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.