Auriga #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Globular Cluster NGC 1651 in The Large Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

Globular Cluster NGC 1651 in The Large Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

This image shows a globular cluster known as NGC 1651. It is located about 162,000 light-years away in the largest and brightest of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). A notable feature of this image is that the globular cluster almost fills the entire image, even though globular clusters are only about 10 to 300 light-years in diameter (NGC 1651 has a diameter of roughly 120 light-years). 

A common misconception is that Hubble and other large telescopes manage to observe wildly differently sized celestial objects by zooming in on them, as one would with a specialized camera here on Earth. However, while small telescopes might have the option to zoom in and out to a certain extent, large telescopes do not. Each telescope’s instrument has a fixed ‘field of view’ (the size of the region of sky that it can observe in a single observation). For example, the ultraviolet/visible light channel of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), the channel and instrument that were used to collect the data used in this image, has a field of view roughly one twelfth the diameter of the Moon as seen from Earth. Whenever WFC3 makes an observation, that is the size of the region of sky that it can observe.

The reason that Hubble can observe objects of such wildly different sizes is two-fold. First, the distance to an object will determine how big it appears to be from Earth, so entire galaxies that are relatively far away might take up the same amount of space in the sky as a globular cluster like NGC 1651 that is relatively close by. In fact, there is a distant spiral galaxy lurking in this image, directly left of the cluster—though undoubtedly much larger than this star cluster, it appears small enough here to blend in with foreground stars! Second, multiple images spanning different parts of the sky can be mosaiced together to create single images of objects that are too big for Hubble’s field of view. This is a very complex task and is not typically done for most images, but it has been done for Hubble’s most iconic ones.

Image Description: A spherical collection of stars fills the whole view. The stars merge into a bright, bluish core in the center, and form a sparse band around that out to the edges of the image. A few stars lie in front of the cluster, with visible diffraction spikes. The background is dark black.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Girardi, F. Niederhofer

Release Date: March 25, 2024

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #NGC1651 #Mensa #Constellation #LMC #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Looking into "The Eyes" of The Virgin Cluster | ESO

Looking into "The Eyes" of The Virgin Cluster | ESO

This striking image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, at the top of the picture, NGC 4438, is thought to have once been a spiral galaxy that was strongly deformed by collisions in the relatively recent past. The two galaxies belong to the Virgo Cluster and are about 50 million light-years away.

Learn more about the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT)

https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 8 seconds

Release Date: Nov 21, 2023

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #EyesGalaxies #InteractingGalaxies #NGC4438 #NGC4435 #VirgoCluster #Constellation #Virgo #MilkWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming on "The Eyes" Galaxies: NGC 4438 & NGC 4435 in Virgo | ESO

Zooming on "The Eyes" Galaxies: NGC 4438 & NGC 4435 in Virgo | ESO

This striking image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, at the top of the picture, NGC 4438, is thought to have once been a spiral galaxy that was strongly deformed by collisions in the relatively recent past. The two galaxies belong to the Virgo Cluster and are about 50 million light-years away.

Learn more about the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT):

https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/A. Fujii and Digitized Sky Survey 2

Duration: 56 seconds    

Release Date: Aug. 24, 2011

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #EyesGalaxies #InteractingGalaxies #NGC4438 #NGC4435 #VirgoCluster #Constellation #Virgo #MilkWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

"The Eyes" Galaxies: NGC 4438 & NGC 4435 in The Virgo Cluster | ESO

"The Eyes" Galaxies: NGC 4438 & NGC 4435 in The Virgo Cluster | ESO

This striking image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, at the top of the picture, NGC 4438, is thought to have once been a spiral galaxy that was strongly deformed by collisions in the relatively recent past. The two galaxies belong to the Virgo Cluster and are about 50 million light-years away.

Learn more about the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT)

https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: Aug. 24, 2011

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #EyesGalaxies #InteractingGalaxies #NGC4438 #NGC4435 #VirgoCluster #Constellation #Virgo #MilkWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

M86-NGC 4438 Galactic Complex in The Virgo Cluster | Mayall Telescope

M86-NGC 4438 Galactic Complex in The Virgo Cluster | Mayall Telescope

A deep new image of part of the Virgo cluster has revealed monumental tendrils of ionized hydrogen gas 400,000 light-years long connecting the elliptical galaxy M86 (right) and the disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 4438 (left). Taken with the wide-field Mosaic imager on the National Science Foundation’s 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory using a filter that reveals the light from Hydrogen-alpha emission, the image and related spectroscopic measurements of the filament provide striking evidence of a previously unsuspected high-speed collision between the two galaxies. The red filaments in the image show H-alpha emission with low velocities (similar to the velocities of the two colliding galaxies M86 and NGC 4438). The green filaments seen near the edge-on spiral galaxy in the lower right (NGC 4388) show H-alpha emission with much higher velocities, suggesting that this galaxy might not be related to M86.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time.

Credit: Tomer Tal and Jeffrey Kenney/Yale University and NOAO/AURA/NSF

Release Date: Oct. 7, 2008

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #M86 #EllipticalGalaxy #NGC4438 #SpiralGalaxy #VirgoCluster #Virgo #ComaBerenices #Constellations #Cosmos #Universe #KittPeakNationalObservatory #KPNO #MayallTelescope #Optical #Arizona #NSF #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Panning across Spiral Galaxy NGC 4423: A Matter of Perspective | Hubble

Panning across Spiral Galaxy NGC 4423: A Matter of Perspective | Hubble

Here we see NGC 4423, a galaxy that lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. In this image NGC 4423 appears to have quite an irregular, tubular form, so it might be surprising to find out that it is in fact a spiral galaxy. Knowing this, we can make out the denser central bulge of the galaxy, and the less crowded surrounding disc (the part that comprises the spiral arms). 

If NGC 4423 were viewed face-on it would resemble the shape that we most associate with spiral galaxies: the spectacular curving arms sweeping out from a bright center, interspersed with dimmer, darker, less populated regions. However, when observing the skies we are constrained by the relative alignments between Earth and the objects that we are observing: we cannot simply reposition Earth so that we can get a better face-on view of NGC 4423!

Of course, celestial objects do not remain sedentary in space, but often move at extremely rapid velocities relative to one another. This might suggest that, should a galaxy be moving in a fortuitous direction relative to Earth, we might be able to view it from a substantially different perspective once it has moved far enough. This is theoretically possible, but the reality is that the distances in space are simply far too big, and human lifetimes far too short, for a noticeable difference in relative alignment to occur. In other words, this is more-or-less the view of NGC 4423 that we will always have! 

Image Description: A broad spiral galaxy is seen edge-on, so that its spiral arms cannot be seen. Visible dust and stars trace the disc of the galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo above and below. The color of the galaxy changes smoothly between the outer disc at the ends and the bulge in the center. A few bright stars surround the galaxy on a dark background.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun, N. Bartmann

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: March 18, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC4423 #SpiralGalaxy #Galaxies #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Panning across Galaxy LEDA 42160: An Unlikely Spiral | Hubble

Panning across Galaxy LEDA 42160: An Unlikely Spiral | Hubble

This image shows LEDA 42160, a galaxy about 52 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The dwarf galaxy is one of many forcing its way through the comparatively dense gas in the Virgo cluster, a massive cluster of galaxies. The pressure exerted by this intergalactic gas, known as ram pressure, has dramatic effects on star formation in LEDA 42160, which are presently being studied using the Hubble Space Telescope.

LEDA 42160 falls into the category of ‘Magellanic spiral galaxy’, or type Sm for short, under the de Vaucouleurs galaxy classification system. Magellanic spiral galaxies can be further sub-categorized as barred (SBm), unbarred (SAm) and weakly barred (SABm), where a ‘bar’ is an elongated bar-shape at a galaxy’s core. Generally speaking, Magellanic spiral galaxies are dwarf galaxies with only one single spiral arm. They are named after their prototype, the Large Magellanic Cloud—an SBm galaxy. Magellanic spiral galaxies are an interesting example of how galaxy categorization is actually more nuanced than simply ‘spiral’, ‘elliptical’ or ‘irregular’. 

Image Description: A distorted dwarf galaxy, obscured by dust and by bright outbursts caused by star formation, floats roughly in the center. A few distant galaxies are visible in the background around it, many as little spirals, and also including a prominent elliptical galaxy. A bright star hangs above the galaxy in the foreground, marked by cross-shaped diffraction spikes.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: March 18, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #DwarfGalaxy #LEDA42160 #SmSpiralGalaxy #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video