SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon Endurance Approaches International Space Station
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Thursday, October 13, 2022
SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon Endurance Approaches International Space Station
Tour: NASA's Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster Collision on a "WHIM"
Tour: NASA's Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster Collision on a "WHIM"
Although scientists know a great deal about the composition of the universe, there has been a vexing problem they have struggled to explain— there is a significant amount of matter that has not yet been accounted for.
This missing mass is not the invisible dark matter, which makes up a majority of the matter in the universe. This is a separate puzzle where about a third of the "normal" matter that was created in the first billion years or so after the Big Bang has yet to be detected by observations of the local universe, that is, in regions less than a few billion light-years from Earth. This matter is made up of hydrogen, helium, and other elements and makes up objects like stars, planets, and humans.
Scientists have proposed that at least some of this missing mass could be hidden in gigantic strands, or filaments, of gas in the space in between galaxies and clusters of galaxies with temperatures between 10,000 and 10 million degrees. They have dubbed this the "warm-hot intergalactic medium," or WHIM.
A team of astronomers using Chandra to observe a system of colliding galaxy clusters has likely found evidence of this WHIM residing in the space between them. The researchers used Chandra to study Abell 98, which contains colliding galaxy clusters about 1.4 billion light years from Earth. The Chandra data reveal a bridge of X-ray emission between two of the colliding clusters containing gas at a temperature of about twenty million degrees and cooler gas with a temperature of about ten million degrees. The hotter gas in the bridge is likely from gas in the two clusters overlapping with each other. The temperature and density of the cooler gas agree with predictions for the hottest and densest gas in the WHIM. Only a few detections of the WHIM have previously been made.
In addition, the Chandra data show the presence of a shock wave, which is similar to a sonic boom from a supersonic plane. This shock wave is driven by and located ahead of one of the galaxy clusters as it is starting to collide with another cluster. This would be the first time that astronomers have found such a shock wave in the early stages of a galaxy cluster collision, before the centers of the clusters pass by one another.
Galaxy clusters—which contain thousands of galaxies, huge amounts of hot gas, and enormous reservoirs of dark matter—are the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity. Scientists think they are able to reach their colossal size by merging with one another over millions or billions of years. When galaxy clusters collide, astronomers get a chance to see extreme physics that they rarely see in any other cosmic setting.
Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 3 minutes, 32 seconds
Release Date: October 13, 2022
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Chandra #Xray #GalaxyClusters #Abell98 #Matter #MissingMatter #WHIM #SuperheatedGas #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Observatory #CXC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Quick Look: NASA's Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster Collision on a "WHIM"
Quick Look: NASA's Chandra Finds Galaxy Cluster Collision on a "WHIM"
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is helping to reconcile the Universe’s inventory of matter.
A new result shows evidence of "missing" mass made up of regular atoms. Researchers think this matter may be found in gigantic strands of superheated gas.
These strands are very difficult to find and require X-ray telescopes like Chandra.
Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 45 seconds
Release Date: October 13, 2022
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Chandra #Xray #GalaxyClusters #Abell98 #Matter #MissingMatter #WHIM #SuperheatedGas #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Observatory #CXC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Zooming in on Star WASP-76 with Exoplanet WASP-76b | ESO
Zooming in on Star WASP-76 with Exoplanet WASP-76b | ESO
The ultra-hot giant exoplanet WASP-76b orbits the star WASP-76, located some 390 light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. This video takes us on a journey to this system.
Observations of WASP-76b using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) suggest it rains iron on this extreme exoplanet.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/L.Calçada/spaceengine.org
Duration: 39 seconds
Release Date: March 11, 2020
#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #WASP76 #Exoplanet #WASP76b #Atmophere #Barium #Pisces #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Heaviest Element Yet Detected in an Exoplanet Atmosphere: Barium | ESO
Heaviest Element Yet Detected in an Exoplanet Atmosphere: Barium | ESO
ESOcast 257 Light: Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), barium has been detected in the atmosphere of two exoplanets.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Duration: 1 minute, 32 seconds
Release Date: October 13, 2022
Interacting Galaxies: NGC 5754 & NGC 5752 | Hubble
Interacting Galaxies: NGC 5754 & NGC 5752 | Hubble
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and W. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)
Release Date: April 24, 2008
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC5754 #NGC5752 #Bootes #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education
A Galactic Cherry Blossom: Galaxy NGC 1156
A Galactic Cherry Blossom: Galaxy NGC 1156
NGC 1156 is located in the constellation of Aries (The Ram). It is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, meaning that it lacks a clear spiral or rounded shape, as other galaxies have, and is on the smaller side, albeit with a relatively large central region that is more densely packed with stars.
Some pockets of gas within NGC 1156 rotate in the opposite direction to the rest of the galaxy, suggesting that there has been a close encounter with another galaxy in NGC 1156's past. The gravity of this other galaxy—and the turbulent chaos of such an interaction—could have scrambled the likely more orderly rotation of material within NGC 1156, producing the odd behavior we see today.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, NASA, R. Jansen
Release Date: July 8, 2019
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #NGC1156 #Dwarf #Irregular #Aries #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Northeastern China | International Space Station
Northeastern China | International Space Station
Learn about Samantha's Minerva Mission: https://bit.ly/MissionMinerva
Samantha Cristoforetti's Biography (ESA)
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 (ESA)/NASA-S.Cristoforetti
Image Date: October 11, 2022
#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #Planet #China #中国 #NortheastChina #BohaiSea #渤海 #YellowSea #ESA #Astronaut #SamanthaCristoforetti #MissionMinerva #Italy #Italia #ASI #Photography #Art #Science #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #Expedition68 #Europe #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education
New Commander: Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev | International Space Station
New Commander: Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev | International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 68 astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) handed over command of the station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev (Russia) during a change of command ceremony on October 12, 2022. Farewell remarks by Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins preceded the change of command. The off-going Crew-4 astronauts are headed home to complete a six-month mission on the orbital outpost.
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 10:05 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 13, for the agency’s Crew-4 undocking from the International Space Station to begin the return trip to Earth completing a nearly six-month science mission in orbit. Splashdown is targeted several hours later at 5:43 p.m. Thursday off the coast of Florida.
Credit: NASA Video
Duration: 15 minutes
Release Date: October 12, 2022
#NASA #Space #ISS #ESA #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #BobHines #JessicaWatkins #FrankRubio #SamanthaCristoforetti #Italy #Italia #Minerva #Cosmonauts #SergeyProkopyev #DmitriPetelin #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Science #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition68 #UnitedStates #Europe #Russia #Россия #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Research #Laboratory #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Hubble Reveals Ultra-Relativistic Jet from Collision of Neutron Stars | NASA
Hubble Reveals Ultra-Relativistic Jet from Collision of Neutron Stars | NASA
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found a jet propelled through space at nearly the speed of light by the titanic collision between two neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of massive supergiant stars.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Paul Morris: Lead Producer
Cassandra Morris: Voiceover
Duration: 1 minute, 46 seconds
Release Date: October 12, 2022
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #NeutronStars #Collision #Merger #RelativisticJet #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Panning across Star Duo Wolf-Rayet 140's Space ‘Fingerprint’ | Webb Telescope
Panning across Star Duo Wolf-Rayet 140's Space ‘Fingerprint’ | Webb Telescope
A new image from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable cosmic sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars. Located just over 5,000 light-years from Earth, the duo is collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140.
Each ring was created when the two stars came close together and their stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) met, compressing the gas and forming dust. The stars’ orbits bring them together about once every eight years; like the rings of a tree’s trunk, the dust loops mark the passage of time.
In addition to Webb’s overall sensitivity, its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is uniquely qualified to study the dust rings, what Ryan Lau, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, and his colleagues call shells, because they are thicker and wider than they appear in the image. Webb’s science instruments detect infrared light, a range of wavelengths invisible to the human eye.
MIRI detects the longest infrared wavelengths, which means it can often see cooler objects—including the dust rings—than Webb’s other instruments can. MIRI’s spectrometer also revealed the composition of the dust, formed mostly from material ejected by a type of star known as a Wolf-Rayet star.
A Wolf-Rayet star is born with at least 25 times more mass than our Sun and is nearing the end of its life, when it will likely explode as a supernova and then collapse into a black hole. Burning hotter than in its youth, a Wolf-Rayet star generates powerful winds that push huge amounts of gas into space. The Wolf-Rayet star in this particular pair may have shed more than half its original mass via this process.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA)/Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-Caltech
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 12, 2022
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WolfRayet140 #DustRings #StellarWinds #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #JPL #Caltech #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Star Duo Wolf-Rayet 140 Forms Space ‘Fingerprint’ | James Webb Space Telescope
Star Duo Wolf-Rayet 140 Forms Space ‘Fingerprint’ | James Webb Space Telescope
A new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable cosmic sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars. Located just over 5,000 light-years from Earth, the duo is collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140.
Each ring was created when the two stars came close together and their stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) met, compressing the gas and forming dust. The stars’ orbits bring them together about once every eight years; like the growth of rings of a tree’s trunk, the dust loops mark the passage of time.
“We’re looking at over a century of dust production from this system,” said Ryan Lau, an astronomer at NSF’s NOIRLab and lead author of a new study about the system, published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. “The image also illustrates just how sensitive this telescope is. Before, we were only able to see two dust rings, using ground-based telescopes. Now we see at least 17 of them.”
In addition to Webb’s overall sensitivity, its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is uniquely qualified to study the dust rings—or what Lau and his colleagues call shells, because they are thicker and wider than they appear in the image. Webb’s science instruments detect infrared light, a range of wavelengths invisible to the human eye. MIRI detects the longest infrared wavelengths, which means it can often see cooler objects—including the dust rings—than Webb’s other instruments can. MIRI’s spectrometer also revealed the composition of the dust, formed mostly from material ejected by a type of star known as a Wolf-Rayet star.
MIRI was developed through a 50-50 partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California led the effort for NASA, and a multinational consortium of European astronomical institutes contributed for ESA.
A Wolf-Rayet star is an O-type star, born with at least 25 times more mass than our Sun, that is nearing the end of its life, when it will likely collapse and form a black hole. Burning hotter than in its youth, a Wolf-Rayet star generates powerful winds that push huge amounts of gas into space. The Wolf-Rayet star in this particular pair may have shed more than half its original mass via this process.
Forming Dust in the Wind
Transforming gas into dust is somewhat like turning flour into bread: It requires specific conditions and ingredients. The most common element found in stars, hydrogen, can’t form dust on its own. But because Wolf-Rayet stars shed so much mass, they also eject more complex elements typically found deep in a star’s interior, including carbon. The heavy elements in the wind cool as they travel into space and are then compressed where the winds from both stars meet, like when two hands knead dough.
Some other Wolf-Rayet systems form dust, but none is known to make rings like Wolf-Rayet 140 does. The unique ring pattern forms because the orbit of the Wolf-Rayet star in WR 140 is elongated, not circular. Only when the stars come close together—about the same distance between Earth and the Sun—and their winds collide is the gas under sufficient pressure to form dust. With circular orbits, Wolf-Rayet binaries can produce dust continuously.
Lau and his co-authors think WR 140’s winds also swept the surrounding area clear of residual material they might otherwise collide with, which may be why the rings remain so pristine rather than smeared or dispersed. There are likely even more rings that have become so faint and dispersed, not even Webb can see them in the data.
Wolf-Rayet stars may seem exotic compared to our Sun, but they may have played a role in star and planet formation. When a Wolf-Rayet star clears an area, the swept-up material can pile up at the outskirts and become dense enough for new stars to form. There is some evidence the Sun formed in such a scenario.
Using data from MIRI’s Medium Resolution Spectroscopy mode, the new study provides the best evidence yet that Wolf-Rayet stars produce carbon-rich dust molecules. What’s more, the preservation of the dust shells indicates that this dust can survive in the hostile environment between stars, going on to supply material for future stars and planets.
The catch is that while astronomers estimate that there should be at least a few thousand Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy, only about 600 have been found to date.
“Even though Wolf-Rayet stars are rare in our galaxy because they are short lived as far as stars go, it’s possible they’ve been producing lots of dust throughout the history of the galaxy before they explode and/or form black holes,” said Patrick Morris, an astrophysicist at Caltech in Pasadena, California, and a co-author of the new study. “I think with NASA’s new space telescope we’re going to learn a lot more about how these stars shape the material between stars and trigger new star formation in galaxies.”
JWST is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
George Rieke with the University of Arizona is the MIRI U.S. science team lead. Gillian Wright with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre is the MIRI European principal investigator. Alistair Glasse with UK ATC is the MIRI instrument scientist, and Michael Ressler is the U.S. project scientist at JPL. Laszlo Tamas with UK ATC manages the European Consortium. The MIRI cryocooler development was led and managed by JPL, in collaboration with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
For more information about the Webb mission, visit:
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScl/JPL-Caltech
The Cosmic Dust Rings of Stars Wolf-Rayet 140 | James Webb Space Telescope
The Cosmic Dust Rings of Stars Wolf-Rayet 140 | James Webb Space Telescope
An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars located about 5,300 light-years from Earth. Each ring was created when the stars came close together and their colliding stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) caused some of the gas to compress into dust.
Collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140, the stars’ orbits bring them together about once every eight years, so just like the growth rings of a tree trunk, these dusty loops mark the passage of time: The 17 rings reveal more than a century of stellar interactions. And while other Wolf-Rayet stars produce dust, no other pair is known to produce rings quite like Wolf-Rayet 140.
Because the stars’ orbits are elliptical rather than circular, the distance between the stars changes constantly, and dust forms only when they are close. The amount of dust produced by this interaction varies, so the system doesn’t form a perfect bullseye. One of the densest regions of dust production creates the bright feature repeating at 2 o’clock.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: October 12, 2022
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #WolfRayet140 #DustRings #StellarWinds #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #JPL #Caltech #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Galaxy Pair VV 191: Elliptical & Spiral Galaxies | Webb & Hubble
Galaxy Pair VV 191: Elliptical & Spiral Galaxies | Webb & Hubble
By combining data from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were able to trace light that was emitted by the large white elliptical galaxy at left through the spiral galaxy at right and identify the effects of interstellar dust in the spiral galaxy. This image of galaxy pair VV 191 includes near-infrared light from Webb, and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble.
Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/3rvYKaW
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), JWST PEARLS Team, Alyssa Pagan (STScI), N. Bartmann
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: October 12, 2022
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #VV191 #Spiral #Elliptical #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescopes #JWST #Hubble #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Blustery Weather Erases Perseverance Rover's Tracks on Mars | NASA/JPL/AGU
Blustery Weather Erases Perseverance Rover's Tracks on Mars | NASA/JPL/AGU
NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover experienced a large storm in Jezero crater that lasted more than six Martian days (sols) in January 2022. The rover's instruments captured data and images of blowing dust and winds erasing rover tracks. The winds increased as the storm approached but were only directly measured until the afternoon of the first sol, when the wind sensor failed during high winds. The winds were powerful enough to blow sand and lift dust around the rover. The rover spotted 21 dust devils and other dust-lifting events near noon of the first sol. The images are the first to catch the heart of a Martian storm in progress.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
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 possible return to Earth.
Launch: July 30, 2020
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars
For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
Source:
Scientific Paper: "Dust, Sand, and Winds Within an Active Martian Storm in Jezero Crater"
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL100126
Scientific Credits: M. T. Lemmon, M. D. Smith, D. Viudez-Moreiras, M. de la Torre-Juarez, A. Vicente-Retortillo, A. Munguira, A. Sanchez-Lavega, R. Hueso, G. Martinez, B. Chide, R. Sullivan, D. Toledo, L. Tamppari, T. Bertrand, J. F. Bell III, C. Newman, M. Baker, D. Banfield, J. A. Rodriguez-Manfredi, J. N. Maki, V. Apestigue [2022] Geophysical Research Letters
Video Credit: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Duration: 30 seconds
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Wind #Astrobiology #Geology #Jezero #Crater #PerseveranceRover #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #AGU #JPL #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #MoonToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video
The Modest Galaxy: UGC 3855 | Hubble
The Modest Galaxy: UGC 3855 | Hubble
Many young blue stars are sprinkled throughout the circular patterns of UGC 3855’s arms, contrasted and complemented by dark lanes of dust also following the spiral structure. A glancing look at UGC 3855 may only leave you with an impression of the galaxy, but spare a moment longer and the intricacies of the galaxy begin to emerge. Located in the constellation of Lynx, UGC 3855 is a cosmic beauty to behold.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, J. Walsh
Release Date: February 1, 2021
#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #UGC3855 #Spiral #Lynx #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education