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Jupiter with Moons Europa & Io | Juno Mission | NASA/JPL
Jupiter and Moons Europa (left, above), and Io (right, below)
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission's principal investigator is Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft observed the complex colors and structure of Jupiter’s clouds, including this striking view of vortices—hurricane-like spiral wind patterns. These powerful storms can be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) in height and hundreds of miles across. Figuring out how they form is key to understanding Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the fluid dynamics and cloud chemistry that create the planet's other atmospheric features. Scientists are particularly interested in the vortices' varying shapes, sizes, and colors. For example, cyclones, which spin counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern, and anti-cyclones, which rotate clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, exhibit very different colors and shapes.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission's principal investigator is Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot | Juno Mission | NASA/JPL
This image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot reveals a tangle of dark, veinous clouds weaving their way through a massive crimson oval. The JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno mission snapped pics of the most iconic feature of the solar system’s largest planetary inhabitant during a flyby.
“For hundreds of years scientists have been observing, wondering and theorizing about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “Now we have the best pictures ever of this iconic storm. It will take us some time to analyze all the data from not only JunoCam, but Juno’s eight science instruments, to shed some new light on the past, present and future of the Great Red Spot.”
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission's principal investigator is Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.
A Galactic Rose of Star Formation around a Supermassive Black Hole | ESO
Captured with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), this image of the distant spiral galaxy NGC 1097 shows a textbook example of a star-bursting nuclear ring. Located 45 million light-years away from Earth, in the constellation of Fornax, this ring lies at the very center of its galaxy. It spans only 5,000 light years across, being dwarfed by the full size of its host galaxy, which extends some tens of thousands of light-years beyond its center.
The darker lanes seen in this MUSE image show dust, gas and debris from the galaxy (or possibly from a satellite galaxy), which are being funnelled into the supermassive black hole at its center. This process heats up the surrounding matter forming an accretion disc around the black hole and launching huge amounts of energy into the surrounding area. Nearby dust is heated up and star formation accelerates in the area around the supermassive black hole, forming the star-bursting nuclear ring shown in pink and purple tones in the image.
MUSE is attached to Yepun, one of the four, 8.2-meter telescopes that make up the VLT at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory. Its unique design has allowed researchers to map complex mechanisms within many galaxies and analyze the formation of stars and star clusters.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/TIMER Survey
The Coral Sea: Northeast Coast of Australia | International Space Station
The Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Australia, as seen by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station for her Minerva Mission.
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.
Credit: European Space Agency/NASA-S.Cristoforetti
Word Bank: Gravitational Lensing | European Space Agency/Hubble
Gravitational lensing occurs when a large distribution of matter, such as a galaxy cluster, sits between Earth and a distant light source. As space is warped by massive objects, the light from the distant object bends as it travels to us and we see a distorted image of it. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
Gravitational Lensing of A Distant Quasar | European Space Agency/Hubble
This animation depicts how the mass of a galaxy is bending the light of a much more distant quasar through gravitational lensing. This way the quasar appear three times larger and 50 times brighter on the night sky.
Example Quasar's Name: J043947.08+163415.7
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, L. Calçada
Zoom on Quintuple Quasar Galaxy Cluster: SDSS J1004+4112 | Hubble
The group of five quasar images was produced in a process called gravitational lensing, in which the gravitational field of a massive object—in this case, a cluster of galaxies—bends and amplifies light from an object—in this instance, a quasar—farther behind it.
Although other multiply lensed quasars have been seen before, for instance in the object known as the "Einstein Cross", this newly observed "quintuple quasar" is the only case so far in which multiple quasar images are produced by an entire galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.
Quasar's name: SDSS J100434.05+4112
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech)
A Galaxy Cluster Creates Quintuple Quasar Images | Hubble
This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image was the first-ever picture of a distant quasar lensed into five images. The group of five quasar images (labeled) was produced in a process called gravitational lensing, in which the gravitational field of a massive object—in this case, a cluster of galaxies—bends and amplifies light from an object—in this instance, a quasar—farther behind it.
Although other multiply lensed quasars have been seen before, for instance in the object known as the "Einstein Cross", this newly observed "quintuple quasar" is the only case so far in which multiple quasar images are produced by an entire galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.
Quasar's name: SDSS J100434.05+4112
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech)
A "Five-star" Rated Gravitational Lens: 5 Views of a Distant Quasar | Hubble
This NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image was the first-ever picture of a distant quasar lensed into five images. The group of five quasar images was produced in a process called gravitational lensing, in which the gravitational field of a massive object—in this case, a cluster of galaxies—bends and amplifies light from an object—in this instance, a quasar—farther behind it.
Although other multiply lensed quasars have been seen before, for instance in the object known as the "Einstein Cross", this newly observed "quintuple quasar" is the only case so far in which multiple quasar images are produced by an entire galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.
Quasar's name: SDSS J100434.05+4112
Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech)
Mini-Jet Near Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole | Hubble
Hubble has found circumstantial evidence that the black hole is still smoldering long after the earlier outburst. Hubble astronomers' evidence is like doing an archeological dig to try and peer through the interstellar pollution of dense sheets of dust and gas between Earth and the galactic center, 27,000 light-years away. Hubble photographed a bright knot of gas that has been impacted by an invisible jet from the black hole, that is merely 15 light-years from it. The black hole must have shown brilliantly billions of years ago as a quasar (quasi-stellar object), when our young galaxy was feeding on lots of infalling gas. However, after all this time the black hole still goes through fits and starts, and is not ready for napping as long as there is a snack around.
This image presents a composite view of X-rays, molecular gas, and warm ionized gas near the galactic center. The graphic of a translucent, vertical white fan is added to show the suggested axis of a mini-jet from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s heart. The orange-colored features are of glowing hydrogen gas. One such feature, at the top tip of the jet is interpreted as a hydrogen cloud that has been hit by the outflowing jet. The jet scatters off the cloud into tendrils that flow northward. Farther down near the black hole are X-ray observations of superheated gas colored blue and molecular gas in green. These data are evidence that the black hole occasionally accretes stars or gas clouds, and ejects some of the superheated material along its spin axis.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Gerald Cecil (UNC-Chapel Hill), J. DePasquale (STScI)
A Star Set to Explode: Blue Supergiant SBW1 in Carina | Hubble
Floating at the center of this Hubble image is a lidless purple eye, staring back at us through space. This ethereal object, known officially as [SBW2007] 1 but sometimes nicknamed SBW1, is a nebula with a giant star at its center. The star was originally twenty times more massive than our Sun, and is now encased in a swirling ring of purple gas, the remains of the distant era when it cast off its outer layers via violent pulsations and winds.
Distance:25,000 light years
However, this star is not just any star; scientists say that it is destined to go supernova! 26 years ago, another star with striking similarities went supernova—SN 1987A. Early Hubble images of SN 1987A show eerie similarities to SBW1. Both stars had identical rings of the same size and age, which were traveling at similar speeds; both were located in similar HII regions; and they had the same brightness. In this way SBW1 is a snapshot of SN1987a's appearance before it exploded, and unsurprisingly, astronomers love studying them together.
At a distance of more than 20,000 light-years it will be safe to watch when the supernova goes off. If we are very lucky it may happen in our own lifetimes . . .
Mexico: Baja California Sur, and The Gulf of California | SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon
This view from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship looks out at Baja California Sur and the Gulf of California as the International Space Station orbited 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
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:
Gravitational Lensing: Seeing Quintuple—5 Views of Quasar 2M1310-1714 | Hubble
Clustered at the center of this image are six luminous spots of light, four of them forming a circle around a central pair. Appearances can be deceiving, however, as this formation is not composed of six individual galaxies, but only three: to be precise, a pair of galaxies and one distant quasar. Hubble data also indicates that there is a seventh spot of light in the very center, which is a rare fifth image of the distant quasar. This rare phenomenon is caused by the presence of two galaxies in the foreground that act as a lens.
These galaxies were imaged in spectacular detail by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which was installed on Hubble in 2009 during Hubble Servicing Mission 4, Hubble’s final servicing mission. The WFC3 was intended to operate until 2014, but 12 years after it was installed it continues to provide both top-quality data and fantastic images, such as this one.
The central pair of galaxies in this image are genuinely two separate galaxies. The four bright points circling them, and the fainter one in the very center, are actually five separate images of a single quasar (known as 2M1310-1714), an extremely luminous but distant object. The reason behind this “seeing quintuple” effect is a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing occurs when a celestial object with an enormous amount of mass—such as a pair of galaxies—causes the fabric of space to warp such that the light travelling through that space from a distant object is bent and magnified sufficiently that humans here on Earth can observe multiple magnified images of the far-away source. The quasar in this image actually lies further away from Earth than the pair of galaxies. The light from the quasar has been bent around the galaxy pair because of their enormous mass, giving the incredible appearance that the galaxy pair are surrounded by four quasars—whereas in reality, a single quasar lies far beyond them!
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, T. Treu
Gravitational Lensing: Seeing Quintuple—5 Views of Quasar 2M1310-1714 | Hubble
Clustered at the center of this image are six luminous spots of light, four of them forming a circle around a central pair. Appearances can be deceiving, however, as this formation is not composed of six individual galaxies, but only three: to be precise, a pair of galaxies and one distant quasar. Hubble data also indicates that there is a seventh spot of light in the very center, which is a rare fifth image of the distant quasar. This rare phenomenon is caused by the presence of two galaxies in the foreground that act as a lens.
These galaxies were imaged in spectacular detail by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which was installed on Hubble in 2009 during Hubble Servicing Mission 4, Hubble’s final servicing mission. The WFC3 was intended to operate until 2014, but 12 years after it was installed it continues to provide both top-quality data and fantastic images, such as this one.
The central pair of galaxies in this image are genuinely two separate galaxies. The four bright points circling them, and the fainter one in the very center, are actually five separate images of a single quasar (known as 2M1310-1714), an extremely luminous but distant object. The reason behind this “seeing quintuple” effect is a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing occurs when a celestial object with an enormous amount of mass—such as a pair of galaxies—causes the fabric of space to warp such that the light travelling through that space from a distant object is bent and magnified sufficiently that humans here on Earth can observe multiple magnified images of the far-away source. The quasar in this image actually lies further away from Earth than the pair of galaxies. The light from the quasar has been bent around the galaxy pair because of their enormous mass, giving the incredible appearance that the galaxy pair are surrounded by four quasars—whereas in reality, a single quasar lies far beyond them!
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, T. Treu
Quasar: a very bright object in space that is similar to a star and very far away from Earth. A quasar gives off powerful radio waves. A quasar is so bright that it drowns out the light from all stars in the same galaxy. Quasars give off more energy than 100 normal galaxies combined.
Because quasars are so far away from us, it takes billions of years for the light they give off to reach Earth. The light stays the same, it just has to travel a long time to get to us. When we look at a quasar, it is like we are looking back in time. The light we see today is what the quasar looked like billions of years ago. Some scientists think that when they study quasars they are studying the beginning of the universe.
Quasars give off huge amounts of energy. They can be a trillion times brighter than the Sun! Astronomers think that quasars are located in galaxies which have black holes at their centers. The black holes may provide quasars with their energy. The word quasar is short for quasi-stellar radio source. Quasars give off radio waves, X-rays, gamma-rays, ultraviolet rays, and visible light. Most of them are larger than our solar system.
Despite their brightness, due to their great distance from Earth, no quasars can be seen with an unaided eye.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
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