Galaxy UGC 5460 in Ursa Major: Supernovae & Luminous Blue Variables? | Hubble

Galaxy UGC 5460 in Ursa Major: Supernovae & Luminous Blue Variables? | Hubble

The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture is UGC 5460. It sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper left-hand corner of this image is a far closer object: a star just 577 light-years away in our own galaxy.

UGC 5460 has hosted two recent supernovae named SN 2011ht and SN 2015as. It is because of these two stellar explosions that Hubble targeted this galaxy, collecting data for three observing programs that aim to study kinds of supernovae. 

SN 2015as was what is known as a core-collapse supernova: a cataclysmic explosion that happens when the core of a star far more massive than the Sun runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity, initiating a rebound of material outside the core. Hubble observations of SN 2015as will help researchers understand what happens when the expanding shockwave of a supernova collides with the gas that surrounds the exploded star.

SN 2011ht might have been a core-collapse supernova as well, but it could also be an impostor called a luminous blue variable. Luminous blue variables are rare stars that experience eruptions so large that they can mimic supernovae. Crucially, luminous blue variables emerge from these eruptions unscathed, while stars that go supernova do not. Hubble will search for a stellar survivor at SN 2011ht’s location, and the explosion’s identity may be revealed at last.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen close to face-on. The center of its disc is a bright, pale yellowish oval shape. Spiral arms extend from either side of the oval through the disc on irregular paths. They are marked throughout by bright bluish-white patches of stars. Distant background galaxies appear as small orangish blobs around the spiral galaxy. In the top-left corner a nearby star shines brightly, spikes radiating from it.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Jacobson-Galán, A. Filippenko, J. Mauerhan
Release Date: Feb. 17, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #UGC5460 #SpiralGalaxy #Supernovae #SN2011ht #SN2015as #LuminousBlueVariable #LBV #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #STEM #Education

Planet Jupiter Flyby: Perijove 11 | NASA Juno Mission

Planet Jupiter Flyby: Perijove 11 | NASA Juno Mission

Here comes planet Jupiter. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is continuing on its highly elongated orbits around our Solar System's largest planet. This video is from perijove 11 in early 2018, the eleventh time Juno passed near Jupiter since it arrived in mid-2016. This time-lapse, color-enhanced video covers about four hours and morphs between 36 JunoCam images. The video begins with Jupiter rising as Juno approaches from the north. As Juno reaches its closest view—from about 3,500 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops—the spacecraft captures the great planet in tremendous detail. Juno passes light zones and dark belts of clouds that circle the planet, as well as numerous swirling circular storms, many of which are larger than hurricanes on Earth. After the perijove, Jupiter recedes into the distance, then displaying the unusual clouds that appear over Jupiter's south. To get desired science data, Juno swoops so close to Jupiter that its instruments are exposed to very high levels of radiation.

Each perijove passes near a new part of Jupiter's cloud tops. A perijove indicates the point in the Juno spacecraft's orbit when it comes closest to planet Jupiter's center. If we measure by volume, approximately 1,300 Earths could fit inside Jupiter.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program. This is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

Learn more about NASA's Juno mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu

Video Credit & License: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS
Processing: Gerald Eichstadt
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Feb. 23, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Planet #Jupiter #Atmosphere #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #Perijove11 #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD #Timelapse #HD #Video

Planet Mars: Iridescent Clouds at Twilight | NASA's Curiosity Rover

Planet Mars: Iridescent Clouds at Twilight | NASA's Curiosity Rover

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these drifting noctilucent, or twilight, clouds on Jan. 17, 2025, the 4,426th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s mission. This looping clip has been sped up about 480 times. The white plumes falling out of the clouds are carbon dioxide ice that would evaporate closer to the Martian surface.

Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a seasonal imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds. While the Martian clouds may look like the kind seen in Earth’s skies, they include frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Sometimes these clouds even create a rainbow of colors, producing iridescent, or “mother-of-pearl” clouds. Too faint to be seen in daylight, they are only visible when the clouds are especially high and evening has fallen.

Martian clouds are made of either water ice or, at higher altitudes and lower temperatures, carbon dioxide ice. Mars’ atmosphere is more than 95% carbon dioxide. The latter are the only kind of clouds observed at Mars producing iridescence, and they can be seen near the top of the new images at an altitude of around 37 to 50 miles (60 to 80 kilometers). They are also visible as white plumes falling through the atmosphere, traveling as low as 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface before evaporating because of rising temperatures. 

Dawn of Twilight Clouds

Twilight clouds were first seen on Mars by NASA’s Pathfinder mission in 1997; Curiosity did not spot them until 2019, when it acquired its first-ever images of iridescence in the clouds. This is the fourth Mars year the rover has observed the phenomenon that occurs during early fall in the southern hemisphere.

Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, led a paper summarizing Curiosity’s first two seasons of twilight cloud observations. It was published late last year in Geophysical Research Letters. “I’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent clouds and was sure at first it was some color artifact,” he said. “Now it’s become so predictable that we can plan our shots in advance; the clouds show up at exactly the same time of year.”

Each sighting is an opportunity to learn more about the particle size and growth rate in Martian clouds. This, in turn, provides more information about the planet’s atmosphere.

Cloud Mystery

One major mystery is why twilight clouds made of carbon dioxide ice have not been spotted in other locations on Mars. Curiosity, which landed in 2012, is on Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, just south of the Martian equator. Pathfinder landed in Ares Vallis, north of the equator. NASA’s Perseverance rover, located in the northern hemisphere’s Jezero Crater, has not seen any carbon dioxide ice twilight clouds since its 2021 landing. Lemmon and others suspect that certain regions of Mars may be predisposed to forming them.

A possible source of the clouds could be gravity waves, he said, that can cool the atmosphere: “Carbon dioxide was not expected to be condensing into ice here, so something is cooling it to the point that it could happen. But Martian gravity waves are not fully understood and we’re not entirely sure what is causing twilight clouds to form in one place but not another.”

For more about Curiosity, visit: 

science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity

Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Duration: 16 seconds

Release Dates: Feb. 11-12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #NoctilucentClouds #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #MSSS #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Hyperlapse #SD #Video

Planet Mars: Iridescent Clouds after Sunset | NASA's Curiosity Rover

Planet Mars: Iridescent Clouds after Sunset | NASA's Curiosity Rover

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this feather-shaped iridescent cloud just after sunset on Jan. 27, 2023.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these drifting noctilucent, or twilight, clouds on Jan. 17, 2025, the 4,426th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s mission.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured these feather-shaped and wispy iridescent clouds just after sunset on January 2023 and January 2025. Studying the colors in iridescent clouds tells scientists something about particle size within the clouds and how they grow over time. These clouds were captured as part of a seasonal imaging campaign to study noctilucent, or “night-shining” clouds. While the Martian clouds may look like the kind seen in Earth’s skies, they include frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Sometimes these clouds even create a rainbow of colors, producing iridescent, or “mother-of-pearl” clouds. Too faint to be seen in daylight, they are only visible when the clouds are especially high and evening has fallen.

Martian clouds are made of either water ice or, at higher altitudes and lower temperatures, carbon dioxide ice. Mars’ atmosphere is more than 95% carbon dioxide. The latter are the only kind of clouds observed at Mars producing iridescence, and they can be seen near the top of the new images at an altitude of around 37 to 50 miles (60 to 80 kilometers). They are also visible as white plumes falling through the atmosphere, traveling as low as 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface before evaporating because of rising temperatures. 

Dawn of Twilight Clouds

Twilight clouds were first seen on Mars by NASA’s Pathfinder mission in 1997; Curiosity did not spot them until 2019, when it acquired its first-ever images of iridescence in the clouds. This is the fourth Mars year the rover has observed the phenomenon that occurs during early fall in the southern hemisphere.

Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, led a paper summarizing Curiosity’s first two seasons of twilight cloud observations, which published late last year in Geophysical Research Letters. “I’ll always remember the first time I saw those iridescent clouds and was sure at first it was some color artifact,” he said. “Now it’s become so predictable that we can plan our shots in advance; the clouds show up at exactly the same time of year.”

Each sighting is an opportunity to learn more about the particle size and growth rate in Martian clouds. That, in turn, provides more information about the planet’s atmosphere.

Cloud Mystery

One major mystery is why twilight clouds made of carbon dioxide ice have not been spotted in other locations on Mars. Curiosity, which landed in 2012, is on Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, just south of the Martian equator. Pathfinder landed in Ares Vallis, north of the equator. NASA’s Perseverance rover, located in the northern hemisphere’s Jezero Crater, has not seen any carbon dioxide ice twilight clouds since its 2021 landing. Lemmon and others suspect that certain regions of Mars may be predisposed to forming them.

A possible source of the clouds could be gravity waves, he said, that can cool the atmosphere: “Carbon dioxide was not expected to be condensing into ice here, so something is cooling it to the point that it could happen. But Martian gravity waves are not fully understood and we’re not entirely sure what is causing twilight clouds to form in one place but not another.”

For more about Curiosity, visit: 

science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity

Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Release Dates: Feb. 11-12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #NoctilucentClouds #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #MSSS #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Shenzhou-19 Crew Reaches Mission Midpoint | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Reaches Mission Midpoint | China Space Station

China's Shenzhou-19 crew has reached the halfway point of their space mission with substantial progress made in station maintenance, in-orbit training, and crucial scientific experiments.

Last week, crew members Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze used their own bodies to carry out tests and collect data for a study on how long-term spaceflight can impact human muscles, particularly for typical movement patterns. Researchers on the ground will analyze data collected at various stages of the mission.

Similarly, the crew has completed tests designed to study how certain medications move through the body during spaceflight. The experimental data obtained will be used to study the changes in fine motor control and cognitive mechanisms under microgravity conditions, as well as to provide guidance for in-orbit medication.

Meanwhile, experiments in fields like materials science and combustion science are proceeding as planned. The crew has completed tasks including cleaning samples from non-container experimental chambers, performing maintenance on axis mechanisms and electrodes, and venting waste gas from the lab's combustion cabinet.

Crew members have also been providing data that will help ensure the smooth operation of future missions, filling out questionnaires and recording videos to provide feedback on the station's habitability and the practicality of its facilities.

They have also conducted a range of measurements on the station's internal environment, including personal noise exposure levels, acoustic environment monitoring, gas detection, and wind speed measurements.

To ensure their health throughout the mission, the crew has completed various medical check-ups, such as dynamic heart rate and blood pressure monitoring, body mass measurements, and hearing tests.

The Shenzhou-19 spaceflight the Tiangong space station launched on October 30, 2024 for a six-month mission, prior to the end of the previous mission, Shenzhou 18.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:
Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 45 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 16, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

"Orion's Finger" in Nearby Giant Nebula Messier 42

"Orion's Finger" in Nearby Giant Nebula Messier 42

Astrophotographer StrongmanMike2002: "Over many years now, when viewing wider field shots of M42, my eye has often been drawn to this finger shaped bit of nebula. A regular thought over the years has been. I've never seen a close up shot of this cool little globule, I should shoot it one day . . . so, finally, ta daaah!"

Globules are dense dust clouds generally associated with large hydrogen-emitting star-formation regions that give off the glowing light of hydrogen gas.

A pareidolia is an optical illusion that makes us see a familiar pattern, where there is none. 

Pareidolia: Dictionaries describe this term as a human tendency to see recognizable shapes in objects or data that are otherwise not familiar to us.

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way situated south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion, and is known as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. It is 1,344 ± 20 light-years (412.1 ± 6.1 pc) away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. Observations of the nebula have revealed approximately 700 stars in various stages of formation within it. M42 is estimated to be 25 light-years across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. 

Image Credit: StrongmanMike2002

Capture Location: Eagleview Observatory, Australia
Capture Date: Feb. 10, 2025
Release Date: Feb. 15, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #Globule #OrionsFinger #Messier42 #M42 #NGC1976 #OrionNebula #StellarNursery #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #StrongmanMike2002 #CitizenScience #Australia #STEM #Education

First Moon Shots: Blue Ghost Mission | Firefly Aerospace

First Moon Shots of Blue Ghost Mission | Firefly Aerospace

While in lunar orbit, the Blue Ghost lander captured its first close-up images of the Moon. With a suite of NASA science and technology on board, Firefly Aerospace is currently targeting no earlier than 3:45 a.m. EST on Sunday, March 2, 2025, to land the Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon.

The Blue Ghost lander is completing its 45-day journey to the Moon. Blue Ghost is seeking to land in Mare Crisium to deliver ten NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon. They will perform numerous science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, and X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field to advance research for future human missions on the Moon and provide insights into how space weather impacts the planet. Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was formed by the flooding of basaltic lava that filled an ancient asteroid impact.    

Learn more: https://fireflyspace.com/missions/blue-ghost-mission-1/

Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #ArtemisProgram #Moon #LunarLanders #FireflyAerospace #BlueGhostLunarLander #BlueGhostMission1 #BGM1 #UnitedStates #Robotics #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education

Commercial Capabilities with Lunar Communication Relays | NASA Artemis

Commercial Capabilities with Lunar Communication Relays | NASA Artemis

NASA is partnering with the aerospace industry to develop lunar relays. Establishing a network of communication relay satellites in lunar orbit will enable continuous and reliable communication between Earth and lunar missions, even in locations where the Earth is not directly visible from the Moon. This effort is being done through the Near Space Network’s Services Request for Proposal (RFP). 

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: David Ryan
Writers: Katherine Schauer and Kendall Murphy
Duration: 1 minute, 43 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 12, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #LunarRelays #LunarCommunicationRelays #SpaceCommunicationsNetworks #LunarNavigation #ArtemisProgram #CommercialSpace #SpaceTechnology #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #MSFC #GSFC #AerospaceIndustry #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim in Spacewalk Training | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim in Spacewalk Training | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, in his extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit, is assisted by NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Stephanie Wilson, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia

In these pictures, NASA astronaut and Soyuz MS-27 crew member Jonny Kim can be seen undergoing International Space Station Extravehicular Activity (EVA) maintenance training, or spacewalk training, at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

During his first mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will serve as a flight engineer and member of the upcoming Expedition 72/73 crew. Kim will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft no earlier than March 2025, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. The trio will spend approximately eight months at the space station.

While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth.

NASA selected Kim as an astronaut in 2017. After completing the initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in various roles including the Expedition 65 lead operations officer, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer.

A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a United States Navy lieutenant commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and completed his internship with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim's Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/jonny-kim/

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.

Image Credit: NASA/James Blair

Capture Date: Oct. 28, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Spacewalk #EVA #Astronauts #Astronaut #JonnyKim #FlightEngineer #KoreanAmerican #AsianAmerican #SpaceLaboratory #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Expedition72 #Expedition73 #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #NBL #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Observing the Universe with NASA's SPHEREx Mission

Observing the Universe with NASA's SPHEREx Mission

NASA’s SPHEREx Mission will explore the universe in a way that has never been done in astronomy before. The observatory has both a wide field of view and the ability to examine the sky in over 100 colors. This approach will help SPHEREx in its quest to understand the origins of our universe as well as water and other molecules important for life.

Learn more about the SPHEREx Mission

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/

Video Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Narrator/Writer/Producer: Elizabeth Landau 

Writer/Producer: Robert Hurt 

Editor/Animator: Keith Miller 

Additional Animations: Juan Vargas 

Additional assets provided by: Frank Summers / STScI

Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Galaxies #3DMapping #SPHEREx #SpaceTelescope #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #Caltech #BAESystems #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Searching for Scrub Jays: A "Far Out" Mini Episode | NASA Kennedy

Searching for Scrub Jays: A "Far Out" Mini Episode | NASA Kennedy

Kennedy Space Center is known for launching rockets into our cosmos, but it is also home to an expansive wildlife refuge and national seashore where more than 1,200 plant and wildlife species reside. Its 144,000 acres are teaming with creatures you might expect, such as alligators, snakes and eagles, and those you may not know as well like the endangered scrub-jay, tortoise and horseshoe crab.

In this mini-episode of "Far Out," viewers will meet people on the environmental team that are responsible for ensuring the wildlife remains protected and thriving at the space center.

Watch the full episode on NASA+: https://go.nasa.gov/4axnF3M

Video Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 33 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025

#NASA #Space #KennedySpaceCenter #KSC #NASAKennedy #Environment #Nature #Wildlife #WildlifeRefuge #ScrubJays #Spaceport #MerrittIsland #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Stellar Bouquet for Valentine's Day: Nebula 30 Doradus | NASA Chandra

A Stellar Bouquet for Valentine's Day: Nebula 30 Doradus | NASA Chandra

A bouquet of thousands of stars in bloom has arrived. This composite image contains the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus.

By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, infrared data from Spitzer, and radio data from ALMA, this stellar arrangement comes alive.

Otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Doradus is located about 160,000 light-years away in a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC for short. As one of the brightest and crowded star-forming regions close to Earth, 30 Doradus is a frequent target for scientists trying to learn more about how stars are born.

With enough fuel to have powered the manufacturing of stars for at least 25 million years, 30 Doradus is the most powerful stellar nursery in the local group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, the LMC, and our neighboring Andromeda galaxy.

The massive young stars in 30 Doradus send cosmically strong winds out into space. Along with the matter and energy ejected by stars that have previously exploded, these winds have carved out an eye-catching display of arcs, pillars, and bubbles.

A dense cluster in the center of 30 Doradus contains the most massive stars astronomers have ever found, each only about one to two million years old. For comparison, our Sun is over a thousand times older with an age of about 5 billion years.

This new image includes the data from a large Chandra program that involved about 23 days of observing time, greatly exceeding the 1.3 days of observing that Chandra previously conducted on 30 Doradus. The roughly 3,600 X-ray sources detected by Chandra include a mixture of massive stars, double-star systems, bright stars that are still in the process of forming, and much smaller clusters of young stars.

There is a large quantity of diffuse, hot gas seen in X-rays, arising from different sources including the winds of massive stars and from the gas expelled by supernova explosions. This data set will be the best available for the foreseeable future for studying diffuse X-ray emission in star-forming regions.

Image Credits: 

X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand

Release Date: Feb. 11, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #30Doradus #TarantulaNebula #Nebula #StarClusterR136 #Dorado #Constellation #LMCGalaxy #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #XrayAstronomy #MSFC #Hubble #HST #NASASpitzer #SpaceTelescopes #ALMA #ESA #JPL #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Infographic #STEM #Education

A Stellar Bouquet for Valentine's Day: Nebula 30 Doradus | NASA Chandra

A Stellar Bouquet for Valentine's Day: Nebula 30 Doradus | NASA Chandra

A bouquet of thousands of stars in bloom has arrived. This composite image contains the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus.

By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, infrared data from Spitzer, and radio data from ALMA, this stellar arrangement comes alive.

Otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Doradus is located about 160,000 light-years away in a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC for short. As one of the brightest and crowded star-forming regions close to Earth, 30 Doradus is a frequent target for scientists trying to learn more about how stars are born.

With enough fuel to have powered the manufacturing of stars for at least 25 million years, 30 Doradus is the most powerful stellar nursery in the local group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, the LMC, and our neighboring Andromeda galaxy.

The massive young stars in 30 Doradus send cosmically strong winds out into space. Along with the matter and energy ejected by stars that have previously exploded, these winds have carved out an eye-catching display of arcs, pillars, and bubbles.

A dense cluster in the center of 30 Doradus contains the most massive stars astronomers have ever found, each only about one to two million years old. For comparison, our Sun is over a thousand times older with an age of about 5 billion years.

This new image includes the data from a large Chandra program that involved about 23 days of observing time, greatly exceeding the 1.3 days of observing that Chandra previously conducted on 30 Doradus. The roughly 3,600 X-ray sources detected by Chandra include a mixture of massive stars, double-star systems, bright stars that are still in the process of forming, and much smaller clusters of young stars.

There is a large quantity of diffuse, hot gas seen in X-rays, arising from different sources including the winds of massive stars and from the gas expelled by supernova explosions. This data set will be the best available for the foreseeable future for studying diffuse X-ray emission in star-forming regions.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 11, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #30Doradus #TarantulaNebula #Nebula #Dorado #Constellation #LMCGalaxy #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #XrayAstronomy #MSFC #Hubble #HST #NASASpitzer #SpaceTelescopes #ALMA #ESA #JPL #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planet Mars Images: Feb. 10-13, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Feb. 10-13, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1412

Mars 2020 - sol 1415

Mars 2020 - sol 1412

MSL - sol 4450

Mars 2020 - sol 1413

MSL - sol 4447

MSL - sol 4452

MSL - sol 4450

Support FriendsofNASA.org

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.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

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.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Date: Feb. 10-13, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #MSSS #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

A Fiery Rose: Nebula & Star Cluster NGC 2040 in Dorado | Gemini South Telescope

A Fiery Rose: Nebula & Star Cluster NGC 2040 in Dorado | Gemini South Telescope

Cosmoview Episode 96: Happy Valentine's Day! Displaying wispy layers of red, orange and yellow, the nebula encasing NGC 2040 resembles a vibrant rose in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory. It is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This nebulous flower showcases the dramatic story of stellar life, death and rebirth.

NGC 2040 is a young open cluster of stars within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located about 160,000 light-years from Earth. It is a type of star cluster known as an OB association because it contains more than a dozen stars of the O and B spectral types. These stars lead short lives of only a few million years, during which they burn very hot before exploding as supernovae. The energy released by the explosions of these massive stars feeds the formation of NGC 2040’s structure, while the expelled material seeds the growth of the next generation of stars.

NGC 2040 contains mostly hydrogen and oxygen atoms. As these atoms are excited by the ultraviolet radiation from nearby massive stars, they emit light. This emitted light spans a range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet, through the visible, and into the infrared. Special filters on Gemini South then allow specific wavelengths, or colors, of this emitted light to pass through, like the deep red and orange of glowing hydrogen and the light blue of glowing oxygen. The bright white represents areas where there is an abundance of both.

Learn more about the Gemini South Telescope:

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/gemini-observatory/gemini-south/

Credits:
Images and Videos:  International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Matsopoulos/N. Bartmann (NSF NOIRLab)
Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #HappyValentinesDay #ValentinesDay #Nebulae #Nebula #StarCluster #OBAssociation #NGC2040 #LH88 #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMCGalaxy #Universe #GeminiSouthTelescope #InternationalGeminiObservatory #Chile #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Journey to Nebula & Star Cluster NGC 2040 in Dorado | Gemini South Telescope

Journey to Nebula & Star Cluster NGC 2040 in Dorado | Gemini South Telescope

Happy Valentine's Day! Displaying wispy layers of red, orange and yellow, the nebula encasing NGC 2040 resembles a vibrant rose in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory. It is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This nebulous flower showcases the dramatic story of stellar life, death and rebirth.

NGC 2040 is a young open cluster of stars within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located about 160,000 light-years from Earth. It is a type of star cluster known as an OB association because it contains more than a dozen stars of the O and B spectral types. These stars lead short lives of only a few million years, during which they burn very hot before exploding as supernovae. The energy released by the explosions of these massive stars feeds the formation of NGC 2040’s structure, while the expelled material seeds the growth of the next generation of stars.

NGC 2040 contains mostly hydrogen and oxygen atoms. As these atoms are excited by the ultraviolet radiation from nearby massive stars, they emit light. This emitted light spans a range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet, through the visible, and into the infrared. Special filters on Gemini South then allow specific wavelengths, or colors, of this emitted light to pass through, like the deep red and orange of glowing hydrogen and the light blue of glowing oxygen. The bright white represents areas where there is an abundance of both.

Learn more about the Gemini South Telescope:

https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/gemini-observatory/gemini-south/

Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA

Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #HappyValentinesDay #ValentinesDay #Nebulae #Nebula #StarCluster #OBAssociation #NGC2040 #LH88 #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMCGalaxy #Universe #GeminiSouthTelescope #InternationalGeminiObservatory #Chile #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video