Space History

The crowds of Creation and the Eagle Nebula in NASA’s picture of the day

James Webb photographed the Pillars of Creation

Thanks to its technical capabilities, the James Webb telescope has the ability to penetrate the dust curtain and capture previously unseen details of the internal structure of nebulae and regions of active star formation. No wonder NASA used it to shoot the Pillars of Creation.

The JWST image was obtained in the near infrared range. A number of newly formed stars can be seen on it, which can be identified by their characteristic bright red color. When clumps of matter with sufficient mass form inside gas-dust clusters, they begin to shrink under the influence of their own gravity, slowly heat up and eventually form new luminaries.

It is worth noting that despite the fact that infrared vision helps JWST to penetrate through the dusty veil, it is impossible to see distant galaxies in the image. The density of gas and dust at the center of the Milky Way is so high that it blocks our view of the deeper universe.

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured the solar corona in high resolution

The ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission has experienced its second rendezvous with the Sun.

Solar Orbiter was located at a distance of 0.29 AU from the Sun.

The corona is the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

The photo shows the dynamic nature of the solar corona, incandescent by a million degrees. The solar plasma is in constant motion, guided and accelerated by the magnetic field of the Sun.

Currently, the Sun is approaching the peak of its activity, the solar maximum, which it will reach in 2025. Thus, in the next few years, images of the “calm” crown are likely to become rare.

“I look forward to downloading data from all ten instruments over the next few weeks, and then the global scientific community will be very busy discovering new phenomena with this unique data set,” says Daniel Muller, ESA Solar Orbiter project scientist.

The moon could form in just a few hours — that’s how it could happen

It is known that our satellite was formed as a result of the collision of the Earth with a huge object the size of Mars. But it is not known exactly how the Moon formed — it was previously thought that in a few months or even years.

The new simulation shows a completely different theory — the moon could have formed just a few hours after the collision. This assumption partly explains the inclination of the Moon’s orbit, too thin crust and very similar to the Earth’s isotopic composition.

Triple Gravity Lensing by James Webb

The massive gravity of the MACS0647 galaxy cluster acts as a cosmic lens, refracting and magnifying light from the more distant MACS0647-JD system. Due to the triple lensing, we see the system simultaneously in three places, which are marked with numbers and placed in separate blocks on the right (OV1, OV2 and OV3). MACS0647-JD has a redshift of about z=11, which means that the galaxy was formed only 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Young star formation complexes have been discovered in the galaxy NGC 4324

Astronomers have been investigating a nearby lenticular galaxy known as NGC4324. They discovered young star formation complexes in the inner ring of this galaxy.

NGC4324 (also known as UGC 07451), located about 85 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, is an early-type lenticular galaxy about 66,000 light-years in size. Its stellar mass is about 56 billion solar masses, and its total mass is estimated to be at least 10 times larger.

Previous observations of NGC 4324 have shown that it contains a significant amount of gas, and revealed its remarkable structure — a bright blue ring of star formation embedded in a large-scale stellar disk typical of lenticular galaxies.

The results show that the outbreaks of star formation in these clusters began very recently — within 10 million years.

Chandra’s X-ray vision combined with JWST reveals even more details about the Universe

Beyond their beauty, the images provide insight into the inner workings of some of the most complex astrophysical phenomena in the universe.

Scientists have not yet studied the images and have not published their research, but we can already draw some conclusions. X—ray radiation tells us where high-energy processes are taking place, and infrared radiation tells us where warm objects are hidden by dust clouds. For example, the image of Stefan’s Quintet (2 photos) shows five galaxies. Above the two galaxies in the center is a wavy cloud. This is a shockwave detected by Sandra that would not otherwise be visible.

Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)

Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) is approaching the perihelion point – the closest approach to the Sun – which will occur on December 20. It sails through the skies of the southern hemisphere of the planet, remaining a good object for observation with a telescope.

In this picture, its greenish coma and whitish dust tail are clearly visible, stretching almost half a degree in the upper left part of the picture. Another comet, 73P/Schwassman–Wachman 3, has also entered the star-rich field of view in the constellation Scorpio, it is visible about one degree below and to the right of comet PanSTARRS.

The Schwassman-Wachman 3 comet is more familiar to us. A periodic comet orbits in an elliptical orbit for 5.4 years, moving away to the orbit of Jupiter and approaching the Sun to a distance approximately equal to the radius of the Earth’s orbit.

Signs of DNA mutation found in astronauts’ blood

Flying into space can increase the risk of cancer.

American scientists from the Icon Medical School on Mount Sinai analyzed the blood of 14 NASA astronauts. The samples showed signs of somatic DNA mutations. Because of them, the risk of developing cancer and heart disease may increase.

On average, astronauts stayed in space for 12 days. They flew shuttles in 1998-2001. Before the start and on the day of landing, doctors took blood from them. All this time, the samples were stored at -80 °C.

Most of the mutations occurred in the TP53 gene – it produces a protein that suppresses the tumor. Also in DNMT3A – this gene is often mutated in acute myeloid leukemia.

Observation of the globular cluster RBC EXT8 revealed that its metallicity is much lower than expected

The iron content in a cluster of stars is about 800 times less than in our Sun, which makes us reconsider the model of the formation of such clusters. Metallicity characterizes the age of a star: the fewer metals, the older the star.

Observations of the James Webb telescope gave the first confirmation that there are stone clouds in some alien worlds

In the new study, scientists used the radiation spectrum of a brown dwarf to determine the composition of VHS 1256-1257 b. The study showed that water, methane, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, sodium and potassium are common in the atmosphere of the brown dwarf.

Inside the atmosphere, scientists were able to detect clouds of silicates. These are long structures of and particles with a submicron grain size. Such clouds were previously predicted theoretically, but no one has been able to confirm them. Researchers believe that these clouds are forsterite, enstatite and quartz.

Planetary scientists note that this is the first such detailed study of the composition of a brown dwarf. Its results can be used to observe other similar objects.