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How to Protect Telescopes from Earthquakes | European Southern Observatory
Chile's Atacama Desert is among the darkest skies on Earth, but it is also a seismically active area. How does the European Southern Observatory protect its large and sophisticated telescopes against earthquakes?
Follow European Southern Observatory astronomer Suzanna Randall in this episode of Chasing Starlight, where she travels to Chile to show us the clever anti-seismic technology that keeps our telescopes safe.
00:00 Introduction
01:01 What causes earthquakes?
02:26 The Very Large Telescope
04:43 The Extremely Large Telescope
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
Hosted by: Suzanna Randall
Written by: Thomas Howarth and Pamela Freeman
Editing: Martin Kornmesser
Videography: Angelos Tsaousis, Rodrigo Soruco
Footage and Photos: ESO, L. Calçada, C. Malin/ Vectorial/ J. F. Salgado/ Chepox/ G. Huedepohl /ESO/Alessio Dradi (Cimolai), U.S. Navy, NASA, ESO/ACe Consortium
Animations & Infographics: Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser
Scientific Consultant: Paola Amico
Filming Locations: ESO Supernova, Cerro Armazones and Paranal in northern Chile
"Shine on You Crazy Diamond" | International Space Station
The last rays of an orbital sunset shine like a diamond while fading below Earth's atmosphere as the International Space Station soared 263 miles above the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of New Zealand.
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. It appeared on Pink Floyd's 1975 concept album "Wish You Were Here". The song is written about and dedicated to founder member Syd Barrett. Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
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:
Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean: May-June 2024 | International Space Station
An aurora swirls above the Indian Ocean in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 266 miles above and due south of Australia's island state of Tasmania.
An aurora and an atmospheric glow crown Earth's horizon in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 266 miles above a cloudy Indian Ocean southwest of Australia. In the foreground, from left, are a portion of Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter, the Rassvet module, and the Russian Soyuz MS-25 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module which is itself mated to the Nauka science module.
A dim aurora and an atmospheric glow crown Earth's horizon in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 266 miles above a cloudy Indian Ocean southwest of Australia. In the foreground, from left, are a portion of Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter, the Rassvet module, and the Russian Soyuz MS-25 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module which is itself mated to the Nauka science module.
The aurora australis, also known as the Southern Lights, shimmers over the Indian Ocean in between Australia and Antarctica in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 266 miles above.
For many people, the aurora is a beautiful nighttime phenomenon that is worth traveling to Earth's polar regions just to observe. It is the only way for most people to actually experience space weather.
Earth auroras are assigned names depending on the pole where they occur. Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights, is the name given to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
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:
Edge-on Beauty of The Silver Sliver Galaxy: NGC 891 | Hubble
Visible in the constellation of Andromeda, NGC 891 is located approximately 30 million light-years away from Earth. The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope turned its powerful wide field Advanced Camera for Surveys towards this spiral galaxy and took this close-up of its northern half. The galaxy's central bulge is just out of the image on the bottom left.
The galaxy, spanning around 100,000 light-years, is seen exactly edge-on, and reveals its thick plane of dust and interstellar gas. While initially thought to look like our own Milky Way if seen from the side, more detailed surveys revealed the existence of filaments of dust and gas escaping the plane of the galaxy into the halo over hundreds of light-years. They can be clearly seen here against the bright background of the galaxy halo, expanding into space from the disc of the galaxy.
Astronomers believe these filaments to be the result of the ejection of material due to supernovae or intense stellar formation activity. By lighting up when they are born, or exploding when they die, stars cause powerful winds that can blow dust and gas over hundreds of light-years in space.
A few foreground stars from the Milky Way shine brightly in the image. Distant elliptical galaxies can also be seen in the lower right of the image.
NGC 891 is part of a small group of galaxies bound together by gravity.
A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Image Processing Competition by contestant Nick Rose. Hidden Treasures is an initiative to invite astronomy enthusiasts to search the Hubble archive for stunning images that have never been seen by the general public.
The Silver Sliver Galaxy: NGC 891 in Andromeda | Mayall Telescope
The Silver Sliver Galaxy—more formally known as NGC 891—is shown in this striking image from the Mosaic instrument on the 4-meter Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. NGC 891 is a spiral galaxy that lies almost perfectly edge-on to us, leading to its elongated appearance and its striking resemblance to our home galaxy, the Milky Way, as seen from the Earth.
Since NGC 891 is oriented edge-on, it is helpful for investigating the galactic fountain model. When stellar winds and supernovae from the disk of a galaxy eject gas into the surrounding medium, it can create condensation that rains back down onto the disk. The condensed gas then provides new fuel for star formation. In addition to the portrait of NGC 891, this image is littered with astronomical objects near and far—bright foreground stars from our own galaxy intrude upon the view of NGC 891 and distant galaxies lurk in the background.
The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time.
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Acknowledgments: PI: M.T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)
Image Processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
The "UFO" Galaxy: NGC 2683 in Lynx | Kitt Peak National Observatory
This spiral galaxy is viewed nearly edge-on from our perspective, giving it the shape of a classic science fiction spaceship. This is why the astronomers at the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory gave it this attention-grabbing nickname. The reddened light from the center of the galaxy appears yellowish due to thousands of light years of intervening gas and dust in the outer arms of this galaxy. The core can be glimpsed at through the last wall of dust in the center. NGC 2683 is a nearby galaxy.
This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.
The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a UFO—well, the UFO Galaxy, to be precise. NGC 2683 is a spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on, giving it the shape of a classic science fiction spaceship. This is why the astronomers at the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory gave it this attention-grabbing nickname.
Distance: 35 million light years
While a bird’s eye view lets us see the detailed structure of a galaxy (such as this Hubble image of a barred spiral), a side-on view has its own perks. In particular, it gives astronomers a great opportunity to see the delicate dusty lanes of the spiral arms silhouetted against the golden haze of the galaxy’s core. In addition, brilliant clusters of young blue stars shine scattered throughout the disc, mapping the galaxy’s star-forming regions.
Perhaps surprisingly, side-on views of galaxies like this one do not prevent astronomers from deducing their structures. Studies of the properties of the light coming from NGC 2683 suggest that this is a barred spiral galaxy, even though the angle we see it at does not let us see this directly.
NGC 2683, discovered on 5 February 1788 by the famous astronomer William Herschel, lies in the Northern constellation of Lynx. A constellation named not because of its resemblance to the feline animal, but because it is fairly faint, requiring the “sensitive eyes of a cat” to discern it. And when you manage to get a look at it, you’ll find treasures like this, making it well worth the effort.
This image is produced from two adjacent fields observed in visible and infrared light by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. A narrow strip which appears slightly blurred and crosses most the image horizontally is a result of a gap between Hubble’s detectors. This strip has been patched using images from observations of the galaxy made by ground-based telescopes, which show significantly less detail.
The field of view is approximately 6.5 by 3.3 arcminutes.
Stars Sparkle above Earth's Atmospheric Glow | International Space Station
Stars sparkle above Earth's atmospheric glow in this long-duration photograph taken from the International Space Station as it orbited 266 miles above the Indian Ocean and due south of Australia's island state of Tasmania.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
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.
International Scientists Collect Valuable Data | China Chang'e 6 Moon Mission
International scientists that contributed to China's Chang'e-6 science mission to explore the far side south polar region of the Moon have praised the probe's success in retrieving valuable data. The Chang'e-6 mission features scientific payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan.
The Chang'e-6 lunar probe was launched on May 3, 2024, and carried four international payloads. Its lander-ascender combination touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
The SPA basin (43°±2° south latitude, 154°±4° west longitude) is a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon.
The international payloads include the French-developed Detection of Outgassing RadoN (DORN) and the cube satellite, ICUBE-Q, developed by Pakistan's Institute of Space Technology and China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The satellite has successfully photographed the Moon from orbit.
A laser retro-reflector installed on the top of the lander was developed by Italy's National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). Scientists of the institute expressed gratification in seeing their work reach the lunar surface.
"We are very proud that the laser retro-reflector that we designed and developed successfully landed on the moon aboard Chang'e-6 probe, the first of its kind ever to reach the far side of the Moon where it will serve as the only position marking point for distance measurement," said Luciana Filomena, laboratory researcher at the INFN.
Chang'e-6 was also installed with the Negative Ions on the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA)/Sweden.
"We got very good data and we only needed one hour of data on the surface, but we managed more than three times this. So our scientists are very happy. But already we see that we did detect negative ions. We don't know yet the quantity and the type and things like this, that needs a lot more analysis, but we already know it's really a great success," said Neil Melville-Kenney, NILS technical officer for the European Space Agency (ESA).
"It's actually the first ESA payload on the Moon at all, and it's the first lunar cooperation between ESA and China. So it's really quite a big event. It's really nice to be part of it," he said.
The ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe lifted off from the lunar surface on Tuesday morning, June 4, 2024, carrying samples collected from the Moon's far side, an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history.
In 2020, Chang'e-5 was the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
NASA PACE Earth Science Mission Makes the Invisible Visible
PACE, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystem mission, views our entire planet every day, returning data that allows scientists to track and monitor the rapidly changing atmosphere and ocean, including cloud formation, aerosol movement, and differences in microscopic ocean life over time.
PACE is NASA’s newest earth-observing satellite that will help increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and climate by delivering hyperspectral observations of microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton as well new data on clouds and aerosols.
NASA mourns the passing of Apollo Astronaut William "Bill" Anders at the age of 90.
He was backup pilot for the Gemini XI, Apollo 11 flights, and was lunar module pilot for Apollo 8—the first lunar orbit mission. On Christmas Eve in 1968, Anders turned his camera toward Earth and captured the legendary Earthrise photo.
For more information about Anders’ NASA career, and his biography, visit:
Boeing's Starliner Crew Spacecraft Approaches International Space Station
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is pictured approaching the International Space Station for an autonomous docking on June 6, 2024 as the spacecraft and orbiting laboratory soared 257 miles above the South Pacific Ocean. Starliner launched on June 5, with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard, as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test. This first crewed flight of Starliner aims to certify the spacecraft for rotational missions to the space station.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
'Super' Star Cluster Westerlund 1: X-ray & Optical Light | NASA Chandra
Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced. These are the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS.
Distance: About 12,700 light-years
Currently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in young massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the sun.
Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years.
These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses.
This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study and learn from.
Image Description: This is an image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region, as detected in X-ray and optical light. The black canvas of space is peppered with colored dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white.
At the center of the image is a semi-transparent, red and yellow cloud of gas encircling a grouping of tightly packed gold stars. The shape and distribution of stars in the cluster call to mind effervescent soda bubbles dancing above the ice cubes of a recently poured beverage.
Video Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Boeing Starliner's First Crew Arrives at International Space Station
Boeing's Starliner docked at 1:34 p.m. ET on June 6, 2024, after a successful June 5 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The International Space Station Expedition 71 crew welcomed NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, Starliner's first crew.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
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.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
Close-up View: The Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices | Hubble
A galactic disc, edge-on and up close . . .
This image snapped by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope reveals an exquisitely detailed view of part of the disc of the spiral galaxy NGC 4565. This bright galaxy is one of the most famous examples of an edge-on spiral galaxy, oriented perpendicularly to our line of sight so that we see right into its luminous disc. NGC 4565 has been nicknamed the Needle Galaxy because, when seen in full, it appears as a very narrow streak of light on the sky.
The edgewise view into the Needle Galaxy shown here looks very similar to the view we have from our Solar System into the core of the Milky Way. In both cases, ribbons of dust partially block light coming from the galactic disc. The dust stands in even starker contrast against the copious yellow light from the star-filled central regions. NGC 4565’s core is off camera to the upper right.
Studying galaxies like NGC 4565 helps astronomers learn more about our home, the Milky Way. At a distance of only about 40 million light-years, NGC 4565 is relatively close by, and being seen edge-on makes it a particularly useful object for comparative study. As spiral galaxies go, NGC 4565 is a whopper—about a third as big again as the Milky Way.
The image was taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and has a field of view of approximately 3.4 by 3.4 arcminutes.
The Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices | European Southern Observatory
The galaxy pictured here is NGC 4565, and for obvious reasons, is also called the Needle Galaxy. First spotted in 1785 by Uranus' discoverer, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822), this is one of the most famous examples of an edge-on spiral galaxy. NGC 4565 is located some 30 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair). It displays a bright yellowish central bulge that juts out above most impressive dust lanes.
Since it is relatively close (it is only 12 times farther away than Messier 31, the Andromeda galaxy, the major galaxy closest to us) and relatively large (roughly one third larger than the Milky Way), it does not fit entirely into the field of view of the FORS instrument (about 7 x 7 arcmin2).
Many background galaxies are also visible in this FORS image, giving full meaning to their nickname of "island universes".
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