Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Star V960 Mon in Monoceros: Wide-field View | ESO

Star V960 Mon in Monoceros: Wide-field View | ESO

This image shows the sky around the location of the possible planet-forming star V960 Mon. The picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

Distance: ~5,000 light-years

This image presents a dark area of the night sky, entirely speckled with glowing stars. White, blue and red tiny stars brighten the black background. Over this starry mantle, some bigger isolated red stars dominate the sky. The most spectacular ones are three aligned in a row together with a blue bright star almost at the center of the picture.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a digitized version of several photographic astronomical surveys of the night sky, produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) between 1983 and 2006.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Release Date: July 25, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #V960Mon #Exoplanets #Planets #Monoceros #Constellation #VLT #SPHERE #ALMA #SolarSystem #AtacamaDesert #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Zooming in on Possible Planet-forming V960 Mon Star | ESO

Zooming in on Possible Planet-forming V960 Mon Star | ESO

This video takes us on a journey to the V960 Mon star, some 5,000 light-years away from Earth. A spectacular new image released today by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

“This discovery is truly captivating as it marks the very first detection of clumps around a young star that have the potential to give rise to giant planets,” says Alice Zurlo, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, involved in the observations.

The work is based on a mesmerising picture obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT that features fascinating detail of the material around the star V960 Mon. This young star attracted astronomers’ attention when it suddenly increased its brightness more than twenty times in 2014. SPHERE observations taken shortly after the onset of this brightness ‘outburst’ revealed that the material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending over distances bigger than the entire Solar System.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO), N. Risinger, DSS, ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Weber et al.

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: July 25, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #V960Mon #Exoplanets #Planets #Monoceros #Constellation #VLT #SPHERE #ALMA #SolarSystem #AtacamaDesert #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Secrets of Planet Birth around Star V960 Mon | ESO

Secrets of Planet Birth around Star V960 Mon | ESO

The background of this image is dark, but in its center lurks a swirling ghostly figure, which extends towards the edge of the picture. At the very center there is a small bright region and erupting out of it there is a poorly defined, fuzzy edged cloud and blobs of material in yellow and blue, respectively. The yellow cloud extends far out in the image, making an elongated spiral shape that gets dimmer and less defined as it reaches the top and bottom of the frame. Meanwhile, the blue blobs only extend downwards from the center and to a fraction of the distance of the yellow spiral cloud. The blobs twist away from the central bright region, forming a tight U-shape lying on its right side.

A spectacular new image released today by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

“This discovery is truly captivating as it marks the very first detection of clumps around a young star that have the potential to give rise to giant planets,” says Alice Zurlo, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, involved in the observations.

The work is based on a mesmerising picture obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT that features fascinating detail of the material around the star V960 Mon. This young star is located over 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros and attracted astronomers’ attention when it suddenly increased its brightness more than twenty times in 2014. SPHERE observations taken shortly after the onset of this brightness ‘outburst’ revealed that the material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending over distances bigger than the entire Solar System.

This finding then motivated astronomers to analyse archive observations of the same system made with ALMA, in which ESO is a partner. The VLT observations probe the surface of the dusty material around the star, while ALMA can peer deeper into its structure. “With ALMA, it became apparent that the spiral arms are undergoing fragmentation, resulting in the formation of clumps with masses akin to those of planets,” says Zurlo.

Astronomers believe that giant planets form either by ‘core accretion’, when dust grains come together, or by ‘gravitational instability’, when large fragments of the material around a star contract and collapse. While researchers have previously found evidence for the first of these scenarios, support for the latter has been scant.

“No one had ever seen a real observation of gravitational instability happening at planetary scales—until now,” says Philipp Weber, a researcher at the University of Santiago, Chile, who led the study published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“Our group has been searching for signs of how planets form for over ten years, and we couldn't be more thrilled about this incredible discovery,” says team-member Sebastián Pérez from the University of Santiago, Chile.


This research is presented in a paper to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2312/eso2312a.pdf


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: July 25, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #V960Mon #Exoplanets #Planets #Monoceros #Constellation #VLT #SPHERE #ALMA #SolarSystem #AtacamaDesert #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Recientemente: La puesta en órbita de un enjambre de pequeños satélites | NASA

Recientemente: La puesta en órbita de un enjambre de pequeños satélites | NASA

Recientemente en la NASA, la versión en español de las cápsulas This Week at NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la NASA. 

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete 

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 2 minutes, 26 seconds

Original Broadcast Date: July 21, 2023

Release Date: July 24, 2023


#NASA #Space #NASAenespañol #español #Satellites #CubeSats #StarlingMission #SwarmTechnologies #SpaceCommunications #SpaceNavigation #Earth #RocketLab #ElectronRocket #CommercialSpace #NASAAmes #ARC #Science #Technology #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Monday, July 24, 2023

A Quick Pan of The Swan Nebula Region | ESO

A Quick Pan of The Swan Nebula Region | ESO

This pan video shows the region around the Swan Nebula (Messier 17). It is part of a bigger image of the area taken by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Distance: 5,500 light years


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 10 seconds

Release Date: June 14, 2017


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SwanNebula #Messier17 #M17 #EmissionNebula #HIIRegion #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #Reel #HD #Video

The Swan Nebula Star Formation Region Close-up | ESO

The Swan Nebula Star Formation Region Close-up | ESO

Astronomers using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, have made an impressive composite of the nebula Messier 17, also known as the Swan Nebula. The painting-like image shows vast clouds of gas and dust illuminated by the intense radiation from young stars.

The image shows a central region about 15 light-years across, although the entire nebula is even larger, about 40 light-years in total. Messier 17 is in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), about 6,000 light-years from Earth. It is a popular target for amateur astronomers, who can obtain good quality images using small telescopes.

These deep VLT observations were made at near-infrared wavelengths with the ISAAC instrument. The filters used were J (1.25 µm, shown in blue), H (1.6 µm, shown in green), and K (2.2 µm, shown in red). In the center of the image is a cluster of massive young stars whose intense radiation makes the surrounding hydrogen gas glow. To the lower right of the cluster is a huge cloud of molecular gas. At visible wavelengths, dust grains in the cloud obscure our view, but by observing in infrared light, the glow of the hydrogen gas behind the cloud can be seen shining faintly through. Hidden in this region, which has a dark reddish appearance, the astronomers found the opaque silhouette of a disc of gas and dust. Although it is small in this image, the disc has a diameter of about 20,000 AU, dwarfing our Solar System (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun). It is thought that this disc is rotating and feeding material onto a central protostar—an early stage in the formation of a new star.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/R. Chini

Release Date: November 1, 2010


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SwanNebula #Messier17 #M17 #EmissionNebula #HIIRegion #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Zooming in on The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO

Zooming in on The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO

This zoom video sequence takes us from a broad vista of the bright central parts of the Milky Way right into a close-up view of the bright star formation region Messier 17. The final detailed view is from the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Distance: 5,500 light years


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO), N. Risinger

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 25, 2015


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SwanNebula #Messier17 #M17 #EmissionNebula #HIIRegion #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Panning across The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO

Panning across The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO

This video gives us a close-up view of the rose-colored star forming region Messier 17. The picture was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of the sharpest images showing the entire nebula and not only reveals its full size, but also retains fine detail throughout the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 25, 2015


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SwanNebula #Messier17 #M17 #EmissionNebula #HIIRegion #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO

The Swan Nebula: Messier 17 | ESO


This image of the rose-colored star forming region Messier 17, also known as the Swan Nebula, was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of the sharpest images showing the entire nebula and not only reveals its full size but also retains fine detail throughout the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars.

Distance: 5,500 light years


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: Sept. 23, 2015


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SwanNebula #Messier17 #M17 #EmissionNebula #HIIRegion #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Zooming to Water in Terrestrial Planet-forming Zone of Star PDS 70's Disk

Zooming to Water in Terrestrial Planet-forming Zone of Star PDS 70's Disk

This animation explains the detection of water in the zone near the star PDS 70, where rocky planets usually form. First we see the starry sky and approach the position of PDS 70. Then the video shows two different observations of the planet-forming disk with the positions of the two gas giant planets. Finally, we see a section of the spectrum with the water signatures determined by the MIRI instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope.

The animation is part of a Max Planck Institute for Astronomy press release:

https://www.mpia.de/news/science/2023-11-pds70-water

The results were published in an article in the journal Nature:

G. Perotti et al, "Water detection in the terrestrial planet-forming zone of the PDS 70 disk", Nature (2023).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06317-9


Credit: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA)/Thomas Müller (HdA/MPIA) / G. Perotti et al. (The MINDS collaboration)

Duration: 42 seconds

Release Date: July 24, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #PDS70StarSystem #Star #V1032Centauri #H2O #Water #Exoplanets #Centaurus #Constellation #Universe #JamesWebb #JWST #WebbTelescope #MIRI #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #MPIA #Germany #Deutschland #Animation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Water in PDS 70 Star System's Protoplanetary Disc | James Webb Space Telescope

Water in PDS 70 Star System's Protoplanetary Disc | James Webb Space Telescope

This spectrum of the protoplanetary disk of PDS 70, obtained with Webb’s MIRI instrument, displays a number of emission lines from water vapor.
This artist concept portrays the star PDS 70 and its inner protoplanetary disc. 

New measurements from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) have indicated the presence of water vapor in the inner disc of the system PDS 70, located 370 light-years away. This is the first detection of water in the terrestrial region of a disc already known to host two or more protoplanets.

New insights may come from the system PDS 70, which hosts an inner disc and an outer disc that are separated by a gap of eight billion kilometers, within which are two known gas-giant planets. MIRI has detected water vapor in the system’s inner disc at distances of less than 160 million kilometres from the star—the region where rocky, terrestrial planets may be forming (the Earth orbits 150 million kilometers from our Sun).

PDS 70 is a K-type star, cooler than our Sun, and is estimated to be 5.4 million years old. This is relatively old amongst stars with planet-forming discs, which made the discovery of water vapor surprising.

Astronomers have not yet detected any planets forming within the inner disc of PDS 70. However, they do see the raw materials for building rocky worlds, in the form of silicates. The detection of water vapor implies that if rocky planets are forming there, they will have water available to them from the beginning.

"We’ve seen water in other discs, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. We couldn’t make this type of measurement before Webb,” said lead author Giulia Perotti of a new science paper at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany.
“This discovery is extremely exciting, as it probes the region where rocky planets similar to Earth typically form,” added MPIA director Thomas Henning, a co-author of the paper. Henning is co-principal investigator of Webb’s MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument), which made the detection, and the principal investigator of the MINDS (MIRI Mid-Infrared Disk Survey) program that took the data.

Science paper: 

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

Release Date: July 24, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #PDS70StarSystem #Star #V1032Centauri #H2O #Water #Exoplanets #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JamesWebb #JWST #WebbTelescope #MIRI #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Illustration #STEM #Education

Chemicals Glow as Meteor Disintegrates in Earth's Atmosphere

Chemicals Glow as Meteor Disintegrates in Earth's Atmosphere

Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured here is a fireball, a disintegrating meteor that was not only one of the brightest the photographer has ever seen, but colorful. The meteor was captured by chance in mid-July 2023 with a camera set up on Hochkar Mountain in Austria to photograph the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. This radiant grit, likely cast off by a comet or asteroid long ago, had the misfortune to enter Earth's atmosphere. Colors in meteors usually originate from ionized chemical elements released as the meteor disintegrates, with blue-green typically originating from magnesium, calcium radiating violet, and nickel glowing green. Red, however, typically originates from energized nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This bright meteoric fireball was gone in a flash—less than a second—but it left a wind-blown ionization trail that remained visible for almost a minute.


Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Kleinburger

Michael's Instagram Page: 

https://www.instagram.com/kleinburger.photography/

Release Date: July 24, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Meteors #Meteor #Fireball #Astrophotography #MichaelKleinburger #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #SolarSystem #HochkarMountain #Austria #Europe #STEM #Education #APoD

Galaxy UGC 12295: A Galactic Island of Tranquillity | Hubble

Galaxy UGC 12295: A Galactic Island of Tranquillity | Hubble

The tranquil spiral galaxy UGC 12295 basks leisurely in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies around 192 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces, and is almost face-on when viewed from Earth, displaying a bright central bar and tightly wound spiral arms.

Image Description: A broad spiral galaxy seen directly face-on. It has two bright spiral arms that extend from a bar, which shines from the very center. Additional fainter arms branch off from these, studded with bright blue patches of star formation. Small, distant galaxies are dotted around it, on a dark background.

Despite appearing as an island of tranquillity in this image, UGC 12295 played host to a catastrophically violent explosion—a supernova— that was first detected in 2015. This supernova prompted two different teams of astronomers to propose Hubble observations of UGC 12295 that would sift through the wreckage of this vast stellar explosion.

Supernovae are the explosive deaths of massive stars, and are responsible for forging many of the elements found here on Earth. The first team of astronomers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to examine the detritus left behind by the supernova in order to better understand the evolution of matter in our Universe. 

The second team of astronomers also used WFC3 to explore the aftermath of UGC 12295’s supernova, but their investigation focused on returning to the sites of some of the best-studied nearby supernovae. Hubble’s keen vision can reveal lingering traces of these energetic events, shedding light on the nature of the systems that host supernovae.


Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko, J. Lyman

Release Date: July 24, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #UGC12295 #Spiral #Supernova #Pisces #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Media Briefing: NASA's Climate Work in Wake of Record High Global Temperatures

Media Briefing: NASA's Climate Work in Wake of Record High Global Temperatures


[Audio Event Replay] NASA leadership, including climate experts, shed light on recent extreme weather events, and discuss how NASA research and data is enabling climate solutions.

Note: NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser, Dr. Kate Calvin, begins speaking at the 7 minute, 30 second mark.

From wildfires raging across North America, flooding in the Northeast, heatwaves across the Southwest, and a record hot June in 2023, millions of Americans are experiencing the effects of extreme weather, and NASA is tracking it.

Participants include:

- NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

- Kate Calvin, NASA chief scientist and senior climate adviser

- Karen St. Germain, director, NASA’s Earth Science Division

- Gavin Schmidt, director, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies

- Tom Wagner, associate director for Earth Action

- Huy Tran, aeronautics director, NASA’s Ames Research Center

- Carlos Del Castillo, chief, Ocean Ecology Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center


To learn more about NASA’s climate work, visit:

https://climate.nasa.gov


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 50 minutes

Release Date: July 20, 2023


#NASA #Earth #Science #Planet #EarthScience #Atmosphere #Meteorology #Weather #Climate #ClimateChange #CarbonDioxide #CO2 #Methane #GreenHouseGases #GlobalWarming #GlobalHeating #Environment #HumanHealth #ChiefScientist #KateCalvin #GSFC #NASAAmes #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

Sculpting Landscapes in Orion and De Mairan's Nebulae | Hubble

Sculpting Landscapes in Orion and De Mairan's Nebulae | Hubble

This glowing region of star formation reveals arcs and bubbles formed when stellar winds—streams of charged particles ejected by the Trapezium star cluster—collide with material in the Orion and De Mairan's Nebulae.

Distance: 1,400 light years


Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

Release Date: Jan. 11, 2006


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Nebulae #Nebula #Messier42 #OrionNebula #Messier43 #DeMairansNebula #Trapezium #OrionTrapeziumCluster #HIIRegion #StarFormation #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Nebula Sh2-239 in Taurus | Schulman Telescope

Nebula Sh2-239 in Taurus | Schulman Telescope

The cosmic brush of star formation composed this alluring mix of dust and dark nebulae. Cataloged as Sh2-239 and LDN 1551, the region lies near the southern end of the Taurus molecular cloud complex some 450 light-years distant. Stretching for nearly 3 light-years, the canvas abounds with signs of embedded young stellar objects driving dynamic outflows into the surrounding medium. Included near the center of the frame, a compact, tell-tale red jet of shocked hydrogen gas is near the position of infrared source IRS5, known to be a system of protostars surrounded by dust disks. Just below it are the broader, brighter wings of HH 102, one of the region's many Herbig-Haro objects, nebulosities associated with newly born stars. Estimates indicate that the star forming LDN 1551 region contains a total amount of material equivalent to about 50 times the mass of the Sun.

Image Details:

Optics: 32-inch Schulman Telescope (RC Optical Systems)

Camera: SBIG STX  16803 CCD Camera 

The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.


Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Image Date: Nov. 2011


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Nebulae #Nebula #LDN1551 #Sh2239 #EmissionNebula #IRS5 #HH102 #Taurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education