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Monday, January 01, 2024

Reflection Nebula IC426 in Orion | Mayall Telescope

Reflection Nebula IC426 in Orion | Mayall Telescope

IC 426 is a reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion. Reflection nebulae often look a ghostly bluish color because they reflect scattered light from bright stars nearby (the red light is absorbed by dust in the nebula). Mintaka, the westernmost star in the belt of Orion, is thought to be the star illuminating IC 426.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after the American observational astronomer of the same name. The telescope saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest in the world at that time

Credit: T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Release Date: June 30, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #IC426 #ReflectionNebula #Star #Mintaka #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #KittPeakNationalObservatory #KPNO #MayallTelescope #Arizona #NSF #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Einstein Rings: Cosmic 'Funhouse Mirrors' | Hubble Science | NASA Goddard

Einstein Rings: Cosmic 'Funhouse Mirrors' | Hubble Science | NASA Goddard

An Einstein Ring can be explained by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, which causes light shining from a faraway galaxy to be warped by the gravity of an object between its source and the observer. This effect was first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1912, and later worked into his theory of general relativity.

In this video, Dr. Brian Welch explains this fascinating phenomenon of nature, and goes over how important Hubble is to exploring the mysteries of the universe.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Video Credit: M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble)

Producer & Director: James Leigh

Editor: Lucy Lund

Director of Photography: James Ball

Additional Editing & Photography: Matthew Duncan

Executive Producers: James Leigh & Matthew Duncan

Production & Post: Origin Films

Duration: 2 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: March 14, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Astrophysics #EinsteinRings #Physics #AlbertEinstein #GravitationalLensing #OpticalIllusions #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan of Einstein Ring: Distant Galactic Light | Hubble Space Telescope

Pan of Einstein Ring: Distant Galactic Light | Hubble Space Telescope

In this image, we are looking at a very distant galaxy that lies 19.5 billion light-years from Earth. A much closer luminous red galaxy that is a (relatively) small 2.7 billion light-years away is also present. Furthermore, there is a third galaxy that appears to be fairly close to the second.

The central bright dot in this image is one of the closer galaxies, known by the lengthy—but informative—name of SDSS J020941.27+001558.4 (galaxy names in this format provide precise information about their location in the sky). The other bright dot above it—that appears to be intersecting a curving crescent of light—is SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, the second closer galaxy. And finally, that curving crescent of light itself is the ‘lensed’ light from the very distant galaxy. This is known as HerS J020941.1+001557. It is an interesting example of a phenomenon known as an Einstein ring.

Image Description: A field full of distant galaxies on a dark background. Most of the galaxies are very small, but there are a few larger galaxies and some stars where detail can be made out. In the very center there is an elliptical galaxy with a brightly glowing core and a broad disc. A reddish, warped ring of light, thicker at one side, surrounds its core. A small galaxy intersects the ring as a bright dot.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Nayyeri, L. Marchetti, J. Lowenthal, N. Bartmann

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2023

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #HerSJ0209411001557 #SDSSJ020941270015584 #SDSSJ020941230016007 #Astrophysics #EinsteinRings #Physics #AlbertEinstein #GravitationalLensing #OpticalIllusions #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Einstein Ring: Distant Galactic Light | Hubble Space Telescope

Einstein Ring: Distant Galactic Light | Hubble Space Telescope

What are we looking at when we study this image? A very distant galaxy that lies 19.5 billion light-years from Earth? Or a much closer luminous red galaxy that is a (relatively) small 2.7 billion light-years away? Or a third galaxy that appears to be fairly close to the second? The answer, perhaps confusingly, is that we are looking at all three. More precisely, we are looking at light emitted from all of those galaxies, even though the most distant galaxy lies directly behind the first as seen from Earth. In fact, it is that very alignment that makes the particular visuals in this image possible.

The central bright dot in this image is one of the closer galaxies, known by the lengthy—but informative—name of SDSS J020941.27+001558.4 (galaxy names in this format provide precise information about their location in the sky). The other bright dot above it—that appears to be intersecting a curving crescent of light—is SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, the second closer galaxy. And finally, that curving crescent of light itself is the ‘lensed’ light from the very distant galaxy. This is known as HerS J020941.1+001557, and it is also an interesting example of a phenomenon known as an Einstein ring.

Einstein rings occur when light from a very distant object is bent (or ‘lensed’) about a massive intermediate (or ‘lensing)’ object. This is possible because spacetime, the fabric of the Universe itself, is bent by mass, and therefore light travelling through spacetime is as well. This is much too subtle to be observed on a local level, but sometimes becomes clearly observable when dealing with curvatures of light on enormous, astronomical scales, for example, when the light emitted from a galaxy is bent around another galaxy or galaxy cluster. When the lensed object and the lensing object line up just so, the result is the distinctive Einstein ring shape, which appears as a full or partial circle of light around the lensing object, depending on how precise the alignment is. This partial Einstein ring is of particular interest as it was identified thanks to a citizen science project—Space Warps—meaning that members of the public enabled the discovery of this object!

Image Description: A field full of distant galaxies on a dark background. Most galaxies are very small, but there are a few larger galaxies and stars where detail can be made out. In the very center there is an elliptical galaxy with a brightly glowing core and a broad disc. A reddish, warped ring of light, thicker at one side, surrounds its core. A small galaxy intersects the ring as a bright dot.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Nayyeri, L. Marchetti, J. Lowenthal

Release Date: Jan. 1, 2024

Sh2-260 Nebula in Orion | Mayall Telescope

Sh2-260 Nebula in Orion | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. It shows the northern part of Sh2-260, an enigmatic HII region. The nebula also contains another lobe below the image. What is responsible for its twisted, double-lobed structure is unknown, although it might be related to the giant lambda Orionis molecular right to the east. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

Release Date: June 30, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Sh2260 #EmissionNebula #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #KittPeakNationalObservatory #KPNO #MayallTelescope #Arizona #NSF #AURA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Strong Solar Flare Erupts from Sun | NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

Strong Solar Flare Erupts from Sun | NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare (left side of image), peaking at 4:55 p.m. EST, on Dec. 31, 2023. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) that watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

This close up image of the Sun is colorized in a mix of yellow, orange, brown and black that showcases the dynamic beauty of the Sun. The X5.0 flare appears as a bright white flash on the left side of the image.

This image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares that is colorized in yellow and orange.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X5.0 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.

NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Learn more about solar flares:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/2022/06/10/solar-flares-faqs/

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

Release Date: Dec. 31, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #SpaceWeather #Sun #Star #Solar #SolarFlare #X5Flare #Ultraviolet #Science #Plasma #MagneticField #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #Physics #Spacecraft #Satellite #SDO #Goddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

This image of the Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) was submitted by Pelayo Fernández Lobón, a member of the team from vendor Asturfeito that is installing the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) in the summit facility building for the Rubin Observatory now under construction.

This nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud, located about 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Orion.

Technical details: The picture was taken using a 80 mm f6 apochromatic refractor and a dedicated 20 megapixels color astro-camera, refrigerated at -10ºC. Total integration time: 2.7 hours (80 subs x 120 seconds each). The radius of the field of view is 1,14 degrees, pixel scale 1.275 arc seconds / pixel. Equatorial mount + Guiding.

Credit: Pelayo Fernández Lobón/Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA

Release Date: March 24, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Barnard33 #HorseheadNebula #Stars #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #RubinObservatory #Telescope #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #CerroTololo #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io: New Close Flyby Processed Views | NASA Juno Mission

Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io: New Close Flyby Processed Views | NASA Juno Mission

On Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the most volcanic world in our solar system, the pass is expected to allow Juno's instruments to return a high volume of new data from deep space. The orbiter has now performed 57 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.

“By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said Juno’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “We are looking for how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is connected to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”

A second ultra-close flyby of Io is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, in which Juno will again come within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface.

The spacecraft has been monitoring Io’s volcanic activity from distances ranging from about 6,830 miles (11,000 kilometers) to over 62,100 miles (100,000 kilometers), and has provided the first views of the moon’s north and south poles. The spacecraft has also performed close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa.

“With our pair of close flybys in December and February, Juno will investigate the source of Io’s massive volcanic activity, whether a magma ocean exists underneath its crust, and the importance of tidal forces from Jupiter, which are relentlessly squeezing this tortured moon,” said Bolton.

Now in the third year of its extended mission to investigate the origin of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system where some of the gas giant’s inner moons reside.

Picture This

All three cameras aboard Juno were active during the Io flyby. The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) that takes images in infrared will be collecting the heat signatures emitted by volcanoes and calderas covering the moon’s surface. The mission’s Stellar Reference Unit (a navigational star camera that has also provided valuable science) will obtain the highest-resolution image of the surface to date. And the JunoCam imager will take visible-light color images.

JunoCam was included on the spacecraft for the public’s engagement and was designed to operate for up to eight flybys of Jupiter. This flyby of Io will be Juno’s 57th orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft and cameras have endured one of the solar system’s most punishing radiation environments.

“The cumulative effects of all that radiation has begun to show on JunoCam over the last few orbits,” said Ed Hirst, project manager of Juno at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Pictures from the last flyby show a reduction in the imager’s dynamic range and the appearance of ‘striping’ noise. Our engineering team has been working on solutions to alleviate the radiation damage and to keep the imager going.”

More Io, Please

After several months of study and assessment, the Juno team adjusted the spacecraft’s planned future trajectory to add seven new distant Io flybys (for a total of 18) to the extended mission plan. After the close Io pass on Feb. 3, the spacecraft will fly by Io every other orbit, with each orbit growing progressively more distant: The first will be at an altitude of about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) above Io, and the last will be at about 71,450 miles (115,000 kilometers).

The gravitational pull of Io on Juno during the Dec. 30, 2023 flyby reduced the spacecraft’s orbit around Jupiter from 38 days to 35 days. Juno’s orbit will drop to 33 days after the Feb. 3 flyby.

Juno’s new trajectory resulted in Jupiter blocking the Sun from the spacecraft for about five minutes at the time when the orbiter is at its closest to the planet—a period called perijove. Although this will be the first time the solar-powered spacecraft has encountered darkness since its flyby of Earth in October 2013, the duration will be too short to affect its overall operation. With the exception of the Feb. 3 perijove, the spacecraft will encounter solar eclipses like this during every close flyby of Jupiter from now on through the remainder of its extended mission that ends in late 2025.

Starting in April 2024, the spacecraft will carry out a series of occultation experiments that use Juno’s Gravity Science experiment to probe Jupiter’s upper atmospheric makeup, which provides key information on the planet’s shape and interior structure.

More About the Mission

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

Learn more about NASA's Juno mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Image Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Date: Dec. 30, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Planet #P57 #Moons #Io #Moon #Geology #Volcanoes #Mountains #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #CitizenScience #KevinGill #JPL #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Flame, Horsehead & Orion Nebulas: Wide View | Palomar Observatory

The Flame, Horsehead & Orion Nebulas: Wide View | Palomar Observatory

Here are three nebulas found in the Orion constellation. The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula on the far left. The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 or B33) is a small dark nebula just to the right of it. The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula that is one of the brightest nebulae that can be seen unaided in the upper right-hand corner. It is visible to the naked eye in the night sky on Earth when low levels of light pollution are present. All three nebulas are located in the Milky Way Galaxy and are about 1,400-1,500 light-years away.

Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

This wide-field image was captured by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Palomar Observatory. It is a public-private partnership aimed at a systematic study of the optical night sky. Using an extremely wide-field of view camera, ZTF scans the entire Northern sky every two days. The resulting large area survey will enable the astronomical community to pursue a broad range of time-domain science ranging from near-Earth asteroids to the study of distant superluminous supernovae. ZTF is funded in equal part by the US National Science Foundation and an international consortium of universities and institutions.

Image Credit: Palomar/Caltech/ZTF

Image Date: 2017

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #FlameNebula #NGC2024 #HoresheadNebula #Barnard33 #OrionNebula #M42 #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #PalomarObservatory #ZwickyTransientFacility #ZTF #OpticalTelescope #NSF #SanDiegoCounty #PalomarMountain #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Polar Stratospheric Clouds over Scotland | Earth Science

Polar Stratospheric Clouds over Scotland | Earth Science

Noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, form in a part of the atmosphere roughly 50 to 86 kilometers (30 to 54 miles) above the surface of our planet. Their high altitude allows them to reflect sunlight after the Sun has set. These night-shining, or noctilucent, clouds long puzzled the researchers that studied them. They wondered how they formed. The clouds’ behavior has become more mysterious over the past two decades as the clouds have begun to shine more brightly and to appear at lower latitudes than they did before.

Scientists recently discovered that polar stratospheric clouds, long known to play an important role in Antarctic ozone destruction, are occurring with increasing frequency in the Arctic. These high altitude clouds form only at very low temperatures and help to destroy ozone in two ways. They provide a surface that converts benign forms of chlorine into reactive, ozone-destroying forms, and they remove nitrogen compounds that moderate the destructive impact of chlorine. In recent years, the atmosphere above the Arctic has been colder than usual, and polar stratospheric clouds have lasted longer. As a result, ozone levels have been decreasing.

NASA Ozone Watch:

https://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov

Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms (O3). It occurs naturally in small (trace) amounts in the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere). Ozone protects life on Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. In the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) near the Earth’s surface, ozone is created by chemical reactions between air pollutants from vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and other emissions. At ground level, high concentrations of ozone are toxic to people and plants.

Ninety percent of the ozone in the atmosphere sits in the stratosphere, the layer of atmosphere between about 10 and 50 kilometers altitude. The natural level of ozone in the stratosphere is a result of a balance between sunlight that creates ozone and chemical reactions that destroy it. Ozone is created when the kind of oxygen we breathe—O2—is split apart by sunlight into single oxygen atoms. Single oxygen atoms can re-join to make O2, or they can join with O2 molecules to make ozone (O3). Ozone is destroyed when it reacts with molecules containing nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine. A portion of the molecules that destroy ozone occur naturally, but people have created others.

Image Credit: Alan Tough

Caption Credit: NASA

Image Dates: Dec. 19-24, 2023

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #ArcticClouds #PolarMesophericClouds #NLC #NoctilucentClouds #Scotland #UK #UnitedKingdom #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #AlanTough #EarthObservatory #STEM #Education #International

Tonight's Sky: January 2024 (Northern Hemisphere)

Tonight's Sky: January 2024 (Northern Hemisphere)

In January 2024, the northern hemisphere features beautiful views of Capella, a pair of giant yellow stars; Aldebaran, a red giant star; and two star clusters—the Hyades and the Pleiades. Keep watching for the awe-inspiring space-based views of the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded as a supernova.

“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 video was produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.

Video Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Duration: 4 minutes, 20 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 20, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Planets #SolarSystem #Galaxies #Stars #StarClusters #Nebulae #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #Skywatching #STScI #JPL #Caltech #SSU #UnitedStates #Canada #Mexico #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Download Free 2024 Hubble and Webb Calendar | European Space Agency

Download Free 2024 Hubble and Webb Calendar | European Space Agency

Low Resolution Digital 2024 Calendar Adobe PDF File (Size 14 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdfsm/cal2024.pdf

High Resolution Digital 2024 Calendar Adobe PDF File (Size 105 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdf/cal2024.pdf

Print-Ready 2024 Calendar Adobe PDF File (Size 610 MB):

https://esahubble.org/media/archives/announcements/pdf/calendar_hubble_2024_v010_print.pdf

This calendar is for anyone to download, print, share and enjoy. To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, and the completion of the first year of science operations with the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2024 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

The 2024 calendar features a selection of images published throughout 2023. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more.

The images featured in the 2024 calendar are:

Cover: The subject of the first anniversary image from the James Webb Space Telescope is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen.

January: Formed by a star throwing off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archetypal planetary nebula. The near-infrared image makes the ring’s intricate detail visible, while the mid-infrared image reveals concentric features in the outer regions of the nebula’s ring.

February: In 2023 several images from Hubble of ‘jellyfish’ galaxies, named for their beautiful trailing tentacles, were released. These jellyfish are all travelling through galaxy clusters, ploughing through the diffuse gas that pervades such clusters. The resulting ‘ram pressure’ strips gas from the galaxies and creates these trailing streamers, where new stars form.

March: This month features three images that give radically different views of the galaxy NGC 6822. At the bottom, in Webb’s mid-infrared image, the emission of light by galactic dust is prominent, obscuring the galaxy’s stars. In the middle, the near-infrared image shows the galaxy’s countless stars in incredible detail. The two views are combined in the top image.

April: Released to celebrate Hubble’s 33rd anniversary in April 2023, this month features the star-forming nebula NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud. Hubble’s colorful view, showcasing its unique ability to obtain images in light from ultraviolet to near-infrared, unveils an effervescent cauldron of gases and dust stirred up by newly forming stars within the dark cloud.

May: A massive galaxy cluster, SPT-CL J0019-2026, dominates the center of this month’s image from Hubble. The view is populated with a serene collection of elliptical and spiral galaxies, but galaxies surrounding the central cluster appear stretched into bright arcs, an amazing example of gravitational lensing.

June: Webb’s view of the Orion Bar region is a part of the Orion Nebula that hosts intense star formation activity and active astrochemistry. Harsh ultraviolet light from the stars of the Trapezium Cluster carves out a rich tapestry of cavities and filaments.

July: The distorted galaxy NGC 3256 is the result of an ancient clash between two galaxies. The image from Webb captures infrared light from dust grains, irradiated by young stars that were formed from the collision. The image from Hubble highlights hot, massive stars in the two galactic cores, shrouded by dark dust that blocks visible light.

August: A portion of the open cluster NGC 6530 appears as a roiling wall of smoke studded with stars in this month’s image from Hubble. The cluster is set within the larger Lagoon Nebula, a gigantic interstellar cloud of gas and dust; it is the nebula that gives this image its distinctly smokey appearance.

September: In its first year the James Webb Space Telescope has returned stunning infrared images of the Solar System’s outer planets and some of their moons. Featured this month are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

October: The graceful winding arms of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 stretch across this month’s Webb image. This galactic portrait is a composite image that integrates both near-infrared and mid-infrared data. Red colors trace out dust grains, while orange and yellow reveal regions of gas ionised by recently formed star clusters.

November: This month features a star-filled view from the Hubble Space Telescope of Terzan 12, a globular cluster embedded in our Milky Way galaxy. Creeping tendrils of galactic gas and dust blanket large portions of Terzan 12, giving some stars a sinister red hue. Relatively unobscured stars shine brightly in white and blue.

December: This month’s image features the central region of the Chameleon I dark cloud. Cold, wispy cloud material is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of a young, shrouded protostar. Its study points at icy molecules forming in clouds of gas and dust that will one day form stars and planets

Please note that hard copies are not available directly from ESA/Hubble/Webb.

Credit: ESA/Hubble, ESA/Webb

Release Date: Dec. 15, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #HST #JWST #Planets #Stars #StarClusters #Galaxies #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #AdobePDF #FreeCalendar #Calendar2024 #STEM #Education

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io: 'Raw' Views of Close Flyby | NASA Juno Mission

Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io: 'Raw' Views of Close Flyby | NASA Juno Mission

Just Released: On Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the most volcanic world in our solar system, the pass is expected to allow Juno's instruments to return a high volume of new data from deep space. The orbiter has now performed 57 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.

A second ultra-close flyby of Io is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, in which Juno will again come within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface.

Now in the third year of its extended mission to investigate the origin of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system where some of the gas giant’s inner moons reside.

Picture This

JunoCam was included on the spacecraft for the public’s engagement and was designed to operate for up to eight flybys of Jupiter. The upcoming flyby of Io will be Juno’s 57th orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft and cameras have endured one of the solar system’s most punishing radiation environments.

More Io, Please

More About the Mission

Learn more about NASA's Juno mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Image Release Date: Dec. 30, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Planet #P57 #Moons #Io #Moon #Geology #Volcanoes #Mountains #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #GalileoSpacecraft #NewHorizonsSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

New Mars December 2023 Images | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

New Mars December 2023 Images | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1008

Mars 2020 - sol 1007

Mars 2020 - sol 1003

MSL - sol 4040

MSL - sol 4039

Mars 2020 - sol 1003

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: Dec. 16-23, 2023

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

A Day on Mars (time-lapse) | NASA's Curiosity Rover | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A Day on Mars (time-lapse) | NASA's Curiosity Rover | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Curiosity Mars rover’s front and rear Hazard-Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) recorded two 25-frame videos showing the passage of 12 hours on November 8, 2023. Since 2014, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has been ascending the base of the 5-kilometer (3-mile) tall mountain that sits in Gale Crater on Mars.

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

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

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Acknowledgement: SciNews
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Dec. 28, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #Hazcams #MountSharp #GaleCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Timelapse #HD #Video

A New Name & Journey for an Asteroid Mission | This Week @NASA

A New Name & Journey for an Asteroid Mission | This Week @NASA

Week of December 29, 2023: A new name and new journey for an asteroid mission, testing the self-flying capabilities of drones, and test firing a 3D-printed rocket engine . . . a few of the stories to tell you about–This Week at NASA!

University of Arizona's OSIRIS-APEX Mission Page:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/missions/osiris-apex

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Video Producer & Video Editor: Andre Valentine
Narrator: Emanuel Cooper
Duration: 2 minutes, 28 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 30, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #OSIRISRExMission #OSIRISAPEXMission #OSIRISAPEXSpacecraft #Asteroids #RocketEngine #3DPrinting #SpaceTechnology #CSA #Canada #CNES #France #JSC #GSFC #UArizona #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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