Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education.
Are Colors in Astronomical Images Real? | European Southern Observatory
Images of galaxies and nebulae often look very colorful. But where do these colors come from? Are they real? What do they mean? In this episode of Chasing Starlight, we show you everything that goes behind the scenes when making astronomical images, from how astronomical detectors actually work to how we choose what colors to display.
"Ever wonder what it takes to become a space traveler? The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has introduced the Shenzhou-19 team, set to launch at 4:27 a.m. Beijing Time on October 30, 2024, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Here is a look at the rigorous training and the challenges the Shenzhou-19 crew faced!"
China's First Female Flight Engineer Ready for Launch | China Space Station
Wang Haoze, China's first female spaceflight engineer, will embark on the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceflight mission on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, is set to make history as the country's first rocket designer to ride one of her works into space. She will become the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed space flight, after Liu Yang who was in the Shenzhou-9 and 14 crews, and Wang Yaping, of Shenzhou-10 and 13.
The Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 4:27 Wednesday (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
Wang, along with astronauts Song Lingdong and Cai Xuzhe—the commander—to carry out the mission.
The 34-year-old flight engineer represents a new generation of Chinese astronauts: scientists and engineers that are now stepping into spacesuits themselves.
Born in north China's Hebei Province, Wang holds a degree of engineering thermophysics and previously served as a senior engineer at the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
However, Wang's journey from designing rocket engines to operating them was not easy. During astronaut selection in 2020, she faced one of her toughest challenges in the centrifuge—a machine that simulates an intense six-fold G force of spaceflight.
"Our centrifuge instructor said that he'd got an alarm bell which has never rung because no astronaut had ever pressed the button. I was holding that button with my mind struggling. I felt terribly sick in those moments but I thought I just couldn't press it, I can't be the first to do this," she said.
This determination characterized her entire training journey. As an engineer-turned astronaut, Wang has developed what she calls her two "magic keys" to success: practice hard and think diligently.
"The first 'magic key' is called 'practice hard', and the second 'magic key' is called 'think diligently'. Docking is very easy for a pilot to get started quickly, but for me an engineer, it was a little confusing at first. What should I do then? I had to keep practicing, and after practicing nearly 1,000 times, I meet the requirement for every docking simulation. Then the second one: diligent in thinking. There are certain operations that need us to do more thinking in extravehicular training. For example, what kind of posture should my body in the suit present to extend the range of operation, and where should my hand pinch it so that I can grip it more firmly and exert force," Wang said.
The crew will complete in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-18 trio and stay at the space station for approximately six months, witnessing the arrival of the Tianzhou-8 cargo craft and Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft during the mission.
Many tasks await the new crew to complete: conducting space science and application tests, performing extravehicular activities, installing protective devices against space debris, and installing and recycling extravehicular payloads and equipment. They will also engage in science education, public welfare activities, and other payload tests.
"I think I would be more useful in communicating with the ground technicians. For instance, when we encounter some situations outside the plan and need to use our wisdom and engineering background together to solve the problem, I think there is a role for me to play," Wang said.
For Wang, who spent years studying advanced rocket propulsion systems before becoming an astronaut, the Wednesday launch represents more than just a mission; it's a culmination of a lifetime dedication to space exploration.
"All I think about is to focus on my work, I must do every job well in space," she said.
Shenzhou-19 Crew Launch Scheduled for Oct. 30, 2024 | China Space Station
China's Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft is scheduled to be launched no earlier than at 04:27 Wednesday, October 30, 2024, (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Tuesday.
Lin Xiqiang, spokesman of the agency, announced this while briefing the media on the main tasks of the Shenzhou-19 mission.
"As evaluated and decided by the mission headquarters, the Shenzhou-19 spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 04:27 on Oct 30 Beijing Time. Crew members are astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, with Cai Xuzhe as the commander," Lin said.
"Astronaut Cai Xuzhe has participated in the Shenzhou-14 space flight mission. Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, among the third batch of Chinese astronauts, were born in the 1990s and will carry out a space flight for the first time. Song Lingdong was a former air force pilot before being selected as an astronaut and Wang Haoze previously served as a senior engineer at the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. She is currently China's only female spaceflight engineer and will become the third Chinese woman to embark on a crewed spaceflight mission," he said.
The three astronauts will take over command of China’s Tiangong space station from the Shenzhou-18 crew currently in orbit and will spend about six months in space.
Shenzhou-19 is the 33rd flight mission of China's crewed space program, and the 4th manned mission during the application and development stage of China's space station.
The Shenzhou-19 spacecraft, sitting atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, has been transferred to the launching area, with pre-launch function checks and joint tests conducted to ensure the spaceship's readiness.
NASA Perseverance Mars Rover Drive Path Animation | JPL
This animated orbital-map view shows the route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has taken since its February 2021 landing at Jezero Crater to July 2024, when it took its “Cheyava Falls” sample. As of October 2024, the rover has driven over 30 kilometers (18.65 miles), and has collected 24 samples of rock and regolith as well as one air sample.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is currently negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December 2024.
“Mars rovers have driven over steeper terrain, and they’ve driven over more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one had to handle both—and on this scale,” said the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Camden Miller, who was a rover planner, or “driver,” for Curiosity and now serves the same role on the Perseverance mission. “For every two steps forward Perseverance takes, we were taking at least one step back. The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long, hard slog, so we got together to think up some options.”
NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes.
Celebrating 3+ Years on Mars
Mission Name: Mars 2020
Rover Name: Perseverance
Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.
Planet Mars Images: Fall 2024| NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers
This enhanced-color mosaic was taken on Sept. 27, 2024, by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover (Mars 2020) while climbing the western wall of Jezero Crater. Many of the landmarks visited by the rover during its 3½-year exploration of Mars can be seen.
Tracks shown in this image indicate the slipperiness of the terrain that NASA's Perseverance Mars rover (Mars 2020) has encountered during its climb up the rim of Jezero Crater. The image was taken by one of rover’s navigation cameras on Oct. 11, 2024.
Mars 2020 - sol 1311
Mars 2020 - sol 1311
Mars 2020 - sol 1309
MSL - sol 4345
MSL - sol 4301
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December 2024.
“Mars rovers have driven over steeper terrain, and they’ve driven over more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one had to handle both — and on this scale,” said the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Camden Miller, who was a rover planner, or “driver,” for Curiosity and now serves the same role on the Perseverance mission. “For every two steps forward Perseverance takes, we were taking at least one step back. The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long, hard slog, so we got together to think up some options.”
NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes.
Planets Beware: NASA Finds Star Cluster Danger Zones | NASA Chandra
Most stars form in collections or groups, called clusters or associations, that include very massive stars. These giant stars send out large amounts of high-energy radiation, which can disrupt relatively fragile disks of dust and gas that are in the process of coalescing to form new planets.
A team of astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with ultraviolet, optical and infrared data, to show where some of the most treacherous places in a star cluster may be, where planets’ chances to form are diminished.
The target of the observations was Cygnus OB2, which is the nearest large cluster of stars to our Sun — at a distance of about 4,600 light-years. Cygnus OB2 contains hundreds of massive stars as well as thousands of lower-mass stars.
Astronomers used Chandra observations to map out the diffuse X-ray glow in between the stars and create a catalog of the young stars in the cluster. They then combined this catalog with others using optical and infrared data to create the best census of young stars yet in Cygnus OB2.
The researchers found that there is a lot of high-energy radiation produced by stars and planets in these crowded stellar environments. They determined that the X-rays plus intense ultraviolet light in Cygnus OB2 would have a devastating impact on planetary disks and systems in the process of forming there.
How would this happen? Planet-forming disks around stars naturally fade away over time. However, if these disks are close to massive stars that pump out lots of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation, this process of the disk destruction is accelerated. Instead of taking 5 or 10 million years, the disks around these giant stars are wiped out much sooner, possibly before planets have had time to form. The disks also disappear more quickly in regions where the stars are more closely packed together.
Sun Melts Comet Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1)| ESA SOHO Spacecraft
"Today, our solar system has one less comet." Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) "melted away" on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, when it passed within 0.008 astronomical units (AU) of the Sun. Coronagraphs onboard the European Space Agency's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) witnessed the final moments. In this animation, an opaque occulting disk covers the Sun, blocking its glare to produce an artificial eclipse. This allowed SOHO's digital cameras to see the comet only 550,000 km from the surface of the sun.
Comet ATLAS was categorized as a Kreutz sungrazer. These are a family of comets made up of fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet around a thousand years ago. SOHO has discovered thousands of them—almost all eventually disintegrate near the Sun.
Comet ATLAS first appeared in September 2024 when an outburst brightened the comet, making it appear larger than average Kreutz fragments. Many astronomers hoped it would survive the Sun and put on a magnificent display like the Kreutz Comet Ikeya-Seki did in 1965. Not this time.
The Oort cloud is theorized to be a vast cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU (0.03 to 3.2 light-years). The concept of such a cloud was proposed in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, in whose honor the idea was named. Oort proposed that the bodies in this cloud replenish and keep constant the number of long-period comets entering the inner Solar System—where they are eventually consumed and destroyed during close approaches to the Sun.
Expedition 72 Crew Portrait & Crew-8 Farewell | International Space Station
On October 23, 2024, the Expedition 72 crew posed for a final group portrait ahead of the departure of NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission. From top left is NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), astronauts Matthew Dominick and Mike Barratt, and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. From bottom left are astronauts Suni Williams, Nick Hague, Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore, and cosmonaut Ivan Vagner (Russia).
After 235 days in space, SpaceX Dragon Endeavour and Crew-8 NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia returned to Earth and splashed down off the coast of Florida at 3:29 a.m. ET on Friday, October 25, 2024.
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague
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.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
Shenzhou-18 Crew Prepares for Earth Return | China Space Station
The Shenzhou-18 crew aboard China's orbiting Tiangong space station is preparing for their return mission while wrapping up remaining experiments. The three astronauts, Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, were sent into space for a six-month mission in April this year. Their return will take place after completing a handover with the Shenzhou-19 members at the space station.
Over the past week, the astronauts continued to carry out experiments in space material science, microgravity fluid physics and combustion science. They replaced the plug-in burner of a combustion cabinet gas experiment and samples from a fluid physics experiment cabinet as planned.
In addition, the crew members completed experimental tasks related to the study of astronaut psychological and behavioral ability.
In terms of emergency decision-making research, they used test software to complete basic cognitive ability tests, risk cognition tests, decision-style tests, and comprehensive decision-making tasks. The ground staff used the test results to carefully evaluate the astronauts' in-orbit emergency decision-making ability and to measure influential factors, such as in-orbit time, emotional states, and workload on the test results for emergency decision-making abilities.
In terms of in-orbit emotion recognition and evaluation research, the ground staff evaluated the emotional state of the astronauts through questionnaires, color preference tests, and emotional picture tests. They also explored the impact of medium- and long-term flight on the emotional state of astronauts.
Furthermore, the Shenzhou-18 crew conducted rendezvous and docking training.
The astronauts used the metacognitive training system to complete image recognition and operation testing under different initial conditions, confirming the overall accuracy and reliability of their operational skills.
In preparation for the return, the crew completed in-orbit data cleaning and transmission to ground stations, material inventory and sorting, equipment status checking, and they gathered items for return.
As for regular medical examinations, the astronauts had basic physical checks, ambulatory electrocardiographic blood pressure monitoring, 12-lead Electrocardiogram tests, plus non-invasive cardiac function and ultrasound examinations.
While keeping up physical exercise, the astronauts used microgravity physiological protective equipment, including acupoint stimulation clothing and bone loss countermeasure instruments to reduce the health impacts of their long-duration mission in a microgravity environment.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 4414: Revisiting an Old Beauty | Hubble Space Telescope
This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope shows an unbarred spiral galaxy located roughly 51 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices.
The image features Hubble data from 1995 and 1999 that was captured as part of the telescope’s primary missions to determine the distance between galaxies. This was achieved as part of an ongoing research effort to study Cepheid variable stars. Cepheids are a special type of variable star with very stable and predictable brightness variations. The period of these variations depends on physical properties of the stars, such as their mass and true brightness. This means that astronomers, just by looking at the variability of their light, can determine the Cepheids' physical nature. This then can be used very effectively to determine their distance. This is why cosmologists call Cepheids 'standard candles'.
Astronomers have used Hubble to observe Cepheids, like those that reside in NGC 4414, with extraordinary results. The Cepheids have then been used as stepping-stones to make distance measurements for supernovae that can provide a measure for the scale of the Universe. Today, we know the age of the Universe to a much higher precision than before, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope—around 13.7 billion years.
Image Description: A large spiral galaxy is seen tilted diagonally. The arms of the galaxy’s disc are speckled with glowing patches; some are blue in color, others are pink, showing gas illuminated by new stars. A faint glow surrounds the galaxy, which lies on a dark, nearly empty background. The galaxy's center glows in white.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. Graur, S. W. Jha, A. Filippenko
Journey to The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO
This zoom video starts with a wide view of the central parts of the Milky Way galaxy and slowly closes in on the globular star cluster NGC 6752 in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). The final detailed image of the cluster is from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Studies of this cluster by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.
NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.
Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.
Pan of The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO
This video provides a close look at an image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It shows the globular star cluster NGC 6752 about 13,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Studies of this cluster using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.
NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.
Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Caption Credit: ESO/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 (Wide-field view)
This image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the globular star cluster NGC 6752 about 13,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Studies of this cluster using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.
NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.
Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Caption Credit: ESO/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
About 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo, the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.
Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.
This sharp color composite also features the cluster's ancient red giant stars in yellowish hues.
Note: The bright, spiky blue star about 8 o'clock from the cluster center is a foreground star along the line-of-sight to NGC 6752
Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco, Aygen Erkaslan
Astronaut Don Pettit's Water Ice Wafer 'Space Art' | International Space Station
NASA Astronaut Don Pettit: "Science, or should I say Nature, has a way of presenting surprising beauty if one is willing to look."
"Science and Art, or Art and Science; related subjects where it really doesn’t matter which comes first. So I have access to a freezer kept at -95 degrees centigrade (-140 F). What would you do with such a freezer in space?"
"I decided to grow thin wafers of water ice for no more reason than I’m in space and I can. Plus, I wanted to see how the freezing front behaves in 0g (without gravitational buoyancy, how does the freezing front push the tiny bubbles around). Here is one frame from a whole series. I photographed the ice . . . between crossed polarizers where I used a white (blank) laptop display as the illuminator/polarizer in conjunction with an analyzer (polarizing filter) I strategically packed in my bag of personal effects."
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague
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.
%20(10-28-24)ESA.gif)
NASA-JSC.jpg)
RD-APoD.jpg)
-NASA-JSC-DPettit.jpg)