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Vast Bronze Age city discovered in the plains of Kazakhstan
Vast Bronze Age city discovered in the plains of Kazakhstan
How Dark Energy Changed Cosmology Forever
Let’s rewind the clock back…oh, I don’t know, let’s say a hundred years.
#771: Comet Tails
With the arrival of the comet 3I/Atlas (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System), the world is getting a crash course in comets, their behavior, and of course their tails. Today we’re going to talk about comets and their tails, why they exist, how they grow, why they can be different colors and how they can be sometimes point AT the Sun.
Comets are one of the most animated and ephemeral targets for astronomy. From night to night they can change in shape and color, and every nuance tells us something. In this episode, we decode blue tails, green cores, forward-facing plumes, and other weird and awesome details observed with these icy visitors.
<iframe title="Embed Player" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/39042600/height/128/theme/modern/size/standard/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/5c849e/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" height="128" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" style="border: none;"></iframe> Show Notes- What comet tails are and how they form
- Sublimation, dust release, and the creation of the coma
- Differences between ion tails and dust tails
- How solar radiation and magnetic fields shape comet tails
- Why comet tails always point away from the Sun
- Color changes in comets and what causes them
- Explaining the “anti-tail” and strange comet behavior
- Comet 3I/ATLAS and public misinformation
- Potential spacecraft interaction with comet tails
- What happens as a comet moves away from the Sun
Fraser Cain:
Astronomy Cast, Episode 771 Comet Tales. Welcome to Astronomy Cast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I’m Fraser Cain, I’m the Publisher of Universe Today.
With me as always is Dr. Pamela Gay, Senior Scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the Director of CosmoQuest. Hey Pam, how are you doing?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
I’m doing well. I am very envious of the amazing adventure you’re about to go on. It sounds so cool.
Fraser Cain:
Yeah, we’re going to do a month in Thailand. Not for any purpose, but to escape the Canadian winter.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
And we are about to record a bevy of shows. And so there’s going to be very boring intros because we’re just going to sit and do them.
Fraser Cain:
How are you doing? I don’t know how I’m doing because we recorded this in advance. I have to assume that I’m fine.
So yeah. I saw an elephant. I went to a temple.
I ate some really tasty Thai food. I don’t know. I don’t know.
With the arrival of Comet 3i Atlas, the world is getting a crash course on comets, their behavior, and of course, their tails. Today we’re going to talk about comets and their tails. Why they exist, how they grow, why they can be different colors, and how they can sometimes point at the sun.
So I’ve ranted quite a bit on my channel about how awesome Comet 3i Atlas is.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yes.
Fraser Cain:
And my frustration at the nonsense that is proliferating on YouTube. And there is a lot of nonsense. You know, on the best case, you have people who are writing scientific papers that go against the scientific mainstream and much to the eyebrow raising of their scientific colleagues, not naming any names, pointing any fingers.
And on the worst case, you’ve just got people making stuff up, just literally going, it broke into 17 pieces. And now we’ve got spaceships that are flying out of it and laser beams and people receiving communications. And, you know, it’s so, and a lot of it rests on the behavior of its tail.
I know. So I think today, let’s just, just hammer comet tails as until we really, really understand the whole process. And that will give us a lens from which to both understand this comet and every comet that will ever show up again in the future.
So I guess, what is a comet tail?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
It is material that has been removed by some form of physics from the nucleus of the comet. And the reason I phrased it that way is we have two different processes going on. One is your standard stuff melts, which actually in this case means sublimation.
So you have all the volatiles, all the frozen stuff that as it gets energy injected into it either from solar heating or because there’s been landslides or something like that, that inserted kinetic energy, some form of energy got inserted and that raised temperatures, caused phase transitions. And now you have stuff that has gone from solid to gas. Now the solid going to gas is a wild change in volume and this can eject dust at all sorts of different velocities in all sorts of different directions.
And so you also have dust getting ejected from the comet nucleus. So around your comet, you have expanding gas, you have dust, and all of this stuff can be slightly different colors depending on what’s going on.
Fraser Cain:
And so dust, it’s very interesting. For a while there, we’ve always talked about dust as this thing and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. And so talked to a bunch of scientists and was like, okay, look, if I could hold some dust in my hand, what would it look like?
If I could throw dust up in the air, what would it look like? And the best example is essentially smoke coming from a fire that you’ve got these, what’s it, polyachromatic carbon compounds. Polycyclic aromatic compounds.
Hydrocarbons. Yeah, hydrocarbons. The soot coming from hydrocarbons that are then mixed in particles of this soot, and these are very small particles, you know, they are micrometers across, they are mixed in with the volatile elements, the frozen nitrogen, the frozen oxygen, frozen carbon dioxide on the surface of this comet.
And so then as this gas is sublimating off of the surface, you’ve also got these PACs. Is that right? Yeah.
The soot, this dust. PAHs. PAHs.
That’s it. Right. Yeah. You’ve got this soot being lofted into the environment around the comet as well. And this is going to be important when we sort of come back around to it.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
All right. So the way I always think of it is they’re just really big molecules and sometimes they’re multiple molecules that have decided to gang up and join forces to build slightly bigger things. Right.
And this is where it’s important to remember they can have different sizes. And sometimes it’s not the kind of dust you’re talking about, which is like the stuff that lives between the stars, the interstellar space, the dust of why it’s really hard to see through clouds of material, the dust that makes the horse and the horsehead nebula. Sometimes dust is just grains of material because comets are made of rocks and ices.
And so we get all these different grain sizes and some of these grains are actually the stuff that’s eventually going to form meteor showers. Less exciting than polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, easier to spell, and cause really cool light shows.
Fraser Cain:
Yeah. I love Nicole did her science experiment at one of the, I think at Dragon Con one year and had dry ice and bits of…
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Oh yeah. Made a comet.
Fraser Cain:
And made a comet. Yeah.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yeah.
Fraser Cain:
And all of the raw material. A bit of dirt, a bit of regularized dry ice, cooking oil, all of this stuff, mixed it all together and made a ball. And then you watch as the carbon dioxide is sublimating off of the surface of it and bits and pieces of it are dropping off onto the ground.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yeah. Add a little bit of ammonia in there. It’s really cool.
And so all of this stuff, when you take that dirty snowball that has been going through interplanetary space, interstellar space, it has been gathering on its surface all of the dust. And it’s also had very slow chemical reactions going on that form these larger molecules. So as it comes into the solar system, it experiences gravity from other objects, which can cause landslides and it experiences solar heating.
Both of these factors can cause activity, which is also why we see centaurs that get active sometimes out beyond Jupiter in the outer solar system. And this kind of activity is going to shed dust.
Fraser Cain:
Right.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
And that dust is going to reflect light and it’s going to reflect predominantly redder light because it’s really big stuff. So the reflection goes all the way into the reds. And so looking at a lot of comets when they first start to get active in the outer solar system and 3i Atlas is utterly unsurprising.
It’s remarkable, but also utterly unsurprising. And it started out by doing the, I’m going to be red right now thing. And yeah, it was awesome.
Fraser Cain:
Right. And, and so this idea of the, I mean, what we’re talking about here is the coma and when you look at a comet and you see this diffuse blob in your telescope, that is the coma. The nucleus is down there inside.
Sometimes you can’t even resolve the nucleus. Sometimes you can, but then around that is the coma. And the coma can be hundreds of kilometers across while the nucleus may just be five kilometers or one kilometer and it can just produce enough material that makes this larger, brighter object that you can, that you can see.
So how does the coma become the tail?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So we have two different processes that, that we need to keep track of and a third that occasionally happens that we’ll get to. So the tails, there’s normally both an ion tail and a dust tail. And the ion tail is rogue molecules.
So like C2, I’m not talking the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons here, I’m talking like C2, sodium, methane, just the super simple little tiny stuff you can build with tinker toys and not hate yourself in the process. Right So, so that stuff can form ion tails and the ion tails, as the name implies, are charged. So because they are charged as the solar wind of high energy particles, as the sun’s magnetic field interacts with these charged particles, it, it forms a, a tail that is distinctly separate from the dust tail, which is the second tail. And the dust tail tends to be made of bigger stuff.
And that bigger stuff has its location influenced by the motion of the comet. So it’s leaving stuff behind as it goes. And it’s getting pushed by the not charged light of the sun, photons aren’t charged.
Fraser Cain:
But I think it’s really important. Like, I think we have this terrestrial in atmosphere concept of, you even said it, leaving stuff behind. But this stuff is, is coming off of the comet and has the same momentum as the comet itself.
And if there was no sun, no solar wind, then this diffuse ball would just continue along with the comet, its gravity would pull it back down onto it and that would be that. But because the solar wind is interacting with it, it’s causing a force against its motion that is pushing it away from the comet. And so when you see this tail, it’s still moving at roughly the same speed as the comet, but a little bit slower and in a little bit different direction.
And that’s why the tail starts to grow out from the comet as it gets warmer, more activity on surface, more comas produced, more of this material gets separated into the ion tail and the regular dust tail. And that’s how we see that. And then just the size of the tail will depend on how much radiation this thing has received, how close it is to the sun, and then what its composition is depending on the sublimation temperature.
All right, so that’s how we get the tail. Now, what about the color of the tail? Because that changes from comet to comet.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yeah, and it is a function and it can change over time as different stuff gets revealed. And it’s a function of composition. And one of the mistakes that is easy to make is, oh, are aurora colors and comet colors related?
Yes and no. It is the same physics, but because it’s working in different regimes with different energies involved, we’re seeing different reactions. So we see red in comets, we see red in aurora, different causes.
The red in comets comes from either scattering off of dust, less exciting, or sometimes, very rarely, we get super lucky and there is sodium in the tail that ends up being really cool, bright, if you have the right filters and you expose long enough, red. So you can get red in the comet tail and it’s not associated with the ion tail, it’s associated more with the dust tail towards the ion tail because it’s like its mass puts it in between. I just want to go back to this mass thing again.
The reason you get a different spreading out of the dust tail is different mass particles get pushed with different efficiency. A low mass particle is going to like totally get flung out by solar light pressure. Heavier mass stuff is like, I’m just going to hang back here, you’re not going to push me quite so hard.
So it spreads out as a function of mass and then the ion tail is just like, I am small and narrow. It’s the way it works.
Fraser Cain:
Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of amazing that the magnetic field of the plasma coming from the sun in the solar wind is grabbing those ions, locking them into place and moving them directly while the dust tail, it’s more of a transfer of momentum from the particles in the solar wind that are bonking into them as opposed to just that really tight coupling of the electromagnetic field of the magnetism.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Students are so glad I’m not teaching physics one right now because this is entirely a case of an object in motion stays in motion until acted upon by another force. And we have two forces acting on all of these things. The electromagnetic force and then we also have impulse, which is easier to solve as a transfer of momentum problem from photons.
And so the dust, the electromagnetic force, just it’s like not as big a thing, even if the dust is charged because those molecules are so big. But the bigger they are, the more light is hitting them and pressing them. But the harder it is to move it, it all balances out.
It’s an amazing set of just balance the forces and remember the inertia.
Fraser Cain:
Right. But you would you would require like for homework for your students, you would be requiring two different sets of calculations. One is all about the impulse, while the other one is about calculating the what the magnetic moment as the.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
No, it’s the sum of the forces. So you’re taking the electromagnetic force and you’re taking the it’s the impulse from getting hit by the photons. Right.
So, yeah, you just sum the forces and you do it as a function of these things have this much a charge and this much mass. This stuff has this much charge and this much mass. And so I’d have them run the calculations for some random dust grain I pulled out of a textbook and then for a charged, probably just charged carbon atom.
Fraser Cain:
Right. Yeah. So let’s talk about some sort of strange behaviors that we might see from comets.
So one of the things that was very interesting with Comet 3i Atlas right at the very beginning, we were super lucky that we detected it early on on its way inbound. We didn’t get that with Borisov and with Oumuamua. Right.
Astronomers were able to watch this strange anti-tail, essentially material that was making its way towards the sun. What was going on there?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So two problems. One was human language and the other was lots of dust. So what it actually had was a forward facing plume.
But because they’re so used to talking about comet tails, people are like, it has a tail facing the sun. Right. That’s not a thing, people.
So what was happening is you have this chunk of dust covered ice. The front part facing the sun is heating up in the sunlight. Dust actually helps stuff heat up because it’s dark.
So it absorbs. And if you have a grain of dust with ice behind it, and that ice gets warm, gets warm, sublimates. When it sublimates and expands, it’s going to fire the dust straight out towards the sun in this case.
So the reason there was a plume facing towards the sun is that was dust getting fired off the surface of the comet as the comet warmed up and just flung that dust straight off.
Fraser Cain:
Right. And that’s the kind of thing that you would expect to see early on before enough light pressure has built up to really start to push that tail back away from it.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Well, more than that, it was just that much dust and heating at that point.
Fraser Cain:
Right.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So once you get all the dust off of it, and that’s part of what’s happening is they’re literally cleaning the surface off.
Fraser Cain:
But, right. But all I’m saying is that, you know, in the beginning, there’s not enough light pressure coming from the sun to really produce that long tail. So instead, you get this heating on the side that’s facing.
It ejects a bunch of dust towards the sun. That’s kind of, you know, it’s got that initial velocity off of the surface of the comet. And then over time, as it gets closer and closer and closer, then the light pressure of the solar wind starts to pick up and push that stuff away into that proper tail that you, you know, that we always expect.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yeah. There’s a one over R squared relationship for those who like math. So basically, you’re far away.
There’s less sunlight, you get closer in, there’s more sunlight per square meter. And so it’s literally the closer in you get, the more sunlight is pushing against you. So it’s two different factors.
But yeah, yeah, totally.
Fraser Cain:
So let’s talk about how the tail is facing away from the sun. And it’s, it makes the comet look like when it’s going towards the sun, it looks like a burning fireball that’s on its way towards the sun. Yeah.
But when it’s going away from the sun, it appears as if it’s going in reverse.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So, so in general, if you look at a comet, from a top down view of its orbit relative to the sun, you can draw a line from the sun towards the comet, and its tail will arc away from the sun and towards where it came from. And what’s happening is, as it moves, sunlight, literally the pressure from the light, is pushing the material away. And as it moves, this part has now been pushed for a longer period of time, this part has been pushed for a longer period of time.
So that bit of curvature is reflecting the fact that where it was has now been pushed out. With Comet 3i Atlas, there’s actually this really neat case where over time, the tail is going to get pushed out to where Hera and Europa Clipper are now. So potentially, it’s not that the missions are going to fly through the comet tail, it’s they’re continuing their journey and the sun is pushing the comet tail past them.
Fraser Cain:
Right.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
And that’s awesome.
Fraser Cain:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, if we’re unlucky, it’ll be about 8 million kilometers away from Europa Clipper. But if we’re lucky, it might actually go right through that tail.
And Europa Clipper is equipped with the kinds of tools on board to be able to study the particles, if it can get close enough to be able to analyze them. And that is the, I mean, this is a comet that formed in another star system. This is a gift that the universe has sent to us to say, hey, study this.
And we happen to have a spacecraft that is perfectly positioned that it might actually be able to study it.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
And so yeah, the sun is pushy, light is pushy, magnetic fields like to move things around. All of these factors are working at different ways to move things.
Fraser Cain:
So one of the things that’s happened, and this happened in 3i Atlas, although this happens regularly, is that the color of the comet has shifted. So you mentioned early on that it started out red and then has recently, or I guess has been brightening and also shifting more into the blue. Right.
And I think people are misunderstanding this because they’re saying, so it was a red comet in the beginning and now it’s a blue comet?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
This is just normal. So it started out shedding dust, all the dust, dust beyond to you. And then as it continued to heat up, we began to see a, I always have to look at how to say this, diatomic carbon reaction.
So what’s happening is you have C2 molecules, you hit them with one photon and they go, oh, wait, what’s going on here? You hit them with a second photon, they lose an electron. That electron wants to come back.
And when it does, it releases a green photon. So this is a really weird reaction because it requires two photons before the molecule decides, oh, green is going to happen now. So carbon molecules in the coma of the comet are getting excited.
They shine green, tail is reflecting sunlight. There’s still that ion tail, not a sodium tail that I’ve seen reported. Now, as the comet was getting close into the sun, temperature profile is changing, new things are getting revealed.
They’re reporting as it comes out from behind the sun and from spacecraft that have been able to continue seeing it. It’s above the plane of the solar system. So it is behind and above the sun and then coming back around as it continues in towards the disk of the solar system.
And it has begun to have significant green light. And that’s actually coming from copper in the comet. And copper is, again, something perfectly normal.
This is just atoms getting happy, exciting their electrons. Those electrons come back down, they release light. And in this case, the light they’re releasing is blue.
Fraser Cain:
Right. But my understanding as well is that the, you know, when you see it from a spectroscopy perspective, you’re looking at the color that’s coming from the comet. And is the light predominantly moving into the reddish end of the spectrum and the bluish end of the spectrum?
And, you know, astronomers will do spectroscopy on an asteroid and they’ll say, this is a bluer asteroid, that is a redder asteroid. And if you look at the two asteroids, like, I can’t tell the difference. But to astronomers, it’s more about like, what colors of reflected light are coming off of this object?
And it is going to be subtly towards the blue or subtly towards the red. This is not subtle. Well, but part of this is coming from the composition of the coma.
If it’s more dust dominated, then you’re getting things that are pushing a little bit more into the red. And if it’s more gas dominated, you know, sublimated volatiles, then it’s going to be a little bit more blue.
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So this is one of those topics where nothing is clean. Literally, it’s covered in dust. Nothing is clean.
So you have the black body radiation, which is a continuum of color at all the different colors. That was a stupid statement. And that will shift slightly back and forth depending on how light is getting scattered, how it’s getting reflected.
And temperatures. Then on top of it, you have emission lines. And the emission lines are like, and right here, we are now going to inject, pick something.
Sodium is something that sometimes gets picked by these, like I mentioned before, in which case you’re adding a spike of red.
Fraser Cain:
Cyanide?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Yeah, yeah. And so these are suddenly emission lines. And in cities, we can see how like flying over a city, a city will appear super yellow because of all of the compressed sodium lights.
That is just one specific color that’s getting injected on top of all the other colors from everything else going on in the city. Well, comets have this black body, the scattered light and emission lines all adding up together to produce their colors.
Fraser Cain:
And what does the future hold for the tail of the comet? What makes it go away in the end?
Dr. Pamela Gay:
So it depends on the comet. The short term answer is as that sucker moves further and further out away from the sun, it was closest to the sun on October 30th, as it moves further and further away from the sun, it is going to cool off. All of the awesome sublimation that’s currently taking place is going to stop.
It’s going to become a smaller solid object. Now, one of the things that is interesting is the perspective we’re going to have on this. Our perspective as it moves away, it’s going to be heading almost directly out of our solar system when it’s at opposition with the Earth.
So it’s going to be moving out of the solar system. Its tail is going to be getting pushed faster than it is moving. So the nucleus is going to be flying into the tail.
And we’re going to be watching it from behind. And we’re just going to see something that’s, coma is getting smaller and smaller over time, which is a sad perspective. But also just like, this is the comet that was determined.
It was not going to give people on the Earth a really clear view of what was going on. Someone has to be at the tail end of the pretty view or terrible view end of the Gaussian distribution. We landed on the tail end, giving us the worst view possible of this particular object.
Fraser Cain:
All right. Well, I think hopefully everyone now understands comet tails and we’re ready for that wonderful future, incredible comet that will grace the skies any day now. Right, Universe?
Thanks, Pamela
Dr. Pamela Gay:
Thank you, Fraser. And thank you to all of our $10 and up patrons out at patreon.com slash astronomycast. This show is made possible by our community on patreon.com. slash astronomycast.
This week, we’d like to thank the following $10 and up patrons. Adam Anise Brown, Alexis, Andy Moore, Astro Bob, Bebop Apocalypse, Bob Zatsky, Brett Moorman, Bury Gowman, Cody Rose, Daniel Loosley, David Gates, Dizastrina, Dwight Elk, Evil Melky, Flower Guy, Galactic President Scooper Star McScoopsalot, Glenn McDavid, Greg Vylde, Helge Bjorkhag, Jarvis Earl, Jeff Wilson, Jim of Everett, John Drake, Jonathan H. Staver, Justin S., Kenneth Ryan, Kinsella Panflinco, Lee Harbourn, Marco Iorassi, Mark Steven Raznak, Matthias Hayden, Michael Wichman, Mike Hizzi, Nick Boyd, Paul D. Disney, Pauline Middleink, Randall, Robert Cordova, Sergio Sanchevier, Sergio Sansevero, Shersom, Semyon Torfason, Slug, Taz Tully, The Lonely Sandperson, Time Lord Iroh, Van Ruckman, Will Hamilton. Thank you all so very much.
Fraser Cain:
All right. Thanks, Pamela. And we will see you next week.
Live ShowCapturing A Supernova Explosion Only Hours After It Began
Observations of a supernova explosion have revealed its shape only one day after it was first detected. The exact nature of supernovae explosions are unclear and the subject of ongoing, detailed debate. These new observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope will advance the debate.
La NASA invita a los medios al despegue de la misión lunar Artemis II
Read this press release in English here.
Ya está abierto el plazo de acreditación de medios de comunicación para el lanzamiento de la primera misión lunar tripulada de la campaña Artemis de la NASA.
Con un lanzamiento previsto para principios de 2026, el vuelo de prueba Artemis II enviará a los astronautas de la NASA Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover y Christina Koch y al astronauta de la CSA (Agencia Espacial Canadiense) Jeremy Hansen en un viaje de aproximadamente 10 días alrededor de la Luna y de regreso.
La tripulación despegará desde el Centro Espacial Kennedy de la agencia en Florida, a bordo de la nave espacial Orion de la NASA, transportada por el poderoso cohete Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial (SLS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la agencia, con el fin de ayudar a validar los sistemas y el hardware necesarios para la exploración humana del espacio profundo.
Los miembros de los medios que no dispongan de ciudadanía estadounidense deben solicitar el acceso para ver el lanzamiento antes del domingo 30 de noviembre. Los miembros de medios con ciudadanía estadounidense deben solicitarlo antes del lunes 8 de diciembre. Los periodistas que ya dispongan de acreditaciones anuales para el centro Kennedy de la NASA también deben solicitar acceso para este lanzamiento. Aquellos que estén acreditados para asistir al despegue de Artemis II recibirán también acreditación para asistir a eventos previos al lanzamiento, incluyendo la presentación del cohete y la nave espacial integrados, un evento que se dará varias semanas antes del despegue. Más adelante proporcionaremos detalles adicionales sobre las fechas del lanzamiento.
Los medios de comunicación pueden enviar sus solicitudes de acreditación en línea, en:
Debido al gran interés suscitado, la disponibilidad de plazas para asistir a las actividades del lanzamiento es limitada. Los medios acreditados recibirán un correo electrónico de confirmación tras la aprobación, junto con información adicional sobre las actividades previas al lanzamiento y actividades del lanzamiento. La política de acreditación de medios de la NASA está disponible en línea (en inglés). Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre la acreditación, envíe un correo electrónico en inglés a: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Para otras preguntas, póngase en contacto con la sala de prensa del centro Kennedy de la NASA a través del número: +1 321-867-2468.
Como parte de una edad dorada de innovación y exploración, Artemis allanará el camino para nuevas misiones tripuladas estadounidenses en la superficie lunar, en preparación para la primera misión tripulada a Marte.
Para obtener más información (en inglés) sobre la misión Artemis II, visite:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii
-fin-
Rachel Kraft / María José Viñas
Sede central, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
Tiffany Fairley
Centro Espacial Kennedy, Florida
321-867-2468
tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov
La NASA invita a los medios al despegue de la misión lunar Artemis II
Read this press release in English here.
Ya está abierto el plazo de acreditación de medios de comunicación para el lanzamiento de la primera misión lunar tripulada de la campaña Artemis de la NASA.
Con un lanzamiento previsto para principios de 2026, el vuelo de prueba Artemis II enviará a los astronautas de la NASA Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover y Christina Koch y al astronauta de la CSA (Agencia Espacial Canadiense) Jeremy Hansen en un viaje de aproximadamente 10 días alrededor de la Luna y de regreso.
La tripulación despegará desde el Centro Espacial Kennedy de la agencia en Florida, a bordo de la nave espacial Orion de la NASA, transportada por el poderoso cohete Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial (SLS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la agencia, con el fin de ayudar a validar los sistemas y el hardware necesarios para la exploración humana del espacio profundo.
Los miembros de los medios que no dispongan de ciudadanía estadounidense deben solicitar el acceso para ver el lanzamiento antes del domingo 30 de noviembre. Los miembros de medios con ciudadanía estadounidense deben solicitarlo antes del lunes 8 de diciembre. Los periodistas que ya dispongan de acreditaciones anuales para el centro Kennedy de la NASA también deben solicitar acceso para este lanzamiento. Aquellos que estén acreditados para asistir al despegue de Artemis II recibirán también acreditación para asistir a eventos previos al lanzamiento, incluyendo la presentación del cohete y la nave espacial integrados, un evento que se dará varias semanas antes del despegue. Más adelante proporcionaremos detalles adicionales sobre las fechas del lanzamiento.
Los medios de comunicación pueden enviar sus solicitudes de acreditación en línea, en:
Debido al gran interés suscitado, la disponibilidad de plazas para asistir a las actividades del lanzamiento es limitada. Los medios acreditados recibirán un correo electrónico de confirmación tras la aprobación, junto con información adicional sobre las actividades previas al lanzamiento y actividades del lanzamiento. La política de acreditación de medios de la NASA está disponible en línea (en inglés). Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre la acreditación, envíe un correo electrónico en inglés a: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. Para otras preguntas, póngase en contacto con la sala de prensa del centro Kennedy de la NASA a través del número: +1 321-867-2468.
Como parte de una edad dorada de innovación y exploración, Artemis allanará el camino para nuevas misiones tripuladas estadounidenses en la superficie lunar, en preparación para la primera misión tripulada a Marte.
Para obtener más información (en inglés) sobre la misión Artemis II, visite:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii
-fin-
Rachel Kraft / María José Viñas
Sede central, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
Tiffany Fairley
Centro Espacial Kennedy, Florida
321-867-2468
tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov
NASA Invites Media to Attend Crewed Artemis II Moon Mission Launch
Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.
Media accreditation is open for the launch of the first crewed Moon mission under NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Targeted to launch in early 2026, the Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
The crew will lift off from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft on the agency’s powerful (SLS) Space Launch System rocket to help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration.
International media without U.S. citizenship must apply to view the launch by Sunday, Nov. 30. U.S. media must apply by Monday, Dec. 8. Journalists who already have annual badges to NASA Kennedy also must apply. Those who are accredited to attend the Artemis II launch also will be accredited to attend pre-launch events, including rollout of the integrated rocket and spacecraft several weeks before launch. Additional details about launch dates will be provided later.
Media may submit accreditation requests online at:
Due to high interest, space is limited to attend launch activities. Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval, along with additional information about pre-launch and launch activities. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, Artemis will pave the way for new U.S.-crewed missions on the lunar surface in preparation toward the first crewed mission to Mars.
To learn more about the Artemis II mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii
-end-
Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov
Tiffany Fairley
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov
NASA Invites Media to Attend Crewed Artemis II Moon Mission Launch
Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.
Media accreditation is open for the launch of the first crewed Moon mission under NASA’s Artemis campaign.
Targeted to launch in early 2026, the Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
The crew will lift off from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft on the agency’s powerful (SLS) Space Launch System rocket to help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration.
International media without U.S. citizenship must apply to view the launch by Sunday, Nov. 30. U.S. media must apply by Monday, Dec. 8. Journalists who already have annual badges to NASA Kennedy also must apply. Those who are accredited to attend the Artemis II launch also will be accredited to attend pre-launch events, including rollout of the integrated rocket and spacecraft several weeks before launch. Additional details about launch dates will be provided later.
Media may submit accreditation requests online at:
Due to high interest, space is limited to attend launch activities. Credentialed media will receive a confirmation email upon approval, along with additional information about pre-launch and launch activities. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, please contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at: 321-867-2468.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, Artemis will pave the way for new U.S.-crewed missions on the lunar surface in preparation toward the first crewed mission to Mars.
To learn more about the Artemis II mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii
-end-
Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov
Tiffany Fairley
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov
Suited Up for Science: NASA ER-2 Pilot Prepares for GEMx Flight
Suited Up for Science: NASA ER-2 Pilot Prepares for GEMx Flight
NASA ER-2 pilot Kirt Stallings waits inside the transport vehicle moments before boarding the airborne science aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Outside the window, the aircraft is being readied for a high-altitude mission supporting the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), a multi-year NASA–U.S. Geological Survey campaign to map critical mineral resources across the Western United States. The GEMx team believes that undiscovered deposits of at least some of the 50 mineral commodities deemed essential to U.S. national security, to the tech industry, and to clean energy exist domestically, and modern mineral maps will support exploration by the private sector.
In 2025 alone, the ER-2 flew 36 science missions, collecting more than seven billion measurements over 200 flight hours, contributing to the largest airborne surface mineralogy dataset ever gathered in a single NASA campaign. For this mission, pilots flew at approximately 65,000 feet altitude, requiring them to wear specially designed pressure suits to safely operate in the thin atmosphere.
Image credit: NASA/Christopher LC Clark
Text credit: Darin L. Dinius
Suited Up for Science: NASA ER-2 Pilot Prepares for GEMx Flight
NASA ER-2 pilot Kirt Stallings waits inside the transport vehicle moments before boarding the airborne science aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Outside the window, the aircraft is being readied for a high-altitude mission supporting the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), a multi-year NASA–U.S. Geological Survey campaign to map critical mineral resources across the Western United States. The GEMx team believes that undiscovered deposits of at least some of the 50 mineral commodities deemed essential to U.S. national security, to the tech industry, and to clean energy exist domestically, and modern mineral maps will support exploration by the private sector.
In 2025 alone, the ER-2 flew 36 science missions, collecting more than seven billion measurements over 200 flight hours, contributing to the largest airborne surface mineralogy dataset ever gathered in a single NASA campaign. For this mission, pilots flew at approximately 65,000 feet altitude, requiring them to wear specially designed pressure suits to safely operate in the thin atmosphere.
Image credit: NASA/Christopher LC Clark
Text credit: Darin L. Dinius
La NASA compartirá imágenes del cometa 3I/ATLAS tomadas desde naves espaciales y telescopios
Read this press release in English here.
La NASA ofrecerá un evento en vivo (en inglés) a las 3 p.m. EST del miércoles 19 de noviembre para compartir imágenes del cometa interestelar 3I/ATLAS captadas por varias misiones de la agencia. El evento tendrá lugar en el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA, en Greenbelt, Maryland.
El cometa 3I/ATLAS, descubierto el 1 de julio por el observatorio ATLAS (por las siglas en inglés de Sistema de Última Alerta de Impacto Terrestre de Asteroides), financiado por la NASA. El cometa es el tercer objeto identificado hasta la fecha que ha entrado en nuestro sistema solar procedente de otra parte de la galaxia. Aunque no supone ninguna amenaza para la Tierra y no se acercará a menos de 273 millones de kilómetros (170 millones de millas) de nuestro planeta, el cometa pasó a menos de 30 millones de kilómetros (19 millones de millas) de Marte a principios de octubre.
El evento se retransmitirá en NASA+, la aplicación de la NASA, el sitio web y el canal de YouTube de la agencia, y Amazon Prime.
Entre los participantes en la sesión informativa, que proceden de la sede central de la NASA en Washington, se encuentran:
- Amit Kshatriya, administrador asociado de la NASA
- Nicky Fox, administradora asociada, Dirección de Misiones Científicas
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director interino, División de Astrofísica
- Tom Statler, científico jefe para cuerpos pequeños del sistema solar.
Para participar virtualmente en el evento NASA Live, los miembros de los medios de comunicación deben enviar su nombre completo, afiliación mediática, dirección de correo electrónico y número de teléfono a más tardar dos horas antes del inicio del evento a Molly Wasser: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Los miembros del público también podrán hacer preguntas utilizando #AskNASA en las redes sociales, y sus preguntas podrían ser respondidas, en inglés y en tiempo real, durante la transmisión. También contamos con un experto en la materia con disponibilidad limitada para entrevistas de seguimiento en español. Para solicitar una entrevista en español, póngase en contacto con María José Viñas: maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
Recursos de misiones científicas de la NASA proporcionan a Estados Unidos la capacidad única de observar a 3I/ATLAS prácticamente durante todo el tiempo que permanecerá en nuestra vecindad celeste y estudiar, con instrumentos científicos complementarios y desde diferentes direcciones, cómo se comporta el cometa. Estos instrumentos incluyen tanto naves espaciales en todo el sistema solar como observatorios terrestres.
Para más información sobre 3I/ATLAS, visite:
https://ciencia.nasa.gov/sistema-solar/cometa-3i-atlas/ (español)
https://go.nasa.gov/3I-ATLAS(inglés)
-fin-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser / María José Viñas
Sede central, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
La NASA compartirá imágenes del cometa 3I/ATLAS tomadas desde naves espaciales y telescopios
Read this press release in English here.
La NASA ofrecerá un evento en vivo (en inglés) a las 3 p.m. EST del miércoles 19 de noviembre para compartir imágenes del cometa interestelar 3I/ATLAS captadas por varias misiones de la agencia. El evento tendrá lugar en el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA, en Greenbelt, Maryland.
El cometa 3I/ATLAS, descubierto el 1 de julio por el observatorio ATLAS (por las siglas en inglés de Sistema de Última Alerta de Impacto Terrestre de Asteroides), financiado por la NASA. El cometa es el tercer objeto identificado hasta la fecha que ha entrado en nuestro sistema solar procedente de otra parte de la galaxia. Aunque no supone ninguna amenaza para la Tierra y no se acercará a menos de 273 millones de kilómetros (170 millones de millas) de nuestro planeta, el cometa pasó a menos de 30 millones de kilómetros (19 millones de millas) de Marte a principios de octubre.
El evento se retransmitirá en NASA+, la aplicación de la NASA, el sitio web y el canal de YouTube de la agencia, y Amazon Prime.
Entre los participantes en la sesión informativa, que proceden de la sede central de la NASA en Washington, se encuentran:
- Amit Kshatriya, administrador asociado de la NASA
- Nicky Fox, administradora asociada, Dirección de Misiones Científicas
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director interino, División de Astrofísica
- Tom Statler, científico jefe para cuerpos pequeños del sistema solar.
Para participar virtualmente en el evento NASA Live, los miembros de los medios de comunicación deben enviar su nombre completo, afiliación mediática, dirección de correo electrónico y número de teléfono a más tardar dos horas antes del inicio del evento a Molly Wasser: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Los miembros del público también podrán hacer preguntas utilizando #AskNASA en las redes sociales, y sus preguntas podrían ser respondidas, en inglés y en tiempo real, durante la transmisión. También contamos con un experto en la materia con disponibilidad limitada para entrevistas de seguimiento en español. Para solicitar una entrevista en español, póngase en contacto con María José Viñas: maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
Recursos de misiones científicas de la NASA proporcionan a Estados Unidos la capacidad única de observar a 3I/ATLAS prácticamente durante todo el tiempo que permanecerá en nuestra vecindad celeste y estudiar, con instrumentos científicos complementarios y desde diferentes direcciones, cómo se comporta el cometa. Estos instrumentos incluyen tanto naves espaciales en todo el sistema solar como observatorios terrestres.
Para más información sobre 3I/ATLAS, visite:
https://ciencia.nasa.gov/sistema-solar/cometa-3i-atlas/ (español)
https://go.nasa.gov/3I-ATLAS(inglés)
-fin-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser / María José Viñas
Sede central, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov / maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes
Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions. The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observatory on July 1, is only the third object ever identified as entering our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy. While it poses no threat to Earth and will get no closer than 170 million miles to Earth, the comet flew within 19 million miles of Mars in early October.
The event will air on NASA+, the NASA app, the agency’s website and YouTube channel, and Amazon Prime.
Briefing participants include:
- NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division
- Tom Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies
To participate virtually in the NASA Live event, members of the media must send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the event to Molly Wasser at: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the broadcast, by using #AskNASA on social media.
Assets within NASA’s science missions give the United States the unique capability to observe 3I/ATLAS almost the entire time it passes through our celestial neighborhood, and study – with complementary scientific instruments and from different directions – how the comet behaves. These assets include both spacecraft across the solar system, as well as ground-based observatories.
For more information on 3I/ATLAS, visit:
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes
Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s missions. The event will take place at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Comet 3I/ATLAS, discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) observatory on July 1, is only the third object ever identified as entering our solar system from elsewhere in the galaxy. While it poses no threat to Earth and will get no closer than 170 million miles to Earth, the comet flew within 19 million miles of Mars in early October.
The event will air on NASA+, the NASA app, the agency’s website and YouTube channel, and Amazon Prime.
Briefing participants include:
- NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division
- Tom Statler, lead scientist for solar system small bodies
To participate virtually in the NASA Live event, members of the media must send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours before the start of the event to Molly Wasser at: molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the broadcast, by using #AskNASA on social media.
Assets within NASA’s science missions give the United States the unique capability to observe 3I/ATLAS almost the entire time it passes through our celestial neighborhood, and study – with complementary scientific instruments and from different directions – how the comet behaves. These assets include both spacecraft across the solar system, as well as ground-based observatories.
For more information on 3I/ATLAS, visit:
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
