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Celebrating the NASA Worm Logo | This Week @NASA | Week of Nov. 10, 2023
Celebrating the NASA worm, NASA telescopes spot a record-breaking black hole, and the first science images from a new space observatory . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
NASA's Space to Ground: Night Launch | Week of Nov. 10, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft—carrying about 6,500 pounds of critical science, hardware, and crew supplies—is on its way to the International Space Station following a successful launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 8:28 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, on SpaceX’s 29th resupply services mission for NASA to the orbiting laboratory.
The mission marks the ninth flight on the Commercial Resupply Services-2 SpaceX contract and the second flight of this Dragon, which previously flew on NASA’s SpaceX 26th resupply services mission.
Dragon now is safely in orbit, and its solar arrays have deployed. A series of thruster firings will help Dragon reach the space station at approximately 5:20 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. Upon its arrival, it will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, with NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara monitoring operations.
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:
NASA's SpaceX CRS-29 Falcon 9 Launch | International Space Station
Falcon 9’s first stage landing
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, on the company’s 29th commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 8:28 p.m. EST. Dragon will deliver 6,500 pounds of scientific research, technology demonstrations, crew supplies, and hardware to the space station to support its Expedition 70 crew, including NASA’s Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) and Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE).
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage (B1081) landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, having previously supported the Crew-7 mission.
The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
NASA's SpaceX CRS-29 Falcon 9 Launch | International Space Station
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched NASA's CRS-29 Dragon cargo spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Nov. 9, 2023, at 8:28pm EST. The CRS-29 Dragon cargo spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock to the International Space Station on Nov. 11, 2023, at approximately 05:20am EST. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage (B1081) landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, having previously supported the Crew-7 mission. CRS-29 is the second flight for this Dragon spacecraft, which previously flew CRS-26 to the International Space Station.
NASA Science: SpaceX's 29th Cargo Resupply Mission | International Space Station
The 29th SpaceX commercial resupply services (CRS) mission for NASA carries scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies of enhanced optical communications and measurement of atmospheric waves. The uncrewed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than 8:28 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
NASA SpaceX CRS-29 Falcon 9 & Dragon Pre-Launch | Kennedy Space Center
In preparation for SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station for NASA, the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft atop, was raised to a vertical position at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. The mission will carry scientific research, technology demonstrations, crew supplies, and hardware to the space station to support its Expedition 70 crew, including NASA’s Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) and Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE).
Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 8:28 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
NASA's "Espacio A Tierra" | Caminata espacial de noviembre: 3 de noviembre 2023
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.
"Mothra" Star in Galaxy Cluster MACS0416 | Webb & Hubble Space Telescopes
This image of galaxy cluster MACS0416 highlights one particular gravitationally lensed background galaxy that existed about 3 billion years after the big bang. That galaxy contains a transient, or object that varies in observed brightness over time, that the science team nicknamed “Mothra”.
Mothra is a star that is magnified by a factor of at least 4,000 times. The team believes that Mothra is magnified not only by the gravity of galaxy cluster MACS0416, but also by an object known as a “milli-lens” that likely weighs about as much as a globular star cluster.
Image Description: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle, stretching from left to right, is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. At center left, a particularly prominent example stretches vertically about three times the length of a nearby galaxy. It is outlined by a white box, and a lightly shaded wedge leads to an enlarged view at the bottom right. The linear feature is reddish and curves gently. It is studded with about a half dozen bright clumps. One such spot near the middle of the feature is labelled “Mothra".
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Diego (Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Spain), J. D’Silva (U. Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), J. Summers & R. Windhorst (ASU), and H. Yan (U. Missouri).
Pan of Galaxy Cluster MACS0416 | Webb & Hubble Space Telescopes
This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. To make the image, in general the shortest wavelengths of light were color-coded blue, the longest wavelengths red, and intermediate wavelengths green. The resulting wavelength coverage, from 0.4 to 5 microns, reveals a vivid landscape of galaxies that could be described as one of the most colorful views of the universe ever created.
MACS0416 is a galaxy cluster located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, meaning that the light from it that we see now left the cluster shortly after the formation of our Solar System. This cluster magnifies the light from more distant background galaxies through gravitational lensing. As a result, the research team has been able to identify magnified supernovae and even very highly magnified individual stars.
Those colors give clues to galaxy distances: the bluest galaxies are relatively nearby and often show intense star formation, as best detected by Hubble, while the redder galaxies tend to be more distant, or else contain copious amounts of dust, as best detected by Webb. The image reveals a wealth of details that it is only possible to capture by combining the power of both space telescopes.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Diego (Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Spain), J. D’Silva (U. Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), J. Summers & R. Windhorst (ASU), and H. Yan (U. Missouri), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Galaxy Cluster MACS0416 | Webb & Hubble Space Telescopes
This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. To make the image, in general the shortest wavelengths of light were color-coded blue, the longest wavelengths red, and intermediate wavelengths green. The resulting wavelength coverage, from 0.4 to 5 microns, reveals a vivid landscape of galaxies that could be described as one of the most colorful views of the universe ever created.
Image Description: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish spiral and elliptical galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the center of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly colored, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated.
MACS0416 is a galaxy cluster located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, meaning that the light from it that we see now left the cluster shortly after the formation of our Solar System. This cluster magnifies the light from more distant background galaxies through gravitational lensing. As a result, the research team has been able to identify magnified supernovae and even very highly magnified individual stars.
Those colors give clues to galaxy distances: the bluest galaxies are relatively nearby and often show intense star formation, as best detected by Hubble, while the redder galaxies tend to be more distant, or else contain copious amounts of dust, as best detected by Webb. The image reveals a wealth of details that it is only possible to capture by combining the power of both space telescopes.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Diego (Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Spain), J. D’Silva (U. Western Australia), A. Koekemoer (STScI), J. Summers & R. Windhorst (ASU), and H. Yan (U. Missouri)
The Hamburger Galaxy: NGC 3628 in Leo | Víctor Blanco Telescope
NGC 3628, sometimes nicknamed the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah's Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Extending to the left of NGC 3628 for around 300,000 light-years is a ‘tidal tail’—an elongated region of stars that arises as a result of gravitational interaction with another galaxy. Embedded within this tidal tail is the ultra-compact dwarf galaxy known as NGC 3628-UCD1.
NGC 3628 was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. Along with M65 and M66, NGC 3628 forms the Leo Triplet, a small group of galaxies. Notice the broad and obscuring band of dust located along the outer edge of its spiral arms, effectively transecting the galaxy to the view from Earth.
This image was captured by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Dark Energy Camera mounted on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab.
Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab), & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
Panning across Spiral Galaxy IC 342| ESA Euclid Space Telescope
One of the first galaxies that the European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope observed is nicknamed the ‘Hidden Galaxy’. This galaxy, also known as IC 342 or Caldwell 5, is difficult to observe because it lies behind the busy disc of our Milky Way, and so dust, gas and stars obscure our view. Euclid could take this beautiful and sharp image thanks to its incredible sensitivity and superb optics. Most important here is that Euclid used its near-infrared instrument to peer through the dust and measure the light from the many cool and low-mass stars that dominate the galaxy's mass.
IC 342 is located around 11 million light-years from Earth, very nearby our own galaxy (in astronomical distances). It is as large as the full Moon on the sky. And as a spiral galaxy, it is considered a look-alike of the Milky Way. “It is difficult to study our own galaxy as we are within it and can only see it edge on. So, by studying galaxies like IC 342, we can learn a lot about galaxies like our own,” adds Leslie.
Image Description: A big spiral galaxy is visible face-on in white/pink colors at the center of this square astronomical image. The galaxy covers almost the entire image and appears whiter at its center where more stars are located. Its spiral arms stretch out across the image and appear fainter at the edges. The entire image is speckled with stars ranging in color from blue to white to yellow/red, across a black background of space. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. A few of the stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.
Image Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA
Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Spiral Galaxy IC 342 in Camelopardalis | ESA Euclid Space Telescope
One of the first galaxies that the European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope observed is nicknamed the ‘Hidden Galaxy’. This galaxy, also known as IC 342 or Caldwell 5, is difficult to observe because it lies behind the busy disc of our Milky Way, and so dust, gas and stars obscure our view. Euclid could take this beautiful and sharp image thanks to its incredible sensitivity and superb optics. Most important here is that Euclid used its near-infrared instrument to peer through the dust and measure the light from the many cool and low-mass stars that dominate the galaxy's mass.
IC 342 is located around 11 million light-years from Earth, very nearby our own galaxy (in astronomical distances). It is as large as the full Moon on the sky. And as a spiral galaxy, it is considered a look-alike of the Milky Way. “It is difficult to study our own galaxy as we are within it and can only see it edge on. So, by studying galaxies like IC 342, we can learn a lot about galaxies like our own,” adds Leslie.
Image Description: A big spiral galaxy is visible face-on in white/pink colors at the center of this square astronomical image. The galaxy covers almost the entire image and appears whiter at its center where more stars are located. Its spiral arms stretch out across the image and appear fainter at the edges. The entire image is speckled with stars ranging in color from blue to white to yellow/red, across a black background of space. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. A few of the stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.
“That’s what is so brilliant about Euclid images. In one shot, it can see the whole galaxy in all its beautiful detail,” explains Euclid Consortium scientist Leslie Hunt of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, on behalf of a broader team working on showcasing galaxies imaged by Euclid.
“This image might look normal, as if every telescope can make such an image, but that is not true. What’s so special here is that we have a wide view covering the entire galaxy, but we can also zoom in to distinguish single stars and star clusters. This makes it possible to trace the history of star formation and better understand how stars formed and evolved over the lifetime of the galaxy.”
Image Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA
Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Panning over 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.
Mars: Carbon Dioxide Snow on Sand Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This is a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) image of frozen carbon dioxide (CO₂) on Martian sand dunes. Note: This is not frozen water.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image.
“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages MRO for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Caltech, in Pasadena, manages JPL for NASA. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. The Context Camera was built by, and is operated by, Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
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