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The Eta Carinae Nebula or Carina Nebula (cataloged as NGC 3372; also known as the Great Carina Nebula) is a large, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation Carina, located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The nebula is approximately 8,500 light-years from Earth. Within the Carina Nebula is the supergiant star Eta Carinae. It has a mass about 100 times greater than our Sun. It is an excellent candidate for a future supernova.
This image is a color composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximately 4.7 x 4.9 degrees.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Bright Blue Variable Star Eta Carinae | European Southern Observatory
This image of the luminous blue variable star Eta Carinae was taken with the NACO near-infrared adaptive optics instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), yielding an incredible amount of detail. The images clearly shows a bipolar structure as well as the jets coming out from the central star.
Eta Carinae is located 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. It is within the Carina Nebula, a giant star-forming region in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. Despite its large distance from Earth, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the sky in the mid-nineteenth century (with an apparent magnitude -1), surpassed only by Sirius.
The Paranal Observatory’s NAOS+CONICA instrument, better known as NACO, is one of the best ground-based solutions to atmospheric turbulence. Thanks to its pioneering use of Adaptive Optics, NACO delivers images as sharp as if we were in space.
The image was obtained by the Paranal Science team and processed by Yuri Beletsky (ESO) and Hännes Heyer (ESO). It is based on data obtained through broad (J, H, and K; 90 second exposure time per filters) and narrow-bands (1.64, 2.12, and 2.17 microns; probing iron, molecular and atomic hydrogen, respectively; 4 min per filter).
Unstable Star Eta Carinae: K-band (Infrared) View | European Southern Observatory
Eta Carinae is one of the heaviest and most luminous stars known. Its mass probably exceeds 100 solar masses, and the star is about 4 million times brighter than the Sun. Such a massive star has a comparatively short lifetime of about a million years. When measured in the cosmic timescale, Eta Carinae must have formed quite recently. This star is highly unstable and prone to violent outbursts.
These outbursts are caused by the very high radiation pressure at the star's upper layers, which blows significant portions of the matter at the "surface" into space during eruptions that may rage for several years. The last of these outbursts occurred between 1835 and 1855, peaking in 1843.
Eta Carinae is located 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. It is within the Carina Nebula, a giant star-forming region in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way. Despite its large distance from Earth, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the sky at that time (with an apparent magnitude -1), surpassed only by Sirius.
This image is an infrared narrow K-band image of the massive star Eta Carinae. The image quality is difficult to estimate because the central star saturated the detector, but the clear structure of the diffraction spikes and the size of the smallest features visible in the photo indicate a near-diffraction limited performance. The field measures about 6.5 x 6.5 square arcsec.
In infrared astronomy, the K band is an atmospheric transmission window centered on 2.2 μm (in the near-infrared 136 THz range).
Preview of a Supernova in Binary Star System Eta Carinae | Hubble
At the turn of the 19th century, the binary star system Eta Carinae was faint and undistinguished. In the first decades of the century, it became brighter and brighter, until, by April 1843, it was the second brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius (which is almost a thousand times closer to Earth). In the years that followed, it gradually dimmed again and by the 20th century was totally invisible to the naked eye. Eta Carinae is located 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. It is within the Carina Nebula, a giant star-forming region in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way.
The star has continued to vary in brightness ever since, and while it is once again visible to the naked eye on a dark night, it has never again come close to its peak of 1843.
The larger of the two stars in the Eta Carinae system is a huge and unstable star that is nearing the end of its life, and the event that the 19th century astronomers observed was a stellar near-death experience. Scientists call these outbursts supernova impostor events, because they appear similar to supernovae but stop just short of destroying their star.
Although 19th century astronomers did not have telescopes powerful enough to see the 1843 outburst in detail, its effects can be studied today. The huge clouds of matter thrown out a century and a half ago, known as the Homunculus Nebula, have been a regular target for Hubble since its launch in 1990. This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Channel is the most detailed yet, and shows how the material from the star was not thrown out in a uniform manner, but forms a huge dumbbell shape.
Eta Carinae is not only interesting because of its past, but also because of its future. It is one of the closest stars to Earth that is likely to explode in a supernova in the relatively near future (though in astronomical timescales the “near future” could still be a million years away). When it does, expect an impressive view from Earth, far brighter still than its last outburst: SN 2006gy, the brightest supernova ever observed, came from a star of the same type.
This image consists of ultraviolet and visible light images from the High Resolution Channel of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The field of view is approximately 30 arcseconds across.
The star Eta Carinae may be about to explode. However, no one knows when. It may be next year. It may be a million years from now. Eta Carinae's mass—about 100 times greater than our Sun—makes it an excellent candidate for a full blown supernova. Historical records do show that about 170 years ago Eta Carinae underwent an unusual outburst that made it one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. This star is located 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. Eta Carinae, in the Keyhole Nebula, is the only star currently thought to emit natural LASER light.
This image brings out details in the unusual nebula that surrounds this rogue star. Diffraction spikes, caused by the telescope, are visible as bright multi-colored streaks emanating from Eta Carinae's center. Two distinct lobes of the Homunculus Nebula encompass the hot central region, while some strange radial streaks are visible in red extending toward the image right. The lobes are filled with lanes of gas and dust which absorb the blue and ultraviolet light emitted near the center. The streaks, however, remain unexplained.
Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Hubble
Space Shuttle Discovery: The R-Bar Pitch Maneuver | International Space Station
A close-up view of Space Shuttle Discovery's tail section is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember on the International Space Station during the RPM (R-Bar Pitch Maneuver) survey. Visible are the shuttle's main engines, vertical stabilizer, orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods and a portion of the aft cargo bay and wings.
This was a standard procedure recommended by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) for all space shuttles docking to the International Space Station after a damaged heat shield caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The CAIB examined the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-107 upon atmospheric re-entry on February 1, 2003.
The name of the R-Bar Pitch Maneuver was based on the R-bar and V-bar lines that are used in the approach to the International Space Station (ISS). R-bar or Earth Radius Vector is an imaginary line connecting the space station to the center of the Earth. V-bar would be the velocity vector of the space station. The shuttle approached the station along the R-bar line and at a small distance from the ISS, usually around 600 feet (180 meters), the shuttle performed a slow 360° pitch, during which it exposed its underside—the heat shield—to the ISS.
China Completes Record-Breaking 25 Space Launches in First Half of 2023
China carried out a record-breaking 25 space launch missions in the first half of 2023, with no failure, indicating a steady progress in building up the country's spaceflight capabilities.
Landsat Next Defined: The Future of Earth Observation Satellites | NASA Goddard
Landsat Next is on the horizon—the new mission will not only ensure continuity of the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, it will fundamentally transform the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users.
Let's take a look at the new capabilities that will define the next Landsat mission, which will unlock new applications for water quality, crop production, soil health and much more.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/Scientific Visualization Studio
Astronomer Suzanna Randall Presents "Science Fact or Fiction?" | ESO
Chasing Starlight 2: Explore the science behind some of the most popular science fiction movies, such as Avatar and Interstellar. In this episode, European Southern Observatory (ESO) astronomer, Suzanna Randall, explores what is fact and what is fiction in Avatar’s Alpha Centauri system, Betelgeuse’s fate and Interstellar’s Gargantua black hole. Along the way see how discoveries made with ESO’s telescopes help us get a deeper appreciation of the world of science fiction.
00:00 Introduction
00:43 Avatar’s planet Pandora
03:56 Red supergiant star Betelgeuse
06:58 Interstellar’s Gargantua black hole
Credits:
Directed by: Martin Wallner, Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser
Hosted by: Suzanna Randall
Written by: Jonas Enander, Claudia Sciarma, Bárbara Ferreira, Martin Wallner
Editing: Martin Kornmesser
Videography: Angelos Tsaousis
Footage and photos: Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO, ESO/B. Tafreshi, ESO/M. Kornmesser, ESO/L. Calçada, ESO/ NEAR Collaboration, NASA-JPL/Caltech, spaceengine.org, timemagazine, INAOE Archives, N. Patel, EAO-W. Montgomerie, D. Harvey, N. Billot, Wikipedia, S. R. Schimpf, IRAM, ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org), N. Risinger (skysurvey.org), NASA, ESA, EHT Collaboration, Solar Dynamics Observatory, videvo, Digitized Sky Survey 2, Davide De Martin, José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
Animations & Infographics: Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory (eso.org)
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Movie clips:
Avatar (2009)
20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners, James Cameron (director), James Cameron (producer), Jon Landau (producer)
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment Finance LLC, James Cameron (director), Richard Baneham (executive producer), James Cameron (producer p.g.a.), Jon Landau (producer p.g.a.), Peter M. Tobyansen (executive producer: Prep Only), David Valdes (executive producer), Brigitte Yorke (associate producer)
Lost in Space (2018 – 2021)
Netflix, Irwin Allen (creator) , Matt Sazama (creator), Burk Sharpless (creator) Sazama Sharpless Productions, Applebox Entertainment, Synthesis Entertainment, Clickety-Clack Productions, Legendary Television
Beetlejuice (1988)
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Tim Burton (director), Michael Bender (producer), Larry Wilson (producer), Richard Hashimoto (producer)
Blade Runner (1982)
Alcon Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Ridley Scott (director), Michael Deeley (producer)
The Black Hole (1979)
Walt Disney Productions, Gary Nelson (director), Ron Miller (producer)
Interstellar (2014)
Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, Christopher Nolan (director), Emma Thomas (producer), Christopher Nolan (producer), Lynda Obst (producer)
NASA Psyche Spacecraft Prepared for Launch to Metal-Rich Asteroid
NASA's Psyche spacecraft is shown in a clean room on June 26, 2023, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
A team working on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft transitioning it from a vertical to horizontal test configuration during prelaunch processing inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, technicians prepare to move the agency’s Psyche spacecraft—recently removed from its shipping container and inside a protective covering—to a work stand
NASA's Psyche spacecraft is nearly complete. Here it is shown in a clean room at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have begun final assembly, test, and launch operations on Psyche, with assembly of the spacecraft all but complete except for the installation of the solar arrays and the imagers. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration, testing high-data-rate laser communications, remains integrated into the spacecraft. A final suite of tests will be run on the vehicle, after which it will be fueled and then mated onto a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket just prior to launch, targeted for no earlier than October 2023.
Destination: Only the 16th asteroid to be discovered, Psyche was found in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, who named it for the goddess of the soul in ancient Greek mythology. It has a mean diameter of approximately 220 kilometers (140 mi) and contains about one percent of the mass of the asteroid belt.
What gives asteroid Psyche great scientific interest is that it is likely rich in metal. It may consist largely of metal from the core of a planetesimal, one of the building blocks of the Sun’s planetary system. At Psyche scientists will explore, for the first time ever, a world made not of rock or ice, but rich in metal.
Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies is providing the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. Psyche was selected in 2017 as the 14th mission under NASA’s Discovery Program.
For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:
This mega-mosaic, high-resolution image shows the Tulip Nebula (just right of center) in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 6,000 light years. The bright star at the lower right of the nebula is SAO69116 at magnitude 3.89—visible with the naked-eye from a relatively dark site. There are two open clusters of stars to the left of the nebula: the Northern Cross NGC6871, and the Red Necked Emu NGC6883. Towards the top of the image, note a very red star. This is an s-type star having a B-V (color) index of 2.57 which means that it appears very red.
Astrophotographer Greg Parker: "I created this deep-sky high-resolution mosaic using DSS2 (Deep-Sky Survey 2) data downloaded using the SkyView Query Form. Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools Actions Set were used to create an RGB image from the red and blue channel FITS DSS2 data, and then Photoshop was used to further process the data. The program RegiStar was then used to stitch all the individual frames together to give the final 15-frame wide-field mosaic."
NASA's X-59 Supersonic Research Aircraft Makes a Critical California Move
NASA's X-59 supersonic research aircraft parked inside the hangar with a head-on view
NASA’s X-59 moves to Run Stall 5. Technicians check out the X-59 supersonic aircraft as it sits near the runway at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California.
NASA’s X-59 research aircraft has moved from its construction site to the flight line—or the space between the hangar and the runway—at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, on June 16, 2023. This milestone kicks off a series of ground tests to ensure the X-59 is safe and ready to fly.
The X-59 is designed to fly faster than Mach 1 while reducing the resulting sonic boom to a thump for people on the ground. NASA will evaluate this technology during flight tests as part of the agency’s Quesst mission, which helps enable commercial supersonic air travel over land.
For more information about NASA's quiet supersonic mission, visit:
The Webb Telescope Finds Distant Black Hole in Early Universe | This Week @NASA
What the James Webb Space Telescope found way back in the early Universe, another hot trip around the Sun for our Parker Solar Probe, and we are back in touch with our helicopter on Mars . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Video Producer, Editor, & Narrator: Andre Valentine
This is a two-pane mosaic of the Cygnus region of the Milky Way that features the popular Crescent Nebula (top center) along with the much lesser-known Soap Bubble Nebula (bottom center). Both are emission type nebulae. The Crescent Nebula measures some 25 light years across and is approximately 5,000 light years distant. The very dim and only recently discovered Soap Bubble Nebula (first identified in 2008) lies between 4,000 and 5,000 light years away.
The Crescent Nebula was formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant. The result is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.
China's New Underground Neutrino Observatory Completes Key Structure | CGTN
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is being built 700 meters below Jiangmen City in south China's Guangdong Province, has completed the installation of the equatorial layer of its core—a huge plexiglass spherical structure. According to He Wei, leader of the stainless steel main structure project and on-site installation manager, it is the largest single plexiglass structure in the world. China's next-generation neutrino detector is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and put into use in 2024.
With a wall thickness of 120 mm and a weight of more than 600 tons, the plexiglass spherical structure's production and construction are unprecedented. Upon completion, it will be filled with 20,000 tons of liquid scintillator, the target substance for capturing neutrinos. Liquid scintillation counting is the measurement of radioactive activity. It uses the technique of mixing an active material with a liquid scintillator and counting the resultant photon emissions. It will be used at JUNO for the detection of cosmic neutrinos.
Neutrinos are fundamental particles that far outnumber all the atoms in the universe, but rarely interact with other matter. Astrophysicists are particularly interested in high-energy neutrinos, which have energies up to 1,000 times greater than those produced by the most powerful particle colliders on Earth. They think the most extreme events in the universe, like violent galactic outbursts, accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. Those particles then collide with light or other particles to generate high-energy neutrinos. The first confirmed high-energy neutrino source, announced in 2018, was a type of active galaxy called a blazar.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)
File Footage: Aug. 19, 2022
Story Credit: CCTV/China Global Television Network (CGTN)/NASA
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