Hubble sees a massive collection of stars, the Pillars of Creation shine like never before, and NASA showcases a famous supernova in blue. These are some of this week’s top photos.
Cassiopeia A in blue
(Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO; IXPE: NASA/MSFC)
This blue orb is a composite image of a stellar remnant called Cassiopeia A, located 11,000 light-years away. About three hundred years ago, the light from this supernova reached Earth for the first time. Since then, astronomers have been fascinated by the beauty of its structure and the powerful shockwaves that emanate from its center.
The golden specks throughout this image are optical light observations from the Hubble space Telescope. The neon blue is X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory. And the turquoise colors represent new observations from a new NASA telescope less than a year into its mission, called the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (called IXPE).
Full story: X-ray view of wreckage from a star-killing cosmic explosion reveals magnetic surprise
Curiosity Mars rover investigates signs of ancient water
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has reached a region near Mount Sharp that is filled with a diverse array of rock types and signs of past water. The salty minerals that enrich the area might be explained by ancient streams and ponds that dried up on Mars billions of years ago.
The rover touched down on the Martian surface a decade ago, and its recent rock drilling at this site marks the mission’s 36th such sample. Curiosity’s Mastcam captured this view of the Martian terrain on Aug. 14, 2022, as it approached its current location.
Full story: NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity reaches intriguing salty site after treacherous journey
A celestial Antarctic sky
(Image credit: Aman Chokshi)
This feast for the eyes contains many unique objects. On the left, auroras meander above the South Pole Telescope, the largest astronomical observatory in Antarctica, located at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
Above the facility shines the aurora australis, the southern version of the aurora borealis (which are visible near Earth’s North Pole.)
But astrophotographer and astronomer Aman Chokshi also caught another beautiful sight. To the right of the aurora, where the sky is clear and distant stars peek through the atmosphere, a bright meteor sails above the telescope.
“The sky is absolutely stunning here,” Chokshi told Space.com. Chokshi is currently completing a year-long rotation at the South Pole Telescope.
Full story: South Pole’s never-ending night and daily auroras are a dream for astrophotographers
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Jian-Yang Li (PSI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale)
Asteroid Dimorphos has grown two tails, thanks to NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). This new image from the Hubble space Telescope shows that the small rock, which served as the target for the DART planetary defense mission, sprouted two tails of debris after the spacecraft intentionally struck it last month.
According to NASA, the sun’s radiation caused the first tail to form sometime between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8. But a second one formed, too, much to the surprise of astronomers. This is an “unexpected” development, NASA personnel have stated, and they aren’t sure how this second tail formed.
Full story: Hubble space Telescope sees unexpected twin ‘tails’ from NASA asteroid impact
Terzan 4
(Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen)
This is Terzan 4, a gargantuan collection of stars. The Hubble space Telescope was able to peer towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy, where it captured this view of the globular cluster.
Globular clusters can harbor millions of stars that are roughly the same age, bound together by their gravity. Some are thought to also house intermediate-mass black holes, a celestial population that intrigues many astronomers. Here, Hubble observed Terzan 4 with its Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.
Full story: Dazzling Hubble space Telescope image shows millions of stars glittering like jewels
Veteran X-ray telescope captures powerful gamma ray burst
space Agency’s veteran space telescope XMM-Newton captured the immediate aftermath of the gamma ray burst of the century.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” data-srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-320-80.jpg.webp 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-480-80.jpg.webp 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-650-80.jpg.webp 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-970-80.jpg.webp 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1024-80.jpg.webp 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1200-80.jpg.webp 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg”/>space Agency’s veteran space telescope XMM-Newton captured the immediate aftermath of the gamma ray burst of the century.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” data-srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-320-80.jpg 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-480-80.jpg 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-650-80.jpg 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-970-80.jpg 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1024-80.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1200-80.jpg 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg”/>space Agency’s veteran space telescope XMM-Newton captured the immediate aftermath of the gamma ray burst of the century.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-320-80.jpg 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-480-80.jpg 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-650-80.jpg 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-970-80.jpg 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1024-80.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL-1200-80.jpg 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KXhYs62f7EpZxAU7tGCjyL.jpg”/>
(Image credit: ESA/XMM-Newton/Pedro Rodriguez (Serco Gestión de Negocios S.L. for ESA – European space Agency)/Andrea Tiengo (IUSS Pavi))
Europe’s veteran XMM-Newton space telescope, which detects high energy X-ray radiation emitted by objects in the universe, observed the immediate aftermath of the gamma ray burst of the century.
According to the European space Agency (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab) (ESA), which released the image on Friday (Oct. 21), operators pointed XMM-Newton in the direction of the constellation Sagitta, from where the gamma ray burst emerged on Sunday (Oct.9), shortly after the flash was first detected.
The telescope, launched in 1999, then took spectacular images of the energetic rays scattering off interstellar dust as they raced through our galaxy at nearly the speed of light.
Astronomers said the gamma ray burst, officially named GRB 221009A, was one of the strongest ever detected and also one of the nearest. ESA said that many of its spacecraft detected the aftermath of the event, which was so powerful that it ionized Earth’s atmosphere, briefly disrupting long wave radio communication on Earth. – Tereza Pultarova
For more: Pictures from space! See our image of the day
(Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, SDSS, J. Dalcanton)
The Hubble space Telescope captured an image of two strangely interacting galaxies, one of which appears to be sucking out stars from the other.
The two galaxies in question are NGC 2799 (on the left), which is being stretched by the gravitational pull of the larger NGC 2798 galaxy (on the right).
A thin bridge of stars is visible in the image leading from the smaller galaxy to the heart of the larger one.
These two galaxies will likely merge completely in the future, the European space Agency said in a statement (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab). But this process is likely going to take hundreds of millions of years. Although the idea of a galactic collision sounds intimidating, stars in both galaxies usually survive such encounters as the vast amount of free space between the balls of matter ensures that they safely avoid each other during the process. – Tereza Pultarova
For more: Pictures from space! See our image of the day
The James Webb space Telescope re-images Hubble’s iconic Pillars of Creation
space Telescope’s view of the iconic Pillars of Creation is full of sparkling new-born stars.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” data-srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-320-80.jpg.webp 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-480-80.jpg.webp 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-650-80.jpg.webp 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-970-80.jpg.webp 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1024-80.jpg.webp 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1200-80.jpg.webp 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg”/>space Telescope’s view of the iconic Pillars of Creation is full of sparkling new-born stars.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” data-srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-320-80.jpg 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-480-80.jpg 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-650-80.jpg 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-970-80.jpg 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1024-80.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1200-80.jpg 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg”/>space Telescope’s view of the iconic Pillars of Creation is full of sparkling new-born stars.” class=” lazy-image-van” onerror=”if(this.src && this.src.indexOf(‘missing-image.svg’) !== -1){return true;};this.parentNode.replaceChild(window.missingImage(),this)” data-normal=”https://vanilla.futurecdn.net/space/media/img/missing-image.svg” srcset=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-320-80.jpg 320w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-480-80.jpg 480w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-650-80.jpg 650w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-970-80.jpg 970w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1024-80.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF-1200-80.jpg 1200w” data-sizes=”(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw – 40px)” data-original-mos=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg” data-pin-media=”https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MeJKRWtvQSWg738hdoa9NF.jpg”/>
(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI).)
NASA’s James Webb space Telescope has taken a look at the Pillars of Creation, an object of one of the most iconic images of its predecessor Hubble.
Using its infrared super-vision, Webb peered deeper into the nebula than Hubble ever could, revealing stars being born inside the dense clouds of gas and dust that form the spectacular columns that are part of the Eagle Nebula located in the constellation Serpens some 7,000 light years from Earth.
The image, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) is virtually sprinkled with sparkles of various sizes and luminosity levels, many of which are nascent stars just springing into life out of the coalescing dust in the Pillar’s clouds. – Tereza Pultarova
Full story: Magnificent Pillars of Creation sparkle in new James Webb space Telescope image
For more: Pictures from space! See our image of the day
Martian pebbles photographed by NASA’s Perseverance rover
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA’s Perseverance rover took an up-close view of Jezero Crater surface covered with sand and regularly shaped pebbles.
The rover took the image using its SHERLOC WATSON camera located at the end of its robotic arm on Sunday, Oct.16, its 589th sol on the red planet. The rover has recently experienced technical problems when collecting its 14th rock sample. The rover was able to collect drill the promising rock, but failed to seal the test tube. The samples the rover collects will be brought to Earth by a return mission in the early 2030s. – Tereza Pultarova
For more: Pictures from space! See our image of the day
Cosmic dust set aflame by the most powerful explosion ever observed
(Image credit: NASA/Swift/A. Beardmore (University of Leicester))
Rings of cosmic dust set alight by extremely energetic radiation from a record-breaking gamma ray burst glow in this image captured by NASA’s Swift X-ray telescope.
The gamma ray burst GRB 221009A flashed from a galaxy over 2 billion light-years away on Oct. 9 in what has been the most energetic such event ever observed. Gamma ray bursts are the most energetic explosions known to occur in the universe, second only to the Big Bang. They are believed to be a result of supernova explosions of dying supermassive stars. Just as the star collapses into a new-born black hole, it unleashes a beam of light that brightens up the universe for a brief period of time of a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
Telescopes all over the World are now aiming at spot in the sky were GRB 221009A came from, hoping to gather enough data to shed more light on these formidable explosions. – Tereza Pultarova
For more: Pictures from space! See our image of the day
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