NASA's Space to Ground: October Spacewalks | Week of Oct. 6, 2023

NASA's Space to Ground: October Spacewalks | Week of Oct. 6, 2023

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 70 crew continues preparing for a pair of spacewalks for science and maintenance outside the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark are getting ready for their first spacewalk set to begin at 10 a.m. EST on Oct. 12, 2023. The duo will use specialized tools to collect microbe samples from specific areas outside of the station.

Another spacewalk is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2023, with O’Hara and fellow NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. They will remove and replace communications and solar array hardware.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)

Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov

JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)

NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 5, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Earth #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #EVA #Spacewalks #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbelli #AndreasMogensen #Denmark #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #日本 #ESA #Europe #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition70 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Starry Galaxy NGC 1087 in Cetus | Hubble

Starry Galaxy NGC 1087 in Cetus | Hubble

New and old stars alike twinkle in the dusty spiral arms of NGC 1087. Located 80 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, NGC 1087 is a barred spiral galaxy. It has a diameter of 87,000 light-years and a very small nucleus, or center. The galaxy’s dust lanes, seen in dark red, help define its spiral structure. NGC 1087’s stellar bar—the elongated, bright-white structure at the galaxy’s center—is also shorter compared to other barred galaxies. Typically, in barred galaxies, the gravity of the center pulls in large quantities of gas, causing a burst of star formation followed by a slow decay. Uniquely, NGC 1087 shows signs of new star formation, making it of special interest to scientists.

British astronomer William Herschel discovered NGC 1087 in 1785. The galaxy sits just south of the celestial equator, making it visible from both hemispheres. In 1995, astronomers discovered a Type II supernova within this galaxy. Type II supernovae occur when a massive star uses all of its nuclear fuel and its iron core collapses, then explodes. Named 1995V, it is the only supernova ever seen in this galaxy.

In this new ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the dark red streaks are cold molecular gas, the raw material from which stars form. The spots of bright pink signal areas where new stars are forming, characterized by the presence of ionized hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The bluer regions hold hot, young stars formed earlier in the lifetime of this galaxy. Hubble observed NGC 1087 to study the connection between young stars and cold gas, and especially to determine what happens to gaseous regions after stars are formed within them.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, R. Chandar (University of Toledo), and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Release Date: October 5, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1087 #BarredSpiralGalaxy #Supernova1995V #Cepheus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #Optical #Infrared #Ultraviolet #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

What If We Bring Back Life from Mars?

What If We Bring Back Life from Mars?

NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) Mission is a decade long project to bring back rocks and dust samples from Mars to Earth. The mission itself will be the most complicated robotic space mission ever undertaken, and bringing the samples back to Earth is only part of the challenge. Once on Earth, the samples will need to be treated as if they contain life-threatening pathogens. The samples will be stored in a maximum containment lab being built near the landing site in the Utah desert.

In a new report for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Valerie Brown writes about the challenges of the mission and how it fits into NASA’s history of space exploration and sample collection. So for our latest video, we decided to animate the journey from Mars to Earth to help illustrate the challenge and danger ahead. 

The Article "Black Swans from Mars": https://thebulletin.org/2023/10/black-swans-from-mars/ 

Read about all NASA's carefully selected Mars samples: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-rock-samples

Learn more about NASA's Mars Sample Return campaign: https://mars.nasa.gov/msr 

Video Credit: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Release Date: Oct. 5, 2023

Duration: 4 minutes, 30 seconds

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #MarsSampleReturn #MSR #JezeroCrater #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #JPL #UnitedStates #Europe #MoonToMars #TheBulletin #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Espacio a Tierra | El viaje récord de Rubio: 29 de septiembre de 2023

Espacio a Tierra | El viaje récord de Rubio: 29 de septiembre de 2023

FriendsofNASA.org: Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional. 

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

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

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes, 27 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 5, 2023

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #SoyuzMS23Spacecraft #SoyuzLanding #Astronaut #FrankRubio #Cosmonauts #SergeyProkopyev #DmitiriPetelin #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #Kazakhstan #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Expedition 70: Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara tries on her spacesuit.

Astronauts Andreas Mogensen and Loral O'Hara try on their spacesuits aboard the International Space Station's Quest airlock in preparation for an upcoming spacewalk.

Andreas Mogensen assists NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli as she tries on her spacesuit and test the suits' components aboard the International Space Station's Quest airlock in preparation for an upcoming spacewalk.

Astronauts assist Jasmin Moghbeli as she tries on her spacesuit. (From left) Astronauts Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency and Satoshi Furukawa from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency assist astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli.

Astronaut Loral O'Hara tries on her spacesuit.

European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark tries on his spacesuit.

From left, astronauts Andreas Mogensen, Loral O’Hara, and Jasmin Moghbeli are pictured in their spacesuits training for spacewalks on Earth.

The Expedition 70 crew continues preparing for a pair of spacewalks for science and maintenance outside the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark are getting ready for their first spacewalk set to begin at 10 a.m. EST on Oct. 12, 2023. The duo will use specialized tools to collect microbe samples from specific areas outside of the station.

Another spacewalk is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2023, with O’Hara and fellow NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. They will remove and replace communications and solar array hardware.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)

Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov

JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)

NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)

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: Oct. 3-Oct. 4, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Earth #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #EVA #Spacewalks #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbelli #Denmark #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #日本 #ESA #Europe #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition70 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education

Reflection Nebula NGC 1999: The Cosmic Keyhole | Schulman Telescope

Reflection Nebula NGC 1999: The Cosmic Keyhole | Schulman Telescope

NGC 1999 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion around 1,350 light-years from Earth. It is located near the Orion Nebula, the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. NGC 1999 itself is a relic of recent star formation—it is composed of detritus left over from the formation of a newborn star. The most notable aspect of NGC 1999’s appearance, however, is the conspicuous hole in its center, which resembles an inky-black keyhole of cosmic proportions.

Just like fog curling around a street lamp, reflection nebulae like NGC 1999 only shine because of the light from an embedded source. In the case of NGC 1999, this source is the newborn star V380 Orionis, visible at the center of this image. 

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

Release Date: Jan. 1, 2011

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC1999 #ReflectionNebula #Star #V380Orionis #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Harvest Moon in Focus | International Space Station

The Harvest Moon in Focus | International Space Station

September's full Moon, the Harvest Moon, is photographed from the International Space Station, perfectly placed in between exterior station hardware.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)

Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov

JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)

NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)

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 (JSC)

Image Date: Sept. 30, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Earth #Moon #HarvestMoon #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #JAXA #Japan #日本 #ESA #Europe #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition70 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education

Recientemente: Nuestra primera misión para traer muestras de un asteroide ha llegado a la Tierra

Recientemente: Nuestra primera misión para traer muestras de un asteroide ha llegado a la Tierra

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

Release Date: Oct. 4, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #NASAenespañol #español #ArtemisII #ISS #Astronaut #FrankRubio #OSIRISRExMission #OSIRISRExSpacecraft #Asteroids #AstreroidBennu #SampleReturn #SpaceTechnology #JSC #GSFC #UArizona #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6951 in Cepheus | Hubble

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6951 in Cepheus | Hubble

Bright blue spiral arms twist around the bright-white center of this starry galaxy. This new Hubble Space Telescope image features NGC 6951, an intermediate spiral galaxy 78 million light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. Discovered independently by French astronomer Jerome Coggia in 1877 and American astronomer Lewis Swift in 1878, NGC 6951 intrigues scientists with its stellar history. The galaxy had its highest rates of star formation about 800 million years ago, then sat quietly for 300 million years before beginning to birth stars again. The average age of a star cluster, or gravitationally-bound group of stars, in this galaxy is 200 to 300 million years old, though are stars as old as one billion years. Turbulent regions of gas, shown in dark red, surround the bright blue pinpricks that are star clusters.

Astronomers often classify NGC 6951 as a Type II Seyfert galaxy, a type of active galaxy that emits large amounts of infrared radiation and has slow-moving gaseous matter near its center. Astronomers classify NGC 6951 as a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) galaxy, which is similar to a Type II Seyfert galaxy but with a cooler nucleus that emits weakly ionized or neutral atoms like oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. The whole galaxy is about 75,000 light-years across, and since it is close to the northern celestial pole, it is visible from the northern hemisphere.

At the center of NGC 6951 lies a supermassive black hole surrounded by a ring of stars, gas, and dust about 3,700 light-years across. This “circumnuclear ring” is between 1 and 1.5 billion years old and has been forming stars for most of that time. Scientists hypothesize that interstellar gas flows through the dense, starry bar of the galaxy to the circumnuclear ring, which supplies new material for star formation. Up to 40 percent of the mass in the ring comes from relatively new stars that are less than 100 million years old. Spiral lanes of dust, shown in dark orange, connect the center of the galaxy to its outer regions, contributing more material for future star formation.

Stars in NGC 6951 have also experienced terrific stellar explosions known as supernovae; astronomers have counted as many as six supernovae in this galaxy in the past 25 years. Scientists continue to study NGC 6951 to better understand the environments that produce supernovae. Studying the emissions from supernovae helps astronomers understand the progenitor star, its age, luminosity, and position.

Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Filippenko (University of California - Berkeley), R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz), C. Kilpatrick (Northwestern University), and D. Sand (University of Arizona); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Release Date: Oct. 4, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC6951 #SpiralGalaxy #SeyfertGalaxy #TypeII #Cepheus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #Optical #Infrared #Ultraviolet #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Expedition 70: New Crew Photos | International Space Station

Expedition 70: New Crew Photos | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark are pictured next to their spacesuits during maintenance and preparation for a round of upcoming spacewalks in October.

Astronaut Loral O'Hara sets up an exercise cycle for a workout session

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli prepares external hardware for retraction inside Kibo laboratory

Astronaut Loral O'Hara works with the Microgravity Science Glovebox

Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli trains for an upcoming spacewalk with a VR headset European Space Agency

European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen works on a spacesuit with his nation's flag patch (Denmark)

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa packs hardware inside the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM

Furukawa is pictured while completing maintenance on the Multi Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM)

The Expedition 70 crew continues preparing for a pair of spacewalks for science and maintenance outside the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark are getting ready for their first spacewalk set to begin at 10 a.m. EST on Oct. 12, 2023. The duo will use specialized tools to collect microbe samples from specific areas outside of the station.

Another spacewalk is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2023, with O’Hara and fellow NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli.

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)

Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov

JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)

NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)

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: Sept. 21-Oct. 2, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Earth #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #JAXA #Japan #日本 #ESA #Europe #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition70 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education

Star Cluster NGC 7380 in The Wizard Nebula | Schulman Telescope

Star Cluster NGC 7380 in The Wizard Nebula | Schulman Telescope

NGC 7380 is a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. The surrounding emission nebulosity is known colloquially as the Wizard Nebula, which spans an angle of 25′. German-born astronomer William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog, and labelled it H VIII.77.

Image 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

Caption Acknowledgements: UA/Wikipedia

Release Date: N/A

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC7380 #EmissionNebula #Cepheus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

A Vibrant Virgo Cluster Galaxy: NGC 4654 | Hubble

A Vibrant Virgo Cluster Galaxy: NGC 4654 | Hubble

A bright spiral galaxy fills the frame from the lower-right to the upper-left. The galaxy is tilted toward us and holds bright blue-white stars and reddish-brown dust lanes that showcase its spiral nature.

It is easy to get swept up in the swirling starry arms of this intermediate spiral galaxy, NGC 4654, in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy has a bright center and is labeled “intermediate” because it has characteristics of both unbarred and barred spirals. NGC 4654 is just north of the celestial equator, making it visible from the northern hemisphere and most of the southern hemisphere. The galaxy is around 55 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 4654 is one of many Virgo Cluster galaxies that have an asymmetric distribution of stars and of neutral hydrogen gas. Astronomers reason that NGC 4654 may be experiencing a process called “ram pressure stripping,” where the gravitational pull of the Virgo galaxy cluster puts pressure on NGC 4654 as it moves through a superheated plasma made largely of hydrogen called the “intracluster medium.” This pressure feels like a gust of wind—think of a biker feeling wind even on a still day—that strips NGC 4654 of its gas. This process produced a long, thin tail of hydrogen gas on the galaxy’s southeastern side. Most galaxies that experienced ram pressure stripping hold very little cold gas, halting the galaxy’s ability to form new stars, since stars generate from dense gas. However, NGC 4654 has star formation rates consistent with other galaxies of its size.

NGC 4654 also had an interaction with the companion galaxy NGC 4639 about 500 million years ago. The gravity of NGC 4639 stripped NGC 4654’s gas along its edge, limiting star formation in that region and causing the asymmetrical distribution of the galaxy’s stars.

Scientists study galaxies like NGC 4654 to examine the connection between young stars and the cold gas from which they form. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this image in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light.

Credit: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, ESA, and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Release Date: Oct. 2, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #VirgoCluster #NGC4654 #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #Optical #Infrared #Ultraviolet #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Hourglass Nebula (MyCn18) in Musca | Hubble

The Hourglass Nebula (MyCn18) in Musca | Hubble

Do you see the hourglass shape—or does it see you?

These are images of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 8,000 light-years away. The image was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

The true shape of MyCn18 is an hourglass with an intricate pattern of 'etchings' in its walls. This picture has been composed from three separate images taken in the light of ionized nitrogen (represented by red), hydrogen (green), and doubly-ionized oxygen (blue). With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a Sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected—its core becoming a cooling, fading white dwarf.

The results are of great interest because they shed new light on the poorly understood ejection of stellar matter which accompanies the slow death of Sun-like stars. In previous ground-based images, MyCn18 appears to be a pair of large outer rings with a smaller central one, but the fine details cannot be seen.

Image 1 Credit: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA/ESA

Image 2 Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing & Copyright: Harshwardhan Pathak

Pathak's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/mr.cosmic.wanderer/

Image 1 Release Date: Jan. 16, 1996

Image 2 Release Date: Oct. 3, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #WhiteDwarf #Nebulae #HourglassNebula #PlanetaryNebula #MyCn18 #Musca #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #Optical #Infrared #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

New Mars Images: October 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

New Mars Images: October 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

Mars 2020 - sol 929

Mars 2020 - sol 929

Mars 2020 - sol 929

Mars 2020 - sol 931

Mars 2020 - sol 930

Mars 2020 - sol 929

MSL - Sol 3966
    

Support FriendsofNASA.org 

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: Oct. 1-3, 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

Rare Radio Galaxy NGC 612 in Sculptor | Hubble

Rare Radio Galaxy NGC 612 in Sculptor | Hubble

A striking orange and blue streak fills this new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s visible and infrared capabilities captured this edge-on view of lenticular galaxy NGC 612. It is about 400 million light-years from Earth and has a mass of around 1.1 trillion times that of our Sun.

Lenticular galaxies have a central bulge and disk much like spiral galaxies, but they lack the characteristic arms. They typically have older star populations and little ongoing star formation. 

In NGC 612, dust and cool hydrogen gas make up the majority of the galactic disc, the plane of matter we see in orange and dark red. This galaxy appears in the Sculptor constellation and is easily visible from Earth’s southern hemisphere.

NGC 612 is an active galaxy, which means that its center appears more than 100 times brighter than the combined light of its stars. It is also a Seyfert galaxy, the most common type of active galaxy. Seyfert galaxies emit large amounts of infrared radiation despite looking normal in visible light. NGC 612 is a Type II Seyfert, which means matter near the center of the galaxy moves rather calmly around the nucleus. The stars in this galaxy are unusually young, with ages around 40 to 100 million years.

NGC 612 is also an extremely rare example of a non-elliptical radio galaxy, a type of galaxy that shows significant radio emissions – in this case, an association with radio source PKS 0131-36. Astronomers have only discovered five such radio-emitting lenticular galaxies in the universe. One theory attributes NGC 612’s unusual radio emissions to a past interaction with a companion spiral galaxy. Another theory focuses on the galaxy’s bright and dominant bulge, which is similar to those seen in elliptical radio galaxies. By imaging this galaxy, astronomers hope to uncover more about what causes galaxies to emit radio waves.

British astronomer John Herschel discovered NGC 612 in 1837. 

Image Credit: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, European Space Agency, A. Barth (University of California - Irvine), and B. Boizelle (Brigham Young University)

Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Release Date: Oct. 3, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC612 #LenticularGalaxy #RadioGalaxy #Sculptor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #Optical #Infrared #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Never-Before-Seen Way to Annihilate a Star | NOIRLab

Never-Before-Seen Way to Annihilate a Star | NOIRLab

Cosmoview Episode 71: This artist's impression illustrates how astronomers studying a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) with the Gemini South telescope, operated by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, may have detected a never-before-seen way to destroy a star. Unlike most GRBs, caused by exploding massive stars or the chance mergers of neutron stars, astronomers have concluded that this GRB came instead from the collision of stars or stellar remnants in the jam-packed environment surrounding a supermassive black hole at the core of an ancient galaxy.

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, M. Garlick, M. Zamani, K. O Chul, ESO/L. Calçada, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab, N. Bartmann

Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 26, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #GRB #Stars #NeutronStars #StellarExplosions #StellarRemnants #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #GeminiSouthTelescope #GeminiObservatory #Chile #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video