Feed aggregator

A new robotic hand can withstand being smashed by pistons or walloped with a hammer. It was designed to survive the trial-and-error interactions required to train AI robots

The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within minutes

When astrophysicists observe the cosmos, they see different types of black holes. They range from gargantuan supermassive black holes with billions of solar masses to difficult-to-find intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) all the way down to smaller stellar-mass black holes.

But there may be another class of these objects: primordial black holes (PBHs) that formed in the very early Universe. If they exist, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope should be able to spot them.

Stellar-mass black holes form when massive stars explode as supernovae. SMBHs grow over time by merging with other black holes. How IMBHs form is still unclear, but it could involve mergers between stellar-mass black holes or multiple stellar collisions in dense star clusters.

Primordial black holes, if they exist, didn’t have any of these mechanisms available to them.

“If we find them, it will shake up the field of theoretical physics.”

William DeRocco, postdoctoral researcher, University of California Santa Cruz. Artist’s impression of merging binary black holes. When they merge, they emit gravitational waves that observatories like LIGO can detect. Image Credit: LIGO/A. Simonnet.

Nobody knows if primordial black holes exist. They’re theoretical. No physical process we know of can form them. But the early Universe was much different.

New research published in Physical Review D shows how the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Telescope could detect these primordial Earth-mass objects. It’s titled “Revealing terrestrial-mass primordial black holes with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.” The lead author is William DeRocco, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Santa Cruz.

via GIPHY

“Detecting a population of Earth-mass primordial black holes would be an incredible step for both astronomy and particle physics because these objects can’t be formed by any known physical process,” lead author DeRocco said. “If we find them, it will shake up the field of theoretical physics.”

In the modern Universe, only stars with at least eight stellar masses can become black holes. Less massive stars will become neutron stars or white dwarfs. (The Sun will become a white dwarf.)

But things were different in the early Universe. During a period of rapid inflation, space expanded faster than the speed of light. In these unusual conditions, dense areas could have collapsed into PBHs. The scale of these objects is remarkably small. They would be the size of Earth or smaller and have event horizons about as wide as a coin.

PBHs could’ve formed when overdense regions in the inflationary or early radiation-dominated universe collapsed. Image Credit: By Gema White – https://www.slideserve.com/gema/primordial-black-hole-formation-in-an-axion-like-curvaton-model slide 19. Cropped to remove all elements of original authorship.Based on Kawasaki, Masahiro (2013-03-18). “Primordial black hole formation from an axionlike curvaton model.” Physical Review D 87 (6): 063519. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.87.063519., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=131103715

The least massive of these ones would’ve disappeared due to evaporation. That’s what Stephen Hawking figured out. But some, the ones as massive as Earth, could’ve survived.

<Click on image for larger version> Stephen Hawking came up with the idea of black hole evaporation. He theorized that black holes slowly shrink as radiation escapes. The slow leak of what’s now known as Hawking radiation would, over time, cause the black hole to simply evaporate. This infographic shows the estimated lifetimes and event horizon –– the point past which infalling objects can’t escape a black hole’s gravitational grip –– diameters for black holes of various small masses. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Even though they’re theoretical, there are some evidential hints of their presence. Those hints come from gravitational microlensing.

Two efforts have used microlensing to study objects in the Universe. One is OGLE, the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Another is MOA, Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics. OGLE found 17 isolated Earth-mass objects in space.

Planet OGLE-2012-BLG-0950Lb was detected through gravitational microlensing, a phenomenon that acts as Nature’s magnifying glass. CREDIT: LCO/D. BENNETT

These objects could be PBHs, or they could be rogue planets. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to differentiate on an individual basis. But since theory predicts the masses and the abundance of rogue planets, that could provide a way for the Roman Telescope to tell them apart from PBHs.

“There’s no way to tell between Earth-mass black holes and rogue planets on a case-by-case basis,” DeRocco said. “Roman will be extremely powerful in differentiating between the two statistically.”

In their research, the authors explain it more fully. “The key point is that though PBH and FFP events cannot be discriminated on an event-by-event basis, the two populations can be distinguished by the statistical distribution of their event durations.” Scientists think that Roman will find 10 times as many objects in this mass range than ground-based efforts like OGLE and MOA.

Artist’s impression of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy. When launched later this decade, the telescope should make a significant contribution to the study of FFPs and will hopefully detect PBHs. Credits: NASA

Finding primordial black holes would create a big upheaval.

“It would affect everything from galaxy formation to the universe’s dark matter content to cosmic history,” said Kailash Sahu, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Sahu wasn’t involved in the research but understands the impact the results would have. “Confirming their identities will be hard work and astronomers will need a lot of convincing, but it would be well worth it.”

If the Roman Space Telescope can find the black holes and confirm them, it could be a defining moment in astronomical history. The discovery would be strong evidence in favour of a period of rapid inflation in the early Universe, an epoch that so far is unproven. Physicists think there must have been a period like this as it helps explain so much else about the Universe.

More excitingly, these primordial black holes could comprise a percentage of dark matter. A small percentage, but a massive improvement over our current understanding of what dark matter is. Scientists keep looking for things like WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) and other particles that could be dark matter, but they never find them.

“The nature of dark matter remains one of the most pressing open questions in fundamental physics. While multiple lines of compelling evidence indicate its existence, its microphysical nature remains unknown,” the authors explain.

The elegant thing about the Roman and PBHs is that it won’t require a special effort to find them. The Roman will already search for planets. “Roman’s Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey is expected
to observe hundreds of low-mass microlensing events, enabling a robust statistical characterization
of this population,” the authors write in their paper.

via GIPHY

Each space telescope we launch is a new window into some aspect of the Universe. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope sure will be. “Though its Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey targets bound and unbound exoplanets, we have shown that it will have unprecedented sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model as well,” DeRocco and his co-researchers write in their paper. That’s because it can “probe the fraction of dark matter composed of primordial black holes,” they write.

“This is an exciting example of something extra scientists could do with data Roman is already going to get as it searches for planets,” Sahu said. “And the results are interesting whether or not scientists find evidence that Earth-mass black holes exist. It would strengthen our understanding of the universe in either case.”

And who doesn’t want a stronger understanding of the Universe?

The post Roman Space Telescope Will Be Hunting For Primordial Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today.

3 min read

Sols 4180-4182: Imaging fest! This Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image shows all the features and textures we have in the area ranging from laminae to little nodules. The image was taken on May 7, 2024, Sol 4178 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 23:20:40 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024

What a wonderful sight to see all the sedimentary structures. I am a geochemist, but I hear the excitement in the voices of my sediment-specialist colleagues, discussing all those textures and things to see. Generally, it is those features that allow us to determine what has happened in terms of the physics: Was it water or wind that brought the grains here? How fast was the flow? And then… what happened next? Well, that might be in my area of expertise, as it takes new minerals to grow between grains to make a loose sediment into a rock. And that’s what we can learn from the chemical investigations. And today’s plan once again has it all, but it is especially an imaging fest looking at all the structures and textures. Stay tuned for the images to make their way from Mars to Earth in the coming days.

Today’s plan starts with the chemistry: APXS will use the cool hours of the early morning for its investigations on the brushed target “Happy Isles.” MAHLI will get images of Happy Isles and then move to start the imaging fest at a target named “Laurel Mountain.” This is to peak underneath a piece of overhanging rock to see how the layers below are actually connected – or not – to the layers that form the overhang. Spying on rocks? I guess so!

The imaging fest then continues with over 170 Mastcam frames divided into four investigations. These are mosaics on the surrounding hills and slopes, namely on “Pinnacle Ridge,” “Milestone Peak” and “Tamarack Flats.” And Mastcam looks at the area closer to the rover, off the starboard side, an area where all the structures I talked about above are nicely visible from the rover mast’s vantage point. And if that’s not enough imaging, we will add some special imaging after the drive. We always take navigation camera images for navigation and imaging purpose during the next planning, but this time, we will also take additional Mastcam images in the drive direction. It’s a complex landscape … and I am still happy I can watch the rover drive through it and don’t have to hike myself!

There are also plenty of environmental investigations in the plan. The atmospheric investigations include the usual cadence of REMS activities and DAN looks at the water in the subsurface with passive measurements. In addition to that, Curiosity will look at its top surface to look at the dust levels currently accumulated there, and a look to the crater rim will investigate the current opacity of the atmosphere (yes, that’s more images, too!). Finally, Curiosity will be on the lookout for some dust devils. We’ve managed to get a few really nice captures of those in the course of the mission, one of my favourites is this one here, taken on sol 2847, over 1300 sols ago! If you want to see some in motion, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lfJ0c7WQ8. Time flies when you are having fun!

Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

May 08, 2024

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

2 min read Sols 4178-4179: The Pinnacle Ridge Scarp

Article


14 mins ago

3 min read Sols 4175-4177: Don’t Blink We’re Taking a Picture

Curiosity loves to drive so it’s pretty rare we stay at a location longer than…

Article


2 days ago

3 min read Sols 4173-4174: Reflections

Article


6 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars…

All Mars Resources

Rover Basics

Mars Exploration Science Goals

2 min read

Sols 4178-4179: The Pinnacle Ridge Scarp This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4176 (2024-05-05 22:50:10 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech

Earth planning date: Monday, May 6, 2024

Curiosity’s set of complex activities and drive over the weekend executed perfectly and we started our planning today directly in front of a scarp, or wall, along a section of the upper Gediz Valis ridge known as “Pinnacle Ridge.” The view along this scarp did not disappoint! 

Mastcam planned a large mosaic to image the top and bottom of the Pinnacle Ridge scarp, complementing the Mastcam mosaic that was acquired over the weekend. ChemCam included a long distance RMI image of the face of the ridge with intriguing tonal and textural variations. The targeted science block on sol 4178 also includes a MAHLI mosaic of an interesting layered rock in our workspace, “El Portal,” that will be characterized and imaged by ChemCam LIBS and Mastcam. Lastly, Mastcam will take a small mosaic of a rock in the workspace, “Bairs Creek,” to investigate interesting textures and features that were created by the wind. 

In the untargeted science block on sol 4179, the environmental theme group planned several activities including a Mastcam sky survey, a dust devil movie and survey, and a suprahorizon movie to observe dust and cloud activity in Gale. ChemCam included an AEGIS activity where the rover will pick and analyze a target in the workspace after Curiosity completes a ~32-meter drive. Although the large, tilted rocks ahead make for a challenging drive, excitement is running high as we continue our ascent along the margin of the upper Gediz Vallis ridge!

Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

May 08, 2024

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

3 min read Sols 4180-4182: Imaging fest!

Article


11 mins ago

3 min read Sols 4175-4177: Don’t Blink We’re Taking a Picture

Curiosity loves to drive so it’s pretty rare we stay at a location longer than…

Article


2 days ago

3 min read Sols 4173-4174: Reflections

Article


6 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars…

All Mars Resources

Rover Basics

Mars Exploration Science Goals

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was rolled off the launch pad today (May 8) to replace a misbehaving valve on its Atlas V rocket.

The James Webb Space Telescope is teaching us about how planets form.

6 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An artist’s rendering of astronauts working near NASA’s Artemis base camp, complete with a rover and RV.NASA Questionnaire responses due by June 7, 2024

NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) is asking members of the lunar community to respond to a new Lunar Non-Interference Questionnaire that will inform the development of a framework for further work on non-interference of lunar activities. There is no funding or solicitation expected to follow.

OTPS was created in November 2021 within the Office of the NASA Administrator to work transparently in collaboration across NASA and with the broader space community to provide NASA leadership with a trade space of data- and evidence-driven options to develop and shape NASA policy, strategy, and technology.

The purpose of the questionnaire 

As dozens of countries and private sector companies have expressed interest in establishing lunar operations by the end of the decade, including many in the South Pole region, it will be critical to determine how to minimize interference and contamination in lunar activities. Deconfliction has been identified as an area of further work in Section 11 of the Artemis Accords and will be an area of increasing importance as the number of commercial and international actors operating on the lunar surface grows. 

In 2016, the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group developed “The Lunar Exploration Roadmap: Exploring the Moon in the 21st Century: Themes, Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities, 2016”, which aimed to develop an “integrated and sustainable plan for lunar exploration.” The roadmap explored the prioritization of lunar science activities, and designated which science objectives could be adversely impacted by further lunar exploration. 

Although lunar interference and contamination concerns have been broadly identified and expanded beyond the initial findings of the 2016 report (e.g., plume surface interactions and dust, hazardous waste, propellant deposition from overflight, electromagnetic interference), there is not broad consensus in the lunar scientific or technical community on key questions such as how to understand the potential value of lunar sites, how to mitigate the impacts of interference or contamination at such sites, and how to determine the change in value of a lunar site should certain interference or contamination activities occur.

The data collected in this questionnaire will support NASA strategic decision-making on the protection needed for lunar activities. This questionnaire seeks feedback from the lunar community to determine the breadth of interference and contamination concerns and clarify community usage of the terms “interference,” “contamination,” and “deconfliction.” This questionnaire aims to contribute to the development of a framework for further deconfliction activity.

The questionnaire and how to submit responses

Please copy and paste the questions below into a searchable, unlocked Portable Document File (PDF) or Word (DocX) file with edit permissions enabled. Include electronic links to, or copies of, any comments containing references, studies, research, and other empirical data that are not widely published. Send the file via email to HQ-OTPS-Applications@nasa.gov with the subject line “Lunar Non-Interference” by Friday, June 7, 2024.

Questions

• How do you define these terms?
  • Interference
  • Contamination
  • Deconfliction

• Understanding the Potential Value of a Site
  • What attributes/characteristics are relevant to site selection in consideration of science objectives? Attributes may include time-sensitive orphysical characteristics, holds awaiting technology or science advancements, or other perspectives. Example scenarios are encouraged.
• Impacting the Potential Value of a Site
  • What human or robotic actions/events may negatively impact the value of a lunar site? Such as chemical contamination, physical contact, hardware proximity (for example Apollo hardware causing localized ‘moon quakes’ due to heating and cooling differences vs surroundings), waste hazards, etc.
    • How do the impacts of those actions/events alter the value of a site (e.g., unusable for certain missions, usable for certain missions but not others)?
    • What detrimental impacts are permanent, temporary, or still unknown?
  • What data, models, or information is needed to inform the value? Such as how to understand where contaminants are going, what they are doing that impacts science, computational models validated with ground and flight data, etc.
• Mitigation Mechanisms
  • What types of mitigation mechanisms exist to preserve the value of a site?
  • During what phases of operations are mitigation mechanisms needed? Examples include ascent/descent, overflight, traverse, contingency, experimental or construction phase, etc.
  • What technologies/capabilities need to be developed?
  • What types of communication and coordination efforts minimize concerns? Such as development/planned activity timelines for pre-coordination, operational timelines with time-critical communication mechanisms, list of materials, transparency, etc

Additional information and disclaimers

OTPS intends to use the responses to these questions to inform the development of a framework for future work. The use or inclusion of information in the development of any future OTPS work does not constitute endorsement of any entity, or any products, services, technologies, activities, or agency policy. The information contained in any future OTPS work will reflect solely the views and opinions of the authors.

Respondents are encouraged to provide information that is not constrained by limited or restricted data rights. No Personally Identifiable Information (PII) should be submitted with the response. Responses received will not be released in their submitted form outside of NASA. Anonymized information derived from the responses received (i.e., general information not attributable to any particular respondent) also may be shared within the government, but only as reasonably necessary and appropriate. Further, any anonymized, non-attributable information may also eventually be used to develop and refine the framework for future work on lunar non-interference, and therefore may be recognizable to one or more respondents. If respondents feel that proprietary or confidential/business-sensitive information is necessary for NASA’s informational purposes to be responsive to the questions presented below, and such information is provided and appropriately marked as such, NASA will not publicly disclose or disseminate it and will protect it in strict accordance with all applicable laws and agency policies. NASA will not disclose any specific feedback provided from one firm/respondent with any other interested entities.

Please note that NASA employees and its support contractors’ employees and/or their subcontractors working on behalf of NASA may review the responses. NASA contractors and subcontractors are governed by non-disclosure provisions in their applicable contracts and subcontracts, which protects the confidentiality of all information reviewed.

Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responses. Responses will not be returned, nor will respondents be contacted about their responses.

OTPS appreciates your participation and looks forward to your responses.

“The Lunar Exploration Roadmap: Exploring the Moon in the 21st Century: Themes, Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities, 2016,” Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, 2016 https://www.lpi.usra.edu/leag/LER-2016.pdf1

Share

Details Last Updated May 08, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related Terms

• Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS)

New images from the VLT Survey Telescope will help scientists learn about galaxy pasts, and perhaps futures.

Even though Venus and Earth are so-called sister planets, they’re as different as heaven and hell. Earth is a natural paradise where life has persevered under its azure skies despite multiple mass extinctions. On the other hand, Venus is a blistering planet with clouds of sulphuric acid and atmospheric pressure strong enough to squash a human being.

But the sister thing won’t go away because both worlds are about the same mass and radius and are rocky planets next to one another in the inner Solar System. Why are they so different? What do the differences tell us about our search for life?

The international astronomical community recognizes that understanding planetary habitability is a critical part of space science and astrobiology. Without a stronger understanding of terrestrial planets and their atmospheres, whether habitable or not, we won’t really know what we’re seeing when we examine a distant exoplanet. If we find an exoplanet that exhibits some signs of life, we’ll never visit it, never study it up close, and never be able to sample its atmosphere.

Artist’s impression of the exoplanet Ross 128 b orbiting its red dwarf star. Potentially habitable rocky worlds like this one are beyond our physical reach. Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. Public Domain

That shifts the scientific focus to the terrestrial planets in our own Solar System. Not because they appear to be habitable but because a complete model of terrestrial planets can’t be complete without including ones that are near-literal hellholes, like sister Venus.

A recent research perspective in Nature Astronomy examines how the two planets diverged and what might have driven the divergence. It’s titled “Venus as an anchor point for planetary habitability.” The lead author is Stephen Kane, from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Riverside. His co-author is Paul Byrne from the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis.

“A major focus of the planetary science and astrobiology community is understanding planetary habitability, including the myriad factors that control the evolution and sustainability of temperate surface environments such as that of Earth,” Kane and Byrne write. “The few substantial terrestrial planetary atmospheres within the Solar System serve as a critical resource for studying these habitability factors, from which models can be constructed for application to extrasolar planets.”

From their perspective, our Solar System’s twins provide our best opportunity to study how similar planets can have such divergent atmospheres. The more we understand that, the better we can understand how rocky worlds evolve over time and how different conditions benefit or restrict habitability.

This figure from the study presents some of the main, basic differences between Earth and Venus. Image Credit: Kane and Byrne, 2024.

Earth is an exception. With its temperate climate and surface water, it’s been habitable for billions of years, albeit with some climate episodes that severely restricted life. But when we look at Mars, it seems to have been habitable for a period of time and then lost its atmosphere and its surface water. Mars’ situation must be more common than Earth’s.

Artist’s impression of Snowball Earth 650 million years ago during the Marinoan glaciation. Earth has had episodes of extreme climates but is still going strong. Image Credit: University of St. Andrews.

It’s a monumental challenge to understand an exoplanet when we know nothing of its history. We only see it at one epoch of its climate and atmospheric history. But the discovery of thousands of exoplanets is helping. “The discovery of thousands of exoplanets, and the confirmation that terrestrial planets are among the most common types, provides a statistical framework for studying planetary properties and their evolution generally,” the authors write.

A narrow range of properties allows biochemistry to emerge, and those properties may not last. We need to identify these properties and their parameters and build a better understanding of habitability. From this perspective, Venus is a treasure trove of information.

But Venus is a challenge. We can’t see through its dense clouds except with radar, and nobody’s tried landing a spacecraft there since the USSR in the 1980s. Most of those attempts failed, and the ones that survived didn’t last long. Without better data, we can’t understand Venus’ history. The simple answer is that it’s closer to the Sun. But it’s too simple to be helpful.

“The evolutionary pathway of Venus to its current runaway-greenhouse state is a matter of debate, having traditionally been attributed to its closer proximity to the Sun,” Kane and Byrne explain.

We don’t know why Venus is a greenhouse effect. Volcanoes may have played a role. They emit carbon dioxide, and without oceans and tectonic plates, the planet can’t remove the carbon from its atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Peter Rubin

But when scientists look closer at Venus and Earth, they find many fundamental differences between them beyond their distances from the Sun. They have different rotation rates, they have differing obliquities, and they have different magnetic fields, to name a few. That means that we can’t measure the precise effect greater solar insolation has on the planet.

This is the authors’ main point. The differences between Earth and Venus make Venus a powerful part of understanding rocky exoplanet habitability. “Venus thus offers us a critical anchor point in the planetary habitability discourse, as its evolutionary story represents an alternate pathway from the Earth-based narrative—even though the origins of both worlds are, presumably, similar,” they write.

The authors point out that the basic requirement for life is surface water. But the bigger question is what factors govern how long surface water can persist. “By this measure, investigations of planetary habitability can then focus on the conditions that allow surface liquid water to be sustained through geological time,” they write.

This figure from the research illustrates some of the factors that can influence surface water and planetary habitability. Image Credit: Kane and Byrne 2024, National Academies Press, Ron Pettengill.

Earth and Venus are on opposite ends of the spectrum of rocky planet habitability. That’s an important lesson we can learn from our own Solar System. For that reason, “…understanding the pathway to a Venus scenario is just as important as understanding the pathway to habitability that characterizes Earth,” the authors write.

The pair of researchers created a list of some of the factors that govern habitability on Earth and Venus.

Most of these factors are self-explanatory. CHNOPS is carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulphur, the life-supporting elements. Redox is the potential for an element or molecule to be reduced or oxidized and made available as chemical energy for life. The fact that there’s a question mark beside for Venus’s redox environment is a major stumbling block. Image Credit: Kane and Byrne, 2024.

There’s so much we don’t know about Venus. How big is its core? Did it ever have water? Some research shows that when the planet lost its water and became totally inhabitable, there was lots of oxygen in its atmosphere. If we saw that same amount of oxygen on a distant exoplanet, we might interpret it as a sign of life. Big mistake. “Venus thus acts as a cautionary tale for interpretations of apparently oxygen-rich atmospheres,” the authors write.

Kane and Byrne’s research perspective is a call to action. It mirrors what recent Decadal Surveys have said. “The recent astronomy and astrophysics, and planetary science and astrobiology decadal surveys both emphasize the need for an improved understanding of planetary habitability as an essential goal within the context of astrobiology,” they write. For the authors, Venus can anchor the effort.

But for it to serve as an anchor, scientists need answers to lots of questions. They need to study its atmosphere more thoroughly at all altitudes. They need to study its interior and determine the nature and size of its core. Critically, they need to get a spacecraft to its surface and examine its geology up close. In short, we need to do at Venus what we’ve done at Mars.

That’s challenging, considering Venus’ hostile environment. But missions are being prepared to explore Venus in more detail. VERITAS, DAVINCI, and EnVision are all Venus missions scheduled for the 2030s. Those missions will start to give scientists the answers we need.

As we learn more about Venus, we also need to learn more about exo-Venuses. “A parallel approach to studying the intrinsic properties of Venus is the statistical analysis of the vast (and still rapidly growing) inventory of terrestrial exoplanets,” the authors write.

This figure from the research represents the Venus zone and the habitable zone as a function of stellar effective temperature and insolation flux received by the planet. The Venus zone is shaded in red, and the habitable zone is in blue. The images on the left show main sequence stars of various effective temperatures. The images of Venus indicate the location of Kepler candidates that lie within the Venus zone, scaled by the size of the planet. The Solar System planets of Venus, Earth and Mars are also shown. Image Credit: Habitable Zone Gallery/Chester Harman; Planets: NASA/JPL. Kane and Byrne, 2024.

We’re living in an age of exoplanet discovery. We’ve discovered over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets, and the tally keeps growing. We’re launching spacecraft to study the most interesting ones more thoroughly. But at some point, things will shift. How many of them do we need to catalogue? Is 10,000 enough? 20,000? 100,000?

It’s all new right now, and the enthusiasm to find more exoplanets, especially rocky ones in habitable zones, is understandable. But eventually, we’ll reach some kind of threshold of diminishing returns. In order to understand them, our effort might be more wisely spent studying Venus and how it evolved so differently.

Just as Kane and Byrne suggest.

The post What Deadly Venus Can Tell Us About Life on Other Worlds appeared first on Universe Today.

20 Min Read The Marshall Star for May 8, 2024 New Flag is in the Stars for Marshall’s Huntsville Operations Support Center

By Wayne Smith

A new flag is flying closer to the stars outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center following a May 2 ceremony.

The white flag features a blue logo of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and marks contributions from center team members toward the launch of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, now targeted to launch no earlier than 5:16 p.m. CDT May 17. The flag-raising ceremony was held ahead of the planned launch of the spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Chris Chiesa, left, listens as Lisa McCollum, deputy manager of the Exploration & Transportation Development Office, talks about Chiesa’s recognition as part of the Commercial Crew Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center during the Starliner flag-raising ceremony May 2. NASA/Tyson Eason

The flight test will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station for about a week to test the Starliner spacecraft and its subsystems before NASA certifies the transportation system for rotational missions to the orbiting laboratory for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

The flag raising has been a tradition for missions supported at Marshall’s Huntsville Operations Support Center, or HOSC, as well as a tradition within the Commercial Crew Program to celebrate the successful conclusion of NASA’s Agency Flight Readiness Review prior to launch. The ceremony was a joint effort between the Payload and Mission Operations Division (PMOD) and Commercial Crew Program team.

“The ceremony is special because it symbolizes the successful conclusion of NASA’s Flight Readiness Review, bringing us that much closer to flight,” said Maggie Freeman, a program analyst supporting the Launch Vehicle Systems Office within the Commercial Crew Program at Marshall. “It’s also a privilege to be able to honor some of our Marshall team members who have supported the mission.”

Brandyn Rolling, left, of the Payload Missions Operation Division at Marshall, listens as George Norris, deputy manager of the Payload & Mission Operations Division, talks about Rolling’s recognition during the Starliner flag-raising ceremony outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center on May 2. NASA/Tyson Eason

Chris Chiesa and Brandyn Rolling were honored during the ceremony and raised the Starliner flag after being introduced by Lisa McCollum, deputy manager for the Exploration & Transportation Development Office, and George Norris, deputy manager for the Payload & Mission Operations Division.

“We look for team members who have displayed excellence within their fields, demonstrating their commitment to the goals of the mission,” Freeman said. “Chris and Brandyn both are phenomenal examples of that sustained commitment to excellence.”

Chiesa is the NASA engine lead for the Starliner spacecraft for the Commercial Crew Program. Rolling represented PMOD and manages all of the HOSC’s visiting vehicle ground interfaces for NASA.

McCollum and Norris display the Starliner flag before it was raised outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center. NASA/Tyson Eason

“I feel tremendously fortunate to be surrounded by such an incredible team and to have the support of so many amazing engineers and managers across Marshall, Kennedy, and Johnson (space flight centers),” Chiesa said.

Said Rolling, “I am incredibly honored to be a part of this amazing PMOD team and am excited for the future of Boeing’s crewed flights with Starliner.”

The HOSC provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

The Starliner flag flies outside the Huntsville Operations Support Center.NASA/Tyson Eason

The Commercial Crew Program support team at Marshall provides crucial programmatic, engineering, and safety and mission assurance expertise for launch vehicles, spacecraft propulsion, and integrated vehicle performance.

Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

› Back to Top

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Targets New Launch Date

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is now targeted to launch no earlier than 5:16 p.m. CDT May 17 to the International Space Station. Following a thorough data review completed May 7, ULA (United Launch Alliance) decided to replace a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop illuminated by spotlights sits on the launch pad of Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. It is the first Starliner mission to send astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA/Joel Kowsky

ULA planned to roll the rocket, with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, back to its Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 8 to begin the replacement. The ULA team will perform leak checks and functional checkouts in support of the next launch attempt.

The oscillating behavior of the valve during prelaunch operations, ultimately resulted in mission teams calling a launch scrub May 6. After the ground crews and astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely exited from Space Launch Complex-41, the ULA team successfully commanded the valve closed and the oscillations were temporarily dampened. The oscillations then re-occurred twice during fuel removal operations. After evaluating the valve history, data signatures from the launch attempt, and assessing the risks relative to continued use, the ULA team determined the valve exceeded its qualification and mission managers agreed to remove and replace the valve.

Mission managers discussed the details leading to the decision to scrub the May 6 launch opportunity during a news conference shortly after the scrub call at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Wilmore and Williams will remain in crew quarters at Kennedy in quarantine until the next launch opportunity. The duo will be the first to launch aboard Starliner to the space station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

› Back to Top

Hi-C Rocket Experiment Achieves Never-Before-Seen Look at Solar Flares

By Jessica Barnett 

After months of preparation and years since its last flight, the upgraded High Resolution Coronal Imager Flare mission – Hi-C Flare, for short – took to the skies for a never-before-seen view of a solar flare.

The low-noise cameras – built at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – are part of a suite of state-of-the-art instruments on board the Black Brant IX sounding rocket that launched April 17 from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Using the new technology, investigators hoped to study the extreme energies involved with solar flares. The Hi-C Flare experiment mission was led by Marshall.

The High-Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, launches aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket April 17 at Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska.NASA

“This is a pioneering campaign,” said Sabrina Savage, principal investigator at Marshall for Hi-C Flare. “Launching sounding rockets to observe the Sun to test new technologies optimized for flare observations has not even been an option until now.”

It was the third iteration of the Hi-C instrument to take flight, but its first flight with ride along instruments, including the COOL-AID (Coronal OverLapagram – Ancillary Imaging Diagnostics), CAPRI-SUN (high-CAdence low-energy Passband x-Ray detector with Integrated full-SUN field of view), and SSAXI (Swift Solar Activity X-ray Imager). Following a month of payload integration and testing in White Sands, New Mexico, investigators completed final launch site integration at the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska.

Each morning of the two-week launch campaign window, the team spent about five hours preparing the experiment for launch, followed by up to four hours of monitoring solar data for a flare that registers as C5-class or higher with duration longer than the rocket flight. The launch finally occurred on the penultimate day of the campaign window.

“The Sun was unusually quiet throughout the campaign despite numerous active regions,” Savage said. “Both teams were getting nervous that we would not launch, but we finally got a nice long-duration M-class flare right before the window closed.”

The Hi-C Flare mission launched at 2:14 p.m. AKDT, just one minute after the FOXSI-4 (Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager) mission led by the University of Minnesota. Once in air, sensors on the Hi-C Flare rocket pointed cameras toward the Sun and stabilized instrumentation. Then, a shutter door opened to allow the cameras to gather about five minutes of data before the door closed and the rocket fell back to Earth.

The rocket landed in the Alaskan tundra, where it remained until conditions were safe enough for the team to retrieve it and begin processing the collected data.

“For launches into the tundra, we have to wait a few days for the instrument to get back to us and then to be dried out enough to turn on,” Savage said. “It was an anxious few days, but the data are beautiful and were worth the wait.”

From left, Austin Bumbalough, Ken Kobayashi, Harlan Haight, Sabrina Savage, William Hogue, Jim Cecil, and Adam Kobelski, members of the Hi-C Flare team, gather after the payload was recovered and brought to Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Hi-C Flare, equipped with Hi-C 3, COOL-AID, CAPRI-SUN, and SSAXI, launched into a solar flare as part of the first-ever solar flare sounding rocket campaign.NASA

Investigators weren’t just testing new technology, either. They also used a new algorithm to predict the behavior of a solar flare, allowing them to launch the rocket at the ideal time.

“To catch a flare in action is really hard, because you can’t predict them,” said Genevieve Vigil, technical and camera lead for Hi-C 3 and COOL-AID at Marshall. “We had to wait around for a solar flare to start going, then launch as it’s happening. No one has tried to do that before.”

Fortunately, their method was a success.

“We are still processing the data from all four instruments, but the data from Hi-C 3 and COOL-AID already look fantastic,” Savage said.

“The COOL-AID data is the first spectrally pure image in a hot spectral line that we know of,” said Amy Winebarger, project scientist at Marshall for Hi-C Flare.

The Hi-C experiment is led by Marshall in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Launch support is provided at Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska by NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.

Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

› Back to Top

NASA Technology Grants to Advance Moon to Mars Space Exploration

By Jessica Barnett 

NASA has awarded nearly $1.5 million to academic, non-profit, and business organizations to advance state-of-the-art technology that will play a key role in the agency’s return to the Moon under Artemis, as well as future missions to Mars.

Twenty-four projects from 21 organizations have been awarded under NASA’s Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notices, or CANs. The awardees also will receive assistance from propulsion, space transportation, and science experts at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Brandon Aguiar, a graduate student at Florida International University, works to prepare a slurry containing a lunar regolith simulant, graphene nanoplatelets, and base resin for use in FIU’s ongoing study of the enhanced electrical conductivity of additively manufactured lunar regolith components involving graphene nanoplatelets.Credit: Florida International University

“The Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notice enables NASA to collaboratively work with U.S. industry and academia to develop needed technologies,” said Daniel O’Neil, manager, NASA Marshall’s Technology Development Dual-Use CAN Program. “Products from these cooperative agreements support the closure of identified technology gaps and enable the development of components and systems for NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture.”

These innovative projects include ways to use lunar regolith for construction on the Moon’s surface, using smartphone video guidance sensors to fly robots on the International Space Station, identifying new battery materials, and improving a neutrino particle detector.

The following is a complete list of awardees:

• Auburn University in Alabama
• Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida
• Florida International University in Miami
• Fronius USA in Portage, Indiana
• Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories in Tullahoma, Tennessee
• Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge
• Morgan State University in Baltimore
• Nanoracks (Voyager Space) in Houston
• Northwestern University in Chicago
• Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
• Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
• Tethon 3D in Omaha, Nebraska
• University of Alabama in Huntsville
• University of California in Irvine
• University of Florida in Gainesville
• University of Illinois in Chicago
• University of North Texas in Denton
• University of Tennessee in Knoxville
• University of Tennessee Space Institute
• Victory Solutions in Huntsville, Alabama
• Wichita State University in Kansas

The Florida Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Alabama were awarded funding for two projects each.

Funding was available for organizations focused on supporting entrepreneurial research and innovation ideas that could advance the commercial space sector and benefit future NASA missions.

Applications are now open for the 2024 solicitation cycle.

Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

› Back to Top

IXPE General Observer Program Opens Doors to Global X-ray Astronomy

By Rick Smith

Launched in late 2021, the science activities for NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission were directed by researchers at NASA and the Italian Space Agency through February 2024. Now, during the General Observer phase of the mission, IXPE’s observation program primarily is guided by the broader scientific community.

“We’re in the process of turning X-ray polarization into a standard part of the toolkit for X-ray astronomers around the globe,” said Philip Kaaret, IXPE principal investigator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “The response across the high-energy astrophysics community has been tremendous.”

IXPE will help researchers gain new understanding of the forces involved in a tidal disruption event, as seen in this artist’s illustration depicting what happens when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole.NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA

The General Observer Program, which officially began in February, invites astrophysicists and space scientists around the world to propose exciting new investigations of black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, and other high-energy X-ray sources using the IXPE telescope.

In the spacecraft’s first two years of operation, NASA’s research partners included more than 175 scientists in 13 countries – and interest continues to swell. Proposed investigations submitted to date to the General Observer Program involve more than 1,400 researchers at 174 unique institutions in 30 countries.

“Our chief goal to enable every interested party to use, analyze, and interpret IXPE data,” said Kavitha Arur, program lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We want to maximize science outputs and cover the widest possible range of targets.”

In June 2023, NASA issued an open invitation to researchers to propose new IXPE missions and targets of observation. By the October 2023 deadline, the General Observer Program team had received 135 proposals for Cycle 1, covering the first year of the program. Each proposal was exhaustively peer-reviewed by NASA astrophysicists and associated experts in the field.

Researchers proposed studies based on the number of seconds of IXPE target observation they estimated they would need to obtain the data necessary to verify a hypothesis or model.

For Cycle 1, the team selected 39 proposals, totaling about 15 million seconds of total observation time. That figure will include some overlap among selected targets – and the targets selected included a few surprises.

“Some of the selected proposals were for types of targets we hadn’t previously considered, such as tidal disruption events,” Kaaret said. A tidal disruption event is when a star is pulled into a supermassive black hole and torn apart.

Cycle 1 researchers also will, for the first time, use IXPE to study a white dwarf, a stellar core remnant roughly the size of Earth but with a mass comparable to that of our Sun. That white dwarf is part of the binary system T Coronae Borealis, roughly 3,000 light years from our solar system. “T CrB,” as it’s known to astronomers, also includes an ancient red giant which emits a nova eruption every 80 years or so. It was last seen in 1946, and astronomers anticipate another eruption between now and September 2024. For stargazers on Earth, this nova will appear to be a star that wasn’t there before.

That wide window of time makes T CrB a “target of opportunity” for IXPE – an unpredictable wrinkle in the meticulously plotted Cycle 1 schedule. Such an event requires quick reaction on the part of the team to enable IXPE to point at it without a lot of advanced scheduling.

An artist’s illustration of the IXPE spacecraft in orbit, studying high-energy phenomena light-years from Earth.NASA

Allyn Tennant, who heads IXPE’s science operations center at Marshall, is tasked with mapping out IXPE’s timetable. He factors in the precise duration of each observation, the time needed to download its findings, and the necessary repositioning time between targets.

What does it take to execute such a complex plan? “A certain amount of thought, a certain amount of swearing, and a whole lot of replanning,” Tennant said.

“We started the program the first week of February and by late April, Allyn had already rescheduled the plan seven times,” Kaaret added. “It makes for some stressful weekends, but a lot of really exciting results come from these unanticipated events.”

IXPE spends about a week on each target, on average, so it’s not hard to schedule roughly 40 targets in a 52-week window, Tennant said – until one encounters those targets of opportunity. There’s also the challenge of managing the inflow of data from each observation. The brighter the target, the bigger the volume of incoming data that must be captured, verified, and distributed to the investigators.

The spacecraft’s busy schedule also factors in joint astronomical observations with other NASA instruments conducting their own orbiting science missions. Those joint efforts further extend the value of data gathered during IXPE’s General Observer Program studies but add another level of complexity when targets of opportunity call for reshuffling the schedule.

During Cycle 1 and Cycle 2, IXPE is teaming with NASA’s NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray observatory, which studies neutron stars, black holes, and other phenomena from its permanent vantage point aboard the International Space Station. In Cycle 2, beginning in February 2025, the program also will partner with NASA’s orbiting Swift and NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) imagers, which monitor gamma-ray bursts and high-energy cosmic X-ray events, respectively.

The growing interest in IXPE’s success led USRA’s Science and Technology Institute to announce the first IXPO (International X-ray Polarimetry Symposium), to be held in Huntsville on Sept. 16-19. Astronomers, engineers, and X-ray technologists are encouraged to attend.

View the complete list of selected IXPE Cycle 1 research proposals. Learn more about program guidelines for submitting Cycle 2 proposals.

IXPE, led by NASA Marshall, is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency. The Space & Mission Systems division of BAE Systems Inc., in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.

Smith, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc. employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

› Back to Top

NASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program

NASA has selected 40 undergraduate students for the first year of its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program, supporting the agency’s Europa Clipper mission. Europa ICONS matches students with mentors from the mission’s science team for a 10-week program to conduct original scientific research on topics related to the mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. 

The program is planned to run every year until Europa Clipper completes its prime mission in 2034 and is open to applications from all U.S. undergraduate STEM majors, with preference given to students from non-high research activity universities and underserved institutions.

Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft.NASA/JPL-Caltech

ICONS internships may be in-person at the mentor’s institution, virtual, or hybrid, depending on the research project and needs of the mentor and intern. As part of the program, students and mentors will convene for a two-day meeting at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The first Europa ICONS internship will run June 3 through Aug. 9.

The students selected for the Europa ICONS program in 2024 are:

• Sarah Ruetschle, John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio
• Cole Anderson, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Hamza Ouriour, Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
• Ethan Piacenti, Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois
• Jared Bouck, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona
• Kayla Blair, Northern Arizona University
• Carly Davis, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana
• Matthew Perkins, Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado
• Angela Zhang, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
• Arianna Rodriguez Ortiz, University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez
• Beverly Malugin Ayala, University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez
• Jeansel Johnson-Ayala, University of Puerto Rico–Rio Piedras 
• Akemi Takeuchi, University of Maryland, College Park
• Sofia Merchant-Dest, University of Maryland–University College in Adelphi
• Gradon Robbins, University of Florida in Gainesville
• Jason Sioeng, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
• Tyler Yuen, San Jose State University in San Jose, California
• Dallin Nelson, Southern Utah University in Cedar City
• Eric Stinemetz, University of Houston–Downtown
• Lucas Nerbonne, Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont
• Hope Jerris, Middlebury College
• Jacob Dietrich, Indiana University, Southeast in New Albany
• Jocelyn Mateo, Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio
• Samuel Brown, San Diego Mesa College in San Diego
• Madison Stanford, Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles
• Bryce McGimsey, Solano Community College in Fairfield, California
• Noah Alayon, CUNY LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York
• Trevor Erwin, University of Texas at Austin
• Ava Frost, Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts
• Brianna Casey, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York
• Fatima Mendoza, Texas Tech University in Lubbock
• Daniel Voyles, Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California
• Swaroop Sathyanarayanan, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
• Jay Patel, Louisiana State University College of Engineering in Baton Rouge
• Juliane Keiper, Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts
• Emori Long, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee
• Scott Chang, University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Hayden Ferrell, Arizona State University in Tempe
• Isabella Musto, Denison University in Granville, Ohio
• Elizabeth Kirby, College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina

The Europa Clipper mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

The Europa ICONS program is managed by the Planetary Science Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and is part of a larger effort known as Clipper Next Gen, a decade-long strategy using the Europa Clipper mission to train and diversify the next generation of planetary scientists.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

› Back to Top

Hubble Views a Galaxy with a Voracious Black Hole

Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in a new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4951.

Located in the Virgo constellation, NGC 4951 is located roughly 50 million light-years away from Earth. It’s classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means that it’s an extremely energetic type of galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). However, Seyfert galaxies are unique from other sorts of AGNs because the galaxy itself can still be clearly seen – different types of AGNs are so bright that it’s nearly impossible to observe the actual galaxy that they reside within.

Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4951.NASA, ESA, and D. Thilker (The Johns Hopkins University); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

AGNs like NGC 4951 are powered by supermassive black holes. As matter whirls into the black hole, it generates radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, making the AGN shine brightly.

Hubble helped prove that supermassive black holes exist at the core of almost every galaxy in our universe. Before the telescope launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990, astronomers only theorized about their existence. The mission verified their existence by observing the undeniable effects of black holes, like jets of material ejecting from black holes and disks of gas and dust revolving around those black holes at very high speeds.

These observations of NGC 4951 were taken to provide valuable data for astronomers studying how galaxies evolve, with a particular focus on the star formation process. Hubble gathered this information, which is being combined with observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to support a JWST Treasury program. Treasury programs collect observations that focus on the potential to solve multiple scientific problems with a single, coherent dataset and enable a variety of compelling scientific investigations.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was the lead field center for the design, development, and construction of the space telescope.

› Back to Top

SpaceX is set to launch 20 Starlink internet satellites tonight (May 8), on the second leg of a spaceflight doubleheader for the company.

One of the Star Wars fandom's most infamous memes is joining the Star Wars canon (kind of) in this Lego Star Wars special mini-series.

NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS is back in action after nine days in safe mode, returning to scientific observations on May 3.

Around 3000 years ago, several empires and kingdoms in the Mediterranean collapsed, with a group of sea-faring warriors implicated as the culprit. But new evidence shows that many of our ideas about this turbulent time need completely rethinking

Around 3000 years ago, several empires and kingdoms in the Mediterranean collapsed, with a group of sea-faring warriors implicated as the culprit. But new evidence shows that many of our ideas about this turbulent time need completely rethinking

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this oblique photograph of the Sulaiman Mountains in central Pakistan. The range resulted from the slow-motion collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates that began about 60 million years ago. Peaks rise to more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level in the northern portion of the mountain range, shown in this photograph.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this oblique photograph of the Sulaiman Mountains in central Pakistan. The range resulted from the slow-motion collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates that began about 60 million years ago. Peaks rise to more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level in the northern portion of the mountain range, shown in this photograph.NASA

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this Dec. 17, 2023, photograph of the Sulaiman Mountains in central Pakistan. The Sulaiman Mountains form a natural barrier between the plateaus to the west and the Indus River Valley to the east. Winds blowing from the Indian Ocean and Indus floodplain carry moisture and particulates inland, causing a combination of haze, mist, and clouds to form on the windward side of the mountain range.

A unique attribute of astronaut photography of Earth is the crew member’s ability to highlight features of the landscape by taking photos from perspectives other than straight-down (nadir). This photo leverages an oblique view to highlight the ruggedness of the Sulaiman Mountains by accentuating shadows created by the topography.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, NASA Earth Observatory (EO) has gathered 25 of their favorite images and data visualizations. Since EO’s launch on April 29, 1999, the site has hosted more than 18,000 image-driven stories, featuring everything from the newest satellite imagery to decades-long records of change.

Text Credit: Cadan Cummings

Image Credit: NASA

A new plant in Iceland operated by the firm Climeworks can remove up to 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year, more than quadrupling existing global capabilities

A new plant in Iceland operated by the firm Climeworks can remove up to 36,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year, more than quadrupling existing global capabilities