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This video pans over NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the two galaxies known as NGC 4298 and NGC 4302. Distance: 55 million light-years away
Galaxy NGC 4298 is seen almost face-on, allowing us to see its spiral arms and the blue patches of ongoing star formation and young stars. In the edge-on disc of NGC 4302 huge swathes of dust are responsible for the mottled brown patterns, but a burst of blue to the side of the galaxy is indicating a region of extremely vigorous star formation.
A Close Galactic Pair: Galaxies NGC 4302 & NGC 4298 | Hubble
This image displays the galaxies NGC 4302—seen edge-on—and NGC 4298, both located 55 million light-years away. The galaxy NGC 4298 is seen almost face-on, allowing us to see its spiral arms and the blue patches of ongoing star formation and young stars. In the edge-on disc of NGC 4302 huge swathes of dust are responsible for the mottled brown patterns, but a burst of blue to the left side of the galaxy indicates a region of extremely vigorous star formation.
The image is a mosaic of four separate captures from Hubble, taken between January 2 and 22, 2017, that have been stitched together to give this amazing field of view. Two different types of light emitted by the galaxies—visible and near-infrared—have been combined to give a rich and colorful image. This light was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, one of the telescope’s most advanced imaging instruments.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, and M. Mutchler of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Moscow Celebrates First Film Shot in Space Ahead of Russia Premiere | SCMP
Russian filmmakers are promoting what is touted as the first movie to be shot in space ahead of its release on April 20, 2023. Filmed on board the International Space Station in 2021, The Challenge ("Vyzov" in Russian) tells the story of a female doctor who must go into orbit to save the life of a cosmonaut.
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.
Expedition 69 Astronauts Discuss Life in Space | International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview April 18, 2023, with Medscape Cardiology. Following this event, Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg of NASA discussed life board the space station during an in-flight interview with KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.
Rubio and Hoburg are in the midst of long-duration missions living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.
NASA Astronaut Frank Rubio Official NASA Biography
Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev
Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg
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.
Wide-field View of Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4993 (ground-based view)
This image shows the sky around the lenticular galaxy NGC 4993. Within this galaxy Hubble discovered the first visual counterpart of a gravitational wave event—the merger of two neutron stars.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Digitized Sky Survey 2
Neutron Star Merger Animation Ending with Kilonova Explosion
This artist’s impression video shows how two tiny but very dense neutron stars merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on August 17, 2017, by LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL respectively. Subsequent detailed observations with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes all over the world have confirmed that this object, seen in the galaxy NGC 4993 about 130 million light-years from the Earth, is indeed a kilonova. These objects are the main source of very heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/L. Calçada
Zoom into Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4993 and Kilonova | Hubble
This video zooms from a ground-based view on towards the lenticular galaxy NGC 4993 in the constellation Hydra. Within this galaxy, a neutron star collision generated gravitational waves and an associated gamma-ray burst. It also resulted in an explosion called a kilonova that was visible to telescopes including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The zoom ends with a loop of the three Hubble observations made in the first days after the explosion, clearly showing the evolution of the coloor and brightness of the kilonovoa.
Lenticular Galaxy NGC 4993: Kilonova Detected | Hubble
The lenticular galaxy NGC 4993 is located about 130 million light-years from Earth. On August 17, 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Interferometer both detected gravitational waves from the collision of two neutron stars within this galaxy. The event also resulted in a flare of light, called a kilonova, which is visible to the upper left of the galactic center in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. A "kilonova" is a powerful event that happens when two neutron stars merge.
NASA Launches StratosphericSuper Pressure Balloon from New Zealand
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program successfully launched its football-stadium-sized, heavy-lift super pressure balloon (SPB) from Wānaka Airport, New Zealand, at 11:42 a.m., Sunday, April 16, 2023, (7:42 p.m.. April 15 in U.S. Eastern Time), on a mission planned for 100 or more days. The balloon will float at 110,000 feet (33.5 km) with the winds carrying it about the southern hemisphere's mid-latitude band.
While validating the super pressure balloon technology is the main flight objective, the balloon is also carrying the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), from Princeton University, which uses a wide field of view to image large galaxy clusters from a balloon platform in a near-space environment.
The 18.8-million-cubic-foot (532,000-cubic-meter) balloon is helium-filled and about the size of a football stadium when fully inflated at its operational float altitude of 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers). Wānaka is NASA’s dedicated launch site for mid-latitude, long-duration balloon missions.
NASA invites the public to follow these missions as they fly on their globetrotting journeys about the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes. A balloon’s flight path is controlled by the wind speed and direction at float altitude. The missions will spend most of their time over water, and for any land crossings, NASA works with the U.S. State Department to coordinate country overflight approvals. Real-time tracking of these flights is publicly available here:
Interviewing Wally Funk: Aviation Pioneer | National Air and Space Museum
Funk became the oldest woman to go to space on July 20, 2021, at age 82, flying on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft during its suborbital flight. Flying airplanes was something that Wally Funk always wanted to do. She had her first flying lesson when she was nine years old and by twenty had become a professional aviator. In 1961, she volunteered for the “Women in Space” program with the hope of becoming an astronaut. Wally was one of thirteen women who, despite having passed all of the rigorous testing proving they were physically and psychologically qualified for space travel, were denied the chance to become astronauts when the program was canceled. In 1974, Funk was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as its first female Air Safety Investigator. Funk continued to dream of going into space and in July 2021 achieved her dream.
Pan on Galactic Merger in Progress: Arp 256 | Hubble
This video pans over NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the system Arp 256, about 350 million light-years from Earth. The system consists of two spiral galaxies in an early stage of a merger. Though the two galaxies are still separated by a large distance, their shapes are already impressively disrupted by the gravitational forces.
Both galaxies show bright blue patches, which highlight regions of star formation. These regions also contain hot newborn stars. Like their distorted appearance, the bursts in star formation are also triggered by the gravitational interaction between the two galaxies.
Arp 256 is a stunning system of two spiral galaxies, about 350 million light-years away, in an early stage of merging. The image, taken with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, displays two galaxies with strongly distorted shapes and an astonishing number of blue knots of star formation that look like exploding fireworks. The star formation was triggered by the close interaction between the two galaxies.
This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). It is a new version of an image released in 2008 that was part a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken for Hubble’s 18th anniversary.
American Bald Eagle Family at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
An American bald eagle swoops down to land on a pole at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
With the Moon in the background, an American bald eagle perches on a pole near its nest at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
A baby American bald eagle looks out from its nest, accompanied by one of its parents
A baby American bald eagle calls out from a nest
An American bald eagle is perched high in a tree above its nest
An American bald eagle feeds alongside several vultures
An American eagle family has taken up residence at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during nesting season. This year, the pair is raising a lone baby eagle in the nest, located in a tree near Kennedy Parkway, about two miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Florida spaceport. Kennedy currently is home to approximately 20 nesting pairs of bald eagles.
