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Spiral Galaxy NGC 941 in Cetus | Hubble Space Telescope
This image features the spiral galaxy NGC 941. It lies about 55 million light-years from Earth. The data used for this image were collected by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The beautiful NGC 941 is undoubtedly the main attraction in this image; however, this hazy-looking galaxy was not the motivation for the data being collected. That distinction belongs to an astronomical event that took place in the galaxy years before: the supernova SN 2005ad. The location of this faded supernova was observed as part of a study of multiple hydrogen-rich supernovae, also known as type II supernovae, in order to better understand the environments in certain types of supernovae take place. Whilst the study was conducted by professional astronomers, SN 2005ad itself owes its discovery to a distinguished amateur astronomer named Kōichi Itagaki, who has discovered over 170 supernovae.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy, seen face-on from Earth. The spiral arms of the galaxy are bright but not well defined, merging into a swirling disc with a faint halo of dimmer gas around it. The core glows brightly in a lighter color and has a bit of faint dust crossing it. Two redder, visually smaller galaxies and a bright star are prominent around the galaxy, with more tiny objects in the background.
This might raise the question of how an amateur astronomer could spot something like a supernova event before professional astronomers—who have access to telescopes such as Hubble. The answer is in part that the detection of supernovae is a mixture of skill, facilities and luck. Most astronomical events happen over time spans that dwarf human lifetimes, but supernova explosions are extraordinarily fast, appearing very suddenly and then brightening and dimming over a period of days or weeks.
Another aspect is that professional astronomers often do not spend that much time actually observing. There is a great deal of competition for time on telescopes such as Hubble, and then data from a few hours of observations might take weeks, months, or sometimes even years to process and analyze to their full potential. Amateur astronomers can spend much more time actually observing the skies, and sometimes have extremely impressive systems of telescopes, computers and software that they can put to use.
So many supernovae are spotted by skillful amateurs, such as Itagaki, that there is actually an online system set up for reporting them (the Transient Name Server). This is a big help to professional astronomers, because with supernova events time is truly of the essence. After the discovery of SN 2005ab was reported, professional astronomers were able to follow up with spectroscopic studies and confirm it as a type II supernova, which eventually led to its location being included in this study with Hubble. Such a study would not be possible without a rich library of previous supernovae, built with the keen eyes of amateur astronomers.
Zooming in on Galactic Duo NGC 3169 & NGC 3166 | ESO
This sequence starts with a wide-field view of the prominent constellation of Leo (The Lion). As we zoom in many fainter stars become visible as well as a few of the many galaxies in this part of the sky. In the final sequence we close in on the pair of galaxies NGC 3169 and NGC 3166. This detailed view was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/A. Fujii/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Igor Chekalin
Galaxies NGC 3166 & NGC 3169 in Sextans | European Southern Observatory
This galactic grouping, found about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Sextans (The Sextant), was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1783. Modern astronomers have gauged the distance between NGC 3169 (left) and NGC 3166 (right) as a mere 50,000 light-years, a separation that is only about half the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy. In such tight quarters, gravity can start to play havoc with galactic structure. At the bottom-right of the pair, a third galaxy is portrayed, NGC 3165. The image comes from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Spiral galaxies like NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 tend to have orderly swirls of stars and dust pinwheeling about their glowing centers. Close encounters with other massive objects can jumble this classic configuration, often serving as a disfiguring prelude to the merging of galaxies into one larger galaxy. So far, the interactions of NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 have just lent a bit of character. NGC 3169’s arms, shining bright with big, young, blue stars, have been teased apart, and lots of luminous gas has been drawn out from its disc. In NGC 3166’s case, the dust lanes that also usually outline spiral arms are in disarray. Unlike its bluer counterpart, NGC 3166 is not forming many new stars.
NGC 3169 has another distinction: the faint yellow dot beaming through a veil of dark dust just to the left of and close to the galaxy’s center. This flash is the leftover of a supernova detected in 2003 and known accordingly as SN 2003cg. A supernova of this variety, classified as a Type Ia, is thought to occur when a dense, hot star called a white dwarf—a remnant of medium-sized stars like our Sun—gravitationally sucks gas away from a nearby companion star. This added fuel eventually causes the whole star to explode in a runaway fusion reaction.
Image Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Igor Chekalin
Galaxies NGC 3166 & NGC 3169 in Sextans | Schulman Telescope
This galactic grouping, found about 70 million light-years away in the constellation Sextans (The Sextant), was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel in 1783. Modern astronomers have gauged the distance between NGC 3169 (left) and NGC 3166 (right) as a mere 50,000 light-years, a separation that is only about half the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy. In such tight quarters, gravity can start to play havoc with galactic structure.
Spiral galaxies like NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 tend to have orderly swirls of stars and dust pinwheeling about their glowing centers. Close encounters with other massive objects can jumble this classic configuration, often serving as a disfiguring prelude to the merging of galaxies into one larger galaxy. So far, the interactions of NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 have just lent a bit of character. NGC 3169’s arms, shining bright with big, young, blue stars, have been teased apart, and lots of luminous gas has been drawn out from its disc. In NGC 3166’s case, the dust lanes that also usually outline spiral arms are in disarray. Unlike its bluer counterpart, NGC 3166 is not forming many new stars.
NGC 3169 has another distinction: the faint yellow dot beaming through a veil of dark dust just to the left of and close to the galaxy’s center. This flash is the leftover of a supernova detected in 2003 and known accordingly as SN 2003cg. A supernova of this variety, classified as a Type Ia, is thought to occur when a dense, hot star called a white dwarf—a remnant of medium-sized stars like our Sun—gravitationally sucks gas away from a nearby companion star. This added fuel eventually causes the whole star to explode in a runaway fusion reaction.
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: Adam Block/European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Panning over Starstruck Image of Irregular Galaxy Arp 263 | Hubble
The irregular galaxy Arp 263 lurks in the background of this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, but the view is dominated by a stellar photobomber; the bright star BD+17 2217. Arp 263—also known as NGC 3239—is a patchy, irregular galaxy studded with regions of recent star formation, and astronomers believe that its ragged appearance is due to its having formed from the merger of two galaxies. It lies around 25 million light-years away in the constellation Leo.
Image Description:An irregular galaxy that appears like a triangle-shaped patch of tiny stars. It is densest in the center and along one edge, growing faint out to the opposite corner. Several bright pink patches mark areas of star formation, and the galaxy’s brightest stars are around these. A large, bright star, with two sets of long spikes, stands between the viewer and the galaxy.
The interloping foreground star, BD+17 2217, is adorned with two sets of criss-crossing diffraction spikes. The interaction of light with Hubble’s internal structure means that concentrated bright objects such as stars are surrounded by four prominent spikes. Since this image of BD+17 2217 was created using two sets of Hubble data, the spikes from both images surround this stellar photobomber. The spikes are at different angles because Hubble was at different orientations when it collected the two datasets.
Two different Hubble investigations into Arp 263, using two of Hubble’s third-generation instruments, contributed data to this image. The first investigation was part of an effort to observe the sites of recent supernovae, such as the supernova SN 2012A that was detected just over a decade ago in Arp 263. Astronomers used Hubble’s powerful Wide Field Camera 3 to search for lingering remnants of the colossal stellar explosion. The second investigation is part of a campaign using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to image all the previously unobserved peculiar galaxies in the Arp catalogue, including Arp 263, in order to find promising subjects for further study using the James Webb Space Telescope.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, A. Filippenko, N. Bartmann
¿Hay océanos en otros mundos? Preguntamos a un científico de la NASA
¿Hay océanos en otros mundos? ¡Sí! La Tierra no es la única que tiene: sospechamos que hay mundos en nuestro propio sistema solar que tienen océanos debajo de su superficie de hielo. El científico de la NASA Lucas Paganini te cuenta más.
NASA's Moghbeli & O’Hara + Russians on Spacewalk| International Space Station
NASA Astronaut Loral O'Hara on spacewalk
NASA Astronauts Loral O'Hara & Jasmin Moghbeli on spacewalk
Astronaut Loral O'Hara on spacewalk
Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli on spacewalk
Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli on spacewalk
Roscosmos spacewalker Oleg Kononenko (Russia)
Roscosmos spacewalker Nikolai Chub (Russia)
Orbital nighttime in the station's cupola—the "window to the world"
NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara concluded their spacewalk on Nov. 1, 2023, after 6 hours and 42 minutes. They had teamed up for their first spacewalks! Moghbeli was designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), was wearing a suit with red stripes. O’Hara, designated extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), was in an unmarked suit.
Moghbeli and O’Hara were able to complete one of the spacewalk’s two major objectives, replacing one of the 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the port solar alpha rotary joint. This allows the arrays to track the Sun and generate electricity to power the station. Mission Control told the station crew that the solar array is functioning well after the bearing replacement. The spacewalkers also removed a handling bar fixture to prepare for future installation of a roll-out solar array and properly configured a cable that was previously interfering with an external camera.
Moghbeli and O’Hara are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
Expedition 70 Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko (suit with red stripes) and Nikolai Chub (suit with blue stripes), from Russia's space agency Roscosmos, are pictured during a spacewalk on Oct. 25, 2023. This was the sixth spacewalk in Kononenko’s career, and the first for Chub. It was the 268th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
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.
Stepping Out for a Spacewalk at the International Space Station | This Week @NASA
Week of Nov. 3, 2023: Stepping out for a spacewalk at the International Space Station, the first asteroid flyby for our Lucy spacecraft, and signing up for safe and peaceful space exploration . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Full Moon above a Cloudy South Indian Ocean | International Space Station
The full Moon is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 271 miles above a cloudy south Indian Ocean half-way between Australia and Antarctica.
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.
Virgin Galactic’s fifth commercial spaceflight—and sixth successful human space mission in six months—was launched from Spaceport America, New Mexico, on November 2, 2023, at 09:00 local time. VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo, transported three passengers: Dr. Alan Stern, Kellie Gerardi, Ketty Pucci-Sisti Maisonrouge; as well as Colin Bennett (Astronaut Instructor). The flight reached an apogee of 54.2m miles (~87 km).
Astronaut 020 – Dr. Alan Stern, U.S. Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President in Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Sector
Astronaut 021 – Kellie Gerardi, U.S. Payload Specialist and Bioastronautics Researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS)
Dr. Stern flew with two human-tended experiments, including a biomedical harness to collect physiological data related to human spaceflight. He also conducted practice routines and procedures in preparation for a future NASA-funded suborbital research flight.
Dr. Alan Stern, U.S. Planetary Scientist and Associate Vice President in Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Sector, said: “The success of this mission is another important step in the development of the scientific and educational use cases for commercial suborbital vehicles. The potential here is literally astronomical.”
Dr. Stern was the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto
Planet Saturn Takes a Spin | Hubble Space Telescope
Witness Saturn in motion! This timelapse animation combines 13 Hubble Space Telescope images obtained over a span of about 20 hours. Saturn’s day is just 10.5 hours long, so this video features nearly two full rotations of the planet.
The rotation is most evident by watching the bright cloudy patches near the planet’s north pole. The pole is noticeably darker than the butterscotch tones seen at lower latitudes.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC) and the OPAL Team, and J. DePasquale (STScI).
NASA's Space to Ground: Moghbeli & O'Hara Spacewalk | Week of Nov. 3, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara concluded their spacewalk on Nov. 1, 2023, after 6 hours and 42 minutes. They had teamed up for their first spacewalks!
Moghbeli and O’Hara were able to complete one of the spacewalk’s two major objectives, replacing one of the 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the port solar alpha rotary joint. This allows the arrays to track the Sun and generate electricity to power the station. Mission Control told the station crew that the solar array is functioning well after the bearing replacement. The spacewalkers also removed a handling bar fixture to prepare for future installation of a roll-out solar array and properly configured a cable that was previously interfering with an external camera.
Moghbeli and O’Hara are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
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:
China's iSpace Hyperbola-2 Rocket: Successful Vertical Takeoff & Landing Test
A Chinese commercial rocket company has successfully launched and landed a test vehicle on its path to developing a reusable rocket. iSpace’s Hyperbola-2 (SQX-2) launch vehicle performed a successful vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) test at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, China, on Nov. 2, 2023, at 06:00 UTC (14:00 local time). Hyperbola-2 is a small, reusable, two-stage liquid-propellant launch vehicle, designed by iSpace (Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Corporation Ltd.) to launch up to 1.9 tons to low-Earth orbit.
The Hyperbola-2 methane-liquid oxygen reusable verification stage rose to a height of 178 meters during its 51-second flight. It performed a powered descent and soft landing, supported by four landing legs. The 3.35-meter-diameter, 17m-long test stage is powered by a variable thrust Focus-1 engine.
The vertical takeoff, vertical landing test marks progress towards a reusable medium-lift rocket to debut in 2025. It is also the latest marker in Chinese efforts to emulate the success of SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket.
The flight verified iSpace’s variable thrust methalox propulsion, vertical landing guidance, navigation, guidance and control, and will be used to test recovery and reuse processes. The footage did not indicate a restarting of the Focus-1 engine, but the company has previously conducted ground restart hot fire tests.
The successful hop test “marks a major breakthrough in China’s commercial aerospace industry in reusable launch vehicle technology. It also signals the charge for China’s aerospace sector to catch up with the world’s most advanced levels in reusable launch vehicle technology” an iSpace statement read.
The test is part of the company’s plan to develop the Hyperbola-3 rocket with a reusable first stage. iSpace is skipping the previously-planned smaller Hyperbola-2, the company stated at the 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in July this year.
The company is targeting a first flight of the 13.4-metric-ton to low Earth orbit (LEO) Hyperbola-3 rocket in 2025. A demonstration of reuse will follow in 2026. The 69-meter-long rocket will be able to lift 8.5 tons to LEO in reusable mode. iSpace says it aims to conduct 25 Hyperbola-3 launches per year by 2030.
The Hyperbola-3B, a triple-core version of the rocket, akin to the Falcon Heavy in configuration, will be capable of carrying no less than 15 tons to LEO, according to iSpace.
iSpace made history as the first privately-funded Chinese company to reach orbit in 2019 with the solid-fueled Hyperbola-1 rocket. The company however suffered three consecutive failures with the rocket, before a successful return to flight earlier this year. Further launches of the solid rocket are expected in the coming year, despite competition from Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1 and Expace’s Kuaizhou rockets.
iSpace is not the only Chinese company working on reusable rockets. Galactic Energy recently performed a hop test with a jet engine-powered article. CAS Space, a spin-off from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has likewise conducted such tests to verify algorithms. Deep Blue Aerospace completed a successful kilometer-level rocket launch and landing test in 2022.
Another competitor, Space Pioneer, is planning to launch its Tianlong-3 rocket in the first half of 2024. The rocket will be comparable to Falcon 9 in launch capability and eventually to be made reusable. Landspace’s methalox Zhuque-2 is also expected to be converted for reusability.
China opened up its space sector to private and commercial activity in 2014. This is seen as largely in reaction to the explosion of commercial space in the U.S. The central government has since implemented policies and published guidance to support the development of commercial space.
2023 has been a notable year for China’s commercial launch companies. CAS Space, Galactic Energy, iSpace, Expace, Space Pioneer and Landspace have all reached orbit. These include first Chinese commercial liquid propellant launch successes, achieved by Space Pioneer and Landspace.
The Tiangong Space Station is expected to provide an opportunity for commercial launch vehicles to gain contracts to deliver cargo. The national Guowang LEO broadband megaconstellation is also expected to provide opportunities for commercial actors.
Video Credit: iSpace (Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Corporation Ltd.)
Tonight's Sky: November 2023 (Northern Hemisphere)
In November 2023, hunt for the fainter constellations of fall, including Pisces, Aries, and Triangulum. They will guide you to find several galaxies and a pair of white stars. Stay tuned for space-based views of M74 and the Triangulum Galaxy, which are shown in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light.
“Tonight’s Sky” is a monthly video of constellations you can observe in the night sky. The series is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute, home of science operations for the Hubble Space Telescope, in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning.
This product is based on work supported by NASA under award numbers NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
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