Astronomers released a striking new portrait from the Hubble Space Telescope that centers on the galaxy cluster MACS J1141.6-1905. Galaxies crowd together in the frame, showing a rich mix of shapes and sizes pulled toward the center-left area. Some appear stretched or distorted while others hold more familiar forms. A handful of foreground stars cut through the scene with sharp spikes extending outward, marking their closer position to us.
Photo credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA/GESTAR)
Astronomers have tracked thousands of exploding stars over the years yet a handful stand out for their extreme brightness. Data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has now delivered a direct answer for one of those rare cases and changed how scientists view these events.
Sharp detail from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope brings every feature of NGC 1266 into clear view. Dust lanes in shades of reddish brown stretch across the galaxy’s flattened disk and weave around a bright central bulge. Hints of spiral structure linger in the disk even though no obvious arms stand out. Tiny clumps and filaments of dust partly hide the core while distant background galaxies shine through the outer haze in red, blue, and orange tones against the black of space.
In the frame, NASA’s six-wheeled Perseverance rover is securely planted on a stretch of dirt far to the west of Jezero Crater. You can see its mast dipping down towards Arethusa, the rocky protrusion we’ve all become familiar with, before swinging back around to face the camera full on. Years of driving have created a fine layer of dust on the rover and its wheels, catching the light and creating a beautiful warm glow. Meanwhile, a new circular mark on Arethusa indicates where the rover dug in with its biters and removed a portion of the surface to examine what was hidden beneath. The robotic arm in front, with the WATSON camera attached to its end, is the one that took it all in.
Last month, NASA astronaut Chris Williams floated aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom, pointing his camera out the window. What he photographed shows our planet enveloped in a delicate ribbon of light, called airglow, with the Milky Way arching overhead like a faint road through the stars. The photograph, shot on April 13 while the spacecraft was docked to the International Space Station, provides a clear view of something that occurs high above us every night.
Photo credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
Astronomers released an image this week that pulls viewers straight into the dynamic core of Messier 77 (M77). Located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, this barred spiral galaxy offers a clear target for study thanks to its relative closeness and the range of activity packed inside its structure. Captured entirely in mid-infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope’s specialized instrument, the view highlights details that ordinary light cannot reach.
NASA’s Curiosity had spent years gradually ascending the slopes of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. On April 25, the rover drilled into a rock known as Atacama, which was about a foot and a half across and six inches thick, weighing over thirty pounds. The drill sank in neatly enough to collect the sample the scientists need. The rover then pulled its arm back. The entire rock came with it.
Back in 2015, Marcelo de Oliveira Souza was at his desk in Brazil, staring at a computer screen with some rather long numbers regarding near-Earth asteroids flashing by. He was making preliminary predictions of the courses these space objects would take, to help people determine whether they would pose a threat to our world. One in particular drew his attention, 2001 CA21, because the first calculations showed an orbit that virtually sliced straight through between Earth and Mars in a way nobody had picked up on before.
NGC 3137 is a spiral galaxy located 53 million light-years away in the constellation Antlia, and the Hubble Space Telescope has captured it in exquisite clarity. It captured images of this galaxy at six different wavelengths, enabling astronomers to combine ultraviolet, visible, and hydrogen emission data into a single complete picture. At first impression, the image is beautiful, with the galaxy dominating the frame at a sharp angle and its loose arms fanning out like feathers in a summer wind. The older stars in the galaxy’s center have a warm golden tone, whilst the hotter, younger groups of stars on the periphery appear pale blue.
Saveitforparts picked up a heavy Sigma 400mm XQ lens and its matching 2x teleconverter at a local thrift store for $14.99. He carried the whole assembly home, attached a simple adapter, and mounted it on a decade-old Sony NEX-3 digital camera. The goal looked simple on paper: point the bargain rig skyward when the International Space Station passed overhead and record whatever showed up in the frame.