Sunday, December 24, 2023

Send Names to Jupiter's Moon Europa This Holiday! | NASA Europa Clipper

Send Names to Jupiter's Moon Europa This Holiday! | NASA Europa Clipper


Know a space lover in your family? Get them an out-of-this-world gift! It's not too late! Sign up to send their name to Jupiter’s icy ocean moon Europa aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. 
Give the ultimate gift: https://go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle
🚨But move fast, the deadline is Dec. 31, 2023!🚨 
Time is running out! You have less than a week left!

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft—set to launch in October 2024—is designed to seek out conditions suitable for life on an ice-covered moon of Jupiter. 

Scientists are confident that Jupiter's moon Europa harbors an internal ocean with twice the amount of water in Earth’s oceans combined. It may currently have conditions suitable for supporting life. Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys of Europa to gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, surface, and interior. Its sophisticated payload will investigate everything from the depth and salinity of the ocean to the thickness of the ice crust to the characteristics of potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space.

Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.

Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.”

More information about Europa can be found here:

europa.nasa.gov


Image Credit: NASA/Goddard

Release Date: Dec. 21, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #OceanMoon #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #EuropaClipper #EuropaClipperSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JHUAPL #MSFC #JPL #UnitedStates #SendYourName #Art #STEM #Education

Seasons Greetings from The European Southern Observatory!

Seasons Greetings from The European Southern Observatory!

    

As we close out 2023, we want to send our best wishes for the holidays and the new year to each and every one of you out there, from all of us at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

This year marked 60 years of collaboration with the Republic of Chile, 25 years of science with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and 10 years of science with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) that recently published its highest-resolution image. 

Our next project, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), reached 50% completion this year! 

Thanks for following along on our journey to explore the Universe. 

We wish you a healthy end of the year and a wonderful start to 2024!


Credit: ESO 

Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis.

Editing: Angelos Tsaousis.

Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida.

Footage and photos: ESO, Martin Kornmesser, Angelos Tsaousis, Herbert Zodet, Jose Porte, Max Nadjar, B. Häußler, Guido Vecchia, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), B. Tafreshi (twanight.org), C. Malin (christophmalin.com), S. Guisard, Meingast et al, R. Colombari, N. Risinger (skysurvey.org), Alexandre Santerne (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto) / Planetário do Porto - Centro Ciência Viva, DSS, VPHAS+ team. Ack.: CASU.

Duration: 44 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 13, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulas #Nebulae #Nebula #Galaxies #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescopes #VLT #ALMA #ELT #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Christmas Tree Cluster: NGC 2264 | NASA

The Christmas Tree Cluster: NGC 2264 | NASA


Sprightly Stars Illuminate ‘Christmas Tree Cluster’

This composite image shows the Christmas Tree Cluster—a cluster of young stars looking decidedly like a cosmic Christmas tree! The blue and white lights are young stars that give off X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Optical data from the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak shows gas in the nebula in green, corresponding to the “pine needles” of the tree, and infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey shows foreground and background stars in white. This image has been rotated clockwise by about 160 degrees from the astronomer’s standard of North pointing upward, so that it appears like the top of the tree is toward the top of the image.

NGC 2264 has young stars with ages between about one and five million years old. It is located in our Milky Way about 2,500 light-years away from Earth. The stars in NGC 2264 are both smaller and larger than the Sun, ranging from those with less than a tenth the mass of the Sun to others containing about seven solar masses. Young stars, like those in NGC 2264, are volatile and undergo strong flares in X-rays and other types of variations seen in different types of light. 

The variations observed by Chandra and other telescopes are caused by several different processes.  These can be related to activity involving magnetic fields, including flares like those undergone by the Sun—but much more powerful—and hot spots and dark regions on the surfaces of the stars that go in and out of view as the stars rotate. There can also be changes in the thickness of gas obscuring the stars, and changes in the amount of material still falling onto the stars from disks of surrounding gas.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.


Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major

Release Date: Dec. 19, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #NASAChandra #ChandraXrayObservatory #Stars #NGC2264 #StarCluster #ChristmasTreeCluster #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #Xray #NASAMarshall #MSFC #CXC #2MASS #WIYNTelescope #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Happy Holidays from The Expedition 70 Crew! | International Space Station

Happy Holidays from The Expedition 70 Crew! | International Space Station

Merry Christmas from FriendsofNASA.org! | Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa offered their thoughts and well wishes while in orbit this holiday season in a message downlinked on Dec. 18, 2023. 

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


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2023

#NASA #Space #ISS #ISS2023 #Science #Astronauts #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbeli #UnitedStates #AndreasMogensen #Denmark #Danmark #Europe #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition70 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Release with Canadarm2 | International Space Station

Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Release with Canadarm2 | International Space Station









NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara monitored the Canadarm2 robotic arm release of the Cygnus space freighter on Friday, Dec. 22, 2023. Earlier, ground engineers remotely maneuvered the Canadarm2 and detached Cygnus from the Unity module where it had been installed since Aug. 4.

Packed inside Cygnus, along with disposable cargo, is the SAFFIRE-VI experiment that will be remotely activated aboard the spacecraft to explore fire safety. The space freighter from Northrop Grumman will orbit Earth on its own until early January for a safe, but fiery demise above the south Pacific Ocean.


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: Dec. 20-22, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #Science #ISS #NorthropGrumman #CygnusSpacecraft #CRS19 #Astronaut #LoralOHara #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #JAXA #Japan #日本 #UnitedStates #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition70 #STEM #Education

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Three Galaxies and a Comet

Three Galaxies and a Comet

Distant galaxies abound in this one degree wide field of view toward the southern constellation Grus (The Crane). However, the three spiral galaxies at the lower right are quite striking. In fact, all three galaxies are grouped about 70 million light years away and sometimes known as the Grus Triplet. They share the pretty telescopic frame, recorded on Dec. 13, 2023, with the comet designated C/2020 V2 ZTF. Now outbound from the inner Solar System and swinging below the ecliptic plane in a hyperbolic orbit, the comet was about 29 light-minutes from our fair planet in this image. And though this comet ZTF was brighter when it was closest to the Sun last May and closest to Earth in September 2023, it still shines in telescopes pointed toward southern night skies, remaining almost as bright as the Grus Triplet galaxies.

Dan's website: 

https://www.astrobin.com/users/h2ologg/


Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

Image Date: Dec. 13, 2023

Release Date: Dec. 21, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #Comets #CometC2020V2ZTF #SolarSystem #Galaxies #GrusTriplet #Galaxy #Grus #Constellation #Astrophotography #DanBartlett #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander: Launch Prep | NASA CLPS

Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander: Launch Prep | NASA CLPS






Ahead of launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is encapsulated in the payload fairing, or nose cone, of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket on Nov. 21, 2023, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Launch of Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One will carry NASA and commercial payloads to the Moon in early 2024 to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface. 

Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):

https://www.astrobotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Peregrine-Launch_Info_Packet-Web-1.pdf

Learn about NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) - Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission One:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/ 


Image Credits: United Launch Alliance (ULA), NASA/Isaac Watson

Image Dates: Nov. 14-17, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ArtemisProgram #Moon #SouthPole #MonsMouton #WaterIce #Astrobotic #PeregrineLunarLander #Robotics #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #DeepSpace #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #ULA #VulcanRocket #CLPS #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Cocina Espacial | Estación Espacial Internacional

Cocina Espacial | Estación Espacial Internacional

El astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio ofrece un recorrido detallado de la galería del Nodo 1, la parte de la Estación Espacial Internacional cuya función es almacenar y preparar alimentos en microgravedad. Esta cocina es también el centro neurálgico de la estación, ya que los astronautas comparten varias comidas diarias con sus compañeros de tripulación.

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

Astronaut Frank Rubio’s Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/frank-rubio/


Crédito: NASA

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #NASAenespañol #español #CocinaEspacial #Microgravedad #Astronauts #Astronaut #FrankRubio #HumanSpaceflight #UAE #Russia #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA’s Tech Demo Streams First Video from Deep Space via Laser | JPL

NASA’s Tech Demo Streams First Video from Deep Space via Laser | JPL

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec. 11, 2023, from a record-setting 19 million miles away (31 million kilometers, or about 80 times the Earth-Moon distance). The milestone is part of a NASA technology demonstration aimed at streaming very high-bandwidth video and other data from deep space—supporting future human missions beyond Earth orbit.

“This accomplishment underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key element to meeting our future data transmission needs,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Increasing our bandwidth is essential to achieving our future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to the continued advancement of this technology and the transformation of how we communicate during future interplanetary missions.”

The demo transmitted the 15-second test video via a cutting-edge instrument called a flight laser transceiver. The video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, sent at the system’s maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps). Capable of sending and receiving near-infrared signals, the instrument beamed an encoded near-infrared laser to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, where it was downloaded. Each frame from the looping video was then sent “live” to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the video was played in real time.

This 15-second clip shows the first ultra-high-definition video sent via laser from deep space, featuring a cat named Taters chasing a laser with test graphics overlayed. 

The laser communications demo, which launched with NASA’s Psyche mission on Oct. 13, is designed to transmit data from deep space at rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by deep space missions today. As Psyche travels to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the technology demonstration will send high-data-rate signals as far out as the Red Planet’s greatest distance from Earth. In doing so, it paves the way for higher-data-rate communications capable of sending complex scientific information, high-definition imagery, and video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars.

“One of the goals is to demonstrate the ability to transmit broadband video across millions of miles. Nothing on Psyche generates video data, so we usually send packets of randomly generated test data,” said Bill Klipstein, the tech demo’s project manager at JPL. “But to make this significant event more memorable, we decided to work with designers at JPL to create a fun video, which captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission.”

Feline Frequency

Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer, with overlayed graphics. The graphics illustrate several features from the tech demo, such as Psyche’s orbital path, Palomar’s telescope dome, and technical information about the laser and its data bit rate. Tater’s heart rate, color, and breed are also on display.

“Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections,” said Ryan Rogalin, the project’s receiver electronics lead at JPL. “In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the Internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. JPL’s DesignLab did an amazing job helping us showcase this technology—everyone loves Taters.”

There is also a historical link: Beginning in 1928, a small statue of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was featured in television test broadcast transmissions. Today, cat videos and memes are some of the most popular content online.

Milestone After Milestone

This latest milestone comes after “first light” was achieved on Nov. 14. Since then, the system has demonstrated faster data downlink speeds and increased pointing accuracy during its weekly checkouts. On the night of Dec. 4, the project demonstrated downlink bit rates of 62.5 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 267 Mbps, which is comparable to broadband internet download speeds. The team was able to download a total of 1.3 terabits of data during that time. As a comparison, NASA’s Magellan mission to Venus downlinked 1.2 terabits during its entire mission from 1990 to 1994.

“When we achieved first light, we were excited, but also cautious. This is a new technology, and we are experimenting with how it works,” said Ken Andrews, project flight operations lead at JPL. “But now, with the help of our Psyche colleagues, we are getting used to working with the system and can lock onto the spacecraft and ground terminals for longer than we could previously. We are learning something new during each checkout.”

More About the Mission

The Deep Space Optical Communications demonstration is the latest in a series of optical communication demonstrations funded by the Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) program under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and supported by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program within the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.

The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. JPL is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. 

For more information about the laser communications demo, visit:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/dsoc


Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Release Date: Dec. 18, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ArtemisProgram #Mars #SolarSystem #DeepSpace #SpaceExploration #OpticalCommunications #LaserCommunications #BroadbandCommunications #Spacecraft #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Ultra-High-Definition Video Beamed from Deep Space | This Week @NASA

Ultra-High-Definition Video Beamed from Deep Space | This Week @NASA

Week of Dec. 22, 2023: Ultra-high-definition video beamed from deep space, the Artemis II astronauts train for their upcoming mission, and an Artemis landing from inside the Orion spacecraft . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Duration: 2 minutes, 49 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 23, 2023


#NASA #CSA #Space #DSOC #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #Training #JPL #JSC #UnitedStates #Canada #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, December 22, 2023

NASA Telescopes Reveal an Invisible Infrared Universe | JPL

NASA Telescopes Reveal an Invisible Infrared Universe | JPL

For 40 years, NASA has expanded our view of the universe with space telescopes that detect infrared light that is invisible to the human eye. Observing the infrared realm helps us study the origins of planets, stars, galaxies, and even the universe itself. 

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the agency’s latest infrared space telescope, adding new insights to targets first discovered and studied by infrared missions that came before it.

Infrared space telescope missions have built upon one another to reveal stars, galaxies, and all manner of cosmic objects with ever-increasing clarity. Here you will see images from the pioneering Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983, the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, and the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021 that is sending back extremely detailed images today.

For more information about Webb, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/webb

For more information about Spitzer, visit:  https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

For more information about IRAS, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/infrared-astronomical-satellite-iras


Credits: IRAS images: NASA/Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes/UK Science and Engineering Research Council/JPL-Caltech; Spitzer images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC; Webb images: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

Duration: 1 minute, 33 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JWST #JamesWebb #Spitzer #IRAS #Infrared #Galaxies #Stars #Exoplanets #Planets #SolarSystem #SpaceTelescopes #Cosmos #Universe #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #JPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Year 2023 in Review

NASA's Space to Ground: Year 2023 in Review

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Two spaceships in two days have departed the International Space Station and the Expedition 70 crew will spend Christmas and New Year’s Day orbiting Earth.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara monitored the Canadarm2 robotic arm release of the Cygnus space freighter on Friday, Dec. 22. Earlier, ground engineers remotely maneuvered the Canadarm2 and detached Cygnus from the Unity module where it had been installed since Aug. 4.

Packed inside Cygnus, along with disposable cargo, is the SAFFIRE-VI experiment that will be remotely activated aboard the spacecraft to explore fire safety. The space freighter from Northrop Grumman will orbit Earth on its own until early January for a safe, but fiery demise above the south Pacific Ocean.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft completed its cargo mission at 5:05 p.m. on Thursday when it automatically undocked from the Harmony module’s forward port. Dragon parachuted to splashdown off the coast of Florida on Dec. 22 returning station science and hardware for retrieval and analysis in laboratories on Earth.

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


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 20 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2023

#NASA #Space #ISS #ISS2023 #Science #Astronauts #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbeli #UnitedStates #AndreasMogensen #Denmark #Danmark #Europe #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition70 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Running Chicken Nebula: Labeled Version | ESO

The Running Chicken Nebula: Labeled Version | ESO


The Running Chicken Nebula has several clouds. The most prominent are labeled in this vast image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal site. The bright star labeled Lambda Centauri is actually much closer to us than the nebula itself, and can be seen with the naked eye. The clouds shown in wispy pink plumes are full of gas and dust, illuminated by the young and hot stars within them. Overall, this image spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons. One is shown to scale for reference.


Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: CASU

Release Date: Dec. 21, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Moon #Stars #Nebula #Nebula #EmissionNebula #IC2944 #IC2948 #RunningChickenNebula #Stars #LambdaCentauri #BokGlobules #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #Infographic #STEM #Education

The Running Chicken Nebula: 3D Animation | European Southern Observatory

The Running Chicken Nebula: 3D Animation | European Southern Observatory

This 3D animation of the Running Chicken Nebula imagines what it might feel like to fly close to these swirling clouds of gas and dust. This video is based on a real image from the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at European Southern Observatory’s Paranal site. However, the 3D location of the stars shown here is only indicative.


Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: CASU

Duration: 11 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 15, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #EmissionNebula #IC2944 #IC2948 #RunningChickenNebula #Stars #LambdaCentauri #BokGlobules #Centaurus #Constellation #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #3D #Animation #HD #Video

The 1.5-billion-pixel Running Chicken Nebula | ESO

The 1.5-billion-pixel Running Chicken Nebula | ESO

While many holiday traditions involve feasts of turkey, soba noodles, latkes or Pan de Pascua, this year, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is bringing you a holiday chicken. The so-called Running Chicken Nebula, home to young stars in the making, is revealed in spectacular detail in this 1.5-billion-pixel image captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal site in Chile. 


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Dec. 21, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #EmissionNebula #IC2944 #IC2948 #RunningChickenNebula #Stars #LambdaCentauri #BokGlobules #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Running Chicken Nebula | European Southern Observatory

The Running Chicken Nebula | European Southern Observatory

The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds—all can be seen in this vast 1.5-billion pixel image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site. This image spans an area in the sky of about 25 full Moons. The clouds shown in wispy pink plumes are full of gas and dust, illuminated by the young and hot stars within them.

Distance: 6,500 light years

This image, edge to edge, is 270 light-years wide. It would take an average chicken almost 21 billion years to run across it—much longer than our Universe has been around for.

Image Description: Wispy pink clouds pop out of a dark background. The brightest and largest cloud is offset from center to the lower left. A cloud ridge cuts vertically through the center of the frame, with a large bright blue-white spot in the middle. To the right of the image are three smaller clouds. Dotted across the image are blue, orange and white points of varying size and brightness.

This vast stellar nursery is located in the constellation Centaurus (the Centaur), at about 6,500 light-years from Earth. Young stars within this nebula emit intense radiation that makes the surrounding hydrogen gas glow in shades of pink.

The brightest region within the nebula is called IC 2948, where people can see the chicken’s head and others its rear end. The wispy pastel contours are ethereal plumes of gas and dust. Towards the center of the image, marked by the bright, vertical, almost pillar-like, structure, is IC 2944. The brightest twinkle in this particular region is Lambda Centauri, a star visible to the naked eye that is much closer to us than the nebula itself.

There are, however, many young stars within IC 2948 and IC 2944 themselves. Regions of the nebula, known as Bok globules, can withstand the fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation. Bok globules are small, dark, and dense pockets of dust and gas dotted across the nebula.

Other regions pictured here include, to the upper right, Gum 39 and 40, and to the lower right, Gum 41. Aside from nebulae, there are countless orange, white and blue stars, like fireworks in the sky.

This image is a large mosaic comprising hundreds of separate frames carefully stitched together. The individual images were taken through filters that let through light of different colors that were then combined into the final result presented here. The observations were conducted with the wide-field camera OmegaCAM on the VST, a telescope owned by the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy (INAF) in Chile’s Atacama Desert that is ideally suited for mapping the southern sky in visible light. 

The data that went into making this mosaic were taken as part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), a project aimed at better understanding the life cycle of stars.


Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: CASU

Release Date: Dec. 21, 2023


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebula #Nebula #EmissionNebula #IC2944 #IC2948 #RunningChickenNebula #Stars #LambdaCentauri #BokGlobules #Centaurus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education