Monday, September 18, 2023

New Planetary-mass Object Found in Quadruple System | ESO

New Planetary-mass Object Found in Quadruple System | ESO


The image has a yellow/orange tone, with three small circular features. Each of the features has ripples surrounding it, like stones dropped in a pond. At the center is the largest, brightest spot. This is the central star (A), and just above it is a smaller spot, the companion object B. In the bottom left quadrant of the image are the second star (C), and its newly discovered companion (Cb). Two closeup insets show Cb in more detail.

This image shows the unique stellar system HIP 81208, as captured by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Astronomers thought HIP 81208 was a system consisting of a massive central star (A, the central bright spot), a brown dwarf (B) circling around it, and a low-mass star (C) orbiting further away. However, a new study has revealed a never-before-seen hidden gem: an object (Cb), approximately 15 times more massive than Jupiter, orbiting around the smaller of the two stars (C). Distance: ~480 light years

The discovery of Cb means that HIP 81208 is a uniquely intriguing system with two stars and two smaller bodies orbiting each one––in other words, a hierarchical quadruple system. The mass of the newly found Cb object places it right at the border between planets and brown dwarfs––failed stars that are not massive and hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium.

The hidden giant Cb was spotted when a team of astronomers, led by A. Chomez of the Paris Observatory, re-analysed archival data from the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument installed on the VLT. While many other instruments use indirect methods to hunt for far-flung worlds, SPHERE uses a technique known as direct imaging: what we see here is an actual image of the system. Indeed, this is the first hierarchical quadruple system to be found using direct imaging, which will prove invaluable to understanding how complex systems like this one form and evolve.


Credit: ESO/A. Chomez et al.

Release Date: Sept. 18, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #BinaryStarSystem #Star #HIP81208 #ExoplanetCb #Exoplanets #CircumstellarMaterial #ProtoplanetaryDisk #BrownDwarf #Scorpius #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #SPHERE #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Arp 107 in Leo Minor: A Galactic Collision in Progress | Hubble

Arp 107 in Leo Minor: A Galactic Collision in Progress | Hubble


This Hubble image—taken using NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)—shows Arp 107, a celestial object that comprises a pair of galaxies in the midst of a collision. The larger galaxy (in the left of this image) is an extremely energetic galaxy type known as a Seyfert galaxy, which house active galactic nuclei at their cores. Seyfert galaxies are notable because despite the immense brightness of the active core, radiation from the entire galaxy can be observed. This is evident in this image, where the spiraling whorls of the whole galaxy are readily visible. The smaller companion is connected to the larger by a tenuous-seeming ‘bridge’, composed of dust and gas. The colliding galactic duo lie about 465 million light-years from Earth. 

Image Description: A pair of merging galaxies. The galaxy on the left has a large, single spiral arm curving out from the core and around to below it, with very visible glowing dust and gas. The right galaxy has a bright core but only a bit of very faint material. A broad curtain of gas connects the two galaxies’ cores and hangs beneath them. A few small stars and galaxies are scattered around the black background.

Arp 107 is part of a catalogue of 338 galaxies known as the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, which was compiled in 1966 by Halton Arp. It was observed by Hubble as part of an observing program that specifically sought to fill in an observational ‘gap’, by taking limited observations of members of the Arp catalogue. Part of the intention of the observing program was to provide the public with images of these spectacular and not-easily-defined galaxies, and as such, it has provided a rich source for Hubble Pictures of the Week. In fact, several recent releases, including this one and this one, have made use of observations from the same observing program. 


Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton 

Release Date: Sept.18, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #Arp107 #GalacticCollission #LeoMinor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Expedition 70: Preparing for Liftoff in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Preparing for Liftoff in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara waves during suit checks.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, center, and Nikolai Chub, depart building 254 for their Soyuz launch.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, center, and Nikolai Chub, meet with official prior to departing building 254 for their Soyuz launch.
Expedition 70 crew members Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara board the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft for launch.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara adjust her cap during suit checks.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara has her Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara smiles to Expedition 70 backup crewmember Tracy Dyson of NASA.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara gives a thumbs up.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) and Nikolai Chub (Николай Чуб) of Russia launched on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023. Their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station three hours later. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara and Chub. Mission commander Kononenko is on his fifth trip to the International Space Station.

The trio joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost. 

Astronaut Loral O’Hara 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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Capture Date: Sept. 15, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzRocket #BaikonurCosmodrome #Kazakhstan #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #Astronaut #LoralOHara #Expedition69 #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Expedition 70: Launch Preparations in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Launch Preparations in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara waits to have her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara has her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked.

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Russia), center, and Nikolai Chub (Russia) don their Russian Sokol suits as they prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station.
Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonaut Nikolai Chub (Russia) dons his Russian Sokol suit.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Nikolai Chub (Russia) has his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked.
Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (Russia) dons his Russian Sokol suit. Mission commander Kononenko is a spaceflight veteran.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (Russia) has his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) and Nikolai Chub (Николай Чуб) of Russia launched on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023. Their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station three hours later. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara and Chub. Mission commander Kononenko is on his fifth trip to the International Space Station.

The trio joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost. 

Astronaut Loral O’Hara 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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Capture Date: Sept. 15, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzRocket #BaikonurCosmodrome #Kazakhstan #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #Astronaut #LoralOHara #Expedition69 #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Expedition 70: Launch Day in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Launch Day in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70 Cosmonaut Hotel Departure: NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Russia), center, and Nikolai Chub (Russia) depart the Cosmonaut Hotel to suit-up for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.




Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara dons her Russian Sokol suit as she and fellow crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, right, and Expedition 70 backup crewmember Tracy Dyson of NASA share a moment after O’hara donned her Russian Sokol suit in preparation for launch to the International Space Station.
Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara waves farewell to family and friends.
Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, right, and Oleg Kononenko, center, along with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, visit with families shortly before departing for their Soyuz launch.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) and Nikolai Chub (Николай Чуб) of Russia launched on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023. Their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station three hours later.

The trio joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara.

Astronaut Loral O’Hara 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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Capture Date: Sept. 15, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzRocket #BaikonurCosmodrome #Kazakhstan #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #Astronaut #LoralOHara #Expedition69 #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

New Planet Mars Images: Sept. 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

New Planet Mars Images: Sept. 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

Mars 2020 - sol 755
Mars 2020 - sol 715
Mars 2020 - sol 909
Mars 2020 - sol 909
MSL - sol 3946
MSL - sol 3946
MSL - sol 3948
Mars 2020 - sol 910


Celebrating 11+ Years on Mars (2012-2023)
Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Rover Name: Curiosity
Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 
Launch: Nov. 6, 2011
Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 2+ Years on Mars
Mission Name: Mars 2020
Rover Name: Perseverance
Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.
Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity)
Launch: July 30, 2020    
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Processing: Kevin M. Gill
Image Release Dates: Sept. 7-15, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #IngenuityHelicopter #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Fireball over Baja California, Mexico

Fireball over Baja California, Mexico

Astrophotographer Pavel: "This is a bolide I captured one evening on a trip to Baja California Norte, Mexico, earlier this summer. It's seen here reflecting over Hanson Lagoon. Bolides are fragments of a rock, comet, or asteroid that burn up or explode in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. These objects are still referred to as meteors, though they're orders of magnitude bigger and brighter.  Also, note the electrical storm in the background at lower right." 

Photo details: Nikon D750 camera; Irix15mm; f2.4.

Baja California is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean; on the east by Sonora, the U.S. state of Arizona, and the Gulf of California; on the north by the U.S. state of California; and on the south by Baja California Sur. [Wikipedia]

Image Credit & Copyright: Pavel Vorobiev

Pavel’s Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/_vorobservatorio_/

Location: Laguna Hanson, Mexico Coordinates: 32.0446, -115.9069

Image Date: July 23, 2023

Release Date: September 14, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Bolides #Bolide #Meteors #Meteor #Fireball #Astrophotography #PavelVorobiev #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #Mexico #BajaCalifornia #HansonLagoon #SolarSystem #STEM #Education #EPoD

NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Receives 3rd International Space Station Assignment

NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Receives 3rd International Space Station Assignment

NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official Portrait 2023
Expedition 23 NASA Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson of the U.S. in her Russian Sokol suit

Expedition 24 Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson shakes hands with former NASA Astronaut and Chief of the Astronaut Office Peggy Whitson shortly after landing in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft.
NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson pauses for a portrait while donning her spacesuit and before going under water in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center


NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official Portrait 2010

NASA has assigned astronaut Tracy C. Dyson to her second long-duration mission to the International Space Station as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 70/71 crew. Dyson will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft in March 2024 and spend approximately six months aboard the International Space Station. She will travel to the station with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, both of whom will spend approximately 12 days aboard the orbital complex.

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson Official NASA Biography:

During her expedition, Dyson will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit people on Earth. Among some of the hundreds of experiments ongoing during her mission, Dyson will continue to study how fire spreads and behaves in space with the Combustion Integrated Rack, as well as contribute to the long-running Crew Earth Observations study by photographing Earth to better understand how our planet is changing over time.

After completing her expedition, Dyson will return to Earth in fall 2024 with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. Kononenko and Chub launched Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. Kononenko and Chub will remain aboard the orbital laboratory for about one year. O’Hara, who will spend six months aboard the space station, will return with Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.

NASA selected Dyson as an astronaut in June 1998, and during her previous two flights, logged more than 188 days in space. Dyson first launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on STS-118 in 2007, serving as a mission specialist. During the mission, the crew successfully added the starboard-5 truss segment to the station’s “backbone” and a new gyroscope. In 2010, she served as flight engineer for Expedition 23/24 and performed three successful contingency spacewalks, logging 22 hours and 49 minutes outside the station as she helped remove and replace a failed pump module for one of two external ammonia circulation loops that keep internal and external equipment cool.

Dyson has worked inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as spacecraft communicator, known as capcom, for both space shuttle and space station operations. She also served as the lead capcom for various space station missions, as well as the development of the capcom cadre for Boeing’s Starliner Mission Operations Team. Other technical assignments included leading the development of the spacewalk qualification training flow, which she helped to complete for the 2017 class of NASA astronauts.

Born in Arcadia, California, Dyson received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from California State University, Fullerton, in 1993, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Davis, in 1997.

For more than 22 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. As a global endeavor, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 3,000 research and educational investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.

Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Release Date: Sept. 15, 2023


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronaut #TracyDyson #TracyCaldwellDyson #Chemist #Scientist #Researcher #Leader #SpaceflightVeteran #SoyuzRocket #BaikonurCosmodrome #Kazakhstan #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #Expedition70 #Expedition71 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #InternationaCooperation #STEM #Education

Fireball & Aurora over Iceland's Arctic Henge

Fireball & Aurora over Iceland's Arctic Henge


On September 12, 2023, from a location just south of the Arctic Circle, stones of Iceland's modern Arctic Henge point skyward in this startling scene. Entertaining an intrepid group of aurora hunters during a geomagnetic storm, alluring Northern Lights dance across the darkened sky when a stunning fireball meteor explodes. Awestruck, the camera-equipped skygazers captured a still image of the boreal bolide, at its peakabout as bright as a full Moon. Though quickly fading from view, the fireball left a lingering visible trail or persistent train. The wraith-like trail was seen for minutes wafting in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 60 to 90 kilometers along with the auroral glow.

Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe.

Learn more about the Arctic Henge: 

Image Credit & Copyright: Jennifer Franklin

Image Date: Sept. 12, 2023

Release Date: Sept. 16, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #Meteors #Meteor #Fireball #Astrophotography #JenniferFranklin #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #SolarSystem #ArcticHenge #Iceland #Ísland #STEM #Education #APoD

A New Long-Duration Spaceflight Record | This Week @NASA

A New Long-Duration Spaceflight Record This Week @NASA

A new long-duration spaceflight record, our SpaceX Crew-6 mission is back home, and our asteroid sample return mission is on target . . . 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

Duration: 2 minutes, 35 seconds

Release Date: September 16, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #OSIRIS-RExMission #ISS #Science #SoyuzMS24Spacecraft #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #Astronauts #FrankRubio #LoralOHara #SpaceXCrew6 #Expedition69 #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Expedition 70: Liftoff of Russian Soyuz Rocket | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Liftoff of Russian Soyuz Rocket | International Space Station







NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia successfully launched to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft atop a Soyuz rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023. 

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara has begun a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub will both spend a year on the orbital outpost. This was the first spaceflight for O'Hara.

Astronaut Loral O’Hara 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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls
Capture Date: Sept. 15, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SoyuzRocket #BaikonurCosmodrome #Kazakhstan #Қазақстан #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Cosmonauts #OlegKononenko #NikolaiChub #Astronaut #LoralOHara #Expedition69 #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education