Aurora Borealis & Perseid Meteors over The French Alps

Aurora Borealis & Perseid Meteors over The French Alps

The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. The Alps are one of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries (from west to east)—Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.

On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, which acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.

Earth auroras have different names depending on which pole they occur at. 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.

The Perseid meteor shower peaks in mid-August. It is considered the best meteor shower of the year. With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long "wakes" of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour. They occur with warm summer nighttime weather allowing sky watchers to view them comfortably.

Learn more:

The Colors of the Aurora (National Park Service)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

The Perseid Meteor Shower (NASA):

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/

Image Credit: Clément Brustel

Location: Lac Miroir, Queyras

Release Date: Sept. 5, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #Planet #Earth #AlpesFrançaises #FrenchAlps #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #Meteors #PerseidMeteors #Perseids #Perseus #Constellation #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #ClémentBrustel #LacMiroir #Queyras #France #STEM #Education

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit: The Science of Opportunity | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit: The Science of Opportunity | International Space Station

As NASA astronaut Don Pettit returns to the International Space Station for the fourth time, he will be bringing with him new ideas . . . ideas for science experiments!

In addition to his duties onboard the space station, Pettit will be conducting what he calls “Science of Opportunity”—bonus science experiments of his own in addition to those he will work on day-to-day. These experiments could include everyday objects found on station, including liquid salt, powdered milk, and even Legos. As Pettit demonstrated in the past with his experiments, this bonus science can lead to peer reviewed scientific papers and new discoveries, proving you never know until you try.  

NASA’s Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Russia are preparing for their upcoming trip to the orbital outpost. Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner are scheduled to launch on Sept. 11, 2024, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a planned six-month mission to the International Space Station.

NASA Astronaut Donald R. Pettit Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/donald-r-pettit/

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/donald-r-pettit/

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

Duration: 7 minutes

Release Date: Sept. 5, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #SoyuzMS26Crew #Astronaut #DonPettit #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #AlexeiOvchinin #IvanVagner #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition72 #InternationalCooperation #HD #Video

Hubble Space Telescope Helps Investigate the Mystery of Mars’ Escaping Water

Hubble Space Telescope Helps Investigate the Mystery of Mars’ Escaping Water

Mars was once a very wet planet. Scientists know that over the last 3 billion years, part of the water went underground, but what happened to the rest? Now, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Mission are helping to unlock that mystery. To understand how much water there was and what happened to it, scientists need to understand how the atoms escape into space.

A team combined data from Hubble and MAVEN to measure the current rate of these atoms escaping into space. This information allowed them to extrapolate the escape rate backwards through time to understand the history of water on the Red Planet.

For more information on MAVEN, go to: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/maven/

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Paul Morris: Lead Producer

Dan Gallagher: Producer for Assorted Mars Animations

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: Sept. 5, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Star #Sun #Planet #PlanetaryScience #Mars #Atmosphere #Water #MAVENMission #MAVENSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #GSFC #LASP #CUBoulder #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Elliptical Galaxy NGC 474 & Spiral Galaxy NGC 470 in Pisces | ESO

Elliptical Galaxy NGC 474 & Spiral Galaxy NGC 470 in Pisces | ESO

Compared to their more intricate spiral cousins, elliptical galaxies resemble soft, hazy clouds. These galaxies have smooth, undefined boundaries, and bright cores surrounded by a fuzzy, diffuse glow. However, looks can be deceiving. At least 10% of ellipticals extend much further out into the cosmos than you might expect, and possess a range of far finer structures than first meets the eye—features such as loops and shells. 

Located around 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces (The Fish), the galaxy to the upper-left of this image is named NGC 474. It is a stunning example of a shell elliptical galaxy; enormous wispy tails flick around the galaxy’s main body, while the inner structure is formed of a series of nested concentric rings. In fact, the full extent of the galaxy cannot even be contained in this field of view. The tendril-like outer regions of NGC 474 billow and wisp away like smoke, extending outwards for large distances from the galaxy’s main bulk.

Astronomers are unsure why galaxies take on this kind of appearance and structure, but they believe it concerns gravity—namely, how nearby galaxies gravitationally interact with one another. It is possible that the spiral galaxy to the lower-right, NGC 470, has been tugging on its larger friend for billions of years, causing density waves to reshape its structure. 

This galaxy was observed as part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Cosmic Gems program, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes for the purposes of education and public outreach. The program makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: Jan. 6, 2020

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC474 #EllipticalGalaxy #ShellEllipticalGalaxy #NGC470 #SpiralGalaxy #InteractingGalaxies #Pisces #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #FORS2 #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Elliptical Galaxy NGC 474 & Spiral Galaxy NGC 470 | Victor Blanco Telescope

Elliptical Galaxy NGC 474 & Spiral Galaxy NGC 470 | Victor Blanco Telescope

Elliptical galaxies are generally characterized by their relatively smooth appearance when compared with spiral galaxies (one is to the left). Ellipticals have more flocculent structures interwoven with dust lanes and spiral arms. NGC 474 is at a distance of about 100 million light-years in the constellation of Pisces. This image shows unusual structures around NGC 474 characterized as tidal tails and shell-like structures made up of hundreds of millions of stars. These features are due to recent mergers (within the last billion years) or close interactions with smaller infalling dwarf galaxies. 

NGC 470 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces (visible on the left side of the image). Located approximately 91 million light years from Earth, it was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1784. This galaxy weakly interacts with elliptical galaxy NGC 474.

This image is an excerpt from the Dark Energy Survey. It is a global collaboration that includes the Department of Energy's (DOE) Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), and the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. The image was taken with the Dark Energy Camera, fabricated by DOE, on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope.

The 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope was commissioned in 1974. It is a near twin of the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in honor of Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco. It is also part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a visible and near-infrared survey that aims to probe the dynamics of the expansion of the Universe.

Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope 

Credit: DES/DOE/Fermilab/NCSA & CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA 

Acknowledgments: Image processing: DES, Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

Release Date: Jan. 14, 2021

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC474 #EllipticalGalaxy #NGC470 #SpiralGalaxy #InteractingGalaxies #Pisces #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #CerroTololoObservatory #CTIO #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #DOE #CerroTololo #Chile #SouthAmerica #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA "Espacio a Tierra" | Actualización de la misión: 30 de agosto 2024

NASA "Espacio a Tierra" | Actualización de la misión: 30 de agosto 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

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov

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

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: Sept. 4, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #Boeing #Starliner #CST100 #CrewSpacecraft #CommercialCrewProgram #CCP #Astronauts #UnitedStates #SpaceLaboratory #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition71 #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Fast Fireball Flash over West Asia | International Space Station

Fast Fireball Flash over West Asia | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Matthew Dominick: "Here is a . . . faster frame rate version of the timelapse. I think it is interesting to compare the size of the bolide blast to other objects in view like the Mediterranean, Cairo, or lightning strikes."

Note: Fireballs and bolides are astronomical terms for exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to to be seen over a very wide area. A fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a visual magnitude of -3 or brighter when seen at the observer’s zenith.

Objects causing fireball events can exceed one meter in size. Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides although the terms fireballs and bolides are often used interchangeably.

During the atmospheric entry phase, an impacting object is both slowed and heated by atmospheric friction. In front of it, a bow shock develops where atmospheric gases are compressed and heated. Part of this energy is radiated to the object causing it to ablate, and in most cases, to break apart. Fragmentation increases the amount of atmosphere intercepted and so enhances ablation and atmospheric braking. The object catastrophically disrupts when the force from the unequal pressures on the front and back sides exceeds its tensile strength.

Expedition 71 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/M. Dominick

Duration: 20 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 3, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Meteor #Bolide #Cairo #Egypt #Africa #WestAsia #MediterraneanSea #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #SpaceLaboratory #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition71 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #Timelapse #HD #Video

Fireball: Meteor Explodes in Earth Atmosphere | International Space Station

Fireball: Meteor Explodes in Earth Atmosphere | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Matthew Dominick: "I showed this to a couple of friends yesterday to see what they thought. They both thought it was a meteor exploding in the atmosphere—a rather bright one called a bolide. Timelapse is slowed down to one frame per second for you to see it streaking and then exploding . . . Timelapse was setup over Northern Africa where it was very dark with lightning . . ."

Technical details: 1/2s exposure, ISO 25600, 15mm, T1.8, 1/2s intervalometer, 1 fps for the timelapse playback

Note: Fireballs and bolides are astronomical terms for exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to to be seen over a very wide area. A fireball is an unusually bright meteor that reaches a visual magnitude of -3 or brighter when seen at the observer’s zenith.

Objects causing fireball events can exceed one meter in size. Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides although the terms fireballs and bolides are often used interchangeably.

During the atmospheric entry phase, an impacting object is both slowed and heated by atmospheric friction. In front of it, a bow shock develops where atmospheric gases are compressed and heated. Part of this energy is radiated to the object causing it to ablate, and in most cases, to break apart. Fragmentation increases the amount of atmosphere intercepted and so enhances ablation and atmospheric braking. The object catastrophically disrupts when the force from the unequal pressures on the front and back sides exceeds its tensile strength.

Expedition 71 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/M. Dominick

Duration: 21 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 3, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Meteor #Bolide #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #UnitedStates #SpaceLaboratory #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition71 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #Timelapse #HD #Video

Wide-field View: Distant 'Question Mark' Galaxy Pair | Webb Telescope

Wide-field View: Distant 'Question Mark' Galaxy Pair | Webb Telescope

A cosmic question mark appears amid a powerful gravitational lens in the James Webb Space Telescope’s wide-field view of the galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154. Gravitational lensing occurs when something is so massive, like this galaxy cluster, that it warps the fabric of space-time itself, creating a natural funhouse-mirror effect that also magnifies galaxies behind it. 

The rarely seen type of lensing captured here that astronomers term hyperbolic umbilic, created five repeated images of one galaxy pair. The red, elongated member of this pair traces the familiar shape of a question mark across the sky due to the distortion. Another unrelated galaxy happening to be in just the right space-time to appear like the question mark’s dot—especially for humans who love to recognize familiar shapes and patterns. 

The Webb images and spectra in this research came from the Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). The research paper is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/532/1/577/7686125

Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), STScI, Vicente Estrada-Carpenter (Saint Mary's University)

Release Date: Sept. 4, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Galaxies #InteractingGalaxies #QuestionMarkPair #GravitationalLensing #GalaxyClusters #GalaxyclusterMACSJ041751154 #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

The Distant 'Cosmic Question Mark' Galaxy Pair | Webb Telescope

The Distant 'Cosmic Question Mark' Galaxy Pair | Webb Telescope

Amid a field of galaxies, a repeated, elongated red galaxy forms a shape like the top of a question mark, with another galaxy positioned like the question mark’s dot. In each occurrence, another white, clumpy galaxy with an overall circular shape appears perched on top of the red galaxy. A very bright foreground galaxy appears to the right of the bottom curve of the question mark shape. To the lower right, among other galaxies, another occurrence of the galaxy pair appears, unaffiliated with the question mark shape.

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope were surprised to find a distant, red galaxy distorted into the shape of a question mark. A specific, rarely-seen type of natural gravitational lens is causing the galaxy to appear multiple times. The lensing also magnifies the galaxy and its spiral companion, allowing astronomers to pinpoint specific regions of star formation, using a combination of infrared data from Webb and ultraviolet data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. 

While this region has been observed previously with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the dusty red galaxy that forms the intriguing question-mark shape only came into view with Webb. This is a result of the wavelengths of light that Hubble detects getting trapped in cosmic dust, while longer wavelengths of infrared light are able to pass through and be detected by Webb’s instruments.

Astronomers used both telescopes to observe the galaxy cluster MACS-J0417.5-1154. It acts like a magnifying glass because the cluster is so massive it warps the fabric of space-time. This allows astronomers to see enhanced detail in much more distant galaxies behind the cluster. However, the same gravitational effects that magnify the galaxies also cause distortion, resulting in galaxies that appear smeared across the sky in arcs and even appear multiple times. These optical illusions in space are called gravitational lensing. 

The red galaxy revealed by Webb, along with a spiral galaxy it is interacting with that was previously detected by Hubble, are being magnified and distorted in an unusual way. It requires a particular, rare alignment between the distant galaxies, the lens, and the observer—something astronomers call a hyperbolic umbilic gravitational lens. This accounts for the five images of the galaxy pair seen in Webb’s image, four of which trace the top of the question mark. The dot of the question mark is an unrelated galaxy that happens to be in the right place and space-time, from our perspective.

The Webb images and spectra in this research came from the Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). The research paper is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/532/1/577/7686125

Image Description: Amid a field of galaxies, a repeated, elongated red galaxy forms a shape like the top of a question mark, with another galaxy positioned like the question mark’s dot. In each occurrence, another white, clumpy galaxy with an overall circular shape appears perched on top of the red galaxy. A very bright foreground galaxy appears to the right of the bottom curve of the question  mark shape. To the lower right, among other galaxies, another occurrence of the galaxy pair appears, unaffiliated with the question mark shape.

Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), STScI, Vicente Estrada-Carpenter (Saint Mary's University)

Release Date: Sept. 4, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Galaxies #InteractingGalaxies #QuestionMarkPair #GravitationalLensing #GalaxyClusters #GalaxyclusterMACSJ041751154 #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #JWST #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #CSA #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

A Tour of Cygnus X-1 | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

A Tour of Cygnus X-1 | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Over three decades ago, Stephen Hawking placed, and eventually lost, a bet against the existence of a black hole in Cygnus X-1. Cygnus X-1 is a black hole about 15 times the mass of the Sun in orbit with a massive blue companion star. Astronomers used several telescopes, including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, to study Cygnus X-1. The combined data have revealed the spin, mass, and distance of this black hole more precisely than ever before. 

Stephen William Hawking (1942–2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. He was the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. The black hole pulls material from a massive, blue companion star toward it. This material forms a disk that rotates around the black hole before falling into it or being redirected away from the black hole in the form of powerful jets.

Astrophysics, scientists have determined the spin of Cygnus X-1 with unprecedented accuracy, showing that the black hole is spinning at very close to its maximum rate. Its event horizon—the point of no return for material falling towards a black hole—is spinning around more than 800 times a second.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 1 minute, 37 seconds 

Release Date: Nov. 28, 2011

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #CygnusX1 #BinaryStars #BlackHoles #Cygnus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #XrayObservatory #DSS #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #StephenHawking #Astrophysics #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Cygnus X-1 Star System & Black Hole: Wide-field & Artist views

Cygnus X-1 Star System & Black Hole: Wide-field & Artist views

Wide-field view of binary star system Cygnus X-1

Illustration of Cygnus X-1

Artist's impression of Cygnus X-1

Wide-field view of binary star system Cygnus X-1: This ground-based image showing the visible light component of Cygnus X-1 (center), a rich source of X-rays in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan.

Cygnus X-1 is a black hole about 15 times the mass of the Sun in orbit with a massive blue companion star. Using optical observations of the companion star and its motion around its unseen companion, the team made the most precise determination ever for the mass of Cygnus X-1, of 14.8 times the mass of the Sun. It was likely to have been almost this massive at birth, because of lack of time for it to grow appreciably.

Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way galaxy. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. The black hole pulls material from a massive, blue companion star toward it. This material forms a disk that rotates around the black hole before falling into it or being redirected away from the black hole in the form of powerful jets.

Distance: 6,070 light years

Image 1 Credit: Digital Sky Survey (DSS)/Release Date: Nov. 17, 2011

Image 2 Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss/Release Date: Nov. 17, 2011

Image 3 Credit: NASA, ESA, Martin Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble)/Release Date: Jan. 1, 2002

Image 4 Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)/Release Date: Jan. 1, 2002

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #CygnusX1 #BinaryStars #BlackHoles #Nebula #Sh2101 #Cygnus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #NASAChandra #XrayObservatory #DSS #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education

Cygnus X-1 Binary Star System | Mayall Telescope

Cygnus X-1 Binary Star System | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Cygnus X-1 is a binary star system that contains a black hole. The Cygnus X-1 system looks like a single star in this image. It is the brighter (bottom) of the two stars near the center of the image. Gas from the companion star is being pulled into the black hole. Before it falls in the gas becomes incredibly hot, so hot that it emits X-rays (which is how it was discovered). A portion of that gas does not fall into the black hole but instead is shot out as 'jets' of hot gas. The jet itself is not visible in this image but you can see the bowshock—the bluish umbrella-like shape at the top center of the image, that is produced when gas in the jet collides with other gas in the nebula. 

The bright orange gas to the left is the western edge of an emission nebula called Sharpless 101 (Sh2-101). The image was generated with observations in Hydrogen alpha (red) and Sulphur [S II] (blue) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.

Distance: 6,070 light years 

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) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

Release Date: June 30, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #CygnusX1 #BinaryStars #BlackHoles #Nebula #Sh2101 #Cygnus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #MayallTelescope #KPNO #Arizona #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Daring Mighty Things Together!

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Daring Mighty Things Together!

"The Jet Propulsion Laboratory holds a unique place in the universe. Here’s why."

"Located in Southern California, JPL is NASA’s leader in robotic exploration. We’ve sent rovers to Mars, probes into the farthest reaches of the solar system, and satellites to advance understanding of our home planet."

"Founded in 1936 as a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL built and helped launch America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. By the end of that year, Congress established NASA, and JPL became a part of the agency. Since then, JPL has continued to push the boundaries of what's possible, pioneering groundbreaking missions that expand our knowledge of the cosmos and inspire the next generation of explorers."

"We dare mighty things, together." 

Learn more about JPL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds

Release Date: Sept. 3, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Satellites #Explorer1 #Planets #Earth #Mars #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #RoboticExploration #Rovers #JPL #Caltech #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

Star Cluster & Nebula NGC 371 in The Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

Star Cluster & Nebula NGC 371 in The Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

This picture of the star cluster and surrounding nebula NGC 371 was taken using the FORS1 instrument on European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. NGC 371 lies in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.

Distance: 200,000 light years

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO) / Manu Mejias

Release Date: March 30, 2011

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #StarClusters #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC371 #Tucana #Constellation #SmallMagellanicCloud #SmallMagellanicCloud #SMC #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #Telescope #FORS1 #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

What's Up for September 2024? | Skywatching Tips from NASA

What's Up for September 2024? | Skywatching Tips from NASA

Examples of skywatching highlights in the northern hemisphere for September 2024:

Five planets each make appearances, the Harvest supermoon shows us a partial eclipse, then slices through the Pleiades. Plus International Observe the Moon Night and solar sail sightings!

0:00 Intro 

0:18 Sept. planets visibility

1:06 Moon & planet highlights

2:58 Solar sail visibility

3:38 International Observe the Moon Night

4:34 August photo highlights

4:48 September Moon phases

Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: Sept. 3, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Skywatching #Earth #Moon #Planets #SolarSystem #Stars #Pleiades #Constellations #MilkyWayGalaxy #JPL #Caltech #Skywatching #UnitedStates #Canada #Mexico #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #HD #Video