"Penguin & Egg": Interacting Galaxies Arp 142 | James Webb Space Telescope

"Penguin & Egg": Interacting Galaxies Arp 142 | James Webb Space Telescope

This is Arp 142, two interacting galaxies, observed in near- and mid-infrared light. At left is NGC 2937, nicknamed the Egg. Its center is the brighter and whiter. There are six diffraction spikes atop its gauzy blue layers. At right is NGC 2936, nicknamed the Penguin. Its beak-like region points toward and above the Egg. Where the eye would be is a small, opaque yellow spiral. The Penguin’s distorted arms form the bird’s beak, back, and tail. The tail is wide and layered, like a beta fish’s tail. A semi-transparent blue hue traces the Penguin and extends from the galaxy, creating an upside-down U over top of both galaxies. At top right is another galaxy seen from the side, pointing roughly at a 45-degree angle. It is largely light blue. Its length appears approximately as long as the Egg’s height. One foreground star with large, bright blue diffraction spikes appears over top of the galaxy and another near it. The entire black background is filled with tiny, extremely distant galaxies.

The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. Their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow.

The pair, known jointly as Arp 142, made their first pass between 25 and 75 million years ago— causing “fireworks,” or new star formation, in the Penguin. In the most extreme cases, mergers can cause galaxies to form thousands of new stars per year, for a few million years. For the Penguin, research has shown that about 100 to 200 stars have formed per year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy (which is not interacting with a galaxy of the same size) forms roughly six to seven new stars per year. Arp 142 lies 326 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.

This gravitational shimmy also remade the Penguin’s appearance. Its coiled spiral arms unwound, and gas and dust were pulled in an array of directions, like it was releasing confetti. It is rare for individual stars to collide when galaxies interact (space is vast), but galaxies’ mingling disrupts stars’ orbits.

Today, the Penguin’s galactic center looks like an eye set within a head, and the galaxy has prominent star trails that take the shape of a beak, backbone, and fanned-out tail. A faint, but prominent dust lane extends from its beak down to its tail.

Despite the Penguin appearing far larger than the Egg, these galaxies have approximately the same mass. This is one reason why the smaller-looking Egg has not yet merged with the Penguin. (If one was less massive, it may have merged earlier.)

The oval Egg is filled with old stars, and little gas and dust. This is why it is not sending out “streamers” or tidal tails of its own and instead has maintained a compact oval shape. If you look closely, the Egg has four prominent diffraction spikes—the galaxy’s stars are so concentrated that it gleams.

Now, find the bright, edge-on galaxy at top right. It is not nearby. Cataloged PGC 1237172, it lies 100 million light-years closer to Earth. It is relatively young and is not overflowing with dust. This is why it practically disappears in Webb’s mid-infrared view.

The background of this image is overflowing with far more distant galaxies. This is a testament to the sensitivity and resolution of Webb’s infrared cameras.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Release Date: July 12, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxies #InteractingGalaxies #Arp142 #NGC2936 #NGC2937 #Hydra #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Extreme Heat Hammers U.S. Coasts | NASA Earth Science

Extreme Heat Hammers U.S. Coasts | NASA Earth Science

In June 2024, early summer heat waves hit both the western and eastern United States. Temperatures in July have not brought much relief.

The first and second maps show air temperatures across the U.S. on July 10, 2024. The map was produced by combining observations from satellites and other sources with temperatures predicted by a version of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model. It uses mathematical equations to represent physical processes in the atmosphere. The darkest reds indicate temperatures of more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) at about 6.5 feet (2 meters) above the ground.

In the West, areas of intense heat are visible across many areas west of the Rockies, from Mexico to Canada. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), temperatures commonly surged over 100°F on July 10, causing widespread heat risk. On that same day, parts of the East—from South Carolina to Massachusetts—were under heat warnings or advisories. High humidity boosted the heat index to over 100°F in some places. The higher the heat index, which indicates how hot it feels when accounting for both temperature and relative humidity, the harder it is for the human body to cool itself.

In parts of the Midwest, cooler-than-average temperatures followed the northeastward path of Cyclone Beryl’s remnants. However, in southeast Texas, temperatures on July 10 remained in the 90s, and heat indices climbed over 100°F. After Beryl swept ashore as a Category 1 hurricane on July 8, the lack of electrical power and air conditioning raised the risk for heat-related illnesses, according to NWS Houston.

The third map shows a detailed view of the Southwest, where heat in early July has been especially intense. On July 10, Las Vegas saw its fifth consecutive day of temperatures of at least 115°F (46°C), according to NWS Las Vegas. Those temperatures hovered around the city’s previous all-time high of 117°F (47°C) but below the new all-time record of 120°F (49°C) measured on July 7, 2024. Palm Springs, California, also hit an all-time high of 124°F on July 5, and Death Valley approached its record high when the temperature reached 129°F on July 7, according to The Washington Post.

Forecasters expect little relief from the long-lasting heat wave in the coming days with dangerous temperatures in the West persisting through July 13 and the threat of extreme heat in the West increasing starting July 15.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC

Story Credit: Kathryn Hansen

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Planet #Earth #June2024 #July2024 #AirTemperatureRecords #Weather #Meteorology #ClimateModels #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Climate #Environment #InSituMeasurements #GreenhouseGases #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #NWS #NASAGISS #GEOS #GSFC #UnitedStates #Infographics #STEM #Education

Hurricane Beryl Kicks Off 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season | NOAA

Hurricane Beryl Kicks Off 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season | NOAA

Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, rapidly strengthened to a Category 5 storm unusually early in the year. This explosive strengthening was fueled in part by exceptionally warm ocean temperatures. This heat was one of the factors behind NOAA’s prediction in May of an 85% chance that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season would be above normal. 

On top of the heat, another factor pointing to an especially active season is the likely development of La Niña later this summer. La Niña reduces Atlantic trade winds and leads to less wind shear (the changing of wind speed and direction with height). While La Niña has yet to officially develop, the main development region (the area in the tropical Atlantic where most tropical cyclones form) has been near record warm. Sea surface temperatures in this area are closer to what would be expected in the middle of September–the peak of hurricane season. Meaning there was ample fuel for Beryl to not only form but also to rapidly intensify.

Read more about the storm: 

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/category-5-hurricane-beryl-makes-explosive-start-2024-atlantic-season

Credits: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: July 11, 2024

#NASA #NOAA #Space #Satellites #Science #Planet #Earth #GlobalTemperatureRecords #Weather #Meteorology #Hurricanes #HurricaneBeryl #LaNiña #Storms #AtlanticOcean #PacificOcean #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Climate #Environment #GreenhouseGases #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

What is an Exoplanet? | NASA Science

What is an Exoplanet? | NASA Science

Exoplanets—worlds beyond our solar system. What planets have we discovered so far, and what do we hope to find? Could we one day discover a planet that could host life? Learn this and more with “Astro-Investigates,” the video series that explores and explains complex astrophysics topics with the help of NASA scientists.

In this episode, you will hear from: 

Aki Roberge - Research Astrophysicist, NASA GSFC 

Vanessa Bailey - Astronomer, NASA JPL 

Jenn Burt - Exoplanet Scientist, NASA JPL

Ravi Kopparapu - Planetary Scientist, NASA GSFC 

Rob Zellem - Research Astrophysicist, NASA GSFC

Host and Co-Producer: Chelsea Gohd 

Editor/Director/Co-Producer: Keith Miller (Caltech-IPAC) 

Science Visualizations/Co-Producer: Robert Hurt (Caltech-IPAC) 

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: July 11, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Exoplanets #Planets #Astrobiology #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #JWST #SpaceTelescopes #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #Caltech #IPAC #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #Visualization #Animation #HD #Video

A Summer Cosmic Tour of Galaxies & Nebulae | NASA Chandra/Webb/Hubble Image Data

A Summer Cosmic Tour of Galaxies & Nebulae | NASA Chandra/Webb/Hubble Image Data

This is a collection of composite images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope. 

The four objects include a cloud complex, a region of star formation, a spiral galaxy, and a galaxy cluster.

In each image, colors represent different wavelengths of light detected by the telescopes.

"Multiwavelength" images illustrate how different types of light adds complementary information about objects in space.

In each of the images, Chandra data was added to previously released Webb images. The colors represent different wavelengths of X-ray, optical, or infrared light.

Composite image of Rho Ophiuchi (lower right)

The first stop on this tour is the closest, Rho Ophiuchi, at a distance of about 390 light-years from Earth. Rho Ophiuchi is a cloud complex filled with gas and stars of different sizes and ages. Being one of the closest star-forming regions, Rho Ophiuchi is a great place for astronomers to study young stars. In this image, X-rays from Chandra are purple and reveal the hot, outer atmospheres of infant stars. Infrared data from Webb is red, yellow, cyan, light blue, and darker blue and provides views of the spectacular regions of gas and dust.

Composite image of the Orion Nebula (upper right)

The next destination is the Orion Nebula, a giant cloud where stars are forming. Still located in the Milky Way galaxy, this region is a little bit farther from our home planet at about 1,500 light-years away. If you look just below the middle of the three stars that make up the “belt” in the constellation of Orion, you may be able to see this nebula through a small telescope. With Chandra and Webb, however, we get to see so much more. Chandra reveals young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, colored in red, green, and blue, while Webb shows the gas and dust in darker red that will help build the next generation of stars here.

Composite image of NGC 3627 (lower left)

Like the Milky Way, NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy that we see at a slight angle. NGC 3627 is known as a “barred” spiral galaxy because of the rectangular shape of its central region. From our vantage point, we can also see two distinct spiral arms that appear as arcs. X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center as well as other dense objects like neutron stars and black holes pulling in matter. Meanwhile Webb finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy in red, green, and blue. This image also contains optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in red, green, and blue.

Composite image of MACS J0416 (upper left)

Our final landing place on this trip is the biggest and the farthest at a distance of about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster. These are the largest objects in the universe held together by gravity. Galaxy clusters like this can contain hundreds or even thousands of individual galaxies all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas that Chandra can detect. In this view, Chandra’s X-rays in purple show this reservoir of hot gas while Hubble and Webb pick up the individual galaxies in red, green, and blue. The long thin lines are caused by matter in the cluster distorting the light from galaxies behind MACS J0416 in a process known as gravitational lensing.

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

Story Credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Release Date: July 11, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #StellarNurseries #RhoOphiuchi #OrionNebula #Galaxies #NGC3627 #GalaxyClusters #MACSJ0416 #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #Xray #MSFC #JWST #Infrared #HST #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #CSA #STEM #Education

Take a Summer Cosmic Road Trip with NASA's Chandra & Webb Space Telescopes

Take a Summer Cosmic Road Trip with NASA's Chandra & Webb Space Telescopes

It is time to take a cosmic road trip using light as the highway and visit four stunning destinations across space. The vehicles for this space get-away are NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope.

In each of the images, the colors represent different wavelengths of X-ray, optical or infrared light.

The first stop on this tour is the closest, Rho Ophiuchi, at a distance of about 390 light-years from Earth. Rho Ophiuchi is a cloud complex filled with gas and stars of different sizes and ages. Being one of the closest star-forming regions, Rho Ophiuchi is a great place for astronomers to study young stars. In this image, X-rays from Chandra are purple and reveal the hot, outer atmospheres of infant stars.

The next destination is the Orion Nebula. Still located in the Milky Way galaxy, this region is a little bit farther from our home planet at about 1,500 light-years away. If you look just below the middle of the three stars that make up the “belt” in the constellation of Orion, you may be able to see this nebula through a small telescope. With Chandra and Webb, however, we get to see so much more. Chandra reveals young stars that glow brightly in X-rays, while Webb shows the gas and dust that will help build the next generation of stars here.

It is time to leave our galaxy and visit another at a much greater distance of about 36 million light-years away. Like the Milky Way, NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy that we see at a slight angle. NGC 3627 is known as a “barred” spiral galaxy because of the rectangular shape of its central region. From our vantage point, we can also see two distinct spiral arms that appear as arcs. X-rays from Chandra in purple show evidence for a supermassive black hole in its center as well as other dense objects like neutron stars and black holes pulling in matter from companion stars. Meanwhile Webb, plus optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope, finds the dust, gas, and stars throughout the galaxy.

Our final stop is the biggest and the farthest about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. MACS J0416 is a galaxy cluster, which are the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. Galaxy clusters like this can contain hundreds or even thousands of individual galaxies all immersed in massive amounts of superheated gas that Chandra can detect. In this view, Chandra’s X-rays show this reservoir of hot gas while Hubble and Webb pick up the individual galaxies. The long thin lines are caused by matter in the cluster distorting the light from galaxies behind MACS J0416 in a process known as gravitational lensing.

We hope you enjoy this cosmic road trip!

Video Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds

Release Date: July 11, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #StellarNurseries #RhoOphiuchi #OrionNebula #Galaxies #NGC3627 #GalaxyClusters #MACSJ0416 #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #Xray #MSFC #JWST #Infrared #HST #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #CSA #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Tracing Dark Matter in Faint Draco Dwarf Galaxy using Stellar Motions | Hubble

Tracing Dark Matter in Faint Draco Dwarf Galaxy using Stellar Motions | Hubble

A three-paneled image shows different perspectives of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. At left is the Digitized Sky Survey view of the Draco dwarf galaxy. Many yellow, blue-white, and white stars are dispersed across the black background of space. They vary in shape and size, though most resemble small, circular points of light. Larger stars, some with four diffraction spikes, are scattered infrequently across the field of view. A thin, light brown oval highlights the area of interest, which contains two small white squares in its center. The area of each square is magnified at right, showing views captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The top right square reveals a black patch of space with many small points of light and a large, four-point diffraction spike toward the left. The bottom right square shows a black patch of space filled with small points of light, some with diffraction spikes.

Digitized Sky Survey wide-field image of region around Draco dwarf galaxy

Close-up of area around Draco dwarf galaxy. It is one of the faintest galaxies known.

When theory and observations favor different results, how can astronomers determine which one is more feasible? Increasing confidence in one theory over another oftentimes requires building a richer dataset to improve current models and lower uncertainties. A team of astronomers has turned toward NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to try and clarify this debate by measuring the dynamic motions of stars within the Draco dwarf galaxy, a system located roughly 250,000 light-years from Earth. It is one of the faintest galaxies known. Using observations that spanned 18 years, they succeeded in building the most accurate three-dimensional understanding of stars' movements within the diminutive galaxy. 

Since dwarf galaxies are known to have a higher proportion of dark matter content than other types of galaxies, the team honed in on the Draco dwarf galaxy. It is a relatively small and spheroidal nearby satellite of the Milky Way galaxy.

The team analyzed a series of epochs spanning from 2004 to 2022, an extensive baseline that only Hubble could offer, due to the combination of its sharp stable vision and record time in operation. The telescope's rich data archive helped decrease the level of uncertainty in the measurement of the stars' proper motions. The precision is equivalent to measuring an annual shift a little less than the width of a golf ball as seen on the Moon from Earth.

With three dimensions of data, the team reduced the amount of assumptions applied in previous studies and considered characteristics specific to the galaxy—such as its rotation, and distribution of its stars and dark matter—in their own modeling efforts.

To learn about dark matter within a galaxy, scientists can look to its stars and their movements that are dominated by the pull of dark matter. A common approach to measure the speed of objects moving in space is by the Doppler Effect—an observed change of the wavelength of light if a star is approaching or receding from Earth. Although this line-of-sight velocity can provide valuable insight, only so much can be gleaned from this one-dimensional source of information.

These results are accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal: 

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad571c

Image Credits: NASA, ESA, Eduardo Vitral (STScI), Roeland van der Marel (STScI), Sangmo Tony Sohn (STScI), DSS

Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Release Date: July 11, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #DwarfGalaxies #DracoDwarfGalaxy #Draco #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #DarkMatter #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #DSS #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Punto medio: 5 de julio 2024

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Punto medio: 5 de julio 2024

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.

Aprende más sobre la ciencia a bordo de la estación espacial: https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-research-and-technology/ciencia-en-la-estacion/

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 5 minutes, 25 seconds

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #NASAenespañol #español #SpaceTechnology #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Europe's New Ariane 6 Rocket: First Flight Highlights | ESA

Europe's New Ariane 6 Rocket: First Flight Highlights | ESA

On July 9, 2024, Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket successfully powered into space taking with it a selection of experiments, satellites, payload deployers and reentry demonstrations that represent thousands across Europe—from students to industry and experienced space actors. 

This inaugural demonstration flight, designated VA262, is to show the capabilities of Ariane 6 in escaping Earth's gravity and operating in space.

Ariane 6 was built by prime contractor and design authority ArianeGroup. In addition to the rocket, the liftoff demonstrated the functioning of the launch pad and operations on ground at Europe's Spaceport. The new dedicated launch zone was custom-built by France's space agency CNES and allows for a faster turnover of Ariane launches. 

Ariane 6 is Europe’s newest heavy-lift rocket, designed to provide great power and flexibility at a lower cost than its predecessors. The launcher’s configuration—with an upgraded main stage, a choice of either two or four powerful boosters and a new restartable upper stage—will provide Europe with greater efficiency and possibilities. It can launch multiple missions into selected orbits on a single flight, while its upper stage will deorbit itself at the end of mission. 

The European Space Agency’s main role in the Ariane 6 program is as a contracting authority—managing the budget from Member States participating in the Ariane 6 development program; and as launch system architect—ensuring that the rocket and launch pad infrastructure work together. 

Ariane 6 is the latest in Europe's Ariane rocket series, taking over from Ariane 5 featuring a modular and versatile design that can launch missions from low-Earth orbit and farther out to deep space.

Learn more about Ariane 6:

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6_overview

https://www.arianespace.com/vehicle/ariane-6/

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 2 minutes

Capture Date: July 9, 2024

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Arianespace #Ariane6 #Ariane6Rocket #HeavyLift #RocketLaunch #FlightVA262 #Satellites #Science #GuianaSpaceCentre #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #France #CNES #ArianeGroup #Europe #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Ariane 6 Rocket Payload: Young Professional Satellite—First Images | ESA

Ariane 6 Rocket Payload: Young Professional Satellite—First Images | ESA

The new Ariane 6 rocket successfully launched several payloads on its inaugural Flight VA262 from Europe's spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana in South America on July 9, 2024.

Two years ago, a team of young professionals at the European Space Agency (ESA), with diverse backgrounds, nationalities and expertise, came together to design, manufacture, and send their own satellite to space.

The Young Professional Satellite (YPSat) was developed to record the Ariane 6 rocket's fairing separation, to document CubeSat deployment, and to send back beautiful in-orbit images of Earth and space.

This scaled-down mission had all the elements of a large flagship mission—engineering, verification, testing and production assurance; project management, tight schedule, team coordination and communication; failures, crisis situations, and successes.

YPSat is a blueprint for the future of European space exploration. It has been a life changing opportunity for young professionals at ESA to obtain hands-on experience with developing a space mission. The European Space Agency has also been inspired by this younger generation bringing new ideas and technologies.

Learn more about Ariane 6: https://www.arianespace.com/vehicle/ariane-6/

Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Image Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Arianespace #Ariane6 #Ariane6Rocket #RocketLaunch #FlightVA262 #Satellites #CubeSats #YPSat #SpaceTeamEurope #Science #GuianaSpaceCentre #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Europe's New Ariane 6 Rocket Takes Flight | European Space Agency

Europe's New Ariane 6 Rocket Takes Flight | European Space Agency

Liftoff of Europe's new Ariane 6 heavy lift rocket on its inaugural Flight VA262 from Europe's spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana in South America on July 9, 2024.

Learn more about Ariane 6:

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6_overview

Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Image Dates: July 8-9, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Arianespace #Ariane6 #Ariane6Rocket #HeavyLift #RocketLaunch #FlightVA262 #Satellites #Science #GuianaSpaceCentre #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #France #CNES #Europe #History #STEM #Education

Pan of Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Intermediate Black Hole Evidence | Hubble

Pan of Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Intermediate Black Hole Evidence | Hubble

An international team of astronomers has used more than 500 images from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope spanning two decades to detect seven fast-moving stars in the innermost region of Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. These stars provide compelling new evidence for the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH).

Omega Centauri is visible from Earth with the naked eye and is one of the favorite celestial objects for stargazers in the southern hemisphere. Although the cluster is 17,000 light-years away, lying just above the plane of the Milky Way, it appears almost as large as the full Moon when seen from a dark rural area. The exact classification of Omega Centauri has evolved through time, as our ability to study it has improved. It was first listed in Ptolemy's catalog nearly two thousand years ago as a single star. Edmond Halley reported it as a nebula in 1677, and in the 1830s the English astronomer John Herschel was the first to recognize it as a globular cluster. Omega Centauri consists of roughly 10 million stars that are gravitationally bound.

Credit: NASA & ESA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble) 

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: June 28, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #BlackHole #IntermediateMass #IMBH #Centaurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zoom into Omega Centauri to Newly-discovered Medium-mass Black Hole

Zoom into Omega Centauri to Newly-discovered Medium-mass Black Hole

Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of about ten million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters: a spherical collection of stars, so dense towards the centre that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. However, a new study, led by Maximilian Häberle (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), confirms what astronomers had been suspecting—Omega Centauri contains a central black hole. The black hole appears to be the “missing link” between its stellar and supermassive kin. It is stuck in an intermediate stage of evolution. It is considerably less massive than typical black holes in the centers of galaxies. Omega Centauri seems to be the core of a small, separate galaxy whose evolution was cut short when the Milky Way swallowed it.

Learn more here:

https://www.mpia.de/news/science/2024-10-omega-cen-imbh

Video: T. Müller (MPIA/HdA)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #MPIA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #BlackHole #IntermediateMass #IMBH #Astrophysics #Centaurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Evidence for Intermediate-Mass Black Hole | Hubble

Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Evidence for Intermediate-Mass Black Hole | Hubble

Intermediate-mass black holes are a long-sought “missing link” in black hole evolution. They are smaller than the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, but larger than stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of massive stars. Only a few candidates have been found to date.

Now, a team of astronomers analyzed over 500 images from 20 years of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observations to find evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole by tracking seven fast-moving stars in the Omega Centauri globular star cluster.

Scientists think a massive object is gravitationally pulling on the stars within Omega Centauri, keeping them close to its center. From the motions of the stars, they estimate it has a mass of at least 8,200 times that of our Sun, the mass range for an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole is between 100 and 100,000 solar masses, therefore the only object that can be so massive is a black hole. 

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Duration: 1 minute, 44 seconds

Paul Morris: Lead Producer 

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #BlackHole #IntermediateMass #IMBH #Astrophysics #Centaurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Intermediate Black Hole Evidence | Hubble

Star Cluster Omega Centauri: Intermediate Black Hole Evidence | Hubble

Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri (cropped)

Location of intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) Omega Centauri

An international team of astronomers has used more than 500 images from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope spanning two decades to detect seven fast-moving stars in the innermost region of Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. These stars provide compelling new evidence for the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole.

Omega Centauri is visible from Earth with the naked eye and is one of the favorite celestial objects for stargazers in the southern hemisphere. Although the cluster is 17,700 light-years away, lying just above the plane of the Milky Way, it appears almost as large as the full Moon when seen from a dark rural area. The exact classification of Omega Centauri has evolved through time, as our ability to study it has improved. It was first listed in Ptolemy's catalog nearly two thousand years ago as a single star. Edmond Halley reported it as a nebula in 1677, and in the 1830s the English astronomer John Herschel was the first to recognize it as a globular cluster. Omega Centauri consists of roughly 10 million stars that are gravitationally bound.

Science Paper: 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07511-z

Image Description: A globular cluster, appearing as a highly dense and numerous collection of shining stars. A number appear a bit larger and brighter than others with the majority of stars appearing blue and orange. They are scattered mostly uniformly, but in the center they crowd together more and more densely, and merge into a stronger glow at the cluster’s core.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle (MPIA)

Release Date: July 10, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #BlackHole #IntermediateMass #IMBH #Centaurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA Moon Rocket Stage for Artemis II Moved & Prepped for Shipment

NASA Moon Rocket Stage for Artemis II Moved & Prepped for Shipment

The Artemis II Core Stage moves from final assembly at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in preparation for delivery to Kennedy Spaceflight Center later this month.

NASA is preparing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage that will help power the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign for shipment. On July 6, 2024, NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, moved the Artemis II rocket stage to another part of the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The move comes as teams prepare to roll the massive rocket stage to the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in mid-July.

Prior to the move, technicians began removing external access stands, or scaffolding, surrounding the rocket stage in early June. NASA and Boeing teams used the scaffolding surrounding the core stage to assess the interior elements, including its complex avionics and propulsion systems. The 212-foot core stage has two huge propellant tanks, avionics and flight computer systems, and four RS-25 engines. Together, these enable the stage to operate during launch and flight.

The stage is fully manufactured and assembled at Michoud. Building, assembling, and transporting is a joint process for NASA, Boeing, and lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company.

Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II. It will be the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.

NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.

For more information about SLS, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Image Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center/Michael DeMocker

Release Date: July 8, 2024

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLS #SLSCoreStage #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #NASAMichoud #NewOrleans #Louisiana #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education