Aviation & Universe

27/05/2024

27/05/2024

14/03/2024

Have you signed up to send your name to the Moon?

Our VIPER lunar rover is scheduled to lift off later this year—when it lands near the Moon's South Pole, it will search the Moon's deepest shadows for sources of ice to be used by future NASA Artemis explorers.

You can still add your name to VIPER, but act fast! Signups close Friday, March 15. go.nasa.gov/3S16kYf

07/03/2024

Looking for ideas for the upcoming weekend? We have a suggestion: a virtual exploration of our Paranal Observatory! 😉

🗓️ 9 March
⏰ 15:00 CET / 11:00 CLT
📍 Streamed here on Facebook. Visitors who open our page ahead of the starting time should refresh their browser when the tour starts.



📷 J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl ( https://orlo.uk/I70Q1 )/ESO

07/03/2024

In the 2024 Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes Calendar, the month of March features three very different views of the galaxy NGC 6822 🌌. At the bottom is Webb’s mid-infrared image, showing the light emitted from galactic dust, in the middle is its near-infrared image, with countless stars captured in intricate detail. These two views are combined in the top image.

The complete 2024 calendar is available for download in .pdf form at this link: https://ow.ly/6Cp050QLCGV

📷 NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration ESA - European Space Agency Canadian Space Agency , M. Meixner

07/03/2024

07/03/2024

wird die erste Mission sein, die einen "unberührten Kometen" besucht, d.h. einen Kometen, der zum ersten Mal in das innere Sonnensystem eintritt.

Hier sind die 5 größten Rätsel, die Comet Interceptor lösen soll:

🔎 Wie sieht ein solcher Komet aus der Nähe aus?
☄️ Wie unterscheiden sich unberührte Kometen von den Kometen, die wir kennen?
💫 Wie sah das frühe Sonnensystem aus?
🧬 Welche Rolle spielen Kometen bei der Entstehung des Lebens auf der Erde?
🦕 Müssen wir uns Sorgen machen, dass ein Komet auf der Erde einschlagen könnte?

🔗https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Comet_Interceptor/Top_five_questions_Comet_Interceptor_will_help_answer

07/03/2024

Check out the colorful NGC 3532, also known as the Wishing Well Cluster ✨🔔

This open cluster is located in the constellation Carina and will be visible from the Southern Hemisphere on March 8. NGC 3532 shines with a visual magnitude of 3.0 and can be seen with the naked eye! However, it might be difficult from light-polluted locations. 🌇 Better use binoculars for your observations! 🔭

Find more deep-sky objects visible this month here: https://starwalk.space/news/deep-sky-objects-in-march

Image credit: ESO/G. Beccari

07/03/2024

One of the brightest galaxies in the night sky, M81 is located about 12 million light-years from Earth. This stunning spiral contains more than 200 billion stars and a supermassive black hole at its core that's 70 million times more massive than our Sun.

07/03/2024

La cometa 12P/Pons-Brooks tra mille miliardi di stelle ✨
La cometa sta solcando in queste sere una zona di cielo magnifica. Si trova ancora nel Pegaso accanto agli astri e alle galassie di Andromeda, che contiene 1000 miliardi di stelle, e del Triangolo, che ha "appena" 40 miliardi di stelle.

10/10/2023

Our reveals an ancient, glimmering ball of stars called NGC 1466. It is a globular cluster — a gathering of stars all held together by gravity — that is slowly moving through space on the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our closest galactic neighbours.

All star clusters, including those in the Large Magellanic Cloud, have been found to host a special type of re-invigorated stars called blue stragglers. A blue straggler is a type of star that is more luminous and bluer than expected.

Under certain circumstances, stars receive extra fuel that bulks them up and substantially brightens them. This can happen if one star pulls matter off a neighbour, or if they collide.

Read more about it here: https://ow.ly/5HPf50PSMkG

📷 ESA - European Space Agency / Hubble Space Telescope & NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

10/10/2023

It's a day to celebrate for ground-based astronomy 🥳 🎂

On this day in 1962, ESO was founded, marking the beginning of an incredible journey filled with groundbreaking discoveries and technological breakthroughs!

Want to revisit these historical moments? 😌💭 Then leaf through ESO's "memory book" right here:

https://orlo.uk/WDN3A

Artist's impression by ESO/M. Kornmesser

10/10/2023

From magnets on your fridge to the vast reaches of space, magnetic fields are everywhere! 🧲

They are even in the biggest and most luminous stars of the Universe, affecting the life of these objects and their death as supernovae — the stellar blasts 💥 that disperse in the Universe the very same elemental building blocks of our planet and ourselves.

But how do these stars acquire a magnetic field? This is still unclear, yet a team of astronomers has now come a bit closer to the answer! 🔍

Discover more in our latest by Claudia Sciarma:

https://www.eso.org/public/blog/big-blue-stars/

📷 ESO/ Babak A. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

10/10/2023

SNR G116.9+00.1 (also known as CTB 1 and AJG 110) is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Its distance is not known with accuracy, so estimates range between 8,800 and 11,000 light-years. It was discovered in 1960 during a radio survey.

Observations revealed that SNR G116.9+00.1 is an oxygen-rich remnant. In terms of its morphology, it is classified as a mixed remnant. Thus, in radio, it appears as a shell-like SNR, while in X-rays, it's a compact one. Data analysis suggests that the progenitor star had a mass of 13-15 solar masses. Astronomers estimated that the star exploded 10,000 years ago. However, its age can be as high as 16,500 years.

Finally, it is believed that the pulsar PSR J0002+6216 is associated with SNR G116.9+00.1. Its proper motion and motion direction support the latter. The pulsar moves at a high speed (i.e., 1,000 km/s). So, it probably resulted from an inhomogeneous explosion.

Image: Composite optical image of SNR G116.9+00.1 taken with a small amateur telescope. It was created using broadband filters (RGB), together with narrow band filters that are focused on the emission of ionised oxygen ([O III]), ionised hydrogen (Hα), and ionised sulphur ([S II]).

Image Credit: Daniel Nimmervoll

10/10/2023

Start your engines!

will soon begin a new RS-25 engine test series at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. This series of 12 tests are a big next step in producing engines that will help power the SLS rocket for future missions beginning with NASA Artemis V.

Learn more about what the future holds for the RS-25 engine >> https://go.nasa.gov/3EZM1nU

10/10/2023

Nebulae are not all the same, and this image captured by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory is a good example!

The reddish nebula at the centre is a so-called emission nebula, whereas the two bluish objects in the lower right corner are reflection nebulae.

But what's the difference and why do they display these distinct colours? 🤔

Find it out here ⬇️

https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2340a/

📷 ESO/VPHAS+ team

10/10/2023

IC 59 (also known as LBN 620) and IC 63 (also known as LBN 623) are two nebulae located at a distance of nearly 600 light-years in the constellation of Cassiopeia. They were discovered on the 30th of December 1893 by Max Wolf.

IC 59 is a reflection nebula. It is powered by the nearby γ ​​Cas (Gamma Cassiopeiae). The latter also powers IC 63, an emission line nebula. Hence, IC 59 appears blue due to light reflected from dust, and IC 63 is red due to Hα emission. This happens because IC 63 is closer to γ ​​Cas, so Hα emission dominates.

γ ​​Cas is a textbook example of an eruptive variable star. The last mentioned is a fast-rotating B-type star that exhibits emission lines. The brightness of the star fluctuates up to 1.5 magnitudes. Responsible for this is material ejection at the equatorial region caused by its rapid rotation.

Image: Composite optical image of IC 59 and IC 63 taken with a small amateur telescope. It was created using broadband filters (RGB) and a narrow band filter focused on the emission of ionised hydrogen (Hα). IC 59 is on the upper left of the image, while IC 63 is the bright nebula towards the bottom. γ ​​Cas is at the top right corner.

Image Credit: Jeffbax Velocicaptor & Guillaume Gruntz

10/10/2023

To the Moon 🚀🌑

We are seeking ideas for small lunar missions!

Are you interested in helping shape the future of space exploration? Find out more 👉 https://esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/To_the_Moon_ESA_seeks_ideas_for_small_lunar_missions/

10/10/2023

What appears as a colossal white pearl in the middle of the desert 🏜️ is in fact one of the ExTrA telescopes, located at ESO’s La Silla Observatory at an altitude of 2375m.

The mission of ExTrA is to discover Earth-sized planets around very small stars — with a radius down to a tenth of the Sun — in our Milky Way galaxy.

How is this done? 🧐 Find the answer here:

https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2341a/

📷 ESO/ Alberto Ghizzi Panizza - Passione Fotografica (www.albertoghizzipanizza.com)

10/10/2023

ESO : take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the Rosette Nebula 🤩 as imaged by ESO’s Very Large Telescope a few years ago.

It's in nebulae such as this that gas and dust are combining to produce a new generation of stars! 🌟

📷 ESO

View larger image at: https://orlo.uk/MRGDW

23/08/2023

16/07/2023

From May to August 2023, a structural model of ESA’s next exoplanet mission, , is undergoing a test campaign at ESA ESTEC's Test Centre in the Netherlands.

During launch, the satellite will have to withstand intense vibrations and noise. To make sure the satellite can survive the start of its journey to space, engineers test its structural integrity beforehand.

🔗https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Plato/Plato_s_structural_test_campaign

16/07/2023

Just how high are radio telescopes? 📡

The Very Large Array (VLA) is on the Plains of San Agustin, which is 7,000 feet above sea level. Chajnantor Plain, the location of the ALMA Observatory, is at about 16,500 feet.

One of the reasons radio telescopes are often built at such high altitudes is that water v***r absorbs short-wavelength radio waves. The higher and dryer a telescope’s location, the better its view of the radio sky.

📸 Credit: J. Hellerman, NRAO/AUI/NSF

16/07/2023

16/07/2023

ALICE shines light into the nucleus to probe its structure:

In the Large Hadron Collider, proton and lead beams travel close to the speed of light. They carry a strong electromagnetic field that acts like a flux of photons as the beam moves through the accelerator. When the two beams at the LHC pass by close to each other without colliding, one of the beams may emit a photon of very high energy that strikes the other beam (producing electromagnetic interactions). As shown in the illustration, the structure of the gluonic matter in the nucleus gets further exposed when probed by higher energy photons.

The ALICE collaboration studies these types of collisions to investigate the interior of protons and the inner structure of nuclei. The collaboration has recently released new results in four publications. Find out more:

https://home.cern/news/news/physics/alice-shines-light-nucleus-probe-its-structure

16/07/2023

16/07/2023

Norsk industri har levert teknologi til Ariane 5 og skal gjøre det til Ariane 6.