Tuesday, December 17, 2024

First Binary Star Found Near Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole | ESO

First Binary Star Found Near Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole | ESO

This image indicates the location of the newly discovered binary star D9, which is orbiting Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It is the first star pair ever found near a supermassive black hole. The cut-out shows  the binary system as detected by the SINFONI spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. While the two stars cannot be discerned separately in this image, the binary nature of D9 was revealed by the spectra captured by SINFONI over several years. These spectra showed that the light emitted by hydrogen gas around D9 oscillates periodically towards red and blue wavelengths as the two stars orbit each other.
D9 is the first star pair ever found near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This image shows an emission line of hydrogen mapped by the SINFONI instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The instrument provides a spectrum for every single pixel; over the years, the emission around D9 was found to oscillate periodically towards red and blue wavelengths which revealed that D9 is actually two stars orbiting each other.
This 340-million-pixel image of the central parts of our galactic home, image shows the region spanning the sky from the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) to Scorpius (the Scorpion). The very colorful Rho Ophiuchi and Antares region features prominently to the right, as well as much darker areas, such as the Pipe and Snake Nebulae. The dusty lane of our Milky Way runs obliquely through the image, dotted with remarkable bright, reddish nebulae, such as the Lagoon and the Trifid Nebulae, as well as NGC 6357 and NGC 6334. This dark lane also hosts the very center of our Galaxy, where a supermassive black hole is lurking.
The Laser Guide Star (LGS) is launched from the VLT's 8.2-meter Yepun Telescope and aims at the center of our galaxy, in the heart of the brightest part of the Milky Way. The laser beam is part of the VLT's adaptive optics system. It creates an artificial star at 90 km altitude in the Earth´s mesosphere. This star is used as reference to correct images and spectra for the blurring effect of the atmosphere. The plane of the Milky Way is crossed by prominent dark lanes, huge clouds of interstellar dust that block the visible light. Thanks to the infrared instruments mounted in the Yepun Telescope, astronomers can “see through” and study the complex and turbulent core of our galaxy, where a supermassive black hole is lurking. The ESO's Very Large Telescope is composed by four 8.2-meter Unit Telescopes (UTs, where Yepun is UT4) plus four 1.8-meter movable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs).

An international team of researchers has detected a binary star orbiting close to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It is the first time a stellar pair has been found in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. The discovery, based on data collected by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), helps us understand how stars survive in environments with extreme gravity, and could pave the way for the detection of planets close to Sagittarius A*.

“Black holes are not as destructive as we thought,” says Florian Peißker, a researcher at the University of Cologne, Germany, and lead author of the study published today in Nature Communications. Binary stars, pairs of stars orbiting each other, are very common in the Universe, but they had never before been found near a supermassive black hole, where the intense gravity can make stellar systems unstable.

This new discovery shows that binaries can briefly thrive, even under destructive conditions. D9, as the newly discovered binary star is called, was detected just in time: it is estimated to be only 2.7 million years old, and the strong gravitational force of the nearby black hole will probably cause it to merge into a single star within just one million years, a very narrow timespan for such a young system.

“This provides only a brief window on cosmic timescales to observe such a binary system — and we succeeded!” explains co-author Emma Bordier, a researcher also at the University of Cologne and a former student at ESO.

For many years, scientists also thought that the extreme environment near a supermassive black hole prevented new stars from forming there. Several young stars found in close proximity to Sagittarius A* have disproved this assumption. The discovery of the young binary star now shows that even stellar pairs have the potential to form in these harsh conditions. “The D9 system shows clear signs of the presence of gas and dust around the stars, which suggests that it could be a very young stellar system that must have formed in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole,” explains co-author Michal Zajaček, a researcher at Masaryk University, Czechia, and the University of Cologne.

The newly discovered binary was found in a dense cluster of stars and other objects orbiting Sagittarius A*, called the S cluster. Most enigmatic in this cluster are the G objects. They behave like stars but look like clouds of gas and dust. 

It was during their observations of these mysterious objects that the team found a surprising pattern in D9. The data obtained with the VLT’s ERIS instrument, combined with archival data from the SINFONI instrument, revealed recurring variations in the velocity of the star, indicating D9 was actually two stars orbiting each other. “I thought that my analysis was wrong,” Peißker says, “but the spectroscopic pattern covered about 15 years, and it was clear this detection is indeed the first binary observed in the S cluster.”

The results shed new light on what the mysterious G objects could be. The team proposes that they might actually be a combination of binary stars that have not yet merged and the leftover material from already merged stars.

The precise nature of many of the objects orbiting Sagittarius A*, as well as how they could have formed so close to the supermassive black hole, remain a mystery. However, soon, the GRAVITY+ upgrade to the VLT Interferometer and the METIS instrument on ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), under construction in Chile, could change this. Both facilities will allow the team to carry out even more detailed observations of the Galactic center, revealing the nature of known objects and undoubtedly uncovering more binary stars and young systems. “Our discovery lets us speculate about the presence of planets, since these are often formed around young stars. It seems plausible that the detection of planets in the Galactic center is just a matter of time,” concludes Peißker.

This research was presented in the paper “A binary system in the S cluster close to the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*” published today in Nature Communications (doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54748-3).

Link: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2418/eso2418a.pdf


Image Credits: ESO/F. Peißker et al., S. Guisard/G. Hüdepohl
Release Date: Dec. 17, 2024


#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #BinaryStars #D9 #SCluster #SagittariusA #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #UnitedStates #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Christmas Greetings from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit | International Space Station

Christmas Greetings from NASA Astronaut Don Pettit | International Space Station

A "High Tech Christmas" by Don Pettit

I’m dreaming of Christmas all snowy and white

while my ears are whispering Silent Night

An object flew by up high in the air

​my eyes focused in on things that weren’t there

I thought for a moment I was out of my mind

​it was really an encounter of the third kind

With sonic speed I could picture my doom

​a few moments later I shook from the boom

It screamed to a halt, right over my head

​and hovering there was a strange looking sled

It gave off an aurora from spontaneous emission

​was obviously powered by nuclear fission

From behind it was pushed by a rocket reindeer

​with ion exhaust drowning all you can hear

Was epoxy-graphite, titanium construction

​a sled so to speak of high-tech instruction

Preconceived thoughts made me shimmer with glee

​to be showed with gifts in a gluttonous spree

I expected at least some sort of computer

​from such an advanced space age commuter

Instead boomed a voice that was both short and tall

​“Peace on Earth my friend, Merry Christmas to all”

Then without so much as a silicon chip

​the sled ventured off on the rest of its trip

I thought for a moment I was going to cry

​that all Christmas goodies had passed me on by

But then I remembered those words in my ears

​the best Christmas gift I have had in years



Expedition 72 Updates:

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.


Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Don Pettit
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Christmas2024 #MerryChristmas #Poetry #Poem #SpaceX #DragonCargoSpacecraft #CRS31 #Undocking #CommercialResupplyServices #Astronaut #DonPettit #AstronautPhotography #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceTechnology #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Russia #Roscosmos #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

CRS-31 SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Undocking | International Space Station

CRS-31 SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Undocking | International Space Station

At 11:05 a.m. EST, on December 16, 2024, NASA's unpiloted Commercial Resupply Services Mission#31 (CRS-31) SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocked from the forward port of the Harmony module at the International Space Station following a command from ground controllers at SpaceX. After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida on Tuesday, Dec. 17. NASA will not stream the splashdown but will post updates on the agency’s space station blog.

Filled with nearly 6,000 pounds of crew supplies, science investigations, and equipment, the spacecraft arrived to the orbiting laboratory Nov. 5, 2024, after it launched Nov. 4 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the agency’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services mission.

CRS-31 is the fifth flight for this Dragon spacecraft. It previously flew CRS-21, CRS-23, CRS-25, and CRS-28 to the International Space Station for NASA. 

More information on CRS-31: 

NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) Program:

Expedition 72 Updates:

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.


Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Don Pettit
Duration: 13 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #SpaceX #DragonCargoSpacecraft #CRS31 #Undocking #CommercialResupplyServices #Astronaut #DonPettit #AstronautPhotography #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceTechnology #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Russia #Roscosmos #Expedition72 #TimelapsePhotography #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Monday, December 16, 2024

Shenzhou-19 Crew Prepares for First Spacewalk | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Prepares for First Spacewalk | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-19 crew is about to conduct their first extravehicular activity at the Tiangong Space Station. In addition to conducting space science experiments, the three crew members are intensively preparing for their upcoming extravehicular (EVA). This will also be the first EVA for China's post-90s generation astronauts.

The crew members—Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze—were sent to the Tiangong Space Station on October 30, 2024, for a six-month mission.

China's new generation spacesuits for station spacewalks, introduced in 2021, each weigh 120 kilograms, about twice the weight of a Chinese astronaut (taikonaut). Once trained, they can put on or take off the spacesuit within 3 minutes.

China's earliest Feitian spacesuit was used on Shenzhou 7, worn by taikonaut Zhai Zhigang during China's first-ever spacewalk on September 27, 2008. The improved version of the Feitian spacesuit now used aboard the Tiangong Space Station was first tested on Shenzhou 12's EVA, on July 4, 2021.

During their flight, the three Shenzhou-19 astronauts will conduct 86 space science research and technology experiments, covering fields, such as space life sciences, basic microgravity physics, space material science, aerospace medicine, and new aerospace technologies.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:
Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/TiangongTV 
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2024


#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #Spacewalk #EVA #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Training in Florida | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Training in Florida | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members stand between Falcon 9 first-stage boosters at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia), Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), along with NASA Astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members stand in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Commander Anne McClain of NASA, Pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, and Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia).
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members pose in front of their Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle as part of their SpaceX crew training at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Commander Anne McClain of NASA, Pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, and Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia).
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia) stands in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi stands in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers and Pilot of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission pictured at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Commander Anne McClain is pictured at the launch tower at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 
Official crew portrait of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 members:
 (from left) Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos (Russia); Pilot Nicole Ayers and Commander Anne McClain, both NASA astronauts; and Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Four crew members are preparing to launch for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Russia will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory no earlier than February 2025.

The flight is the 10th crew rotation with SpaceX to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). While aboard, the international crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions and benefit people on Earth.

Astronaut Nichole Ayers NASA Biography:

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi Biography:

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission will be the first spaceflight for Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Russia. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test-cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.

Learn more about NASA's SpaceX Crew-10:

NASA's Commercial Crew Program:

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.

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Image Dates: Nov. 18-Dec. 16, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #SpaceXCrew10 #SpaceX #CrewDragonSpacecraft #Falcon9Rocket #Astronauts #AnneMcClain #Crew10MissionCommander #NicholeAyers #TakuyaOnishi #Japan #日本 #Cosmonaut #KirillPeskov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #CCP #Expedition72 #Expedition73 #JSC #NASAKennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Mars Images: December 12-16, 2024 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars Images: December 12-16, 2024 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1356
Mars 2020 - sol 1356
Mars 2020 - sol 1359
Mars 2020 - sol 1358
MSL - sol 4393
Mars 2020 - sol 1355

Celebrating 12+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)
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 3+ 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.
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 Date: Dec. 12-16, 2024

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

Most Thrilling Moments of China's Space Endeavors in 2024

Most Thrilling Moments of China's Space Endeavors in 2024

Crewed space station missions, sampling of the Moon's far side south pole and more commercial launches—Check on the most exhilarating moments in China's space in 2024. 

Spoiler Alert: Crewed lunar landings are on the way . . .

China's 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 June 2, 2024.

The returner of the Chang'e-6 probe touched down safely on Earth, June 25, 2024, in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It brought back the world's first samples collected from the Moon's far side south polar region. These are critical for a better understanding of the Moon's origin, its geological history, and its interactions with our planet.

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: New China TV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2024 


#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Moon #Change6 #嫦娥六号 #LunarSampleReturn #FarSide #SouthPole #Shenzhou18 #Shenzhou19 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #CNSA #中国国家航天局 #CMSA #国家航天局 #CLEP #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hubble’s Inside the Image: Protoplanetary Disks | NASA Goddard

Hubble’s Inside the Image: Protoplanetary Disks | NASA Goddard

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured stunning images of protoplanetary disks—dynamic, swirling structures of gas and dust surrounding young stars. In this video, Dr. Padi Boyd takes us on a journey through these remarkable objects, explaining how Hubble's observations are unraveling the mysteries of planet formation and providing a glimpse into the birthplaces of new solar systems.


Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 
Producer, Director & Editor: James Leigh
Director of Photography: James Ball
Executive Producers: James Leigh & Matthew Duncan
Production & Post: Origin Films 
Video Credits:
Hubble Space Telescope Animation:
ESA/Hubble - M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen
Exoplanet Animations: 
ESA/Hubble - M. Kornmesser & L. Calçada
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: December 16, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #ProtoplanetaryDisks #Planets #Exoplanets #Galaxies #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Animation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Evidence for Planet-forming Discs Living Longer in Early Universe | Webb

Evidence for Planet-forming Discs Living Longer in Early Universe | Webb

This is a NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope image of NGC 346, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors. With its relative lack of elements heavier than helium and hydrogen, the NGC 346 cluster serves as a nearby proxy for studying stellar environments with similar conditions in the early, distant Universe. Ten, small, yellow circles overlaid on the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in this study.

This image features NGC 346, one of the most dynamic star-forming regions in nearby galaxies, as seen by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
This graph shows, on the bottom left in yellow, a spectrum of one of the 10 target stars in this study (as well as accompanying light from the immediate background environment). Spectral fingerprints of hot atomic helium, cold molecular hydrogen, and hot atomic hydrogen are highlighted. On the top left in magenta is a spectrum slightly offset from the star that includes only light from the background environment. This second spectrum lacks a spectral line of cold molecular hydrogen.
On the right is the comparison of the top and bottom lines. This comparison shows a large peak in the cold molecular hydrogen coming from the star but not its nebular environment. Also, atomic hydrogen shows a larger peak from the star. This indicates the presence of a protoplanetary disc immediately surrounding the star. The data was taken with the microshutter array on the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) instrument.

NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope finds planet-forming discs lived longer in early Universe. New data refutes current theories of planet formation in Universe’s early days. Webb just solved a conundrum by proving a controversial finding made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope more than 20 years ago. In 2003, Hubble provided evidence of a massive planet around a very old star, almost as old as the Universe. Such stars possess only small amounts of heavier elements that are the building blocks of planets. This implied that some planet formation happened when our Universe was very young, and those planets had time to form and grow big inside their primordial discs, even bigger than Jupiter. But how? This was puzzling.

To answer this question, researchers used Webb to study stars in a nearby galaxy that, much like the early Universe, lacks large amounts of heavy elements. They found that not only do stars there have planet-forming discs, but that those discs are longer-lived than those seen around young stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

“With Webb, we have a really strong confirmation of what we saw with Hubble, and we must rethink how we model planet formation and early evolution in the young Universe,” said study leader Guido De Marchi of ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, Netherlands.

A Different Environment in Early Times
In the early Universe, stars formed from mostly hydrogen and helium, and very few heavier elements, such as carbon and iron. These came later through supernova explosions.

“Current models predict that with so few heavier elements, the discs around stars have a short lifetime, so short in fact that planets cannot grow big,” said the Webb study’s co-investigator Elena Sabbi, chief scientist for Gemini Observatory at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab in Tucson. “But Hubble did see those planets, so what if the models were not correct and discs could live longer?”

To test this idea, scientists trained Webb on the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors. In particular, they examined the massive, star-forming cluster NGC 346. It also has a relative lack of heavier elements. The cluster served as a nearby proxy for studying stellar environments with similar conditions in the early, distant Universe.

Hubble observations of NGC 346 from the mid 2000s revealed many stars about 20 to 30 million years old that seemed to still have planet-forming discs around them. This went against the conventional belief that such discs would dissipate after 2 or 3 million years.

“The Hubble findings were controversial, going against not only empirical evidence in our galaxy but also against the current models,” said De Marchi. “This was intriguing, but without a way to obtain spectra of those stars, we could not really establish whether we were witnessing genuine accretion and the presence of discs, or just some artificial effects.”

Now, thanks to Webb’s sensitivity and resolution, scientists have the first-ever spectra of forming, Sun-like stars and their immediate environments in a nearby galaxy.

“We see that these stars are indeed surrounded by discs and are still in the process of gobbling material, even at the relatively old age of 20 or 30 million years,” said De Marchi. “This also implies that planets have more time to form and grow around these stars than in nearby star-forming regions in our own galaxy.”

A New Way of Thinking
This finding refutes previous theoretical predictions that when there are very few heavier elements in the gas around the disc, the star would very quickly blow away the disc. So the disc’s life would be very short, even less than a million years. However, if a disc does not stay around the star long enough for the dust grains to stick together and pebbles to form and become the core of a planet, how can planets form?

The researchers explained that there could be two distinct mechanisms, or even a combination, for planet-forming discs to persist in environments scarce in heavier elements.

First, to be able to blow away the disc, the star applies radiation pressure. For this pressure to be effective, elements heavier than hydrogen and helium would have to reside in the gas. The massive star cluster NGC 346 only has about ten percent of the heavier elements that are present in the chemical composition of our Sun. Perhaps it simply takes longer for a star in this cluster to disperse its disc.

The second possibility is that, for a Sun-like star to form when there are few heavier elements, it would have to start from a larger cloud of gas. A larger gas cloud will produce a bigger disc. Thus, there is more mass in the disc and therefore it would take longer to blow the disc away, even if the radiation pressure were working in the same way.

“With more matter around the stars, the accretion lasts for a longer time,” said Sabbi. "The discs take ten times longer to disappear. This has implications for how you form a planet, and the type of system architecture that you can have in these different environments. This is so exciting.”

The science team’s paper appears in the December 16, 2024 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Webb #StarClusters #StarCluster #NGC346 #Tucana #Constellation #SmallMagellanicCloud #SMC #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #NASAWebb #JWST #NIRSpec #Infrared #SpaceTelescopes #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Infographic #STEM #Education

Seeing Eye to Eye: Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis | Hubble

Seeing Eye to Eye: Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis | Hubble

Featured in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope picture is the spiral galaxy NGC 2566. It sits 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis. A prominent bar of stars stretches across the center of this galaxy, and spiral arms emerge from each end of the bar. Because NGC 2566 appears tilted from our perspective, its disc takes on an almond shape, giving the galaxy the appearance of a cosmic eye.

As NGC 2566 gazes at us, astronomers gaze right back, using Hubble to survey the galaxy’s star clusters and star-forming regions. The Hubble data are especially valuable for studying stars that are just a few million years old; these stars are bright at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive. Using these data, researchers will measure the ages of NGC 2566’s stars, helping to piece together the timeline of the galaxy’s star formation and the exchange of gas between star-forming clouds and stars themselves.

Several other astronomical observatories have examined NGC 2566, including the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The Webb data complement this Hubble image, adding a view of NGC 2566’s warm, glowing dust to Hubble’s stellar portrait. At the long-wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum, NGC 2566 has also been observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA is a network of 66 radio telescopes that work together as one to capture detailed images of the clouds of gas in which stars form. Together, Hubble, Webb and ALMA provide an overview of the formation, lives and deaths of stars in galaxies across the Universe.

Image Description: An oval-shaped spiral galaxy. Its core is a compact, glowing blue spot. A bright bar of light, lined with dark reddish dust, extends horizontally to the edge of the disc. A spiral arm emerges from each end of the bar and follows the edge of the disc, lined with blue and red glowing patches of stars, to the opposite end and a little off the galaxy. Blue stars are scattered between us and the galaxy.


Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker
Release Date: Dec. 16, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #NGC2566 #SpiralGalaxy #Puppis #Constellation #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Sunday, December 15, 2024

China to Launch New Long March-8 Rocket at First Commercial Space Launch Site

China to Launch New Long March-8 Rocket at First Commercial Space Launch Site

China's new-generation medium-sized rocket, the Long March-8 (CZ-8), was successfully transferred to the launching area at the country's first commercial space launch site in Wenchang of China's south island province of Hainan on Sunday afternoon, December 15, 2024—ready to be launched at an appropriate time in the coming days.

The rocket was developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). It adopts liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (LH/LOX)—a "green" and environmentally friendly liquid propellant, and concluded a successful full rehearsal in early November this year. The new Long March-8 rocket implements a larger 3.35 meters diameter liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen second stage, coupled with two upgraded versions of the YF-75D engines (known as the YF-75H) with increased thrust to 10 tonnes each through measures, such as increased turbopump speeds. The Long March 8A can also use a larger 5.2 meter diameter payload fairing.

At 13:44, the rocket was transferred to No. 1 launch pad at the Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site.

Construction of the No. 1 launch pad started in July 2022 and finished on December 29, 2023.

The launch of Long March-8 marks the inaugural event for the No. 1 launch pad, serving as a further capability test of the launch site following its first successful launch mission.

On Nov. 30, a Long March-12 carrier rocket was successfully launched into space, serving as the maiden launch mission undertaken by the launch site.

China's commercial space industry expanded from 800 billion yuan (about 112 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019 to 1.9 trillion yuan in 2023. The market scale is expected to reach 2.34 trillion yuan by the end of 2024, according to an industry report.


Video Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)
Duration: 28 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #CNSA #中国国家航天局 #LongMarch8 #CZ8 #CZ8A #长征八号运载火箭 #Rocket #RocketEngine #LHLOX #LiquidHydrogen #LiquidOxygen #RocketLaunch #CarrierRocket #MediumLift #CASC #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #CommercialSpace #Spaceflight #HICAL #WSLS #Wenchang #Hainan #STEM #Education #HD #Video

SpaceX Starship Static Fire: Preparing for Starship Flight Test#7

SpaceX Starship Static Fire: Preparing for Starship Flight Test#7

On December 15, 2024, SpaceX performed a brief static test fire of the Starship that will be used for Flight Test#7 at SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 121m/397ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."

Learn more about Starship:
Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):


Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Duration: 11 seconds
Capture Date: Dec.15, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship7 #TestFlight7 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Download Free 2025 ESA Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

Download Free 2025 ESA Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes Calendar | ESA

To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new 2025 calendar that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions.

Print, share & enjoy:

High Resolution Digital 2025 Calendar PDF File (100 MB)
https://esahubble.org/media/archives/calendars/pdf/cal2025.pdf
Low Resolution Digital 2025 Calendar PDF File (6 MB)

The 2025 calendar features a selection of images from press releases (for Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published in 2024. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more.

Here is a list of images in the 2025 calendar:

Cover: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud lies the young star cluster NGC 602 where star formation is ongoing. This image highlights the cluster stars, the young stellar objects, and the surrounding gas and dust ridges, while also showing background galaxies and other stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

January: The giant planet Jupiter, in all its banded glory, is revisited by Hubble in this image taken on January 6, 2024. A pair of battling storms are visible right of center, a deep red cyclone and a reddish anticyclone. To the left of the planet its volcanic moon Io appears.

February: This sharpest-ever infrared view of the famous Horsehead Nebula from Webb shows the depth and complexity of the thick clumps of material like never before. Also featured are Hubble’s 23rd anniversary image, and one of the first images from ESA’s Euclid telescope.

March: The two bright ‘eyes’ and semi-circular ‘smile’ in the Webb image of this spiral galaxy are the result of an off-center collision by the elliptical galaxy now seen here to its left. A tenuous gas bridge runs between the galaxies, together known as Arp 107. 

April: M76, the colorful Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula created by a collapsing red giant star. Hot, vibrant gases are propelled outwards by the now white-dwarf’s stellar winds; the red color is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen. Hubble turned to this favorite target of amateur astronomers for its 34th anniversary in April 2024.

May: This is NGC 5253, a starburst galaxy filled with extraordinary star clusters and continually forming stars. Hubble’s image reveals super star clusters lurking in its core amongst dark dust clouds. As a dwarf galaxy, it resembles ancient galaxies and is a laboratory to study star and galaxy evolution.

June: Among the many massive galaxies of the lensing galaxy cluster shown here, SPT-CL J0615−5746, lies the Cosmic Gems arc. An infant galaxy from just 460 million years after the Big Bang, it is visible thanks to strong gravitational lensing by the cluster. Astronomers are using Webb to map its inner workings.

July: R Aquarii is a binary star system surrounded by a large, dynamic nebula. Outbursts eject powerful jets, forming loops and trails as plasma emerges in streamers. They are energized by blistering radiation from the stellar duo to glow in visible light.

August: A stunning mosaic of images from Webb showcases the nearby star-forming cluster, NGC 1333, in the Perseus molecular cloud. Large patches of orange represent gas glowing in the infrared as ionised material ejected from young stars collides with the surrounding cloud. They are hallmarks of a very active site of star formation.

September: Omega Centauri is the brightest, largest, and most massive Milky Way globular cluster known. This image shows the depth and extent of its population of stars. In 2024 astronomers found new evidence in Hubble data that it hides an intermediate-mass black hole at its center.

October: The Serpens Nebula is home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars. This Webb image shows the nebula’s center. Filaments and wisps of different hues represent reflected starlight from still-forming protostars within the cloud; dust in front of that reflection appears in an orange, diffuse shade.

November: Hubble continued its long run of capturing beautiful celestial objects in fine color and detail in 2024, and this year as ever, many were spiral galaxies. Seen here are NGC 4951, NGC 3810, NGC 3783 and Messier 90, gems from a treasure trove of new Hubble observations.

December: Westerlund 1 is one of our galaxy’s few remaining super star clusters. Its large, dense, and diverse population of massive stars is unrivalled in the Milky Way galaxy. Webb can pierce the dense dust surrounding it and study its population of lower-mass stars.

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


Credit: ESA/Webb/ESA Hubble Team
Release Date: Dec. 12, 2024


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #HST #JWST #Planets #Stars #StarClusters #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #AdobePDF #PDF #FreeCalendar #Calendar2025 #STEM #Education

Stars Castor & Pollux in Gemini | UK's New Forest Observatory

Stars Castor & Pollux in Gemini UK's New Forest Observatory



Data captured with a Meade 127mm apo-refractor, a 500 lines/mm transmission grating-3D printed spectrometer and a QHY5-11m camera. Spectral data processed using Basic Astronomical Spectroscopy Software (BASS) Project.

Featured here is an image of the stars Castor and Pollux, the prominent stars in the constellation Gemini (The Twins). As you will have noted if you have ever looked at this constellation, Castor and Pollux are quite close in brightness—1.93 magnitude and 1.14 magnitude, respectively. Blue-white Castor is part of a multiple star system, approximately 52 light years away. Pollux, an orange giant, is slightly brighter than Castor and is found about 34 light years away. 

All stars emit light across a variety of spectral wavelengths or colors. The wavelength that light output peaks provides information about a star's temperature. Pollux is classified as a K0 IIIb spectral-type star. It is actually cooler than our Sun, having an estimated surface temperature of 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,400 degrees Celsius), compared with the Sun's surface temperature of 10,000 F (5,500 C). Castor is an A type Main Sequence star (A1V + dM1e), much more massive than the Sun and much hotter (between 8,000-10,000 C). This spectral comparison between Castor and Pollux was another collaborative effort with my spectroscopist friend, George Roberts.

Image Details: Taken with the 200 mm lenses and M26C OSC CCDs on the MiniWASP array.


Image & Caption Credit: Greg Parker
Location: New Forest Observatory, U.K. Coordinates: 50.819444, -1.59
The JPO, Suffolk, U.K. Coordinates: 52.483161, 1.702376
Release Date: Dec. 12, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Spectra #StarSystems #Castor #Star #Pollux #OrangeGiant #Gemini #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Optical #Astrophotographer #GregParker #Astrophotography #Suffolk #UK #UnitedKingdom #STEM #Education #EPoD

China's Shenzhou-19 Station Crew in Full Swing Conducting Scientific Experiments

China's Shenzhou-19 Station Crew in Full Swing Conducting Scientific Experiments

China's Shenzhou-19 crew have been carrying out multiple scientific and technical research tasks in an orderly manner over their past 47 days aboard the orbiting Tiangong Space Station.

During research on the biological effects and molecular mechanisms of fruit flies under a weak magnetic field in space, crew members completed the transfer and collection of fruit flies with a soft glove cover.

They also carried out the replacement of the gas purification module, plus the transfer and storage of the fruit flies' collection tube. The experiment is expected to realize the first clear generation of fruit flies at the China Space Station.

In an experiment to monitoring and guide astronaut heart rates and other data in a range of situations, crew members used activity recording devices to collect their heart rates and other health data. Then, they backed the data up and sent it to the ground for analysis.

The crew have completed the in-orbit upgrade and testing of the station's material information management system. This system plays the role of a "smart warehouse", recording the consumption and location changes of materials within the space station in real time.

During the six-month mission in orbit, the crew will conduct audiological tests regularly to monitor their hearing health.

The crew has continued their weightlessness protection training since they arrived at the space station in late October. This is to better ensure their physical health and in-orbit working ability during their long-term mission.

The Shenzhou-19 crew has also carried out inspection and maintenance work on the devices of the regenerative life support system. This helps recycle consumable resources, such as water at the China Space Station to ensure the long-term stay of astronauts in orbit.

Of course, the crew also regularly cleaned the cabin environment and organized the storage of devices and materials.

The crew members—Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze—were sent to the Tiangong Space Station on October 30, 2024, for a six-month mission.

During their flight, the three astronauts will conduct 86 space science research and technology experiments, covering fields, such as space life sciences, basic microgravity physics, space material science, aerospace medicine, and new aerospace technologies.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:
Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Dec. 15, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #SpaceDebris #MicrogravityExperiments #Maintenance #CMSA #国家航天局 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Journey to Nebula LHA 120-N150 in Dorado | Hubble

Journey to Nebula LHA 120-N150 in Dorado | Hubble


This video zooms in on the nebula LHA 120-N150. It begins with a view of the night sky focused on the Large Magellanic Cloud, as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, which show the whole Tarantula Nebula — in which LHA 120-N150 is located. The video finally ends with a view of the nebula obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The final image shows a region of space called LHA 120-N150. It is a substructure of the gigantic Tarantula Nebula. The latter is the largest known stellar nursery in the local Universe. The nebula is situated more than 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf irregular galaxy that orbits our Milky Way.

Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Duration: 51 seconds
Release Date: March 18, 2020


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebulae #LHA120N150 #N150 #Nebula #TarantulaNebula #Dorado #Constellation #LargeMagellanicCloud #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video