The Cartwheel Galaxy | James Webb Space Telescope

The Cartwheel Galaxy | James Webb Space Telescope

This image of the Cartwheel and its companion galaxies is a composite from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which reveals details that are difficult to see in the individual images alone.

This galaxy formed as the result of a high-speed collision that occurred about 400 million years ago. The Cartwheel is composed of two rings, a bright inner ring and a colourful outer ring. Both rings expand outward from the center of the collision like shockwaves.

However, despite the impact, much of the character of the large, spiral galaxy that existed before the collision remains, including its rotating arms. This leads to the “spokes” that inspired the name of the Cartwheel Galaxy, which are the bright red streaks seen between the inner and outer rings. These brilliant red hues, located not only throughout the Cartwheel, but also the companion spiral galaxy at the top left, are caused by glowing, hydrocarbon-rich dust. 

In this near- and mid-infrared composite image, MIRI data are colored red while NIRCam data are colored blue, orange, and yellow. Amidst the red swirls of dust, there are many individual blue dots, which represent individual stars or pockets of star formation. NIRCam also defines the difference between the older star populations and dense dust in the core and the younger star populations outside of it.

Webb’s observations capture Cartwheel in a very transitory stage. The form that the Cartwheel Galaxy will eventually take, given these two competing forces, is still a mystery. However, this snapshot provides perspective on what happened to the galaxy in the past and what it will do in the future.

NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.

MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (the MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Release Date: August 2, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #JWST #Galaxy #CartwheelGalaxy #ESO35040 #PGC2248 #MIRI #NIRCam #Science #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #Telescope #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Pan Acrossing The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

Pan Across The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope depicts NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The glowing gas was once the star's outer layers, but has been expelled over about 2,200 years. The butterfly shape stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.

New observations of the object have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in the jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the star at the center of the nebula.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, and J. Kastner (RIT)

Duration: 20 seconds

Release Date: June 18, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #ButterflyNebula #NGC6302 #PlanetaryNebula #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming into The Buttefly Nebula | Hubble

Zooming into The Buttefly Nebula | Hubble

This video zooms into the planetary nebula NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The glowing gas was once the star's outer layers, but has been expelled over about 2,200 years. The butterfly shape stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.

Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble, Risinger, Digitized Sky Survey 2, L. Calcada

Music: Astral Electronic

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: June 18, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #ButterflyNebula #NGC6302 #PlanetaryNebula #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

The Butterfly Nebula | Hubble

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope depicts NGC 6302, commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. NGC 6302 lies within our Milky Way galaxy, roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The glowing gas was once the star's outer layers, but has been expelled over about 2,200 years. The butterfly shape stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.

New observations of the object have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in the jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the star at the center of the nebula.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and J. Kastner (RIT)

Release Date: June 18, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #ButterflyNebula #NGC6302 #PlanetaryNebula #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Carina Nebula Landscapes | Hubble

Carina Nebula Landscapes | Hubble

[Top] - An approximately one-light-year tall "pillar" of cold hydrogen towers above the wall of the molecular cloud. The 2.5-million-year-old star cluster called Trumpler 14 appears at the right side of the image. A small nugget of cold molecular hydrogen, called a Bok globule, is silhouetted against the star cluster.

[Middle] - Detailed view of the central portion of the Carina Nebula near the so-called Keyhole Nebula.

[Bottom] - These great clouds of cold hydrogen resemble summer afternoon thunderheads. They tower above the surface of a molecular cloud on the edge of the nebula. So-called "elephant trunk" pillars resist being heated and eaten away by blistering ultraviolet radiation from the nebula's brightest stars.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Release Date: April 24, 2007

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #CarinaNebula #NGC3372 #KeyholeNebula #Trumpler14 #BokGlobule #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #AURA #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Light and Shadow in The Carina Nebula | Hubble

Light and Shadow in The Carina Nebula | Hubble

Previously unseen details of a mysterious, complex structure within the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) are revealed by this image of the 'Keyhole Nebula, ' obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. The picture is a montage assembled from four different April 1999 telescope pointings with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, which used six different color filters. The picture is dominated by a large, approximately circular feature, which is part of the Keyhole Nebula, named in the 19th century by Sir John Herschel. This region, about 8,000 light-years from Earth, is located adjacent to the famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae, which lies just outside the field of view toward the upper right. The Carina Nebula also contains several other stars that are among the hottest and most massive known, each about 10 times as hot, and 100 times as massive, as our Sun.

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency, The Hubble Heritage Team of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Release Date: February 3, 2000

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Stars #CarinaNebula #NGC3372 #KeyholeNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme | Hubble

The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme | Hubble

Hubble's view of the Carina Nebula shows star birth in a new level of detail. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born.

The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel (of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, from Greek mythology).

This image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized hydrogen. Color information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Release Date: April 24, 2007

#NASA #ESA #NoirLab #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Stars #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #CTIO #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Stars Bursting to Life in The Chaotic Carina Nebula | Hubble

Stars Bursting to Life in The Chaotic Carina Nebula | Hubble

These two images of a huge pillar of star birth demonstrate how observations taken in visible and in infrared light by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope reveal dramatically different and complementary views of an object.

The pictures demonstrate one example of the broad wavelength range of the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) aboard the Hubble telescope, extending from ultraviolet to visible to infrared light.

Composed of gas and dust, the pillar resides in a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. The pair of images shows that astronomers are given a much more complete view of the pillar and its contents when distinct details not seen at visible wavelengths are uncovered in near-infrared light.

The top image, taken in visible light, shows the tip of the three-light-year-long pillar, bathed in the glow of light from hot, massive stars off the top of the image. Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from these stars are sculpting the pillar and causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of gas and dust can be seen flowing off the top of the structure.

Nestled inside this dense structure are fledgling stars. They cannot be seen in this image because they are hidden by a wall of gas and dust. Although the stars themselves are invisible, one of them is providing evidence of its existence. Thin puffs of material can be seen travelling to the left and to the right of a dark notch in the centre of the pillar. The matter is part of a jet produced by a young star. Farther away, on the left, the jet is visible as a grouping of small, wispy clouds. A few small clouds are visible at a similar distance on the right side of the jet. Astronomers estimate that the jet is moving at speeds of over 1,300,000 kilometers per hour. The jet’s total length is about 10 light-years.

In the image at bottom, taken in near-infrared light, the dense column and the surrounding greenish-colored gas all but disappear. Only a faint outline of the pillar remains. By penetrating the wall of gas and dust, the infrared vision of WFC3 reveals the infant star that is probably blasting the jet. Part of the jet nearest the star is more prominent in this view. These features can be seen because infrared light, unlike visible light, can pass through the dust.

Other infant stars inside the pillar also emerge. Three examples are the bright star almost directly below the jet-producing star, a fainter one to its right, and a pair of stars at the top of the pillar. Winds and radiation from some of the stars are blowing away gas from their neighbourhoods, carving out large cavities that appear as faint dark holes.

Surrounding the stellar nursery is a treasure chest full of stars, most of which cannot be seen in the visible-light image because dense gas clouds veil their light. Many of them are background stars.

Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed the Carina Nebula on July 24-30, 2009. WFC3 was installed aboard Hubble in May 2009 during Servicing Mission 4. The composite image was made from filters that isolate emission from iron, magnesium, oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur.

These Hubble observations of the Carina Nebula are part of the Hubble Servicing Mission 4 Early Release Observations.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

Release Date: September 9, 2009

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Stars #CarinaNebula #Carina #Infrared #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Infographic #STEM #Education

Designing the Space Launch System Moon Rocket | NASA Marshall

Designing the Space Launch System Moon Rocket | NASA Marshall

Artemis I is the foundation of humanity's return to the Moon. The flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and uncrewed Orion spacecraft will thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions. NASA and industry experts evaluated thousands of designs and important aspects to make a reliable and powerful rocket.

As the mega Moon rocket prepares for its first launch on Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, learn how SLS was designed and how it will play a vital role in the Artemis era of space exploration.

Learn more about NASA's Artemis Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1

NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html

Read the Artemis Plan (74-page PDF Free Download): 

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis_plan-20200921.pdf

Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

Duration: 1 minute

Relation: August 1, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Moon #MSFC #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #NASASLS #SpaceLaunchSystem #Rocket #DeepSpace #Astronauts #Mars #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Carina Nebula: Close-up Details in a Cosmic Pinnacle | Hubble

Carina Nebula: Close-up Details in a Cosmic Pinnacle | Hubble

This is a series of close-up views of the complex gas structures in a small portion of the Carina Nebula. The nebula is a cold cloud of predominantly hydrogen gas. It is laced with dust, which makes the cloud opaque. The cloud is being eroded by a gusher of ultraviolet light from young stars in the region. They sculpt a variety of fantasy shapes, many forming tadpole-like structures. In some frames, smaller pieces of nebulosity can be seen freely drifting, such as the  structure, four trillion kilometers long, at upper right. The most striking feature is a horizontal jet 5.5 trillion kilometers long in the upper left frame. It is being blasted into space by a young star hidden in the tip of the pillar-like structure. A bowshock has formed near the tip of the jet.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 

Release Date: April 23, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Pinnacles #Pillars #Gas #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Infographic #STEM #Education

“Mystic Mountain” Comparison Views | Hubble

“Mystic Mountain” Comparison Views | Hubble

These two images of a pillar of star birth, three light-years high, demonstrate how observations taken in visible and infrared light by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope reveal dramatically different and complementary views of an object. The pair of images demonstrates how Hubble’s new panchromatic view of the Universe shows striking differences between visible and infrared wavelengths. This turbulent cosmic pinnacle lies within a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. The images mark the 20th anniversary of Hubble’s launch and deployment into an orbit around Earth.

[Left] This visible-light view shows how scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from super-hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. Infant stars buried inside fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks. Streamers of hot ionized gas can be seen flowing from the ridges of the structure, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around it.

The dense parts of the pillar are resisting being eroded by radiation. The colors in this composite image correspond to the glow of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulphur (red).

[Right] This near-infrared image shows a myriad of stars behind the gaseous veil of the nebula's background wall of hydrogen, laced with dust. The foreground pillar becomes semi-transparent because infrared light from the background stars penetrates through much of the dust. A few stars inside the pillar also become visible. Representative colors are assigned to three different infrared wavelength ranges.

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar in February/March 2010.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Release Date: April 23, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #MysticMountain #Infrared #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Infographic #STEM #Education

Planetary Defense: By the Numbers - August 2022 | NASA

Planetary Defense: By the Numbers - August 2022 | NASA

Updated Near-Earth Asteroid Count

What do we know about the asteroids and comets in Earth's neighborhood? Planetary defense—which includes finding, tracking, & characterizing these near-Earth objects—is part of our mission. Here is what we've found so far.

Learn more about Planetary Defense at NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

Credit: NASA 360

Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

Release Date: August 1, 2022

#NASA #Space #Earth #Planet #PlanetaryDefense #Asteroids #AsteroidBelt #Comets #NEO #NEA #SolarSystem #Science #Technology #SentryII #Algorithm #Mathematics #Computing #JPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The “Mystic Mountain” (infrared view) | Hubble

The “Mystic Mountain” (infrared view) | Hubble

Mystic Mountain is a photograph and a term for a region in the Carina Nebula imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The view was captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, though the region was also viewed by a previous generation instrument. This view celebrated the telescope's 20th anniversary of being in space in 2010. 

Mystic Mountain contains multiple Herbig–Haro objects where nascent stars are firing off jets of gas that interact with surrounding clouds of gas and dust. This region is about 7,500 light-years (2,300 parsecs) away from Earth. The pillar measures around three light-years in height (190,000 astronomical units). The name was influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft. [Wikipedia]

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Capture Date: February/March 2010, Exposure Time: 12 hours

Release Date: April 22, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #MysticMountain #Infrared #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Wide View of “Mystic Mountain” | Hubble

Wide View of “Mystic Mountain” | Hubble

This craggy fantasy mountaintop enshrouded by wispy clouds looks like a bizarre landscape from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope photograph, which is stranger than fiction, captures the chaotic activity atop a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years high, which is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks.

This turbulent cosmic pinnacle lies within a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. The image marks the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into Earth orbit.

Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of hot ionized gas can be seen flowing off the ridges of the structure, and wispy veils of dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its peaks. The pillar is resisting being eroded by radiation.

Nestled inside this dense mountain are fledgling stars. Long streamers of gas can be seen shooting in opposite directions from the pedestal at the top of the image. Another pair of jets is visible at another peak near the center of the image. These jets are the signpost for new starbirth. The jets are launched by swirling discs around the stars, as these discs allow material to slowly accrete onto the stellar surfaces.

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar on February 1-2, 2010. The colors in this composite image correspond to the glow of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulphur (red).

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Release Date: April 23, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #MysticMountain #HerbigHaro #HH901 #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Mystic Mountain of The Carina Nebula: Visible & Infrared Light | Hubble

Mystic Mountain of The Carina Nebula: Visible & Infrared Light | Hubble

Herbig Haro 901 is an immense pillar of gas and dust inside the Carina Nebula, a huge star-forming region in our galaxy. The pillar is several light-years tall and contains a few massive young stars.  They shoot out powerful jets that emerge from the cloud. In some cases, the jets create bow-shock patterns similar to the effects of a ship plowing through the ocean. 

In the visible-light view, very few stars can be seen because the gas and dust block starlight. However, in the infrared view, stars become visible and numerous. The visible-light colors emerge from the glow of different gases: oxygen (blue), hydrogen/nitrogen (green), and sulfur (red).  The Carina Nebula is approximately 7,500 light years from Earth.

Video: NASA, European Space Agency, and G. Bacon/Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Duration: 36 seconds

Release Date: April 11, 2018

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #MysticMountain #HerbigHaro #HH901 #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Importance of Her Star Trek Role: Celebrating Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022)

The Importance of Her Star Trek Role: Celebrating Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022) 

Listen to Nichelle Nichols describe how one of her biggest fans encouraged her to remain on Star Trek after its first season on television. Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on the original “Star Trek” TV series, passed away on July 30, 2022, at the age of 89.

Credit: ReelBlack YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/reelblack

Duration: 2 minutes, 29 seconds

Release Date: July 31, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Television #TV #Film #StarTrek #NichelleNichols #Uhura #Actor #Actress #MartinLutherKing #MLK #Leader #Pioneer #RoleModel #Women #AfricanAmerican #ScienceFiction #GeneRoddenberry #Science #Technology #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video