PKS 0745

PKS 0745: A galaxy cluster about 1.3 billion light years from Earth with a large elliptical galaxy in its center.

The black hole at the center of this galaxy is part of a survey of 18 of the biggest known black holes in the universe. This large elliptical galaxy is in the center of the galaxy cluster PKS 0745-19, which is shown in this composite image containing X-rays from Chandra (purple) and optical data from Hubble (yellow). Researchers found that the black holes in the survey may be about ten times more massive than previously thought. This includes at least ten that could weigh between 10 and 40 billion times the mass of the sun, making them "ultramassive" black holes.

Scale: Image is 1.4 arcmin across (about 511,000 light years).

Photo credit: NASA/CXC/Stanford/Hlavacek-Larrondo, J. et al.

Note: For more information, see PKS 0745: From Super to Ultra: Just How Big Can Black Holes Get?

Turbulent Swirls in the Solar Wind

A 2D vision of the solar wind turbulence at the smallest scale seen yet, thanks to observations by Cluster spacecraft. The approximate location of the measurements are indicated on a graphic illustrating features of Earth's magnetic environment. The inset shows conditions as would be seen facing the solar wind, with current sheets forming at the border of turbulent eddies. The trajectory of the Cluster spacecraft is marked on the inset by the black line and the color gradients represent the magnetic field strength intensity from 4.8 nT (darkest shades) to 5.2 nT (white).

Illustration credit: Background graphic: ESA/ATG Medialab; inset: J. Dorelli (NASA)

Note: For more information, see Turbulent Eddies May Warm the Solar Wind

Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier, Greenland

The Kangerdlugssuaq glacier and its ice stream are pictured in this week’s image, acquired on 19 September 2012 by Landsat-7. It is the largest outlet glacier on Greenland’s east coast, discharging ice into the surrounding oceans. In this image we can see hundreds of icebergs speckling the water. A recent study based on satellite observations revealed that over the past 20 years the ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica has contributed about 11 mm to the global sea-level rise. This image clearly shows the glacier’s calving front, where ice breaks away. Over the years, satellite images have shown that this front has retreated – an indication that the glacier is getting smaller over time.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: USGS/ESA

Saturn Looms

Janus is spotted over Saturn's north pole in this image while Mimas' shadow glides across Saturn.

Janus is the faint dot that appears just above Saturn's north pole. Mimas' shadow can be seen in the southern hemisphere of Saturn, south of the rings' shadow. (Both objects are easier to find in higher resolution versions.)

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 25 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on August 24, 2012.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.6 million miles (2.6 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 80 degrees. Image scale is 94 miles (152 kilometers) per pixel. Janus has been brightened by a factor of 1.3 relative to Saturn to enhance its visibility.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

July 2010 Solar Eclipse Corona

Composite image from Proba-2’s SWAP imager (with 174Å filter) showing the Sun’s disc, with a reconstructed white-light image of the extended corona taken at exactly the same time from the ground, during the total solar eclipse observed in July 2010 in Atoll Hao, French Polynesia.

Image credit: ESA/Proba-2 consortium/SWAP team/Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (CNRS & UPMC), S. Koutchmy/J. Mouette

Reflection Patterns Off of a Spare XMM-Newton Mirror

Reflection patterns off one of the gold-plated spare mirrors of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space telescope.

Photo credit: Patrick Dumas/Look at Sciences

ESO 318-13 - Glitter Galaxy

The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is the galaxy ESO 318-13 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Despite being millions of light-years from Earth, the stars captured in this image are so bright and clear you could almost attempt to count them. Although ESO 318-13 is the main event in this image, it is sandwiched between a vast collection of bright celestial objects. Several stars near and far dazzle in comparison to the neat dusting contained within the galaxy.

Photo credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA.

Note: For more information, see Hubble's Glitter Galaxy: The ESO 318-13 Galaxy.

Comet Halley

Comet Halley as seen by ESA’s Giotto spacecraft in 1986, the last time the comet visited the inner Solar System. Giotto was ESA’s first deep mission, and obtained the first close-up images of a comet. This image was taken from a distance of about 2000 km from Comet Halley. The Sun is located towards the left of the image, provoking outbursts of gas and dust from the comet’s nucleus.

Photo credit: ESA/MPS

NGC 6388

This image from the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile shows NGC 6388, a dynamically middle-aged globular cluster in the Milky Way. While the cluster formed in the distant past (like all globular clusters, it is over ten billion years old), a study of the distribution of bright blue stars within the cluster shows that it has aged at a moderate speed, and its heaviest stars are in the process of migrating to the center.

A new study using ESO data has discovered that globular clusters of the same age can have dramatically different distributions of blue straggler stars within them, suggesting that clusters can age at substantially different rates.

Photo credit: ESO, F. Ferraro (University of Bologna)

Note: For more information, see Stars Reveal the Secrets of Looking Young; also, How to Look Young When You're Not - Stars Reveal the Secret of Aging Well.

NGC 5189

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the holiday season with a striking image of the planetary nebula NGC 5189. The intricate structure of the stellar eruption looks like a giant and brightly colored ribbon in space.

Photo credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Note: For more information, see A Swoosh in Space: Merry Christmas from Hubble.

NGC 3627

* NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy located about 30 million light years away.

* This composite view contains X-ray (blue), infrared (red), and optical data (yellow).

* A survey of galaxies that included NGC 3627 to look for supermassive black holes was recently completed.

The spiral galaxy NGC 3627 is located about 30 million light years from Earth. This composite image includes X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red), and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope (yellow). The inset shows the central region, which contains a bright X-ray source that is likely powered by material falling onto a supermassive black hole.

A search using archival data from previous Chandra observations of a sample of 62 nearby galaxies has shown that 37 of the galaxies, including NGC 3627, contain X-ray sources in their centers. Most of these sources are likely powered by central supermassive black holes. The survey, which also used data from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey, found that seven of the 37 sources are new supermassive black hole candidates.

Confirming previous Chandra results, this study finds the fraction of galaxies found to be hosting supermassive black holes is much higher than found with optical searches. This shows the ability of X-ray observations to find black holes in galaxies where relatively low-level black hole activity has either been hidden by obscuring material or washed out by the bright optical light of the galaxy.

The combined X-ray and infrared data suggest that the nuclear activity in a galaxy is not necessarily related to the amount of star-formation in the galaxy, contrary to some early claims. In contrast, these new results suggest that the mass of the supermassive black hole and the rate at which the black hole accretes matter are both greater for galaxies with greater total masses.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ./C.Grier et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI, ESO/WFI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New Impact Site in Fortuna Fossae

This impact site is located on the floor of a large fracture within Fortuna Fossae. This site formed sometime between September 2005 and May 2008 and consists of five distinct craters each displaying individual dark-toned ejecta patterns.

The resulting craters indicate that the impactor broke up into five parts prior to its collision with the surface. Craters continue to form on Mars today and repeat imaging of these recent impacts--especially in the color portion--provides information about how impact features change with time.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

A New ULX in Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy

This image shows the Andromeda galaxy (also known as M31) as seen in X-rays with ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory (shown here in red, green, blue and white, according to the energy of the different sources). This X-ray view is combined with an image of Andromeda taken with ESA's Herschel space observatory at far-infrared wavelengths (shown here in grey).

Amongst the hundreds of X-ray sources revealed by XMM-Newton in Andromeda are: novae - binary systems comprising a white dwarf accreting material from a companion star; X-ray binaries - binary systems hosting a neutron star or a black hole accreting material from a companion star; and supernova remnants.

The sequence of images at the top depict the center of Andromeda and were taken with XMM-Newton on four occasions during 2012. These images illustrate the discovery of a new source, XMMU J004243.6+412519 (highlighted with a circle).

XMMU J004243.6+412519 was first detected on 15 January 2012 within an XMM-Newton survey of Andromeda, designed to study the X-ray source population of this galaxy with particular emphasis on novae. On 21 January 2012, XMM-Newton recorded a significant brightening of this source; with a luminosity in excess of 1039 erg/s, it was classified as an ultra-luminous X-ray source, or ULX. This is only the second ULX known in the Andromeda galaxy. The source then became fainter, as shown in the last image of the sequence, taken on 8 August 2012.

XMMU J004243.6+412519 is an X-ray binary system consisting of a stellar-mass black hole that is accreting matter from a low-mass companion star. The source's dramatic boost in X-rays indicates a transition to an accretion rate close to the black hole's Eddington limit, or even above it.

Image credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/MPE

Note: For more information, see Greedy Black Hole Discovered in Andromeda.

Po River, Italy

This image is a compilation of three radar images from the Japanese ALOS satellite and shows the Po River, which flows over 650 km from west to east across northern Italy as the country’s longest river. Agriculture is one of the main economic uses of the Po Basin because of the fertile soils, and this image clearly shows a landscape dominated by fields. Branching off of the river in the center of the image and snaking through the landscape to the lower-right corner is the Po di Goro, one of the main channels of the Po Delta. The section of the main river pictured and the Po di Goro form the border of the Italy’s Veneto (north) and Emilia–Romagna (south) regions.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

High-Redshift Galaxy Candidates in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012

This image shows the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2012, an improved version of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image featuring additional observation time. The new data have revealed for the first time a population of distant galaxies at redshifts between 9 and 12, including the most distant object observed to date. These galaxies are shown at the top of the picture, and their locations are pinpointed in the main image.

These galaxies will require confirmation using spectroscopy by the forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope before they are considered to be fully confirmed.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, R. Ellis (Caltech), and the HUDF 2012 Team

Note: For more information, see Hubble Census Finds Galaxies at Redshifts 9 to 12.

Titan's Nile-like River

A miniature version of the Nile River, seen on Saturn’s moon Titan by the international Cassini mission. The river valley stretches more than 400 km from its ‘headwaters’ to a large sea, and likely contains hydrocarbons.

The image was acquired on 26 September 2012, on Cassini’s 87th close flyby of Titan. The river valley crosses Titan’s north polar region and runs into Kraken Mare, one of the three great seas in the high northern latitudes of the moon.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/ASI

Note: For more information, see Titan's Nile-Like River Valley; also, Cassini Spots Mini Nile River on Saturn Moon.

NGC 922

NGC 922: A ring galaxy about 157 million light years from Earth.

NGC 922 was formed by the collision between two galaxies – one seen in this composite image (where X-rays from Chandra are red and optical data from Hubble appear as pink, blue, and yellow) and another located outside the field of view. This collision triggered the formation of new stars in the shape of a ring. Some of these were massive stars that evolved and collapsed to form black holes. Astronomers are studying NGC 922 and other galaxies to determine the galactic composition that produces the biggest stellar-mass black holes.

Scale: Main image: 1.6 arcmin across (about 73,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Prestwich et al); Optical (NASA/STScI)

Note: For more information, see NGC 922: Searching for the Best Black Hole Recipe.

Charitum Montes Anaglyph

Charitum Montes imaged during revolution 10778 on 18 June 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express using the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). Data from HRSC’s nadir channel and one stereo channel have been combined to produce this anaglyph 3D image that can be viewed using stereoscopic glasses with red–green or red–blue filters. Centered at around 53°S and 334°E, the image has a ground resolution of about 20 m per pixel.

Photo credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Carina Nebula

The spectacular star-forming Carina Nebula has been captured in great detail by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. This picture was taken with the help of Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, during his visit to the observatory on 5 June 2012 and released on the occasion of the new telescope’s inauguration in Naples on 6 December 2012.

Photo credit: ESO Acknowledgement: VPHAS+ Consortium/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit.

Note: For more information, see Image of the Carina Nebula Marks Inauguration of VLT Survey Telescope.

Green Bean Galaxy J2240

This view from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope shows thousands of galaxies in the distant Universe. But the one close to the center looks very odd — it is bright green. This very unusual object is known as J224024.1−092748 or J2240 and it is a bright example of a new class of objects that have been nicknamed green bean galaxies. Green beans are entire galaxies that are glowing under the intense radiation from the region around a central black hole. J2240 lies in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) and its light has taken about 3.7 billion years to reach Earth.

Photo credit: CFHT/ESO/M. Schirmer

Note: For more information, see Galaxy-Wide Echoes From the Past.

Protoplanetary Disk Around a Brown Dwarf Star

This artist’s impression shows the disc of gas and cosmic dust around a brown dwarf.

Rocky planets are thought to form through the random collision and sticking together of what are initially microscopic particles in the disc of material around a star. These tiny grains, known as cosmic dust, are similar to very fine soot or sand. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have for the first time found that the outer region of a dusty disc encircling a brown dwarf — a star-like object, but one too small to shine brightly like a star — also contains millimeter-sized solid grains like those found in denser discs around newborn stars. The surprising finding challenges theories of how rocky, Earth-scale planets form, and suggests that rocky planets may be even more common in the Universe than expected.

Illustration credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Kornmesser (ESO)

Note: For more information, see Even Brown Dwarfs May Grow Rocky Planets.

Quasar GB 1428+4217: Furthest X-Ray Jet Detected

GB 1428+4217: A quasar at a distance of about 12.4 billion light years from Earth.

This composite image shows GB 1428+4217, a quasar that contains the most distant X-ray jet ever observed. This view contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), radio data from the Very Large Array (purple), and optical data from Hubble (yellow). The jet, whose shape is very similar in the X-ray and radio data, was produced by a giant black hole, at the center of a galaxy, pulling in matter at a rapid rate. The energy released as particles fall toward the black hole generates intense radiation and powerful beams of high-energy particles that blast away from the black hole at nearly the speed of light. GB 1428+4217 is located about 12.4 billion light years from Earth, surpassing the distance of previously discovered X-ray jets.

Scale: Image is 41 arcsec across. (about 900,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NRC/C.Cheung et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA

Note: For more information, see GB 1428+4217: Record-Setting X-ray Jet Discovered.

Material Ejected from Quasar SDSS J1106+1939

This artist’s impression shows the material ejected from the region around the supermassive black hole in the quasar SDSS J1106+1939. This object has the most energetic outflows ever seen, at least five times more powerful than any that have been observed to date. Quasars are extremely bright galactic centers powered by supermassive black holes. Many blast huge amounts of material out into their host galaxies, and these outflows play a key role in the evolution of galaxies. But, before this object was studied, the observed outflows weren’t as powerful as predicted by theorists. The very bright quasar appears at the center of the picture and the outflow spreads about 1000 light-years out into the surrounding galaxy.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Note: For more information, see Biggest Black Hole Blast Discovered.

Makemake

This artist’s impression shows the surface of the distant dwarf planet Makemake. This dwarf planet is about two thirds of the size of Pluto, and travels around the Sun in a distant path that lies beyond that of Pluto, but closer to the Sun than Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System. Makemake was expected to have an atmosphere like Pluto, but this has now been shown to not be the case.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger

Note: For more information, see Dwarf Planet Makemake Lacks Atmosphere.

Abell 30

Abell 30: The planetary nebula Abell 30, (a.k.a. A30), is located about 5500 light years from Earth.

The inset image on the right is a close-up view of A30 showing X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple and Hubble Space Telescope data showing optical emission from oxygen ions in orange. On the left is a larger view showing optical and X-ray data from the Kitt Peak National Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton, respectively, where the optical data shows emission from oxygen (orange) and hydrogen (green and blue), and X-ray emission is colored purple. A planetary nebula is formed in the late stage of the evolution of a sun-like star, after it expands to become a red giant. In the case of A30, a planetary nebula formed but then the star briefly reverted to being a red giant. The evolution of the planetary nebula then restarted, making it reborn, a special phase of evolution that is rarely seen.

Scale: Inset is 37 arcsec across (1 light years), Widefield image is 3.5 arcmin across (5.6 light years).

Image credit: Inset X-ray (NASA/CXC/IAA-CSIC/M.Guerrero et al); Inset Optical (NASA/STScI); Widefield X-ray (ESA/XMM-Newton); Widefield Optical (NSF/NOAO/KPNO)

Note: For more information, see Abell 30: X-rays from a Reborn Planetary Nebula.

Artist’s Impression of Free-Floating Planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9

This artist’s impression shows the free-floating planet CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9. This is the closest such object to the Solar System. It does not orbit a star and hence does not shine by reflected light; the faint glow it emits can only be detected in infrared light. Here we see an artist’s impression of an infrared view of the object with an image of the central parts of the Milky Way from the VISTA infrared survey telescope in the background. The object appears blueish in this near-infrared view because much of the light at longer infrared wavelengths is absorbed by methane and other molecules in the planet's atmosphere. In visible light the object is so cool that it would only shine dimly with a deep red color when seen close-up.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada/P. Delorme/R. Saito/VVV Consortium

Note: For more information, see Lost in Space: Rogue Planet Spotted?

Fleming 1

This new ESO Very Large Telescope image shows the planetary nebula Fleming 1 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). This striking object is a glowing cloud of gas around a dying star. New observations have shown that it is likely that a very rare pair of white dwarf stars lies at the heart of this object. Their orbital motions can fully explain the remarkably symmetric structures of the jets in the surrounding gas clouds in this and similar objects.

Photo credit: ESO/H. Boffin

Note: For more information, see Cosmic Sprinklers Explained.

Cygnus OB2

Cygnus OB2: A star cluster about 5,000 light years from Earth that contains many massive young stars.

This composite image of the star cluster Cygnus OB2 contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), infrared data from Spitzer (red), and optical emission from the Isaac Newton Telescope (orange). Astronomers would like to better understand how this and other star factories like it form and evolve. Deep observations with Chandra have been used to detect the hot outer atmosphere for young stars in such clusters. Cygnus OB2 is the closest massive star cluster to Earth, and Chandra's observations revealed almost 1,500 X-ray sources there. Astronomers think these young stars in Cygnus OB2 range in age from one million to seven million years.

Scale: Image is: 11.8 arcmin across (16 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J.Drake et al, Optical: Univ. of Hertfordshire/INT/IPHAS, Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see Cygnus OB2: Probing a Nearby Stellar Cradle.

NGC 6362

This colorful view of the globular cluster NGC 6362 was captured by the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This brilliant ball of ancient stars lies in the southern constellation of Ara (The Altar).

Photo credit: ESO

Note: For more information, see Stars Ancient and Modern?

NGC 4178

NGC 4178: A black hole located in the middle of the spiral galaxy NGC 4178.

One of the lowest mass supermassive black holes ever observed in the middle of a galaxy has been identified, thanks to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other observatories. The black hole is located in the middle of the spiral galaxy NGC 4178, shown in this image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The inset shows an X-ray source at the position of the black hole, in the center of a Chandra image. An analysis of the Chandra data, along with infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and radio data from the NSF's Very Large Array suggests that the black hole has a mass less than about 200,000 times that of the sun, near the extreme low-mass end of the supermassive black hole range. The host galaxy is of a type not expected to harbor supermassive black holes, suggesting that this black hole, while related to its supermassive cousins, may have a different origin.

Scale: Main image: 10 arcmin across (about 160,000 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/George Mason Univ/N.Secrest et al; Optical: SDSS

Note: For more information, see NGC 4178: Revealing a Mini-Supermassive Black Hole.

The Milky Way

This striking view of the central parts of the Milky Way was obtained with the VISTA survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. This huge picture is 108,500 by 81,500 pixels and contains nearly nine billion pixels. It was created by combining thousands of individual images from VISTA, taken through three different infrared filters, into a single monumental mosaic. These data form part of the VVV public survey and have been used to study a much larger number of individual stars in the central parts of the Milky Way than ever before. Because VISTA has a camera sensitive to infrared light it can see through much of the dust blocking the view for optical telescopes, although many more opaque dust filaments still show up well in this picture.

This image is too large to be easily displayed at full resolution and is best appreciated using the zoom tool. Read about the composition of this 9 gigapixel image in this newsletter.

Image credit: ESO/VVV Survey/D. Minniti
Acknowledgment: Ignacio Toledo, Martin Kornmesser

Notes: For more information, see 84 Million Stars and Counting. For those of you who are download junkies (and The Minister knows there are many of you who), be warned that the full-size original image comes in at a whopping 24.6 gigabytes!

A Planet around Alpha Centauri B

This artist’s impression shows the planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri B is the most brilliant object in the sky and the other dazzling object is Alpha Centauri A. Our own Sun is visible to the upper right. The tiny signal of the planet was found with the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Illustration credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger

Note: For more information, see Planet Found in Nearest Star System to Earth.

Planetary Nebulae

Planetary Nebula Gallery: Four planetary nebulas located less than 5000 light years from Earth.

This gallery shows four planetary nebulas from the first systematic survey of such objects in the solar neighborhood made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The planetary nebulas shown here are NGC 6543 (aka the Cat's Eye), NGC 7662, NGC 7009 and NGC 6826. X-ray emission from Chandra is colored purple and optical emission from the Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue. A planetary nebula is a phase of stellar evolution that the sun should experience several billion years from now, when it expands to become a red giant and then sheds most of its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that contracts to form a dense white dwarf star. A wind from the hot core rams into the ejected atmosphere, creating the shell-like filamentary structures seen with optical telescopes. The diffuse X-ray emission is caused by shock waves as the wind collides with the ejected atmosphere. The properties of the X-ray point sources in the center of about half of the planetary nebulas suggest that many central stars responsible for ejecting planetary nebulas have companion stars.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

Note: For more information, see NGC 6543: A Planetary Nebula Gallery.

Spiral Structure Around R Sculptoris

Observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed an unexpected spiral structure in the material around the old star R Sculptoris. This feature has never been seen before and is probably caused by a hidden companion star orbiting the star. This slice through the new ALMA data reveals the shell around the star, which shows up as the outer circular ring, as well as a very clear spiral structure in the inner material.

Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Maercker et al.

Note: For more information, see Surprising Spiral Structure Spotted by ALMA.

NGC 2359 - Thor's Helmet Nebula

This VLT image of the Thor’s Helmet Nebula was taken on the occasion of ESO’s 50th Anniversary, 5 October 2012, with the help of Brigitte Bailleul — winner of the Tweet Your Way to the VLT! competition. The observations were broadcast live over the Internet from the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This object, also known as NGC 2359, lies in the constellation of Canis Major (The Great Dog). The helmet-shaped nebula is around 15,000 light-years away from Earth and is over 30 light-years across. The helmet is a cosmic bubble, blown as the wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through the surrounding molecular cloud.

Photo credit: ESO/B. Bailleul

Note: For more information, see ESO Celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

Head of the Seagull Nebula

This image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory shows part of a stellar nursery nicknamed the Seagull Nebula. This cloud of gas, known as Sh 2-292, RCW 2 and Gum 1, seems to form the head of the seagull and glows brightly due to the energetic radiation from a very hot young star lurking at its heart. The detailed view was produced by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope.

Photo credit: ESO

Note: For more information, see The Rich Colors of a Cosmic Seagull

Halo of Hot Gas Around the Milky Way

Galactic Halo: An enormous halo of hot gas (in blue) around the Milky Way galaxy with a radius of at least 300,000 light years.

Astronomers have used Chandra to find evidence that our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. This artist's illustration shows the halo of hot gas, in blue, around the Milky Way and two small neighboring galaxies. The mass of the halo is estimated to be comparable to the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it could be the solution to the "missing-baryon" problem for the Galaxy.

Illustration credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; NASA/CXC/Ohio State/A Gupta et al.

Note: For more information, see Galactic Halo: Milky Way is Surrounded by Huge Halo of Hot Gas.

Juno's Two Deep Space Maneuvers are 'Back-To-Back Home Runs'

NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully executed a second Deep Space Maneuver, called DSM-2 last Friday, September 14. The 30 minute firing of its main engine refined the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's trajectory, setting the stage for a gravity assist from a flyby of Earth on October 9, 2013. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

The maneuver began at 3:30 p.m. PDT (6:30 p.m. EDT), when the Leros-1b main engine began to fire. The burn ended at 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT). Based on telemetry, the Juno project team believes the burn was accurate, changing the spacecraft's velocity by about 867 mph (388 meters a second) while consuming about 829 pounds (376 kilograms) of fuel.

The burn occurred when Juno was more than 298 million miles (480 million kilometers) from Earth.

Juno executed its first deep space maneuver (DSM-1), one of comparable duration and velocity change, on August 30. Together, both maneuvers placed Juno on course for its Earth flyby, which will occur as the spacecraft is completing one elliptical orbit around the sun. The Earth flyby will boost Juno's velocity by 16,330 mph (about 7.3 kilometers per second), placing the spacecraft on its final flight path for Jupiter. The closest approach to Earth, on October 9, 2013, will occur when Juno is at an altitude of about 348 miles (560 kilometers).

"It feels like we hit back-to-back home runs here with the near-flawless propulsion system performance seen during both DSM-1 and DSM-2." said Juno Project Manager Rick Nybakken of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "These successes move us closer to being ready for our most critical mission event, the Jupiter Orbit Insertion main engine burn in July 2016. We're not in the playoffs yet, as that will come in 2016 when we arrive at Jupiter, but it does feel fantastic to have hit both of these DSMs out of the park."

Juno was launched on August 5, 2011. Once in orbit, the spacecraft will circle Jupiter 33 times, from pole to pole, and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover. Juno's science team will learn about Jupiter's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New Impact Crater South of Echus Chasma

How exactly can we tell if an impact crater is new?

In this observation, we see a dark spot with a larger, rayed "blast zone" that was also apparent in a Context Camera image taken in 2011 (an instrument with a larger footprint than HiRISE and also on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). However, a THEMIS image of the same area acquired in 2009 does not show the dark spot at all.

This is a great example of using three different instruments to view the same area not only to look for changes in the Martian landscape, but also to use the resolution of HiRISE to determine if this is indeed a new impact site.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Note: This impact crater is located just south of Echus Chasma.

Bs in the Beehive

Astronomers have discovered two gas giant planets orbiting stars in the Beehive cluster, a collection of about 1,000 tightly packed stars. The planets are the first ever found around sun-like stars in a cluster of stars. Such planets, even though they are not habitable, would have skies filled with many bright stars as illustrated in this artist's concept. A gas giant planet is shown to the right of its sun-like star, and all around, the stars of the Beehive cluster shine brightly in the dark.

This image of the Beehive star cluster points out the location of its first known planets, Pr0201b and Pr0211b, or, as astronomers call them, the first 'b's' in the Beehive. The "open cluster," also called Praesepe, is a collection of about 1,000 stars all loosely bound together by gravity, located about 550 light-years away. The stars were born out of the same cloud and have remained together for the past 600 million years. Eventually, they will disperse and head out on their own.

Astronomers found the planets Pr0201b and Pr0211b orbiting different sun-like stars in the cluster. The planets are both "hot Jupiters," which are gas giants like Jupiter but whip closely around their stars in just days. They are the first planets ever found around sun-like stars in a cluster, offering further proof that planets can sprout up in dense stellar environments.

The Beehive cluster can be seen in dark northern skies in late winter or early spring with the naked eye. The stars themselves can be seen individually with the help of a telescope.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; image credit: Stuart Heggie

Note: For more information, see First Planets Found Around Sun-Like Stars in a Cluster.

SN 1604 - Kepler's Supernova Remnant

Kepler's Supernova Remnant: The debris from a supernova observed in 1604.

This composite image of Kepler's supernova remnant shows different colors ranging from lower to higher energies: red, yellow, green, blue and purple. An optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey (pale yellow and blue) shows stars in the field. The Kepler supernova was a Type Ia event, the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. New analysis suggests that the supernova explosion was not only more powerful, but might have also occurred at a greater distance, than previously thought.

Scale: Image is about 5 arcmin across (19-33 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/D.Patnaude, Optical: DSS


Note: For more information, see Kepler's Supernova Remnant: Was Kepler's Supernova Unusually Powerful?

Colorful Surface Near Nili Fossae

This enhanced-color image shows a surface with diverse colors just southwest of Nili Fossae. The color diversity of this mesa suggests that the surface has a varied composition, perhaps recording chemical processes of ancient Mars.

Much of the surface shows a chaotic mix of colors, but the northern impact crater exposes distinct layers. Different layers have different colors. There are several possible reasons for this: the events that formed the layers could have drawn material from different sources, or the layers could have been altered differently after they formed, for reasons such as varying porosity.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_019898_2000.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

NGC 2736 - The Pencil Nebula

The oddly shaped Pencil Nebula (NGC 2736) is pictured in this image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This nebula is a small part of a huge remnant left over after a supernova explosion that took place about 11,000 years ago. The image was produced by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Photo credit: ESO

Note: For more information, see A Celestial Witch’s Broom?

Full Topographical Maps of Vesta

This image from NASA's Dawn mission shows the topography of the northern and southern hemispheres of the giant asteroid Vesta, updated with pictures obtained during Dawn's last look back. Around the time of Dawn's departure from Vesta in the late summer of 2012, dawn was beginning to creep over the high northern latitudes, which were dark when Dawn arrived in the summer of 2011.

These color-shaded relief maps show the northern and southern hemispheres of Vesta, derived from images analysis. Colors represent distance relative to Vesta's center, with lows in violet and highs in red. In the northern hemisphere map on the left (Figure 1), the surface ranges from lows of minus 13.82 miles (22.24 kilometers) to highs of 27.48 miles (44.22 kilometers). Light reflected off the walls of some shadowed craters at the north pole (in the center of the image) was used to determine the height. In the southern hemisphere map on the right (Figure 2), the surface ranges from lows of minus 23.65 miles (38.06 kilometers) to 26.61 miles (42.82 kilometers).

The shape model was constructed using images from Dawn's framing camera that were obtained from July 17, 2011, to August 26, 2012. The data have been stereographically projected on a 300-mile-diameter (500-kilometer-diameter) sphere with the poles at the center.

The three craters that make up Dawn's "snowman" feature can be seen at the top of the northern hemisphere map on the left. A mountain more than twice the height of Mount Everest, inside the largest impact basin on Vesta, can be seen near the center of the southern hemisphere map on the right.

These images are the last in Dawn's Image of the Day series during the cruise to Dawn's second destination, Ceres. A full set of Dawn data is being archived at http://pds.nasa.gov/.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCAL/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI

Note: For more information, see Vesta in Dawn's Rear View Mirror.

Let it snow, let is snow, let it...

Observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have detected carbon-dioxide snow clouds on Mars and evidence of carbon-dioxide snow falling to the surface.

Deposits of small particles of carbon-dioxide ice are formed by snowfall from carbon-dioxide clouds. This map shows the distribution of small-grain carbon-dioxide ice deposits formed by snowfall over the south polar cap of Mars. It is based on infrared measurements by the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see NASA Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars.

B-Ring Clumps and Strands

Zooming in on clumps in Saturn’s B-ring (lower left), the image also spans the ringlets of the Cassini Division towards the A-ring in the top right. The view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 31 degrees below the ring plane. The image scale is approximately 2 km per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

3-D View from Bradbury Landing

This 3-D image from NASA's Curiosity was taken from the rover's Bradbury Landing site inside Gale Crater, Mars, using the left and right eyes of its Navigation camera. Between the rover on the right, and its shadow on the left, looms the rover's eventual target: Mount Sharp. The mountain's highest peak is not visible to the rover from the landing site.

This full-resolution, 360-degree stereo panorama was taken on sols 2 and 12 of the mission, or the 2nd and 12th Martian days since landing (Aug. 8 and 18, 2012). It requires viewing with the traditional red-blue 3-D glasses, with red going over the left eye.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hadley Crater

High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) nadir and color channel data taken during revolution 10572 on 9 April 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express have been combined to form a natural-color view of Hadley Crater. Centered at around 19°S and 157°E, the image has a ground resolution of about 19 m per pixel. The image shows the main 120 km wide crater, with subsequent impacts at later epochs within it. Evidence of these subsequent impacts occurring over large timescales is shown by some of the craters being buried.

Photo credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Chernozem Cropland

This ALOS satellite image shows an area with extensive agricultural use in western Russia, with roads and rivers cutting through the cropland. This area, part of Russia’s Black Earth Region, is about 400 km directly south of Moscow. Many grains are grown here, such as winter wheat and rye.

This image is a compilation of three passes by the Japanese Advanced Land Observation Satellite’s radar on 14 June 2009, 14 September 2009 and 2 August 2010. Each image at the different recording date is assigned a color (red, green or blue) and combined to produce this representation. The colors reveal changes in the surface between the satellite’s passes.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA