NASA

You’re gonna hear me roar Have no fear: what might look like a nightmarish beast throwing its head back in an angry red sea is just a pillar of gas and dust. The Cone Nebula is 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. This image, captured by @NASAHubble , shows the upper 2.5 light-years of the nebula; the entire nebula is 7 light-years long. Monstrous pillars of cold gas like the Cone are common in large regions of star birth. Astronomers believe the pillars are incubators for developing stars. Over millions of years, radiation from hot, young stars (located beyond the top of the image) has slowly eroded the nebula. This process causes the hydrogen gas to glow, which produces the red halo of light seen around the pillar. A similar process occurs on a much smaller scale to gas surrounding a single star, forming the bow-shaped arc seen near the upper left side of the Cone. Eventually, only the densest regions of the Cone will be left. Inside these regions, stars and planets may form. Image description: Against a dramatic red backdrop, a dark pillar of gas and dust stretches upward, its top illuminated by the reflected light of nearby stars. Some stars are sprinkled across the top of the image. There are also a few stars dotting the bottom of the pillar. Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (USCS/LO), M. Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA #NASA #Nebula #Stars #Universe #Astronomy

Oh, hey there!⁣ ⁣ These epic selfies were taken by @NASAAstronauts as they stepped outside the International Space Station (@ISS ) over the last few years to make improvements and updates to station hardware and its suite of scientific instruments.⁣ ⁣ Image descriptions:⁣ 1. NASA astronaut and spacewalker Andrew Morgan appears in a white spacesuit with a reflective visor as he prepares to take a photograph with a camera shielded from the hazards of microgravity, taken on Nov. 22, 2019.⁣ 2. NASA astronaut Christina Koch takes a selfie with the Earth behind her on Oct. 18, 2019. Her smiling face is partially visible through the clear front of her helmet. Earth’s clouds and ocean are reflected by the helmet.⁣ 3. NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, his face obscured by the metallic visor on his helmet takes a space selfie during a spacewalk on June 14, 2018. His gloved hands, the camera and the Sun are seen reflected in the visor.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Astronauts #Selfie #SayCheese #Space #Spacewalk #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation

That’s not a giant bath bomb, it’s our Moon! We usually see Earth’s Moon in shades of gray, but here in this composite photo made from images captured by our Galileo spacecraft, it’s a riot of reds, oranges, and blues. And sure, it’s pretty, but that’s not the (only) reason we color images. The unusual colors in this photograph help scientists study what the Moon’s soil is made of. Areas appearing red generally correspond to the lunar highlands, while blue to orange shades indicate the ancient volcanic lava flow of a mare, or lunar sea. Bluer mare areas contain more titanium than the orange regions do. The deep blue patch on the right is Mare Tranquillitatis, and it’s richer in titanium than Mare Serenitatis, a slightly smaller circular area to the upper left of Mare Tranquillitatis. Finally, the small purple areas found near the center are deposits formed by explosive volcanic eruptions. The solid-state imaging system on Galileo captured 15 images of the Moon through three color filters while the spacecraft passed through the Earth-Moon system on Dec. 8, 1992. When this view was obtained, the spacecraft was 262,000 miles (425,000 kilometers) from the Moon and 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers) from Earth. Galileo continued on to its main mission: studying Jupiter. It orbited the planet for almost eight years, made close passes by all of the planet's major moons, and ended its mission by intentionally crashing into Jupiter on Sept. 21, 2003. While this image won’t give you a luxurious bubble bath, meditating on all its colors can be just as relaxing. Image description: The Moon is awash in shades of red, blue, and orange. The top portion is orange, while the bottom is red, and the middle is blue. The edges of each area are jagged, and some colored portions surround others. There is a very vibrant blue area right of center. The very bottom part of the Moon is missing from this composite image. Credit: NASA/JPL #NASA #Moon #Color #Space #Mindfulness #Galileo #Astrophotography

Diaries from an astronaut ✍️⁣ ⁣ NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick reflects on his last few days on the International Space Station (@ISS ) before his return, as the undocking for #Crew8 was rescheduled for no earlier than Oct. 13, due to potential impacts from Hurricane #Milton .⁣ ⁣ “Peering out a Dragon Endeavor window that frames red and green aurora streaming by Dragon Freedom docked to the front of the International Space Station. When Crew-9 arrived, I moved out of my crew quarters on the ISS to make room for @AstroHague .⁣ ⁣ I now sleep in Dragon Endeavor while we wait to undock. We take most of our images from the cupola, but sleeping here has been amazing. This is the view out the window this evening. ...⁣ ⁣ I miss my family and friends, but we would have missed today’s insane aurora if we had undocked today. I watched the aurora with Don Pettit today from the cupola and on a later pass I watched it from Endeavor with @AstroHague .”⁣ ⁣ Image description: A window from the Dragon Endeavour, docked on the ISS, peers over Earth. A marbling of clouds is seen from below a vivid green aurora; shades of magenta hover above it in a distance. In contrast, the left half of the window is lit in blue.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/Matthew Dominick⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Space #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #Aurora #Earth #Astronaut

Eye see you… 👁 Back in 1996, @NASAHubble revealed the hourglass shape of this young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away. In previous images taken from the ground, the nebula looked like a pair of large outer rings with a smaller central one, but the finer details could not be seen. Planetary nebulae are created by the death of Sun-like stars: the star collapses to form a dense and hot white dwarf star. At the same time, the dying star throws off its outer layers of material, forming an elaborate cloud of gas and dust known as a planetary nebula. This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, and yet, this “eye” star is a little unique: it should be at the center of the nebula, but it’s off center. Hubble also revealed other new and unexpected features in the nebula. For example, there is a pair of intersecting elliptical rings in the central region, which appear to be the rims of a smaller hourglass. There are also the intricate patterns of the etchings on the hourglass walls. There are a few possible explanations for the arc-like etchings – for instance, they could be the remnants of shells ejected from the star when it was younger. This picture was composed of three separate images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in the light of ionized nitrogen (represented by red), hydrogen (green), and doubly ionized oxygen (blue). Image description: This nebula has an interesting appearance: what looks like a turquoise blue eye stares right at you from the center of a red-orange hourglass-like shape made from two interlocking circles – like a Venn diagram turned on its side. The circles each have arcs within them. The darkness of space forms the backdrop of this image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA #NASA #Nebula #Eerie #Circles #Astronomy

Count the headlights on the highway... ✨ If you were living in this “super star” cluster, you might see a sky full of hundreds of stars, each as bright as the full moon.   This is @NASAWebb ’s look at Westerlund 1, one of the closest clusters of its kind. Super star clusters are young and contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the Sun packed into a small volume. Westerlund 1 is the most massive yet identified in our galaxy, with 50,000 to 100,000 times the mass of the Sun contained within a region less than six light-years across. Still considered an open cluster now, someday it will evolve into a globular cluster—a roughly spherical, tightly packed collection of old stars bound together by gravity.   Super star clusters are one of the most extreme environments in which stars and planets can form. Because our galaxy is past its peak of star formation, and because stars live relatively short lives, only a few of these clusters still exist to give us clues to that past era.   Westerlund 1 has a large, dense, and diverse population of evolved, massive stars. It contains so many massive stars that in a timespan of less than 40 million years, it’ll be the site of more than 1500 supernovas. This cluster is a natural laboratory for the study of extreme stellar physics, helping us learn how the most massive stars in our galaxy live and die, and how stellar winds, supernovae, and other ejected material affect star formation within their environment.   Read more at the link in @ESAWebb ’s bio.   Image description: A dense cluster of bright stars, each with six large and two small diffraction spikes, due to the telescope’s optics. They have a variety of sizes depending on their brightness and distance from us in the cluster, and different colors reflecting different types of star. Patches of billowing red gas can be seen in and around the cluster, lit up by the stars. Small stars in the cluster blend into a background of distant stars and galaxies on black.   Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), M. G. Guarcello (INAF-OAPA) and the EWOCS team   #Space #NASA #Stars #Webb #Astronomy #Universe #TinyDancer

It's a planet party—and you're invited! Throughout October, the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter will be visible in the night sky, with a special guest appearance from Jupiter's moon Europa on October 11 and 25. A comet, a nearly full moon, and Saturn drop by the soiree on Oct. 14. This star-studded event is taking place in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere—and we hope you can make it outside (with clear skies!) to see it. To RSVP, tag your plus-one in the comments! ✨ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #NASA #Space #NightSky #WhatsUp #October #ThingsToDo #StarGazing #Planets #SolarSystem #astronomy

Spin me right 'round 🌀 This spiral galaxy, spotted by our orbiting @NASAHubble telescope, is 45 million light-years from Earth. Tucked within its winding spiral arms are patches of glowing pink spots: these represent "H-alpha regions," signs of nebulae where new stars are being formed. The Hubble Space Telescope has been studying the cosmos from its vantage point in low Earth orbit since it first lifted off in 1990. From determining the atmospheric composition of planets around other stars to discovering dark energy, Hubble has changed humanity's understanding of the universe. Image description: A dazzling spiral galaxy, with gaseous arms in shades of pink, red, and white. Various stars, galaxies, and other cosmic phenomena fill the background. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team #NASA #Space #Science #Universe #Galaxy #Astrophotography #Hubble

From inside the flame 🔥 Stars are often born in clusters or groups, in giant clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers studied this star cluster using X-ray data from our @NASAChandraXray telescope, seen here in purple, and infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, colored in red, green, and blue. This composite image shows a cluster in the center of the Flame Nebula, found about 1,400 light-years from Earth. Research suggests that the stars at the center of this cluster are about 200,000 years old, while those on the outskirts are about 1.5 million years of age. Image description: Purple stars light up the center of a dramatic scene in the Flame Nebula. The center of the nebula lights up in shades of grey, surrounded by rose-colored tendrils along the outside of the nebula. Stars dot the background in cool shades of blue. Credit: (X-ray) NASA/CXC/PSU/K.Getman, E.Feigelson, M.Kuhn and the MYStIX team; (Infrared) NASA/JPL-Caltech #NASA #Space #Astronomy #Stars #Flame #Nebula #SpaceTelescope

#Crew9 soars to the International Space Station! A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, powered by a Falcon 9 rocket, lifted off Saturday, Sept. 28 at 1:17 p.m. EDT (1717 UTC), on the way to the @ISS . Astronaut Nick Hague (@AstroHague ) and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will spend about five months working on science and research on the station. Crew-9 is scheduled to return to Earth in February 2025. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched to the station on a Starliner spacecraft, will join Crew-9 for the journey home on Dragon. This mission is the first-ever crewed launch from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew-9 was launched from SLC-40 to deconflict with preparations for our Europa Clipper mission. Europa Clipper—a science mission to Jupiter’s ocean moon—will lift off no earlier than Oct. 10 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy . Image descriptions: 1. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon crew spacecraft is seen in center of frame seconds after launch. The rocket has cleared the tower, and a large exhaust plume is seen below it. The sky is mostly cloudy with some blue visible. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber 2. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon crew spacecraft is seen in center of frame headed into the clouds after launch. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett #NASA #Spaceship #Rocket #Launch #SpaceX #CapeCanaveral

We'll be back 🌎🚀🌕 You're looking at the terminator. No, not a futuristic cyborg: in astronomy, the terminator is the line that separates night and day on a moon or a planet — in this case, the Earth. This terminator was photographed by the astronauts of Apollo 11 on July 24, 1969, four days after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon. Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, concluding their eight-day mission to the Moon and back. After living and working continuously in space for more than 20 years, we're preparing to return humans to the Moon—this time, to stay. Follow @NASAArtemis to stay in the loop on our plans to explore the Moon and Mars! Image description: A photo of a crescent Earth, as seen from space. Only the part of the Earth experiencing daytime is visible in this particular image, a thin slice that arcs down and right across the photo. White clouds, shining seas, and small bits of land can be seen. Credit: NASA #NASA #Space #Earth #Apollo #Apollo11 #Terminator #IllBeBack

Blink and you’ll miss it 👀 The bright star taking center stage is a Wolf-Rayet star known as WR 31a, located about 30,000 light-years away in the constellation of Carina (The Keel). Wolf-Rayet stars, named after astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet who discovered the first of these stars, are extremely hot and massive. Some can be around 20 times as massive as the Sun! However, their lifecycle is only a few hundred thousand years. In cosmic terms, that’s like the blink of an eye. Wolf–Rayet stars typically lose half their mass in less than 100,000 years, and WR 31a is no exception. It will eventually end its life as a spectacular supernova, and the stellar material expelled from its explosion will later nourish a new generation of stars and planets. The blue bubble that looks like it’s surrounding WR 31a and its unnamed companion is a Wolf-Rayet nebula. These typically round or ring-shaped interstellar clouds of dust and gas are created when speedy winds interact with the outer layers of hydrogen ejected by Wolf–Rayet stars. Image description: A deep blue ring of dust circles around two bright stars with large diffraction spikes. Inside and outside the blue circle, stars of varying sizes dot the darkness of space. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt #NASA #Stars #Hubble #Telescope #Bubble #Nebula #Astronomy #Universe