Wednesday, September 07, 2022

Zooming in on Binary Star System Apep | ESO

Zooming in on Binary Star System Apep | ESO

This zoom video starts with a wide view of the Milky Way and ends with a close-up look at the serpentine swirls of dust surrounding a newly-discovered massive binary star system. Nicknamed Apep after an ancient Egyptian deity, it could be the first gamma-ray burst progenitor to be found in our galaxy.

Distance: about 8,000 light years

The reddish pinwheel shown in this final image of this video is data from the VISIR instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), and shows the spectacular plumes of dust surrounding Apep. The blue sources at the center of the image are a triple star system—which consists of a binary star system and a companion single star bound together by gravity. Though only two star-like objects are visible in the image, the lower source is in fact an unresolved binary Wolf-Rayet star. The triple star system was captured by the NACO adaptive optics instrument on the VLT.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: November 19, 2018


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #BinaryStarSystem #WolfRayetStars #Apep #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #VISIR #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Coils of Apep: A Binary Star System | ESO

Coils of Apep: A Binary Star System | ESO

The VISIR instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this stunning image of a massive binary star system. Nicknamed Apep after an ancient Egyptian deity, it could be the first gamma-ray burst progenitor to be found in our galaxy.

Distance: about 8,000 light years

Apep’s stellar winds have created the dust cloud surrounding the system, which consists of a binary star with a fainter companion. With 2 Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting each other in the binary, the serpentine swirls surrounding Apep are formed by the collision of two sets of powerful stellar winds, which create the spectacular dust plumes seen in the image.

The reddish pinwheel in this image is data from the VISIR instrument on European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, and shows the spectacular plumes of dust surrounding Apep. The blue sources at the center of the image are a triple star system—which consists of a binary star system and a companion single star bound together by gravity. Though only two star-like objects are visible in the image, the lower source is in fact an unresolved binary Wolf-Rayet star. The triple star system was captured by the NACO adaptive optics instrument on the VLT.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Callingham et al.

Release Date: November 19, 2018


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #BinaryStarSystem #WolfRayetStars #Apep #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #VISIR #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster: Wide-field View (ground-based image)

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster: Wide-field View (ground-based image)


This is an image from the Digitized Sky Survey showing star cluster Westerlund 2 and its surroundings. 

Distance: 20,000 light years


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Digitized Sky Survey 2

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster Image Gallery | Hubble

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster Image Gallery | Hubble

Star-forming Region Gum 29

Pillars around Westerlund 2

New Stars around Westerlund 2
Image 1
Some of the heftiest stars in Westerlund 2 are carving deep cavities in material surrounding them by unleashing torrents of ultraviolet light and high speed streams of charged particles, known as stellar winds. These are etching away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud in which the stars were born and are responsible for the weird and wonderful shapes of the clouds of gas and dust in this image.

Image 2
These pillars are composed of dense gas and dust are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. They are thought to be incubators for new stars. Besides sculpting the gaseous terrain, intense radiation from the most brilliant of the cluster stars is creating a successive generation of baby stars.

Image 3
These stellar foetuses have not yet ignited the hydrogen in their cores to light-up as stars. However, Hubble’s near-infrared vision allows astronomers to identify these fledglings. The brilliant blue stars seen throughout the image are mostly in the foreground.


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team
Release Date: April 23, 2015

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #AURA #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Astronauts Pose for Dinnertime Portrait | International Space Station

Astronauts Pose for Dinnertime Portrait | International Space Station


(Clockwise from left) Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren, all from NASA, and Samantha Cristoforetti from the European Space Agency (ESA), pose for a portrait during dinnertime in the Unity module of the International Space Station.

Expedition 67 Crew

Commander Oleg Artemyev (Russia)

Roscosmos Flight Engineers: Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov (Russia)

NASA Flight Engineers: Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins (USA)

European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy)


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 ISS: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 11, 2022


#NASA #Space #ISS #ESA #Astronauts #FlightEngineers #BobHines #JessicaWatkins #KjellLindgren #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #MissionMinerva #Science #Technology #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition67 #Europe #Italy #Italia #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Japan #日本 #International #STEM #Education

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster: Fulldome View | Hubble

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster: Fulldome View | Hubble

This fulldome clip, for use by planetariums, explores the image of star cluster Westerlund 2, taken by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope and released to celebrate its 25th year in orbit in 2015. The clip is rendered for uni-directional domes.


Credit: NASA & European Space Agency, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), L. Calcada (ESO and ESA/Hubble) and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #Visualization #3D #Fulldome #HD #Video

Flight through Star Cluster Westerlund 2 — Extended Version | Hubble

Flight through Star Cluster Westerlund 2 — Extended Version | Hubble

This video shows a flight through Hubble’s close-up view of star cluster Westerlund 2, released to celebrate the telescope's 25th year in orbit back in 2015.

Distance: about 20,000 light years


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz3D Team, STScI), and J. Anderson (STScI)

Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team, and ESO

Duration: 1 minute, 26 seconds

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #Visualization #3D #HD #Video

Flight through Star Cluster Westerlund 2 — Fast Version | Hubble

Flight through Star Cluster Westerlund 2 — Fast Version | Hubble

This video shows a flight through Hubble’s close-up view of star cluster Westerlund 2, released to celebrate the telescope's 25th year in orbit back in 2015.

Distance: about 20,000 light years


Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz3D Team, STScI), and J. Anderson (STScI)

Acknowledgment: NASA, European Space Agency, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team, and European Southern Observatory

Duration: 46 seconds

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #Visualization #3D #HD #Video

The Star Cluster Westerlund 2: Close-up View | Hubble

The Star Cluster Westerlund 2: Close-up View | Hubble


Westerlund 2 is a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. This image shows the sparkling centerpiece of Hubble's 25th anniversary tribute in 2015. 

Hubble's near-infrared imaging camera pierces through the dusty veil enshrouding the stellar nursery, giving astronomers a clear view of the dense concentration of stars in the central cluster.


Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education


Pan across Star Cluster Westerlund 2 | Hubble

Pan across Star Cluster Westerlund 2 | Hubble

This video shows a pan across an image of star cluster Westerlund 2, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope and released to celebrate its 25th year in orbit in 2015.

Distance: about 20,000 light years


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zoom into Star Cluster Westerlund 2 | Hubble

Zoom into Star Cluster Westerlund 2 | Hubble

This video shows a zoom from a wide-field ground-based view into Hubble’s close-up view of star cluster Westerlund 2.

Distance: 20,000 light years


Credit: N. Risinger, NASA, European Space Agency, Digitized Sky Survey 2, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

Duration: 49 seconds

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster (Infrared & Visible Light) | Hubble

Westerlund 2 Star Cluster (Infrared & Visible Light) | Hubble


This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image of the star cluster Westerlund 2.
Distance: 20,000 light years

The image’s central region, containing the star cluster, blends visible-light data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures taken by the Wide Field Camera 3. The surrounding region is composed of visible-light observations taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

This image was released in 2015 to celebrate Hubble’s 25th year in orbit and a quarter of a century of new discoveries, stunning images and outstanding science.


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team

Release Date: April 23, 2015


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #Gum29 #RCW49 #Westerlund2 #Carina #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Infrared #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA Astronauts Visit Artemis I Moon Rocket Prelaunch | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Astronauts Visit Artemis I Moon Rocket Prelaunch | Kennedy Space Center

The astronauts are, from left to right: Victor Glover, NASA astronaut; Marcos Berrios, NASA astronaut candidate; Anne McClain, NASA astronaut; Anil Menon and Deniz Burnham, NASA astronaut candidates; and Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut   

The astronauts are, from left to right: Zena Cardman (partially obscured), NASA astronaut; Deniz Burnham and Anil Menon, NASA astronaut candidates; Anne McClain, NASA astronaut; Marcos Berrios, NASA astronaut candidate; and Victor Glover, NASA astronaut

From left to right, NASA astronaut candidates Anil Menon, Deniz Burnham, and Marcos Berrios, and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman

From left to right, NASA astronaut candidates Anil Menon, Deniz Burnham, and Marcos Berrios 

NASA astronaut Anne McClain

NASA astronaut candidate Anil Menon

NASA astronaut candidate Deniz Burnham

The astronauts are, from left to right: Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut; Deniz Burnham and Anil Menon, NASA astronaut candidates; Anne McClain, NASA astronaut; Marcos Berrios, NASA astronaut candidate; and Victor Glover, NASA astronaut


NASA astronauts and astronaut candidates pose for photographs in front of NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher on the pad at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 2, 2022. 

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. 

In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.

All about Artemis I:

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


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: September 2, 2022


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

Tuesday, September 06, 2022

A Tour of Galaxy NGC 4696 | NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory

A Tour of Galaxy NGC 4696 | NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory

The Centaurus Cluster is a collection of hundreds of galaxies located about 145 million light years from Earth. At the center of the cluster is a large elliptical galaxy called NGC 4696. Buried within the core of NGC 4696 lies a supermassive black hole.

Astronomers have been studying the Centaurus Cluster using several different telescopes to learn more about this system. Data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Very Large Array, and the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed evidence for multiple outbursts, or eruptions, from the black hole in NGC 4696 that date back millions of years. When these eruptions happen, they send energy and particles outward, affecting things like the chemical composition of the interstellar material as well as the rate of star formation.

By employing a special type of processing of the X-ray data, the astronomers also discovered a sequence of curved features, approximately equally spaced, in the hot gas detected by Chandra. These arcs may be caused by sound waves generated by the black hole’s repeated bursts. In a galaxy cluster, the hot gas that fills the cluster enables sound waves—albeit at frequencies far too low for the human hear to detect—to propagate.

 Researchers will continue to study the Centaurus Cluster and others like it to learn more about how galaxy clusters and the black holes within them grow and evolve over time.


Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 2 minutes, 29 seconds

Release Date: April 19, 2017


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Chandra #Xray #SpaceObservatory #Galaxy #NGC4696 #BlackHole #CentaurusCluster #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #CXC #MSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan across Galaxy NGC 4696 | Hubble

Pan across Galaxy NGC 4696 | Hubble

This video pans over NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the massive galaxy NGC 4696, which lies about 150 million light-years from Earth.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/L. Calçada  

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: December 1, 2016


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC4696 #CentaurusCluster #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Dusty Filaments in Galaxy NGC 4696 | Hubble

Dusty Filaments in Galaxy NGC 4696 | Hubble


This picture, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), shows NGC 4696, the largest galaxy in the Centaurus Cluster.

This image shows the dusty filaments surrounding the center of this huge galaxy in great detail. These filaments loop and curl inwards in an intriguing spiral shape, swirling around the supermassive black hole at such a distance that they are dragged into and eventually consumed by the black hole itself.

Distance: about 150 million light years


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, A. Fabian

Release Date: December 1, 2016


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC4696 #CentaurusCluster #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education