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Stellar Birthplaces: Nebulas NGC 3603 & NGC 3576 (infrared) | ESO
The image shows two cosmic clouds of purple with a golden orange glow towards their centers. The clouds are found separated from each other on each side of the image. The clouds stand out against a black background with a myriad of stars.
This is a new view of NGC 3603 (left) and NGC 3576 (right), two stunning nebulas imaged with the European Southern Observatory’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). This infrared image peers through the dust in these nebulas, revealing details hidden in optical images.
NGC 3603 and NGC 3576 are 22,000 and 9,000 lightyears away from us, respectively. Inside these extended clouds of dust and gas, new stars are born, gradually changing the shapes of the nebulas via intense radiation and powerful winds of charged particles. Given their proximity, astronomers have the opportunity to study the intense star formation process that is as common in other galaxies but harder to observe due to the vast distances.
The two nebulas were cataloged by John Frederick William Herschel in 1834 during a trip to South Africa, where he wanted to compile stars, nebulas and other objects in the sky of the southern hemisphere. This catalogue was then expanded by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888 into the New General Catalogue, hence the NGC identifier in these and other astronomical objects.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/VVVX survey
Investigating a Made-to-Measure Galaxy: NGC 7038 in Indus | Hubble
The spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 7038 wind languidly across this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 7038 lies around 220 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Indus. This image portrays an especially rich and detailed view of a spiral galaxy, and exposes a huge number of distant stars and galaxies around it. This is because it is made from a combined 15 hours worth of Hubble time focused on NGC 7038 and collecting light. So much data indicates that this is a valuable target, and indeed, NGC 7038 has been particularly helpful to astronomers measuring distances at vast cosmic scales.
Image Description: An enormous spiral galaxy fills half of the frame, in the center. It is oval-shaped, with four blue spiral arms winding around it. The galaxy’s centre shines brightly with pale yellow light. Thin strands of orange dust are spread around the centre, following the paths of the arms. Above and below the galaxy, very many small stars and galaxies are visible on the black background.
The distances to astronomical objects are determined using an interconnected chain of measurement techniques called the Cosmic Distance Ladder. Each rung in the ladder is calibrated by earlier steps, based on measurements of objects closer to us. This makes the accuracy of distances at the largest scales dependent on how accurately distances to nearby objects can be determined. Hubble inspected NGC 7038 with its Wide Field Camera 3 to calibrate two of the most common distance measurement techniques: type 1A supernovae and Cepheid variables.
One of Hubble's original science goals was to accurately establish distances to night-sky objects, and over its three decades of operation Hubble’s increasingly precise distance measurements have contributed to one of the most intriguing unsolved problems in astronomy. Distance measurements are used to derive a quantity known as the Hubble constant, which captures how fast the Universe is expanding. As astronomer’s measurements of the Hubble constant have become more precise, their value has become increasingly inconsistent with the value of the Hubble Constant derived from observations of the Big Bang’s afterglow. Astronomers have been unable to explain the mismatch between the two values of the Hubble constant, which suggests that a new discovery in cosmology is waiting to be made.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, D. Jones
Looking Forward to NASA's Artemis I: Apollo 17 Earthrise—December 1972
Apollo 17: 50th Anniversary (1972-2022) Image
This is a spectacular Earthrise view from lunar orbit on December 16, 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 Moon Mission. Apollo 17 crew: Commander Gene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans. Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final deep space mission of NASA's Apollo program—the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit.
This is a historic image.
NASA/JSC Catalog# AS17-152-23274
Learn about NASA's Apollo Program—Apollo 7-17 (1968-1972):
Through Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, heralding a new era for space exploration and utilization. The Artemis missions are increasingly complex endeavours that will lay the foundation for sustainable human and robotic exploration of Earth's only natural satellite, the Moon.
This video sequence begins with a zoom through the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse), finishing with Hubble observations of Messier 15, one of the oldest and densest globular clusters known. This glittering cluster contains over 100,000 stars, as well as something more exotic and mysterious at its core: a rare type of black hole.
Distance: 35,000 light-years
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Digitized Sky Survey 2, Nick Risinger
This cluster of stars is known as Messier 15, and is located some 35,000 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). It is one of the oldest globular clusters known, with an age of around 12 billion years.
Both very hot blue stars and cooler golden stars can be seen swarming together in the image, becoming more concentrated towards the cluster's bright center. Messier 15 is one of the densest globular clusters known, with most of its mass concentrated at its core. As well as stars, Messier 15 was the first clusters known to host a planetary nebula, and it has been found to have a rare type of black hole at its center.
This new image is made up of observations from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble and NASA, A. Sarajedini
This cluster of stars is known as Messier 15, and is located some 35,000 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). It is one of the oldest globular clusters known, with an age of around 12 billion years.
Both very hot blue stars and cooler golden stars can be seen swarming together in the image, becoming more concentrated towards the cluster's bright center. Messier 15 is one of the densest globular clusters known, with most of its mass concentrated at its core. As well as stars, Messier 15 was the first clusters known to host a planetary nebula, and it has been found to have a rare type of black hole at its center.
This new image is made up of observations from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum.
Artemis I Moon Mission Update for Nov. 4, 2022 | This Week @NASA
Week of November 4, 2022: Around 8:30 a.m. EDT on Nov. 4, 2022, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived at launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a nearly nine-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Teams will continue working to configure SLS and Orion for the upcoming Nov. 14. launch attempt.
The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
On the Artemis III Mission, 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.
NASA Artemis I Moon Rocket Rollout: Nov. 4, 2022 | Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher as it arrives at Launch Pad 39B, Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I mission is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for Nov. 14, 2022, at 12:07 a.m. EST.
The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
On the Artemis III Mission, 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.
Expedition 68 Crew Celebrates Halloween: New Photos | International Space Station
Four Expedition 68 Flight Engineers celebrate Halloween
From left are, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata with NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, and Josh Cassada.
Four Expedition 68 Flight Engineers celebrate Halloween
Clockwise from left are, NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio, and Josh Cassada with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata.
Astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan) works on spacesuits in the Quest airlock
The Tyrrhenian Sea surrounded by Italy and islands
The waxing gibbous Moon above eastern Canada
Expedition 68 Crew
Station Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Anna Kikina & Dmitri Petelin
NASA: Flight Engineers Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio & Josh Cassada
JAXA (Japan): Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata
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.
Closest Black Hole to Earth Discovered: 1,600 Light-years Away | NOIRLab
Astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory, operated by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, have discovered the closest-known black hole to Earth. This is the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close proximity to Earth, a mere 1,600 light-years away, offers an intriguing target of study to advance our understanding of the evolution of binary systems.
Black holes are the most extreme objects in the Universe. Supermassive versions of these unimaginably dense objects likely reside at the centers of all large galaxies. Stellar-mass black holes—which weigh approximately five to 100 times the mass of the Sun—are much more common, with an estimated 100 million in the Milky Way alone. Only a handful have been confirmed to date, however, and nearly all of these are ‘active’—meaning they shine brightly in X-rays as they consume material from a nearby stellar companion, unlike dormant black holes which do not.
Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Hawai‘i, one of the twin telescopes of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, which the researchers have dubbed Gaia BH1. This dormant black hole is about 10 times more massive than the Sun and is located about 1,600 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, making it three times closer to Earth than the previous record holder, an X-ray binary in the constellation of Monoceros. The new discovery was made possible by making exquisite observations of the motion of the black hole’s companion, a Sun-like star that orbits the black hole at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun.
“Take the Solar System, put a black hole where the Sun is, and the Sun where the Earth is, and you get this system,” explained Kareem El-Badry, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the lead author of the paper describing this discovery. “While there have been many claimed detections of systems like this, almost all these discoveries have subsequently been refuted. This is the first unambiguous detection of a Sun-like star in a wide orbit around a stellar-mass black hole in our Galaxy.”
Though there are likely millions of stellar-mass black holes roaming the Milky Way Galaxy, those few that have been detected were uncovered by their energetic interactions with a companion star. As material from a nearby star spirals in toward the black hole, it becomes superheated and generates powerful X-rays and jets of material. If a black hole is not actively feeding (i.e., it is dormant) it simply blends in with its surroundings.
The team originally identified the system as potentially hosting a black hole by analyzing data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft. Gaia captured the minute irregularities in the star’s motion caused by the gravity of an unseen massive object. To explore the system in more detail, El-Badry and his team turned to the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph instrument on Gemini North, which measured the velocity of the companion star as it orbited the black hole and provided precise measurement of its orbital period. The Gemini follow-up observations were crucial to constraining the orbital motion and hence masses of the two components in the binary system, allowing the team to identify the central body as a black hole roughly 10 times as massive as our Sun.
“Our Gemini follow-up observations confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that the binary contains a normal star and at least one dormant black hole,” elaborated El-Badry. “We could find no plausible astrophysical scenario that can explain the observed orbit of the system that doesn’t involve at least one black hole.”
The team relied not only on Gemini North’s superb observational capabilities but also on Gemini’s ability to provide data on a tight deadline, as the team had only a short window in which to perform their follow-up observations.
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani
NASA's Space to Ground: Scientific Ride | Week of Nov. 4, 2022
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is scheduled to arrive next week. Cygnus, packed with 8,200 pounds of cargo, is at the launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia counting down to its lift off atop the Antares rocket on Sunday, November 6, 2022, at 5:50 a.m. EST.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
Shenzhou-14 Crew Enters New Mengtian Research Lab | China Space Station
The Shenzhou-14 crew, commander Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, entered the Mengtian Laboratory Module on November 3, 2022, at 07:12 UTC (15:12 China Standard Time). The China Space Station is now in its planned T-shape configuration of the Tianhe Core Module, the Wentian Laboratory Module and the Mengtian Laboratory Module.
The Mengtian module is similar to Tianhe and Wentian in size and weight. It is 17.9 meters long with a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters. It consists of a working cabin for astronauts/taikonauts, an airlock cabin, a payload cabin and a resource cabin. Mengtian is mainly designed for scientific experiments. Unlike Tianhe and Wentian, it does not have a sleeping cabin. Instead, it is full of cabinets that can support hundreds of experiments.
The transposition of the Mengtian lab module was completed at 9:32 a.m. (BJT) on Thursday, November 3, 2022, marking the completion of the basic T-shaped structure of China's space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMS).
The T-shaped structure is formed by the Tianhe core module and Wentian and Mengtian lab modules. Tianhe provides life support for astronauts on board and functions as the control center of the space station, while Mengtian and Wentian are mainly for microgravity scientific research and space life science research, respectively.
During the transposition maneuver, Mengtian first completed its state configuration and separated from Tianhe. It then conducted the transposition and docked with the side port of the space station's node cabin. The transposition process took about one hour, according to the CMS.
Mengtian will also serve future extravehicular research projects of the space station, with its cargo airlock cabin and a deployed extravehicular platform, the CMS said earlier.
The science equipment that needs to be installed outside will first be sent to the space station by cargo craft, then transferred outside through the cargo airlock cabin, and then installed on the extravehicular platform by mechanical arms or taikonauts/astronauts.
The CMS plans to carry out functional tests and evaluation of the space station assembly in the future.
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672 in Dorado: Wide-field View (ground-based image)
A 2.7 x 2.9 degree wide field ground-based image of NGC 1672's region in the Southern constellation of Dorado. This image is a color composite taken by the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2).
Distance:60 million light years
Credit: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), the ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator & Digitized Sky Survey 2
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