Tag: Missions

Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to a Cosmic Collision

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3 min read Discovery Alert: Glowing Cloud Points to a Cosmic Collision This illustration depicts the aftermath of a collision between two giant exoplanets. What remains is a hot, molten planetary core and a swirling, glowing cloud of dust and debris. Mark A. Garlick The Discovery:  A glowing cosmic cloud has revealed a cataclysmic collision. Key Facts: Even within our own solar system, scientists have seen evidence of giant, planetary collisions from long ago. Remaining clues like Uranus’ tilt and the existence of Earth’s moon point to times in our…

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NASA to Provide Coverage of Progress 87 Launch, Space Station Docking

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The Progress 84 cargo craft is pictured shortly after undocking from the International Space Station’s Poisk Module at 2:55 a.m. EST. NASA NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Progress 87 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 10:25 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 14 (8:25 a.m. Baikonur time Thursday, Feb. 15), on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live coverage…

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Hubble Spots a Galaxy Shrouded by Stars

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2 min read Hubble Spots a Galaxy Shrouded by Stars This Hubble image shows irregular galaxy, ESO 245-5, located some of 15 million light-years from Earth. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Messa This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a densely packed field of stars laid upon a background of dust, gas, and light from more distant celestial objects. There are so many stars in this image’s field of view that it may be a little tricky to discern that you are in fact looking at a galaxy. Known as ESO…

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NASA’s Hubble Traces ‘String of Pearls’ Star Clusters in Galaxy Collisions

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3 min read NASA’s Hubble Traces ‘String of Pearls’ Star Clusters in Galaxy Collisions Galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted into an S-shape from a normal pancake-like spiral shape by the gravitational pull of a neighboring galaxy, seen in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. A consequence of this is that newborn clusters of stars form along a stretched-out tidal tail for thousands of light-years, resembling a string of pearls. They form when knots of gas gravitationally collapse to create about 1 million newborn stars per cluster. NASA, ESA, STScI,…

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Sierra Space unveils Dream Chaser space plane ahead of 1st flight to ISS (photos)

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SANDUSKY, Ohio — Ohio, the home of the Wright Brothers, is known as the “Birthplace of Aviation.” But the state also has some serious spaceflight bona fides, as we were reminded during an event on Thursday (Feb. 1). On that day, NASA and the Colorado-based company Sierra Space gave reporters an up-close look at Dream Chaser, a private space plane that’s scheduled to fly its first-ever mission to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year. The event took place at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility here in Sandusky. The robotic…

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Hubble Views a Dim but Distinct Galaxy

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2 min read Hubble Views a Dim but Distinct Galaxy Both visible and ultraviolet wavelengths of light comprise this Hubble Space Telescope image of the spiral galaxy UGC 11105. ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz) This image of the softly luminous spiral galaxy UGC 11105 is from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It lies about 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. Astronomers have different ways of quantifying how bright celestial objects are. Apparent magnitude is one of those methods. It describes how bright an…

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NASA Shares Assignments for its SpaceX Crew-9 Space Station Mission

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Official NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 portraits with Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson and Aleksandr Gorbunov NASA As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch to the International Space Station and conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities for the benefit of all. Launching aboard the Dragon spacecraft, NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov, will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August. They will arrive…

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Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion

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1 min read Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. NASA, ESA, and R. Foley (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. It’s part of the galaxy pair Arp 271, and its companion NGC 5426 is located below this galaxy and outside of this image’s frame. However, the effects of the pair’s gravitational attraction is visible in the galactic distortion…

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Hubble Spies a Spinning Spiral

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2 min read Hubble Spies a Spinning Spiral This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the face-on spiral and Seyfert galaxy, ESO 420-G013. NASA/ESA/A. Evans (University of Virginia)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) Looking like a baseball lobbed into the depths of the universe, ESO 420-G013 is a face-on spiral galaxy and a Seyfert galaxy. Dark lanes of dust are visible against the background glow of the galaxy’s many stars.  About 10 percent of all the galaxies in the universe are thought to be Seyfert galaxies. They are…

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NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies

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6 Min Read NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies Webb’s set of 19 PHANGS images of face-on spiral galaxies. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can deliver highly detailed scenes of nearby galaxies…

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