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Saturday, October 01, 2022

A Wanderer Dancing the Dance of Stars and Space | Hubble

A Wanderer Dancing the Dance of Stars and Space | Hubble

The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope provided a spectacular image of the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. In this image, the larger-scale structure of the galaxy is barely visible—its comparatively dim spiral arms, which surround its heart in a loose embrace, reach out beyond the edges of this frame.

This face-on galaxy, lying about 45 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), is particularly attractive for astronomers. NGC 1097 is a Seyfert galaxy. Lurking at the very center of the galaxy, a supermassive black hole 100 million times the mass of our Sun is gradually sucking in the matter around it. The area immediately around the black hole shines powerfully with radiation coming from the material falling in.

The distinctive ring around the black hole is bursting with new star formation due to an inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy. These star-forming regions are glowing brightly thanks to emission from clouds of ionized hydrogen. The ring is around 5,000 light-years across, although the spiral arms of the galaxy extend tens of thousands of light-years beyond it.

NGC 1097 is also pretty exciting for supernova hunters. The galaxy experienced three supernovae (the violent deaths of high-mass stars) in the 11-year span between 1992 and 2003. This is definitely a galaxy worth checking on a regular basis.

However, what it is really exciting about NGC 1097 is that it is not wandering alone through space. It has two small galaxy companions, which dance “the dance of stars and the dance of space” like the gracious dancer of the famous poem The Dancer by Khalil Gibran.

The satellite galaxies are NGC 1097A, an elliptical galaxy orbiting 42,000 light-years from the center of NGC 1097 and a small dwarf galaxy named NGC 1097B. Both galaxies are located out beyond the frames of this image and they cannot be seen. Astronomers have indications that NGC 1097 and NGC 1097A have interacted in the past.

This picture was taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys using visual and infrared filters.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Acknowledgement: E. Sturdivant

Release Date: December 24, 2012

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1097A #NGC1097B #NGC1097 #Spiral #Barred #SeyfertGalaxy #BlackHole #Fornax #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Alpha Flight 2: To The Black | Firefly Space

Alpha Flight 2: To The Black | Firefly Space

Watch Firefly Space succesfully achieve orbit on their second attempt. Alpha Flight 2: To The Black is Firefly’s second technology demonstration flight. It launched multiple satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) from our launch site (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Learn more: https://firefly.com/alpha-flight-2-to-the-black/

Credit: Firefly Space

Duration: 1 minute, 19 seconds

Release Date: October 1, 2022

#NASA #Space #FireflySpace #Rocket #Launch #Orbital #LEO #Satellites #CubeSats #Spaceflight #FireflySLC2 #USSF #VandenbergSpaceForceBase #California #UnitedStates #CommercialSpace #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA DART Impacts Asteroid & Planetary Defense Update: October 2022

NASA DART Impacts Asteroid & Planetary Defense Update: October 2022

NASA has intentionally impacted asteroid Dimorphos in the name of planetary defense! However, planetary defense at NASA includes so much more—finding, tracking, and characterizing near-Earth objects are part of our mission too.

So what have we found so far?

Credit: NASA 360

Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

Release Date: October 1, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #PlanetaryDefense #NEO #NearEarthObjects #DARTMission #Spacecraft #USSF #Asteroids #Dimorphos #Didymos #Test #SolarSystem #JHUAPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Galaxy NGC 1275: Features Labeled | Hubble

Galaxy NGC 1275: Features Labeled | Hubble

This annotated image pinpoints several interesting areas of galaxy NGC 1275.

Distance: about 250 million light-years

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency and L. Frattare (STScI)

Release Date: May 1, 2003

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Galaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #Filaments #NGC1275 #PerseusA #PerseusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Annotated #Infographic #STEM #Education

Freewheeling Galaxies Collide in a Blaze of Star Birth | Hubble

Freewheeling Galaxies Collide in a Blaze of Star Birth | Hubble

A dusty spiral galaxy appears to be rotating on edge, like a pinwheel, as it slides through the larger, bright galaxy NGC 1275, in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image.

These images, taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), show traces of spiral structure accompanied by dramatic dust lanes and bright blue regions that mark areas of active star formation.

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Release Date: May 1, 2003

Galaxy NGC 1275: Multi-wavelength Composite View | Hubble

Galaxy NGC 1275: Multi-wavelength Composite View | Hubble

The behemoth galaxy NGC 1275, also known as Perseus A, lies at the center of Perseus Galaxy Cluster. By combining multi-wavelength images into this single composite, the dynamics of the galaxy become visible. Detail and structure from optical, radio, and X-ray wavelengths have been combined for an aesthetically pleasing image which shows the violent events in the galaxy's heart. NGC 1275 is an active galaxy well-known for its radio source (Perseus A) and is a strong emitter of X-rays due to the presence of the supermassive black hole in its center.

Hubble data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys covers visible-light wavelengths and is shown in the red, green and blue. Radio data from NRAO's Very Large Array at 0.91 m was also used. In this composite image, dust lanes, star-forming regions, hydrogen filaments, foreground stars, and background galaxies are contributions from the Hubble optical data. The X-ray data contributes to the soft but violet shells around the outside of the centre. The pinkish lobes toward the center of the galaxy are from radio emission. The radio jets from the black hole fill the X-ray cavities. Chandra data from the ACIS covers X-ray wavelengths from 0.1771 to 4.133 nm (0.3-7 KeV).

Credits: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), NRAO and L. Frattare (STScI)

Science Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.; Radio: NRAO/VLA/G. Taylor; Optical: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Fabian (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK)

Release Date: August 20, 2008

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Chandra #Stars #BlackHole #Galaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #Filaments #NGC1275 #Xray #Radio #PerseusA #PerseusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescopes #NRAO #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Hubble Sees Magnetic Monster in Erupting Galaxy

Hubble Sees Magnetic Monster in Erupting Galaxy

Hubblecast 18: The Hubble Space Telescope has solved a long-standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. It is the most striking example so far of the influence of the immense tentacles of extragalactic magnetic fields.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)//Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Presented by: Dr Joe Liske (Dr J)

Narration: Bob Fosbury

Design: Martin Kornmesser

Animations and photos: Martin Kornmesser , Digitized Sky Survey 2, A. Fujii and NASA/GSFC

Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen & Raquel Yumi Shida

Cinematography: Peter Rixner

Script: Lars Lindberg Christensen & Laura Simurda

Director: Lars Lindberg Christensen

Duration: 4 minutes, 43 seconds

Release Date: August 20, 2008

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #BlackHole #Galaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #Filaments #NGC1275 #PerseusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Delicate Extragalactic Web: Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

A Delicate Extragalactic Web: Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

The dusty web of filaments seen in this fulldome clip have been teased out of their host galaxy NGC 1275 by rising "bubbles" of plasma produced by the galaxy's central black hole. Their delicate forms should have collapsed long ago, but are thought to be preserved by a weak magnetic field around them.

Credit: NASA, ESA and Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK)

Release Date: August 20, 2008

The Core of Galaxy NGC 1275 Concealing a Black Hole | Hubble

The Core of Galaxy NGC 1275 Concealing a Black Hole | Hubble

This video pans around the center of NGC 1275, the largest galaxy in the Perseus supercluster. It contains a supermassive black hole which interacts

with the surrounding gas.

Distance: about 250 million light-years

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2016

Panning across the Filaments of Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

Panning across the Filaments of Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

The red filaments seen near the center are fine threads of gas up to 20,000 light-years long, but only 200 light-years wide. They are sustained by magnetic fields, with the thinner threads requiring more support.

Distance: about 250 million light-years

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2016

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #Galaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #Filaments #NGC1275 #PerseusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming into Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

Zooming into Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

The Perseus Cluster is found within the northern hemisphere constellation of Perseus, the Hero. NGC 1275 is situated near the center, approximately 250 million light-years from the Earth.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen), Digitized Sky Survey 2, A. Fujii

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2016

Magnetic Monster: Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

Magnetic Monster: Galaxy NGC 1275 | Hubble

This stunning image of NGC 1275 was taken using the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in July and August 2006. It provides amazing detail and resolution of the fragile filamentary structures, which show up as a reddish lacy structure surrounding the central bright galaxy NGC 1275. These filaments are cool despite being surrounded by gas that is around 55 million degrees Celsius hot. They are suspended in a magnetic field which maintains their structure and demonstrates how energy from the central black hole is transferred to the surrounding gas.

Distance: 250 million light years

By observing the filamentary structure, astronomers were, for the first time, able to estimate the magnetic field's strength. Using this information they demonstrated how the extragalactic magnetic fields have maintained the structure of the filaments against collapse caused by either gravitational forces or the violence of the surrounding cluster during their 100-million-year lifetime.

This is the first time astronomers have been able to differentiate the individual threads making up such filaments to this degree. Astonishingly, they distinguished threads a mere 200 light-years across. By contrast, the filaments seen here can be a gaping 200,000 light-years long. The entire image is approximately 260,000 light-years across.

Also seen in the image are impressive lanes of dust from a separate spiral galaxy. It lies partly in front of the giant elliptical central cluster galaxy and has been completed disrupted by the tidal gravitational forces within the galaxy cluster. Several striking filaments of blue newborn stars are seen crossing the image.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and Andy Fabian (University of Cambridge, UK)

Release Date: August 20, 2008

Friday, September 30, 2022

Variable Nebula: NGC 2261 | Hubble

Variable Nebula: NGC 2261 | Hubble

Hubble's variable nebula is named (like the Hubble telescope itself) after the American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who carried out some of the early studies of this object. It is a fan-shaped cloud of gas and dust which is illuminated by R Monocerotis (R Mon), the bright star at the bottom end of the nebula. Dense condensations of dust near the star cast shadows out into the nebula, and as they move the illumination changes, giving rise to the variations first noted by Hubble.

The star itself, lying about 2,500 light-years from Earth, cannot be seen directly, but only through light scattered off of dust particles in the surrounding nebula. R Mon is believed to have a mass of about 10 times that of the Sun, and to have an age of only 300,000 years. There is probably a symmetrical counterpart of the fan-shaped nebula on the southern side of the star, but it is heavily obscured from view by dust lying between this lobe and our line of sight.

Distance: 2,500 light years

The Hubble Heritage team made this image from observations of R Mon acquired by William Sparks (STScI), Sylvia Baggett (STScI) and collaborators.

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

Release Date: October 7, 1999

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Star #RMonocerotis #RMon #Nebula #VariableNebula #NGC2261 #Monoceros #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #History #Astronomer #EdwinHubble #STEM #Education

The World’s First-Ever Planetary Defense Test | This Week @NASA

The World’s First-Ever Planetary Defense Test | This Week @NASA

Week of September 30, 2022: The world’s first-ever planetary defense test is a big hit, a major hurricane spotted from space, and moving our mega Moon rocket back inside ahead of that storm . . . a few of the stories to tell you about–This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 4 minutes

Release Date: September 30, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #AretmisI #Artemis #DARTMission #Spacecraft #Asteroids #Dimorphos #Didymos #Earth #HurricaneIan #Florida #PlanetaryDefense #Moon #SolarSystem #JHUAPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Explore our Home Planet and The Universe with NASA Podcasts

Explore our Home Planet and The Universe with NASA Podcasts

Listen up! From long form interviews with astronauts and engineers to narrative shows that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA podcasts let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/

Credits: NASA

Producer/Editor: Lacey Young

Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds

Release Date: September 30, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Artemis #Astronauts #Engineers #Scientists #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #Cosmos #Universe #Podcasts #Spanish #Español #English #Audio #STEM #Education #HD #Video

What's Up: October 2022 | Skywatching Tips from NASA

What's Up: October 2022 | Skywatching Tips from NASA

What are some skywatching highlights in the northern hemisphere for October 2022?

Enjoy giant planets Jupiter and Saturn all night throughout the month. Then watch as Mars begins its retrograde motion, moving westward each night instead of eastward, for the next few months. Finally, check out the Orionid meteors overnight on Oct. 20, 2022.

Skywatching resources from NASA:

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/home/

NASA "Watch the Skies" blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/

NASA's Night Sky Network: https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Duration: 3 minutes, 25 seconds

Release Date: September 30, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Skywatching #Earth #Moon #Planets #Mars #Jupiter #Saturn #Orionids #Meteors #MeteorShower #SolarSystem #Stars #Constellations #MilkyWay #Galaxy #JPL #California #Skywatching #UnitedStates #Canada #Mexico #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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Saturday, October 01, 2022

Friday, September 30, 2022