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The European Space Agency's Ministerial Council – more formally Council at Ministerial level – takes place in Bremen, Germany on 26 and 27 November 2025.
10 Years of Students Helping NASA Grow Space Food with Growing Beyond Earth
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10 Years of Students Helping NASA Grow Space Food with Growing Beyond Earth Students from 71 Classrooms engaged with NASA scientists to learn about how their Growing Beyond Earth research is contributing to feeding astronauts for long distance space travel.
Nearly 1,250 middle and high school students from 71 schools around the world joined Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden for the Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) Student Launch Chat with the Scientists, marking an inspiring milestone in the program’s 10th anniversary year.
The live session, held in collaboration with NASA, connected classrooms directly with Dr. Gioia Massa and Trent M. Smith, senior leaders of NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Space Crop Production team. Students heard firsthand how their classroom experiments are helping NASA identify and grow the best crops for future astronauts on long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
“Our students are contributing to real NASA science,” said one participating teacher. “It’s incredibly motivating for them to know their data could influence what astronauts eat in space someday.”
Connecting Classrooms with NASA ScienceGrowing Beyond Earth, led by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida, brings authentic NASA research into classrooms in a way that few science programs can. For more than a decade, the 83-acre botanic garden – renowned for its conservation, education, and research programs – has worked hand-in-hand with NASA to advance understanding of food production in space.
Students use specially designed plant growth chambers to test how different crops perform under conditions that mimic spacecraft environments. The data they collect are shared with NASA scientists, who use the findings to refine ongoing space crop production research.
Since the program’s inception, more than 120,000 students across 800+ classrooms have tested over 250 plant cultivars, with five student-tested crops already grown aboard the International Space Station.
Cultivating the Future STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) WorkforceThe Growing Beyond Earth project exemplifies the mission of NASA’s Science Activation (SciAct) program, which connects NASA Science with people of all ages and backgrounds in ways that activate minds and promote a deeper understanding of our world and beyond, with the ultimate Vision: To increase learners’ active participation in the advancement of human knowledge. By engaging students as active participants in cutting-edge research, projects like GBE not only advance NASA’s goals but also cultivate curiosity, creativity, and confidence in the next generation of scientists and explorers. This year’s GBE Student Launch Chat celebrated that impact, showing how student research from classrooms around the globe contributes to the future of space exploration.
“When students see themselves as part of NASA’s mission, they realize science isn’t something distant, it’s something they can do,” said Dr. Massa. Teacher Espy Rodriguez from Hialeah Senior High School said, “It made their [her students] projects matter. I think it gave the kids a real sense of community. We are far, but we are one.” By growing plants, analyzing data, and sharing results with NASA, these students are helping humanity prepare for life beyond Earth, proving that the seeds of tomorrow’s discoveries are being planted in today’s classrooms.
GBE is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NCCS2M0125 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn/about-science-activation/.
Share Details Last Updated Nov 21, 2025 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Location Kennedy Space Center Related Terms Explore More 6 min read NASA Fuels Discovery from Earth to Sky: One Crayon at a TimeArticle
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Hubble Captures Puzzling Galaxy
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. It also has a dusty ring with patchy star clusters, like a spiral galaxy. Which is it: spiral or elliptical — or neither?
Because we can only view NGC 2775 from one angle, it’s difficult to say for sure. Some researchers classify NGC 2775 as a spiral galaxy because of its feathery ring of stars and dust, while others classify it as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies have features common to both spiral and elliptical galaxies.
Astronomers aren’t certain of exactly how lenticular galaxies come to be, and they might form in a variety of ways. Lenticular galaxies might be spiral galaxies that merged with other galaxies, or that have mostly run out of star-forming gas and lost their prominent spiral arms. They also might have started out more like elliptical galaxies, then collected gas into a disk around them.
Some evidence suggests that NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past. Invisible in this Hubble image, NGC 2775 has a tail of hydrogen gas that stretches almost 100,000 light-years around the galaxy. This faint tail could be the remnant of one or more galaxies that wandered too close to NGC 2775 before being stretched apart and absorbed. If NGC 2775 merged with other galaxies in the past, it could explain the galaxy’s strange appearance today.
Most astronomers classify NGC 2775 as a flocculent spiral galaxy. Flocculent spirals have poorly defined, discontinuous arms that are often described as “feathery” or as “tufts” of stars that loosely form spiral arms.
Hubble previously released an image of NGC 2775 in 2020. This new version adds observations of a specific wavelength of red light emitted by clouds of hydrogen gas surrounding massive young stars, visible as bright, pinkish clumps in the image. This additional wavelength of light helps astronomers better define where new stars are forming in the galaxy.
Astronomers may have glimpsed evidence of the biggest stars ever seen
What is BioSentinel?
Editor’s Note: This article was updated Nov. 21, 2025 shortly after BioSentinel’s mission marked three years of operation in deep space.
Astronauts live in a pretty extreme environment aboard the International Space Station. Orbiting about 250 miles above the Earth in the weightlessness of microgravity, they rely on commercial cargo missions about every two months to deliver new supplies and experiments. And yet, this place is relatively protected in terms of space radiation. The Earth’s magnetic field shields space station crew from much of the radiation that can damage the DNA in our cells and lead to serious health problems. When future astronauts set off on long journeys deeper into space, they will be venturing into more perilous radiation environments and will need substantial protection. With the help of a biology experiment within a small satellite called BioSentinel, scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center, in California’s Silicon Valley, are taking an early step toward finding solutions.
To learn the basics of what happens to life in space, researchers often use “model organisms” that we understand relatively well. This helps show the differences between what happens in space and on Earth more clearly. For BioSentinel, NASA is using yeast – the very same yeast that makes bread rise and beer brew. In both our cells and yeast cells, the type of high-energy radiation encountered in deep space can cause breaks in the two entwined strands of DNA that carry genetic information. Often, DNA damage can be repaired by cells in a process that is very similar between yeast and humans.
Conceptual graphic of a radiation particle causing a double-stranded DNA break.
BioSentinel set out to be the first long-duration biology experiment to take place beyond where the space station orbits near Earth. BioSentinel’s spacecraft is one of 10 CubeSats that launched aboard Artemis I, the first flight of the Artemis program’s Space Launch System, NASA’s powerful new rocket. The cereal box-sized satellite traveled to deep space on the rocket then flew past the Moon in a direction to orbit the Sun. Once the satellite was in position beyond our planet’s protective magnetic field, the BioSentinel team triggered a series of experiments remotely, activating two strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to grow in the presence of space radiation. Samples of yeast were activated at different time points throughout the six- to twelve-month mission.
One strain is the yeast commonly found in nature, while the other was selected because it has trouble repairing its DNA. By comparing how the two strains respond to the deep space radiation environment, researchers will learn more about the health risks posed to humans during long-term exploration and be able to develop informed strategies for reducing potential damage.
During the initial phase of the mission, which began in December 2022 and completed in April 2023, the BioSentinel team successfully operated BioSentinel’s BioSensor hardware – a miniature biotechnology laboratory designed to measure how living yeast cells respond to long-term exposure to space radiation – in deep space. The team completed four experiments lasting two-weeks each but did not observe any yeast cell growth. They determined that deep space radiation was not the cause of the inactive yeast cells, but that their lack of growth was likely due to the yeast expiring after extended storage time of the spacecraft ahead of launch.
Although the yeast did not activate as intended to gather observations on the impact of radiation on living yeast cells, BioSentinel’s onboard radiation detector – that measures the type and dose of radiation hitting the spacecraft – continues to collect data in deep space.
Jesse Fusco, left, and James Milsk, right, at the BioSentinel command console at the Multi-Mission Operations Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. The team is receiving spacecraft telemetry at the three-year timepoint since the mission launched on Artemis I. BioSentinel continues to fly in its heliocentric orbit, now more than 48 million miles from Earth. NASA/Don Richey
NASA has extended BioSentinel’s mission to continue collecting valuable deep space radiation data in the unique, high-radiation environment beyond low Earth orbit.
The Sun has an 11-year cycle, in which solar activity rises and falls in the form of powerful solar flares and giant eruptions called coronal mass ejections. As the solar cycle progresses from maximum to a declining phase, scientists expect strong solar activity to continue through 2026, with some of the strongest storms seen during this declining phase. These events send powerful bursts of energy, magnetic fields, and plasma into space which causes the aurora and can interfere with satellite signals. Solar radiation events from particles accelerated to high speeds can also pose a threat to astronauts in space.
Built on a history of small-satellite biologyThe BioSentinel project builds on Ames’ history of carrying out biology studies in space using CubeSats – small satellites built from individual units each about four inches cubed. BioSentinel is a six-unit spacecraft weighing about 30 pounds. It houses the yeast cells in tiny compartments inside microfluidic cards – custom hardware that allows for the controlled flow of extremely small volumes of liquids that will activate and sustain the yeast. Data about radiation levels and the yeast’s growth and metabolism will be collected and stored aboard the spacecraft and then transmitted to the science team back on Earth.
A reserve set of microfluidic cards containing yeast samples will be activated if the satellite encounters a solar particle event, a radiation storm coming from the Sun that is a particularly severe health risk for future deep space explorers.
BioSentinel’s microfluidics card, designed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, will be used to study the impact of interplanetary space radiation on yeast. Once in orbit, the growth and metabolic activity of the yeast will be measured using a three-color LED detection system and a dye that provides a readout of yeast cell activity. Here, pink wells contain actively growing yeast cells that have turned the dye from blue to pink color.NASA/Dominic Hart Multiple BioSentinels will compare various gravity and radiation environments
In addition to the pioneering BioSentinel mission that will traverse the deep space environment, identical experiments take place under different radiation and gravity conditions. One ran on the space station, in microgravity that is similar to deep space, but with comparatively less radiation. Other experiments took place on the ground, for comparison with Earth’s gravity and radiation levels. These additional versions show scientists how to compare Earth and space station-based science experiments – which can be conducted much more readily – to the fierce radiation that future astronauts will encounter in space.
Taken together, the BioSentinel data will be critical for interpreting the effects of space radiation exposure, reducing the risks associated with long-term human exploration, and confirming existing models of the effects of space radiation on living organisms.
Milestones- December 2021: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment launched to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply services mission.
- January 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment began science operations aboard the International Space Station.
- February 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment began ground control science operations at NASA Ames.
- June 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment completed science operations. The hardware was returned to Earth in August aboard SpaceX’s CRS-25 Dragon.
- October 2022: The BioSentinel ISS Control experiment completed ground control science operations at NASA Ames.
- Nov. 16, 2022: BioSentinel launched to deep space aboard Artemis I.
- Dec. 5, 2022: BioSentinel began science operations in deep space.
- Dec. 19, 2022: BioSentinel began ground control science operations at NASA Ames.
- Nov. 16, 2024: BioSentinel marks two years of continuous radiation observations in deep space, now more than 30 million miles from Earth.
- Nov. 16, 2025: BioSentinel marks three years of continuous radiation observations in deep space, now more than 48 million miles from Earth.
Partners:
- NASA Ames leads the science, hardware design and development of the BioSentinel mission.
- Partner organizations include NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
- BioSentinel is funded by the Mars Campaign Development (MCO) Division within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington.
- BioSentinel’s extended mission is supported by the Heliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, the MCO, and the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Learn more:
- NASA story: NASA’s BioSentinel Studies Solar Radiation as Earth Watches Aurora (Sept. 2024)
- NASA story: NASA Extends BioSentinel’s Mission to Measure Deep Space Radiation, Aug. 2023
- NASA story: First Deep Space Biology Experiment Begins, Follow Along in Real-Time, Dec. 2022
- NASA story: BioSentinel Underway After Successful Lunar Flyby, Nov. 2022
- NASA story: Artemis I to Launch First-of-a-Kind Deep Space Biology Mission, Aug. 2022
- NASA video: Why NASA is Sending Yeast to Deep Space, Feb. 2022
- NASA podcast: “Houston We Have a Podcast,” Deep Space Biology, Jan. 2022
- NASA blog: All Artemis I Secondary Payloads Installed in Rocket’s Orion Stage Adapter, Oct. 2021
- NASA blog; NASA Prepares Three More CubeSat Payloads for Artemis I Mission. Jul. 2021
- NASA story: NASA’s BioSentinel Team Prepares CubeSat For Deep Space Flight, Apr. 2021
- NASA in Silicon Valley podcast episode: Sharmila Bhattacharya on Studying How Biology Changes in Space, Mar. 2018
- NASA story: For Holiday Celebrations and Space Radiation, Yeast is the Key, Dec. 2018
For researchers:
- NASA Space Station Research Explorer: BioSentinel ISS Control Experiment
- NASA technical webpage: BioSentinel
For news media:
- Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
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25 Years of Scientific Discovery Aboard the International Space Station
November marks 25 years of human presence aboard the International Space Station, a testament to international collaboration and human ingenuity. Since the first crew arrived on Nov. 2, 2000, NASA and its partners have conducted thousands of research investigations and technology demonstrations to advance exploration of the Moon and Mars and benefit life on Earth.
Researchers have taken advantage of the unique microgravity environment to conduct experiments impossible to replicate on Earth, transforming research across disciplines. More than 4,000 experiments have pushed the boundaries of science, sparked discoveries, and driven scientific breakthroughs.
“25 years ago, Expedition 1 became the first crew to call the International Space Station home, beginning a period of continuous human presence in space that still continues to this day,” said NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy. “This historic milestone would not have been possible without NASA and its partners, as well as every astronaut and engineer who works to keep the lights on in low Earth orbit.”
To celebrate a quarter century of innovation in microgravity, NASA is highlighting 25 scientific breakthroughs that exemplify the station’s enduring impact on science, technology, and exploration.
Building the road to the Moon and Mars The waxing crescent moon appears just above the Earth’s atmosphere as the International Space Station orbits the Earth.NASA
NASA uses the space station as a proving ground to develop new systems and technologies for missions beyond low Earth orbit.
- Navigation, communication, and radiation shielding technologies proven aboard the space station are being integrated into spacecraft and missions to reach the Moon and Mars.
- Robotic systems, for example a robotic surgeon and autonomous assistants, will expand available medical procedures and allow astronauts to dedicate time to more crucial tasks during missions far from Earth.
- Astronauts have used recycled plastic and stainless steel to 3D print tools and parts. The ability to 3D print in space lays the groundwork for on-demand repair and fabrication during future deep space missions where resupply isn’t readily available.
- From the deployment of the first wooden satellite to laser communications and self-healing quantum communications, the space station is a proving ground for cutting-edge space technologies.
Why this matters:
Humanity’s push to the Moon and Mars begins with discoveries in low Earth orbit. From demonstrating how astronauts can live, work, and repair equipment off Earth to testing life-support systems and advanced materials, every innovation aboard the station helps to advance NASA’s Artemis and other exploration initiatives and brings humanity closer to thriving beyond our planet.
Sustaining life beyond Earth NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, front, and Bob Hines, back, work on XROOTS aboard the International Space Station. This experiment used the station’s Veggie facility to test soilless hydroponic and aeroponic plant growth.NASA
As NASA prepares to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis program and push onward to Mars, sustaining life beyond Earth is more critical than ever.
- Astronauts have grown more than 50 species of plants in space, including tomatoes, bok choi, romaine lettuce, and chili peppers.
- Advanced life support systems are capable of recycling up to 98% of water in the U.S. segment aboard the space station, the ideal level needed for exploration missions.
- Crew health data shows how space affects the brain, vision, balance and control, and muscle and bone density, guiding strategies to maintain astronaut performance during extended missions and improve health on Earth.
- Researchers have sequenced DNA in orbit and are advancing techniques to enable real-time assessment of microbial life in space, which is essential to maintaining astronaut health.
Why this matters:
By growing food, recycling water, and improving medical care in space, NASA is paving the way for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars while revolutionizing agriculture and medicine back home.
Helping humanity on Earth Pharmaceutical crystals grown aboard the International Space Station are shown after returning to Earth.Redwire
Research aboard the orbiting laboratory not only pushes humanity farther into the cosmos but can help address complex human health issues on the ground. By providing a platform for long-term microgravity research, the space station fosters breakthroughs that yield direct benefits to people on Earth.
- Research aboard the space station provides new insights to develop treatments for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and heart disease by revealing how microgravity alters cellular functions.
- New developments in medicine for cancer, muscular dystrophy, and neurodegenerative diseases have come from growing protein crystals in microgravity with larger, more organized structures.
- High quality stem cells can be grown in greater quantities in space, helping to develop new regenerative therapies for neurological, cardiovascular, and immunological conditions.
- Pioneering efforts in 3D bioprinting, which uses cells, proteins, and nutrients as source material, have produced human tissue structures such as a knee meniscus and heart tissue, a major step toward manufacturing organs in space for transplant patients on Earth.
- Researchers are using miniaturized tissue models to observe how space affects tissues and organ systems, offering new ways to develop and test medicines to protect astronauts on future missions and improve treatments on Earth.
- Photos taken by astronauts have supported emergency response to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, with targeted views from space.
- Instruments mounted on the space station protect critical space infrastructure and provide data on the planet’s natural patterns by measuring Earth’s resources and space weather.
Why this matters:
Microgravity research is moving us closer to manufacturing human organs in space for transplant and revealing new ways to fight cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, neurodegenerative disease, and other serious illnesses that affect millions of people worldwide. The station also serves as an observation platform to monitor natural disasters, weather patterns, and Earth’s resources.
Understanding our universe Artist concept of operations inside NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory aboard the International Space Station.NASA
The space station offers scientists an unparalleled vantage point to learn about the fundamental behavior of the universe. By studying cosmic phenomena typically blocked or absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere and observing physics at an atomic level, researchers can probe mysteries impossible to study from Earth.
- Data from X-ray telescopes on the space station’s exterior have been featured in more than 700 research publications, helping to improve our understanding of collapsing stars, black holes, and ripples in the fabric of space-time.
- Researchers have recorded billions of cosmic events, helping scientists search for antimatter and dark matter signatures in space.
- Scientists have created and studied the fifth state of matter on the space station, allowing researchers to use quantum science to advance technology like space navigation, satellite operations, and GPS systems on Earth.
Why this matters:
Research aboard the space station is helping us unravel the deepest mysteries of our universe, from the smallest quantum particles to the most powerful cosmic explosions. Observations of collapsing stars and black holes could inspire new navigation tools using cosmic signals and expand our grasp of space-time. Studies of antimatter and dark matter bring us closer to understanding the 95% of the universe invisible to the human eye. Creating the fifth state of matter in space unlocks new quantum pathways that could transform technology on Earth and in space.
Learning new physics This image shows a flame ignited as part of the Flame Design investigation on the International Space Station.NASA
Physical processes behave differently in microgravity, offering scientists a new lens for discovery.
- Engineers can design more efficient fuel and life support systems for future spacecraft thanks to studies of fluid boiling, containment, and flow.
- Analyzing gels and liquids mixed with tiny particles in space helps researchers fine-tune material compositions and has led to new patents for consumer products.
- The discovery of cool flames in space, a phenomenon difficult to study on Earth, has opened new frontiers in combustion science and engine design.
Why this matters:
Breakthroughs in fundamental physics aboard the space station drive innovation on Earth and advance spacecraft fuel, thermal control, plant watering, and water purification systems. Research in soft materials is improving products in medicine, household products, and renewable energy, while cool flames studies may lead to cleaner, more efficient engines.
Enabling global access to space NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers talks on a ham radio with students from Lakeside Junior High School in Springdale, Arkansas. Ayers answered questions from the students about her experience living and working aboard the International Space Station.NASA
Since 2000, the space station has opened doors for private companies, researchers, students, and astronauts around the world to participate in exploration and help propel humanity forward to the Moon and Mars.
- The space station is a launchpad for the commercial space economy, enabling private astronaut missions and hosting hundreds of experiments from commercial companies, giving them the chance to strengthen their technologies through in-orbit research, manufacturing demonstrations, and innovation.
- CubeSats deployed from the space station enable students and innovators around the world to test radio antennas, small telescopes, and other scientific demonstrations in space.
- More than one million students have engaged with astronauts via ham radio events, inspiring the next generation to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- More than 285 crew members from more than 25 countries have visited humanity’s longest-operating outpost in space, making it a symbol of global collaboration.
Why this matters:
The space station has enabled the space economy, where commercial research, manufacturing, and technology demonstrations are shaping a new global marketplace. NASA and its international partners have established a leadership position in low Earth orbit, creating new opportunities for industry and paving the way for exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Learn more about the research aboard the International Space Station at:
Revisit the 20th anniversary for more information.
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA International Space Station: 25 YearsNovember 2, 2025, marked a historic milestone: 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station.
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Hubble Seeks Clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’
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Hubble Seeks Clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’ This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535. ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
Today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535, which is situated about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden). Through a small telescope, this galaxy appears extremely faint, giving it the nickname ‘Lost Galaxy’. With a mirror spanning nearly eight feet (2.4 meters) across and its location above Earth’s light-obscuring atmosphere, Hubble can easily observe dim galaxies like NGC 4535 and pick out features like its massive spiral arms and central bar of stars.
This image features NGC 4535’s young star clusters, which dot the galaxy’s spiral arms. Glowing-pink clouds surround many of these bright-blue star groupings. These clouds, called H II (‘H-two’) regions, are a sign that the galaxy is home to especially young, hot, and massive stars that blaze with high-energy radiation. Such massive stars shake up their surroundings by heating their birth clouds with powerful stellar winds, eventually exploding as supernovae.
The image incorporates data from an observing program designed to catalog roughly 50,000 H II regions in nearby star-forming galaxies like NGC 4535. Hubble released a previous image of NGC 4535 in 2021. Both the 2021 image and this new image incorporate observations from the PHANGS observing program, which seeks to understand the connections between young stars and cold gas. Today’s image adds a new dimension to our understanding of NGC 4535 by capturing the brilliant red glow of the nebulae that encircle massive stars in their first few million years of life.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubbleMedia Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble Science Highlights
Hubble Images
Hubble News
Hubble Seeks Clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’
- Hubble Home
- Overview
- Impact & Benefits
- Science
- Observatory
- Team
- Multimedia
- News
- More
2 min read
Hubble Seeks Clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’ This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535. ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST TeamToday’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535, which is situated about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden). Through a small telescope, this galaxy appears extremely faint, giving it the nickname ‘Lost Galaxy’. With a mirror spanning nearly eight feet (2.4 meters) across and its location above Earth’s light-obscuring atmosphere, Hubble can easily observe dim galaxies like NGC 4535 and pick out features like its massive spiral arms and central bar of stars.
This image features NGC 4535’s young star clusters, which dot the galaxy’s spiral arms. Glowing-pink clouds surround many of these bright-blue star groupings. These clouds, called H II (‘H-two’) regions, are a sign that the galaxy is home to especially young, hot, and massive stars that blaze with high-energy radiation. Such massive stars shake up their surroundings by heating their birth clouds with powerful stellar winds, eventually exploding as supernovae.
The image incorporates data from an observing program designed to catalog roughly 50,000 H II regions in nearby star-forming galaxies like NGC 4535. Hubble released a previous image of NGC 4535 in 2021. Both the 2021 image and this new image incorporate observations from the PHANGS observing program, which seeks to understand the connections between young stars and cold gas. Today’s image adds a new dimension to our understanding of NGC 4535 by capturing the brilliant red glow of the nebulae that encircle massive stars in their first few million years of life.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubbleMedia Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble Science Highlights
Hubble Images
Hubble News