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?