NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew Visits Kennedy Space Center & Orion Spacecraft

NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew Visits Kennedy Space Center & Orion Spacecraft

Artemis II Moon crew astronauts visit NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 7, 2023. In front, from left, are NASA astronauts Reid Weisman and Christina Koch, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hanson, and NASA astronaut Victor Glover in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Behind them are Exploration Ground Systems team members.

Artemis II astronauts pose for a photograph with members of the Artemis launch team inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II mission specialist Christina Hammock Koch inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II pilot Victor Glover inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II mission commander Reid Wiseman inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of Canada inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

While wearing clean room suits, the Artemis II crew members (from left: NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen) check out their Orion crew module inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

The Artemis II Moon crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida during Aug. 7-8, 2023.

The approximately 10-day Artemis II Mission will be NASA’s first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon to verify today’s capabilities for humans to explore deep space and pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface, including landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.

The Artemis II crew module is now undergoing acoustic testing ahead of integration with the European Service Module (ESM). 

Artemis II will launch no earlier than December 2024.

Learn more about the Artemis II Mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Dates: Aug. 7-8, 2023

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #NASAKennedy #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education

Typhoon Lan Nears Japan | NASA Aqua Earth Satellite

Typhoon Lan Nears Japan | NASA Aqua Earth Satellite

Less than a week after Typhoon Khanun charted a zigzagging course toward southern Japan, the country was preparing for yet another major storm—Typhoon Lan. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired the image at 1:30 p.m. local time (04:30 Universal Time) on August 14, 2023. Around that time, winds were sustained at about 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour—the equivalent of a category-2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

Forecasts called for Typhoon Lan to reach Japan on August 15, 2023, and then move toward the cities of Osaka and Kyoto. In addition to heavy rain and high winds, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned of floods, storm surge, and landslides. Airlines and railways cancelled services ahead of the storm.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

Story Credit: Kathryn Hansen

Image Date: Aug. 14, 2023

#NASA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #Typhoon #TyphoonLan #Storm #Weather #Japan #日本 #PacificOcean #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #GreenhouseGases #GHG #NASAAqua #MODIS #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Perseid Meteor Shower over Sequoia National Forest in California

Perseid Meteor Shower over Sequoia National Forest in California

Astrophotographer Preston Dyches: "Had this lovely view of the northeastern sky from a spot in the southernmost part of Sequoia National Forest, near Piute Peak. With nearly 50 meteors in this composite view, I feel like it was a good haul. :-)"

"Lighting here is all ambient. Foreground is three 30-second exposures, stacked to reduce noise. Sky is a stack of ten 15-second exposures. Meteors were composited as individual layers and rotated into their correct position with respect to the Perseids radiant, which is just left of center."

Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest.

Sequoia National Forest - National Park Service:

https://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm

Image Credit: Preston Dyches

Image Date: August 12, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Meteors #ThePerseids #Perseids #Meteor #Fireballs #Perseus #Constellation #Astrophotography #PrestonDyches #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #SolarSystem #SequoiaNationalForest #NPS #California #UnitedStates #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education

Expedition 69 Space Station Crew Answers Oklahoma Student Questions | NASA

Expedition 69 Space Station Crew Answers Oklahoma Student Questions | NASA

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Steve Bowen of NASA answered questions about life and work on the orbiting laboratory during an in-flight event Aug. 14, 2023, with students attending Kingfisher High School in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. 

Kingfisher High School

https://kingfisher.k12.ok.us/schools/kingfisher-high-school/

Rubio and Bowen are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies. 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. 

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

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.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 20 minutes

Release Date: Aug. 14, 2023

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Oklahoma #Students #Kingfisher #KingfisherHighSchool #ISS #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #UAE #Cosmonauts #Cosmonaut #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435 (infrared view) | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435 (infrared view) | NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

The Merope Nebula (also known as Tempel's Nebula and NGC 1435) is a diffuse reflection nebula in the Pleiades star cluster, surrounding the 4th magnitude star Merope. The nebula surrounds the star Merope (23 Tauri), after which it gets its name. Merope is a blue-white subgiant 630 times more luminous than our Sun. It is also more than four times larger and has a mass about 4.5 times solar. It lies at an approximate distance of 360 light years (110 parsecs) from Earth. It was discovered on October 19, 1859 by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel. 

The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was launched by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 25, 2003. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically-cooled science instruments, Spitzer was the largest infrared space telescope before the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in December 2021. The telescope was named in honor of American astronomer, Lyman Spitzer, who had promoted the concept of space telescopes in the 1940s. The retired Spitzer was the first observatory to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared Universe. Webb, by virtue of its significantly larger primary mirror and improved detectors, allows us to see the infrared sky with improved clarity (better spatial resolution), enabling even more discoveries.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/J. Stauffer (SSC-Caltech)

Image Date: April 12, 2007

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC1435 #MeropeNebula #TemplesNebula #ReflectionNebula #Star #Merope #23Tauri #Pleiades #StarCluster #Taurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #NASASpitzer #SpitzerSpaceTelescope #Infrared #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435

The Merope Nebula: NGC 1435

The Merope Nebula (also known as Tempel's Nebula and NGC 1435) is a diffuse reflection nebula in the Pleiades star cluster, surrounding the 4th magnitude star Merope. The nebula surrounds the star Merope (23 Tauri), after which it gets its name. Merope is a blue-white subgiant 630 times more luminous than our Sun. It is also more than four times larger and has a mass about 4.5 times solar. It lies at an approximate distance of 360 light years (110 parsecs) from Earth. It was discovered on October 19, 1859 by the German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel. 

Image Technical Details

Optics: Phillips 24-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STL11000

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

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC1435 #MeropeNebula #TemplesNebula #ReflectionNebula #Star #Merope #23Tauri #Taurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

How to Safely View an Annular Eclipse | NASA Goddard

How to Safely View an Annular Eclipse | NASA Goddard

On Oct. 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America. Visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America, millions of people in the Western Hemisphere can experience this eclipse.

Eclipses are a wonderful experience, but it is important to carefully follow safety procedures. During an annular eclipse, there is no period of totality when the Moon completely blocks the Sun. Therefore, it is never safe to look directly at the annular eclipse without proper eye protection specially designed for solar viewing. Do not use standard binoculars or telescopes to watch a solar eclipse without safe solar filters attached to the front of the device. Regular sunglasses are NOT safe for attempting to look directly at the Sun. 

To learn more about eclipses and eclipse safety visit: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/2023/oct-14-annular/safety/

View and download the eclipse map here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5073

Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Producer: Beth Anthony (KBRwyle)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Aug. 14, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #Sun #SolarEclipses #SolarEclipse #AnnularEclipse #EclipseMap #Canada #Mexico #SouthAmerica #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Artemis III Crewed Moon Mission Rocket Upper Stage Rolls to Space Coast

NASA's Artemis III Crewed Moon Mission Rocket Upper Stage Rolls to Space Coast

A key piece of hardware for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the agency’s Artemis III Moon Mission is on its way to the Space Coast in Florida. The journey for the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) began in Decatur, Alabama, where crews with United Launch Alliance first boxed it for shipment July 29, 2023, then loaded it onto ULA’s “RocketShip” barge July 31.

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. 

The barge will ferry the SLS flight hardware down the Mississippi River, into the Gulf of Mexico, then around the Florida peninsula to Cape Canaveral. Once it arrives at ULA’s facility in Florida near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the ICPS will undergo final testing and checkouts ahead of the crewed Artemis III mission. The ICPS is the in-space propulsion stage of the SLS rocket, giving NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Artemis astronauts inside it the big push they need to journey all the way to the Moon for a lunar landing. The ICPS for Artemis III is the last of its kind as missions beginning with Artemis IV will use the SLS B1B configuration that includes the more powerful Exploration Upper Stage.

Watch this video to learn more about the preparations for its waterway journey. 

Learn more about the SLS rocket: nasa.gov/sls

Follow updates on the Artemis blog: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 55 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 9, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #CrewedMission #Astronauts #NASASLS #SpaceLaunchSystem #ICPS #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceEngineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #ULA #MSFC #Alabama #Barge #SpaceCoast #Florida #UnitedStates #Europe #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Gentle Giant: Spiral Galaxy NGC 289 in Sculptor | Victor Blanco Telescope

A Gentle Giant: Spiral Galaxy NGC 289 in Sculptor | Victor Blanco Telescope

In the constellation Sculptor lies this large extended spiral galaxy called NGC 289. Despite being around 75 million light-years away, the light of NGC 289 is stunningly captured here by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. The galaxy’s bluish arms reach through the expanse of space over 100,000 light-years, larger than the size of our own Milky Way. It is classified as a Type II Seyfert galaxy with its ripe collections of star formation and bright core, but it is also relatively faint. 

Studies have found that the galaxy contains large amounts of dark matter, which is a common feature of all galaxies with a low surface brightness. Dark matter is yet to be directly observed, which led the US Department of Energy to build the DECam in order to study the nature of dark matter. Since the conclusion of its survey, DECam has been available to other scientists for use, such as for this image of NGC 289.

Credit: Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)/NOIRLab/U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/National Science Foundation (NSF)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Release Date: Aug. 9, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC289 #Type IISeyfert #DarkMatter #SpiralGalaxy #Sculptor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CerroTololoObservatory #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #DOE #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #SouthAmerica #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

A Clear View of Galaxy Cluster 2MASX J05101744-4519179 in Pictor | Hubble

A Clear View of Galaxy Cluster 2MASX J05101744-4519179 in Pictor | Hubble

    

The truly massive galaxy cluster 2MASX J05101744-4519179 basks in the center of this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. This distant galaxy cluster is a cosmic leviathan that is highly luminous at X-ray wavelengths. Observing galaxy clusters like 2MASX J05101744-4519179 can advance our understanding of the evolution and interactions of dark and luminous matter in galaxy clusters, and also reveals powerful gravitational ‘telescopes’ that magnify distant objects through gravitational lensing. The cluster 2MASX J05101744-4519179 is located in the constellation Pictor, around 2.6 billion light-years from Earth.

Image Description: A cluster of elliptical galaxies, visible as a crowd of oval shapes, each glowing around a bright core. The elliptical galaxy that appears largest by far is in the center, with the other largest galaxies close to it. They are surrounded by a variety of more distant stars and galaxies, in many shapes and sizes but all much smaller, on a dark background.

Two of Hubble’s instruments joined forces to create this image: Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Both are third-generation instruments that offer superb image quality and high sensitivity to astronomers studying a range of scientific questions. Both instruments provide images of wide areas of the night sky, but view slightly different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. WFC3 spans the spectrum from the ultraviolet through to visible light and the near-infrared. In contrast to the wide panchromatic coverage of WFC3, ACS was optimized for visible-light observations.

Getting the best from Hubble requires instruments to use built-in corrective optics to account for the effects of the primary mirror's aberration. During the construction of Hubble, a faulty instrument caused the primary mirror to be very precisely ground to slightly the wrong shape by only 0.0002 mm. A corrective instrument called COSTAR was developed to account for this tiny discrepancy, and later instruments like WFC3 and ACS were built with their own corrective optics.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, H. Ebeling

Release Date: Aug. 14, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #GalaxyCluster #EllipticalGalaxies #2MASXJ051017444519179 #GravitationalLensing #Pictor #Constellation #Science #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Esto es lo que necesitas saber sobre moléculas orgánicas | NASA en Español

Esto es lo que necesitas saber sobre moléculas orgánicas | NASA en Español

Las moléculas orgánicas, los componentes básicos de la vida, se encuentran en todo el universo, incluyendo planetas, lunas y asteroides de nuestro propio sistema solar.

Pero, ¿qué significa realmente “orgánico”? Esto es lo que necesitas saber sobre las moléculas orgánicas:

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: NASA en Español/NASA 360

Duration: 1 minute, 43 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Astrobiology #Life #LaVida #MoléculasOrgánicas #nasaenespañol #estoesloquenecesitassaber #SolarSystem #Planets #Moons #Asteroids #Comets  #SpaceExploration #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Perseid Meteor Fireball near Crestone, Colorado

Perseid Meteor Fireball near Crestone, Colorado

The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long "wakes" of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that are brighter and can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material.

Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Lewinski

Image Date: August 13, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Meteors #ThePerseids #Perseids #Meteor #Fireballs #Perseus #Constellation #Astrophotography #MikeLewinski #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #SolarSystem #Crestone #Colorado #UnitedStates #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education

New Expedition 68 Crew Photos: Summer 2023 | International Space Station

New Expedition 68 Crew Photos: Summer 2023 | International Space Station

Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev (Station Commander) and NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg play chess

Astronauts Sultan Alneyadi (United Arab Emirates) and Woody Hoburg

Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi (United Arab Emirates) harvests leaves from thale cress plants

Astronaut Frank Rubio services stem cell samples

NASA astronaut & flight engineer Stephen Bowen wears personal protective equipment (PPE) shortly after entering the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter.

NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen installs NanoRacks CubeSat deployer

Astronaut Frank Rubio performing a surface avatar session

NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg poses for a portrait in front of Cygnus hatch

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

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.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: June 28-Aug. 8, 2023

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #WoodyHoburg #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #Cosmonauts #Cosmonaut #SergeyProkopyev #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

Reflection Nebula vdB 4 in Cassiopeia | Schulman Telescope

Reflection Nebula vdB 4 in Cassiopeia | Schulman Telescope

Blue reflection nebula van den Bergh (vdB) 4, also cataloged as LBN 604, is located in the constellation Cassiopeia. vdB 4 is associated with the very young open star cluster NGC 225 which is often called the Sailboat Cluster.

Distance: ~2,000 light years

Image Details

Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STX16803

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

Release Date: Oct. 1, 2012

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #vdB4 #ReflectionNebula #StarCluster #NGC225 #Cassiopeia #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Lake Balkhash, one of the largest in Central Asia, spans roughly 6,500 square miles (17,000 square kilometers) in southeastern Kazakhstan. The western part of the lake holds fresh water whereas the eastern side of the basin is salty. The International Space Station soared 261 miles above as this image was taken.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

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.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Aug. 3, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Planet #Earth #CentralAsia #Kazakhstan #Қазақстан #LakeBalkhash #Балқашкөлі #ISS #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #WoodyHoburg #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

How to Become a Star: Dark Nebula Barnard 68—"The Ink Spot" | ESO

How to Become a Star: Dark Nebula Barnard 68—"The Ink Spot" | ESO

How do stars like our Sun come into being? This photograph shows an unusual sky field in the Milky Way band. It is centered on one of the classical, dark globules, known as Barnard 68 (B68) after the American astronomer, Edward E. Barnard (1857 - 1923), who included it in a list of such objects, published in 1919. It appears as a compact, opaque and rather sharply defined object against a rich, background star field. Even on this image that registers many faint stars in the area, not a single foreground star is observed. This is a clear sign that this globule must be relatively nearby. Interstellar clouds consist of gas and dust, including many molecules, some of which contain carbon atoms (i.e. organic). For a long time considered to be "holes in the sky", molecular clouds are now known to be among the coolest objects in the Universe (the temperature is approx. 10 K, or -263 °C). Moreover, and most importantly, they are nurseries of stars and planets. 

Distance: ~500 light years

It still remains a mystery how a dark cloud like Barnard 68 at some moment begins to contract and subsequently transforms itself into hydrogen-burning stars. However, deep images of these clouds, such as this one obtained by FORS1 on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) ANTU, may provide important clues. This small cloud seems to be in its very earliest phase of collapse. It has a diameter of only 7 light-months (approx. 0.2 pc) and it is located at a distance of about 500 light-years (160 pc) towards the southern constellation Ophiuchus (The Serpent-holder). This three-color composite was reproduced from one blue (B), one green-yellow (V) and one near-infrared (I) exposure that were obtained with VLT ANTU and FORS1. The field measures 6.8x6.8 arcmin 2. The image consists of 2048x2048 pixels, each measuring 0.20 arcsec. North is up and East is to the left.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Image Date: March 27, 1999

Release Date: April 30, 1999

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Barnard68 #LDN57 #BokGlobule #Ophiuchus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education