Shenzhou-19 Astronaut Wang Haoze Shares Joys of Life on China's Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Astronaut Wang Haoze Shares Joys of Life on China's Space Station

Chinese astronaut Wang Haoze of the Shenzhou-19 crew shared that her favorite activity in space is to gaze at the breathtaking sceneries of the mountains and rivers of her homeland, savoring the beauty of the Earth from orbit.

Wang Haoze, China's first female space flight engineer, along with fellow astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, is on a six-month mission aboard the Tiangong Space Station. The trio arrived at the orbiting station following the launch of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on October 30 last year.

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: Jan. 30, 2025

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

Geyser Season on Planet Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Geyser Season on Planet Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Gas geysers on Mars blow out dark, triangle-shaped fans of dust and sand onto the red Martian surface.

This image from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captures geysers of gas and dust that occur in springtime in the South Polar region of Mars. As the Sun rises higher in the sky, the thick coating of carbon dioxide ice that accumulated over the winter begins to warm and then turn to vapor. Sunlight penetrates through the transparent ice and is absorbed at the base of the ice layer. The gas that forms because of the warming escapes through weaknesses in the ice and erupts in the form of geysers. They can be seen here blowing out dark, triangle-shaped fans of dust and sand onto the red Martian surface.

HiRISE, or the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, is a powerful camera that takes pictures covering vast areas of Martian terrain while being able to see features as small as a kitchen table.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006. 

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE. It was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

For more information on MRO, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mro

science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/mission/index.html

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Image Date: Oct. 29, 2018
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #Spring #SouthPole #Geysers #CarbonDioxideIce #CarbonDioxideGas #Dust #MRO #MarsOrbiter #MarsSpacecraft #HiRISECamera #JPL #Caltech #BallAerospace #MSSS #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Los componentes básicos de la vida | NASA en Español

Los componentes básicos de la vida | NASA en Español

La vida, tal como la conocemos, comienza con los ingredientes más pequeños: aminoácidos y nucleobases, los bloques esenciales de la existencia. Pero, ¿de dónde provienen y cómo se forman?

Desde el ADN hasta las proteínas, los astrobiólogos están desentrañando, poco a poco, los secretos de la receta de la vida. Aquí te contamos lo que necesitas saber sobre los componentes básicos de la vida.

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

Video Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #Astrobiology #Biology #AminoAcids #Nucleobases #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #Animation #HD #Video

What You Need to Know About The Building Blocks of Life | Science@NASA

What You Need to Know About The Building Blocks of Life | Science@NASA

Life as we know it begins with the smallest of ingredients: amino acids and nucleobases, the essential building blocks of life. Where do these building blocks come from and how do they form?

From DNA to proteins, astrobiologists are uncovering the secrets of life’s recipe one step at a time. Find out what you need to know about the building blocks of life.

Learn more at Astrobiolgy@NASA:

https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Astrobiology #Biology #AminoAcids #Nucleobases #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #Animation #HD #Video

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission Finds Ingredients of Life on Asteroid Bennu

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission Finds Ingredients of Life on Asteroid Bennu

The origin of life is one of the deepest mysteries in science, but the clues to solving it have been buried by plate tectonics, the water cycle, and even life itself. For answers, scientists are looking beyond Earth to primitive asteroids like Bennu, the target of NASA’s daring OSIRIS-REx sample return mission. OSIRIS-REx gathered pristine material from Bennu in 2020 and delivered it to Earth in 2023. Now, rocks from Bennu are revealing a lost world from the dawn of the solar system, with the right conditions to foster the building blocks of life.

Learn more about OSIRIS-REx and asteroid Bennu: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex
Follow sample-delivery updates on NASA's OSIRIS-REx blog: 
https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/
OSIRIS-REx NASA page: 
https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
University of Arizona's OSIRIS-REx Mission Page: 
http://www.asteroidmission.org
University of Arizona's OSIRIS-APEX Mission Page:
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/missions/osiris-apex

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Dan Gallagher: Producer/Narrator
Daniel Glavin: Scientist
Jason Dworkin: Project Scientist
Tim McCoy: Scientist
Sara Russell: Scientist
Duration: 4 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Astrobiology #OSIRISRExMission #OSIRISAPEXMission #OSIRISRExSpacecraft #Asteroids #AstreroidBennu #ToBennuAndBack #SampleReturn #SpaceTechnology #CSA #Canada #CNES #France #JSC #GSFC #UArizona #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Williams & Wilmore: Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

Williams & Wilmore Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

Two spacesuits are pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. The two spacewalkers are scheduled to exit the Quest airlock on Jan. 30 to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly and search for microbes outside the orbital outpost.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit's reflection is pictured on the helmet visor of a spacesuit in this photograph he took inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

A spacesuit is pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. 

A spacesuit is pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams works in the Quest airlock readying a pair of spacesuits that she and NASA astronaut Nick Hague will wear during a spacewalk to remove radio communications hardware and search for microbes outside the International Space Station.

The official portrait of the International Space Station's Expedition 72 crew. At the top (from left) are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronaut and space station Commander Suni Williams, and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore. In the middle row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Don Pettit. In the bottom row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Nick Hague.

The official insignia of the Expedition 72 crew that will live and work aboard the International Space Station for long duration space research missions in 2024 and 2025. The simple patch design highlights the configuration of the orbital laboratory with its six roll-out solar arrays augmenting the station's power generation system.

The Expedition 72 crew members have completed preparations for a science and maintenance spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, January 30, 2025. Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, two NASA astronauts,  are scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 8am EST on Thursday. They have finished their procedure reviews and spacesuit checks. They also joined NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit and practiced on a computer the Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers necessary to remove radio communications hardware, the first of two main spacewalking tasks. The second main task will see the two spacewalkers swab sites outside the orbital outpost to collect samples of potential microbes for analysis.

This will be the ninth spacewalk for Williams and the 274th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: 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 Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/D. Pettit
Image Dates: Jan. 23 & 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Spacewalk #EVA #EVA274 #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #ButchWilmore #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS | International Space Station

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS | International Space Station

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS seems to be near Earth's horizon though it is over 305 million miles away in this photograph taken by NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit. The International Space Station was orbiting into a sunrise 258 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

C/2024 G3 ATLAS is a long-period, sungrazing comet. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on January 13, 2025, at a distance of 0.09 AU from the Sun. It could become the brightest comet of 2025, possibly exceeding an apparent magnitude of −3.5.

The comet was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey on April 5, 2024, in images obtained with a 0.5-m reflector telescope located in Río Hurtado, Chile.

Learn more:
https://fallingstar.com
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-overview/

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: 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)/D. Pettit
Image Date: Jan. 10, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Sun #Planet #Earth #Comets #CometC2024G3 #ATLAS #SolarSystem #Astronauts #DonPettit #AstronautPhotography #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Shenzhou-19 Astronauts Get 'Lucky' Haircuts for Festival | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Astronauts Get 'Lucky' Haircuts for Festival | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China's orbiting space station just had their lucky haircut to put on a fresh outlook for the coming Chinese New Year. In a video released on Tuesday, a temporary barber shop in Tiangong Space Station opened as crew members scrubbed up their appearance to give each other haircuts.

China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct. 30, 2024, last year, sending three astronauts, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, to the orbiting space station for a six-month mission.

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: 1 minute
Release Date: Jan. 29, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #SpringFestival2025 #Haircuts #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planet Mars Images: Jan. 27-28, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Jan. 27-28, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

Mars 2020 - sol 1401

Mars 2020 - sol 1401

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

Support FriendsofNASA.org

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

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 Dates: Jan. 27-28, 2025

#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

Intuitive Machines IM-2 Mission Lunar Lander Athena Arrives in Florida

Intuitive Machines IM-2 Mission Lunar Lander Athena Arrives in Florida

Intuitive Machines, Inc, a space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, announced that it has delivered its IM-2 mission lunar lander, named Athena, to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

“Each lunar mission builds on the last, and Athena’s arrival in Florida demonstrates our dedication to delivering on the Company’s vision to providing a reliable cadence of lunar delivery services,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “This commitment to flying missions reinforces our broader efforts of developing a heavy cargo lander, establishing a lunar data relay satellite constellation, and providing sustainable infrastructure services at the Moon to enable further exploration of the solar system.”

In coordination with SpaceX, the liftoff of the IM-2 lunar mission is targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than February 26, 2025 In case of unfavorable launch conditions, such as inclement weather, backup opportunities will be determined based on the lunar blackout window and other factors.

Commanded using Intuitive Machines’ commercial Lunar Data Network, IM-2 will be the Company’s second of four manifested lunar missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative. Through the CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. Athena’s mission is designed to validate resource prospecting, mobility, and communications infrastructure in the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, one of nine potential Artemis III landing sites.

Follow IM-2 Mission Updates:

https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-2

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services

Image Credit: Intuitive Machines
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ArtemisProgram #IntuitiveMachines #IM2Mission #IM2Spacecraft #AthenaLunarLander #CommercialSpace #CLPS #SpaceTechnology #MSFC #GSFC #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Intuitive Machines IM-2 Mission Lunar Lander Athena Arrives in Florida

Intuitive Machines IM-2 Mission Lunar Lander Athena Arrives in Florida

Intuitive Machines, Inc, a space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, announced that it has delivered its IM-2 mission lunar lander, named Athena, to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

“Each lunar mission builds on the last, and Athena’s arrival in Florida demonstrates our dedication to delivering on the Company’s vision to providing a reliable cadence of lunar delivery services,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “This commitment to flying missions reinforces our broader efforts of developing a heavy cargo lander, establishing a lunar data relay satellite constellation, and providing sustainable infrastructure services at the Moon to enable further exploration of the solar system.”

In coordination with SpaceX, the liftoff of the IM-2 lunar mission is targeted for a four-day launch window that opens no earlier than February 26, 2025 In case of unfavorable launch conditions, such as inclement weather, backup opportunities will be determined based on the lunar blackout window and other factors.

Commanded using Intuitive Machines’ commercial Lunar Data Network, IM-2 will be the Company’s second of four manifested lunar missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative. Through the CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign, NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions. Athena’s mission is designed to validate resource prospecting, mobility, and communications infrastructure in the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, one of nine potential Artemis III landing sites.

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services

Video Credit: Intuitive Machines
Duration: 46 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #ArtemisProgram #IntuitiveMachines #IM2Mission #IM2Spacecraft #AthenLunarLander #CommercialSpace #CLPS #SpaceTechnology #MSFC #GSFC #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How to Fly NASA's Orion Spacecraft | Johnson Space Center

How to Fly NASA's Orion Spacecraft | Johnson Space Center

NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to fly autonomously—and on the Artemis I mission, flew 25.5 days uncrewed around the Moon. On Orion’s next flight to the Moon, Artemis II, astronauts will be aboard, and the crew will pilot the spacecraft for the first time.

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will take control of Orion during a key test called the proximity operations demonstration. Wiseman and Glover will use Orion’s different displays and controls to evaluate the handling qualities of the spacecraft.

This is how to fly Orion.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign. It will launch no earlier than April 2026.

For more information about NASA's Orion spacecraft:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/orion-spacecraft/

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Writer: Erika Peters
Editor: Phil Sexton
Producers: Rad Sinyak, Erika Peters
Duration: 5 minutes, 26 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2025

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #SpacecraftTesting #LockheedMartin #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Shenzhou-19 Crew Extends Spring Festival Greetings | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Extends Spring Festival Greetings | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China's orbiting Tiangong Space Station extended their best wishes to the Chinese people as the 2025 Spring Festival, or China's New Year, is just around the corner.

The 2025 Spring Festival falls on Jan. 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake. As the most significant holiday on the Chinese calendar, it is a time for family reunions, festive celebrations, and reflecting on the year ahead.

In a video released on Monday, January 27, 2025, the Shenzhou-19 crew held a unique celebration by hanging up festive decorations inside the Tiangong space station.

Holding papercuts themed on the Year of the Snake, they sent their New Year greetings to Chinese people on Earth.

"We are in the space home of the Chinese people, wishing you all a happy Chinese New Year! We wish the people of the whole country good health and all the best in the Year of Snake! May our great motherland enjoy harmony and prosperity!" said the crew.

China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct. 30 last year, sending three astronauts, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, to the orbiting space station for a six-month mission.

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: 21 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #SpringFestival2025 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Black Holes can "Cook for Themselves" | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Black Holes can "Cook for Themselves" | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Astronomers have taken a crucial step in showing that the most massive black holes in the universe can create their own "meals." Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), an optical light telescope in Chile, provide new evidence that outbursts from black holes can cool down gas to feed themselves.

This study was based on observations of seven clusters of galaxies. The centers of galaxy clusters contain the universe’s most massive galaxies, which harbor huge black holes with masses ranging from millions to tens of billions of times that of the Sun. When feasting on gas these black holes power outbursts of particles in the form of jets.

Research study "Hα-X-ray Surface Brightness Correlation for Filaments in Cooling Flow Clusters":
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01902

The results support a theoretical model that astronomers have that shows that outbursts from the black holes trigger hot gas to cool and form narrow filaments of warm gas. Turbulence in the gas also plays an important role in this triggering process. According to this model, some of the warm gas in these filaments should then flow into the centers of the galaxies to feed the black holes, causing an outburst. The outburst causes more gas to cool and feed the black holes, leading to further outbursts.

This result also provides new understanding of these gas-filled filaments, which are important not just for feeding black holes but also for causing new stars to form.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 27, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #BlackHoles #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #PerseusCluster #CentaurusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #XrayAstronomy #SpaceTelescope #MSFC #SAO #CXC #UnitedStates #ESO #VLT #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Spacecraft Makers: NASA SPHEREx—Intense Tests Preparing it for Space | JPL

Spacecraft Makers: NASA SPHEREx—Intense Tests Preparing it for Space | JPL

Go behind the scenes with the team working on NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope as they talk through their rigorous testing process.

Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx aims to capture millions of stars and galaxies in 102 colors, creating a unique 3D map to uncover clues about the universe’s origins. 

This video features Farah Alibay, a SPHEREx systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Brian Pramann, SPHEREx program manager at BAE Systems. 

Learn about the special facilities required for SPHEREx’s critical environmental tests, including thermal, acoustic, vibration, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing. 

NASA is targeting late February 2025 for the launch of SPHEREx, which will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California.

For more information on the mission, visit: jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/

Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech/BAE Systems
Duration: 4 minutes, 32 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 27, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Galaxies #3DMapping #SPHEREx #SpaceTelescope #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #Caltech #BAESystems #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video 

Wide-field view: The Fiddlehead Galaxy—NGC 772 in Aries | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: The Fiddlehead Galaxy—NGC 772 in Aries | Digitized Sky Survey 2

A wide-field view of the area around NGC 772, also known as Arp 78 or the Fiddlehead Galaxy by the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

Close-up view of NGC 772 by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab

A wide-field view of the area around NGC 772, also known as Arp 78 or the Fiddlehead Galaxy by the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

See a close-up view of NGC 772 for comparison:

The overdeveloped spiral arm of the galaxy NGC 772 was created by tidal interactions with an unruly neighbor. It dominates this observation made by astronomers using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i. NGC 772’s peculiar appearance has earned it a place as the 78th entry in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies—a rogues’ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy structures.

This impressive image shows the strangely lopsided spiral galaxy NGC 772. It lies over 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Aries. Captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i, one half of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, the image shows NGC 772’s overdeveloped spiral arm. It stretches across toward the left-hand edge of the frame. This extra large arm is due to one of NGC 772’s unruly neighbors, the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 770. The tidal interactions between NGC 772 and its diminutive companion have distorted and stretched one of the spiral galaxy’s arms, giving it the lopsided appearance seen in this image.

NGC 772 also lacks a bright central bar. Other spiral galaxies, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or our own Milky Way, exhibit prominent central bars—large, linear structures composed of gas, dust, and countless stars. Without a bar, NGC 772’s spiral arms sweep out directly from the bright center of the galaxy. 

The galaxy’s unusual appearance has earned it the distinction of appearing in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a careful curation by astronomer Halton Arp of some of the weird and wonderful galaxies populating the Universe. The 338 galaxies in the Atlas are a rogues’ gallery of strange and unusual galaxy shapes chosen to provide astronomers with a catalog of odd galaxy structures. Entries in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies include galaxies boasting trailing tidal tails, rings, jets, detached segments, and a host of other structural idiosyncrasies. NGC 772 is included as Arp 78.

Image Credits: STScI/DSS2/National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)/National Science Foundation (NSF)
Release Dates: Jan. 23, 2025 & March 22, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC772 #Arp78 #FiddleHeadGalaxy #Aries #Constellation #Universe #STScI #GeminiNorth #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #Maunakea #Hawaii #UnitedStates #STEM #Education