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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.
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.
Emission Nebula IC 417 in Auriga | Schulman Telescope
IC 417 is an emission nebula almost 100 light-years across, located about 10,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Auriga.
Technical Details
Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope
Camera: SBIG STX16803
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
Using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched in 2004, scientists have discovered a black hole in a distant galaxy repeatedly nibbling on a Sun-like star. The object heralds a new era of Swift science made possible by a novel method for analyzing data from the satellite’s X-ray Telescope (XRT).
When a star strays too close to a monster black hole, gravitational forces create intense tides that break the star apart into a stream of gas. The leading edge swings around the black hole, and the trailing edge escapes the system. These destructive episodes are called tidal disruption events. Astronomers see them as flares of multiwavelength light created when the debris collides with a disk of material already orbiting the black hole.
Recently, astronomers have been investigating variations on this phenomena, which they call partial or repeating tidal disruptions.
During these events, every time an orbiting star passes close to a black hole, the star bulges outward and sheds material, but survives. The process repeats until the star looses too much gas and finally breaks apart. The characteristics of the individual star and black hole system determine what kind of emission scientists observe, creating a wide array of behaviors to categorize.
On June 22, 2022, XRT captured Swift J0230 for the first time. It lit up in a galaxy around 500 million light-years away in the northern constellation Triangulum. Swift’s XRT has observed nine additional outbursts from the same location roughly every few weeks.
Scientists propose that Swift J0230 is a repeating tidal disruption of a Sun-like star orbiting a black hole with over 200,000 times the Sun’s mass. They estimate the star loses around three Earth masses of material on each pass. This system provides a bridge between other types of suspected repeating disruptions and allowed scientists to model how interactions between different star types and black hole sizes affect what we observe.
Swift J0230’s discovery was possible thanks to a new, automated search of XRT observations called the Swift X-ray Transient Detector.
After the instrument observes a portion of the sky, the data is transmitted to the ground, and the program compares it to previous XRT snapshots of the same spot. If that portion of the X-ray sky has changed, scientists get an alert. In the case of Swift J0230, astronomers were able to rapidly coordinate additional observations of the region.
Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Sophia Roberts (AIMM)
Science writer: Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park)
Sierra Dream Chaser Spaceplane: CRS-2 Mission Profile | International Space Station
Learn how the world’s only commercial spaceplane flies from launch to landing for its upcoming NASA CRS-2 mission to resupply the International Space Station. With its unique design, Dream Chaser incurs a 1.5g re-entry before landing at NASA’s Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, making critical cargo accessible faster.
Glittering Globular Star Cluster Terzan 12 in Sagittarius | Hubble
Globular star cluster Terzan 12
This composite image shows the location of the globular star cluster Terzan 12 in Sagittarius as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The glittering globular cluster Terzan 12—a vast, tightly bound collection of stars—fills the frame of this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. This star-studded stellar census comes from a string of observations that aim to systematically explore globular clusters located towards the center of our galaxy, such as this one in the constellation Sagittarius. The locations of these globular clusters—deep in the Milky Way galaxy—mean that they are shrouded in gas and dust, which can block or alter the wavelengths of starlight emanating from the clusters.
Distance:15,000 light years
Image Description: The frame is completely filled with bright stars, ranging from tiny dots to large, shining stars with prominent spikes. In the lower-right the stars come together in the core of the star cluster, making the brightest and densest area of the image. The background varies from darker and warmer in color, to brighter and paler where there are more stars.
Here, astronomers were able to sidestep the effect of gas and dust by comparing the new observations made with the razor-sharp vision of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 with pre-existing images. Their observations should shed light on the relation between age and composition in the Milky Way’s innermost globular clusters.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen (Rutgers University)
Japan Launches Moon Lander & XRISM Satellite | Tanegashima Space Center
Japan launched a rocket on September 7, 2023, carrying a lunar lander and X-ray telescope to explore the origins of the universe. The HII-A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan carrying the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite. This is a joint mission between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA to study the universe. The XRISM satellite aims to pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow using an instrument called Resolve. The mission’s other instrument, developed by JAXA, is called Xtend. It will give XRISM one of the largest fields of view of any X-ray imaging satellite flown to date.
Once XRISM reaches its operating orbit 550 km above Earth’s surface, scientists and engineers will begin a ten-month phase of testing and calibrating the spacecraft’s scientific instruments and verifying the science performance of the mission. XRISM will then spend at least three years observing the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos based on proposals elaborated by scientists all over the world.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission designed to demonstrate accurate lunar landing techniques. SLIM will not take a direct route to the moon. After a lunar transfer orbit burn, it will make a lunar flyby, heading into a wide loop away from the Earth-moon system before returning to enter lunar orbit in around four months’ time. This will save on propellant.
The landed weight will be about 210 kg. The landing objective is to be within 100 meters of the target point, the ejecta blanket of Shioli crater (a crater centered at approximately 13.322 S, 25.232 E). Shioli is a small lunar impact crater that is located within the much larger Cyrillus crater on the near side of the Moon. It is a young crater with a prominent ray system.
SLIM launched on September 7, 2023, as a "ride-share" payload with the XRISM mission.
XRISM Launch in Japan: Exploring the Hidden X-ray Cosmos | NASA & JAXA
Japan successfully launched a rocket on September 7, 2023, carrying a lunar lander and X-ray telescope to explore the origins of the universe. The HII-A Launch Vehicle No. 47 lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan. The H-IIA successfully launched the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) Mission. XRISM is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA. This new satellite aims to pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow using an instrument called Resolve.
Resolve measures tiny temperature changes created when an X-ray hits its 6-by-6-pixel detector. To measure that minuscule increase and determine the X-ray’s energy, the detector needs to cool down to around minus 460 Fahrenheit (minus 270 Celsius), just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. The mission’s other instrument, developed by JAXA, is called Xtend. It will give XRISM one of the largest fields of view of any X-ray imaging satellite flown to date, observing an area about 60% larger than the average apparent size of the full Moon.
XRISM is a collaborative mission between JAXA and NASA, with participation by the European Space Agency. NASA’s contribution includes science participation from the Canadian Space Agency.
Once XRISM reaches its operating orbit 550 km above Earth’s surface, scientists and engineers will begin a ten-month phase of testing and calibrating the spacecraft’s scientific instruments and verifying the science performance of the mission. XRISM will then spend at least three years observing the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos based on proposals elaborated by scientists all over the world.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission designed to demonstrate accurate lunar landing techniques. SLIM will not take a direct route to the moon. After a lunar transfer orbit burn, it will make a lunar flyby, heading into a wide loop away from the Earth-moon system before returning to enter lunar orbit in around four months’ time. This will save on propellant.
The landed weight will be about 210 kg. The landing objective is to be within 100 meters of the target point, the ejecta blanket of Shioli crater (a crater centered at approximately 13.322 S, 25.232 E). Shioli is a small lunar impact crater that is located within the much larger Cyrillus crater on the near side of the Moon. It is a young crater with a prominent ray system.
SLIM launched on September 7, 2023, as a "ride-share" payload with the XRISM mission.
Image Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Astronauts Moghbeli & Rubio Talk to Texas Students | International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA answered pre-recorded questions about life and work on the orbiting laboratory during an in-flight event Sept. 6, 2023, with students at the South Texas Astronomical Society in Olmito, Texas. Rubio and Moghbeli are in the midst of science missions 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.
NASA Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli Official NASA Biography:
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.
September 2023 Spacecraft Views| International Space Station
SpaceX Crew-7 Dragon Endurance docked to the International Space Station
Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter docked
SpaceX Crew-6 Dragon Endeavour undocks from the International Space Station on Sept. 3, 2023 in Earth's shadow
International Space Station Configuration. Five spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragon Endurance, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter, the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship, and the Progress 84 and 85 resupply ships.
The hatch of SpaceX’s Crew-6 “Endeavour” Crew Dragon spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren (Woody) Hoburg, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia, and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, was closed on Sept. 3, 2023, prior to undocking. Crew-6 was SpaceX’s sixth operational mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked from the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module to complete a six-month science mission.
The SpaceX Crew-7 Dragon Endurance arrived at the International Space Station on August 27, 2023, with NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of Japan, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia.
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.
China's Commercial CERES-1 Rocket Succeeds in First Sea Launch
China's commercial space venture, Galactic Energy, has achieved a significant milestone by successfully conducting its first sea launch, becoming the first private Chinese space enterprise to carry out both land and sea-based launches.
The historic event saw the CERES-1S Y1 carrier rocket lifting off from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off the coast of East China's Shandong province at 5:34 p.m. Beijing Time on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, carrying Tianqi Constellation satellites 21 to 24 into an 800 km orbit, in a mission named "The Little Mermaid".
This latest effort follows four successful land-based launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's Gobi Desert earlier this year. Compared to land launches, sea launches offer the advantage of selecting launch and landing locations, thereby enhancing launch efficiency and safety, while also providing greater flexibility.
Zooming-in on Galaxy 9io9 | European Southern Observatory
This video takes us on a journey from our home in the Milky Way to a galaxy far, far away, 9io9. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, astronomers have recently detected a galaxy-wide magnetic field in 9io9, making it the furthest ever detection of a galactic magnetic field. 9io9 is so far away its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. Thus, we see it as it was when the Universe was only 2.5 billion years old.
We first see the night sky in visible light, and then switch to infrared light when we finally reach 9io9. Here, the galaxy appears as a faint reddish arc curved around a bright nearby galaxy. We then see the ALMA image of 9io9 at millimeter wavelengths, with the orientation of the magnetic field indicated by overlaid curves.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/DESI/CFHT/N. Risinger/J. Geach et al.
The Furthest Ever Galactic Magnetic Field Detected | ESO
ESOcast 267 Light: Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. Never before have we detected a galaxy’s magnetic field this far away. This video summarizes the discovery. The field is about 1,000 times weaker than the Earth’s magnetic field, but extends over more than 16,000 light-years.
To make this detection, the science team searched for light emitted by dust grains in a distant galaxy, 9io9. Galaxies are packed full of dust grains and when a magnetic field is present, the grains tend to align and the light they emit becomes polarized. This means that the light waves oscillate along a preferred direction rather than randomly. When ALMA detected and mapped a polarized signal coming from 9io9, the presence of a magnetic field in a very distant galaxy was confirmed for the first time.
Credits: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Written by: Tom Howarth and Claudia Sciarma
Footage and photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Angelos Tsaousis, B. Tafreshi (twanight.org), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. E. Geach et al., CFHT, DESI
Scientific consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova
HESS Telescopes in Namibia Explore High-Energy Sky Sources
They may look like modern mechanical dinosaurs, but they are enormous swiveling eyes that watch the sky. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) Observatory is composed of four 12-meter reflecting-mirror telescopes surrounding a larger telescope housing a 28-meter mirror. They are designed to detect strange flickers of blue light—Cherenkov radiation—emitted when charged particles move slightly faster than the speed of light in air. This light is emitted when a gamma ray from a distant source strikes a molecule in Earth's atmosphere and starts a charged-particle shower. H.E.S.S. is sensitive to some of the highest energy photons (TeV) crossing the universe.
Operating since 2003 in Namibia, Africa, H.E.S.S. has searched for dark matter and has discovered over 50 sources emitting high energy radiation including supernova remnants and the centers of galaxies that contain supermassive black holes. Pictured in June 2023, H.E.S.S. telescopes swivel and stare in time-lapse sequences shot in front of our Milky Way Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds—as the occasional Earth-orbiting satellite zips by.
H.E.S.S. is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes that investigates cosmic gamma rays in the energy range from 10s of GeV to 10s of TeV. The name H.E.S.S. is also intended to pay homage to Victor Hess, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936 for his discovery of cosmic radiation. The instrument allows scientists to explore gamma-ray sources.
H.E.S.S. is located in Namibia, near the Gamsberg mountain, an area well known for its excellent optical quality. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in Summer 2002; all four were operational in December 2003, and were officially inaugurated on September 28, 2004. A much larger fifth telescope - H.E.S.S. II - is operational since July 2012, extending the energy coverage towards lower energies and further improving sensitivity.
The H.E.S.S. observatory is operated by a collaboration of more than 260 scientists from about 40 scientific institutions and 13 different countries: Namibia and South Africa, Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Armenia, Japan, and Australia. To date, the H.E.S.S. Collaboration has published over 100 articles in high-impact scientific journals, including the top-ranked ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’ journals.
Video Credit: Jeff Dai (TWAN), H.E.S.S. Collaboration
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