"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."

— Dr. Lee De Forest

NASA

NASA Earns Best Place to Work in Government for 13th Consecutive Year 

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 5:33pm
NASA’s Worm logo is displayed in front of the agency’s headquarters in Washington.Credit: NASA

For the 13th straight year, NASA has earned the title of Best Place to Work in the Federal Government – large agency – from the Partnership for Public Service. The ranking reflects employee satisfaction and workplace elements across the agency while executing NASA’s mission to explore the unknown and discover new knowledge for the benefit of humanity. 

“NASA’s greatest asset has always been its people – those who rise to the challenge of leading in air and space,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “This recognition reflects a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence that fuels our mission every day and defines NASA as the best place to work in the federal government. I’m honored to lead this remarkable team as we continue benefiting humanity and inspiring the world in the process.” 

Throughout 2024, NASA’s workforce supported the agency’s groundbreaking accomplishments, including landing new science and technology on the Moon with an American company for the first time and launching a new mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. NASA teams also collaborated to maintain more than 24 years of continuous human exploration and scientific research aboard the International Space Station and unveiled its supersonic quiet aircraft

The agency also shared the wonder of a total eclipse with millions of Americans, conducted the final flight of its Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, and announced the newest class of Artemis Generation astronauts. With the release of its latest Economic Impact Report, NASA demonstrated how its work impacts the U.S. economy, creates value to society, and returns investment to taxpayers. 

The Partnership for Public Service began to compile the Best Places to Work rankings in 2003 to analyze federal employee’s viewpoints of leadership, work-life balance, and other factors of their job. A formula is used to evaluate employee responses to a federal survey, dividing submissions into four groups: large, midsize, and small agencies, in addition to their subcomponents. 

Read about the Best Places to Work for 2024 online

To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov

-end- 

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Cosmic Mapmaker: NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Ready to Launch

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 4:34pm

6 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Ahead of launch, NASA’s SPHEREx is enclosed in a payload fairing at Vandenberg Space Force Base on March 2. The observatory is stacked atop the four small satellites that make up the agency’s PUNCH mission.NASA/BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry

NASA’s latest space observatory is targeting a March 8 liftoff, and the agency’s PUNCH heliophysics mission is sharing a ride. Here’s what to expect during launch and beyond.

In a little over a day, NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope is slated to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The observatory will map the entire celestial sky four times in two years, creating a 3D map of over 450 million galaxies. In doing so, the mission will provide insight into what happened a fraction of a second after the big bang, in addition to searching interstellar dust for the ingredients of life, and measuring the collective glow from all galaxies, including ones that other telescopes cannot easily detect.

The launch window opens at 7:09:56 p.m. PST on Saturday, March 8, with a target launch time of 7:10:12 p.m. PST. Additional opportunities occur in the following days.

Launching together into low Earth orbit, NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions will study a range of topics from the early universe to our nearest star. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sharing a ride with SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), a constellation of four small satellites that will map the region where the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, transitions to the solar wind, the constant outflow of material from the Sun.

For the latest on PUNCH, visit the blog:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/punch

What SPHEREx Will Do

The SPHEREx observatory detects infrared light — wavelengths slightly longer than what the human eye can see that are emitted by warm objects including stars and galaxies. Using a technique called spectroscopy, SPHEREx will separate the infrared light emitted by hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies into 102 individual colors — the same way a prism splits sunlight into a rainbow. Observing those colors separately can reveal various properties of objects, including their composition and, in the case of galaxies, their distance from Earth. No other all-sky survey has performed spectroscopy in so many wavelengths and on so many sources.

The mission’s all-sky spectroscopic map can be used for a wide variety of science investigations. In particular, SPHEREx has its sights set on a phenomenon called inflation, which caused the universe to expand a trillion-trillionfold in a fraction of a second after the big bang. This nearly instantaneous event left an impression on the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe. The mission will map the distribution of more than 450 million galaxies to improve scientists’ understanding of the physics behind this extreme cosmic event.

SPHEREx Fact Sheet

Additionally, the space telescope will measure the total glow from all galaxies, including ones that other telescopes cannot easily detect. When combined with studies of individual galaxies by other telescopes, the measurement of this overall glow will provide a more complete picture of how the light output from galaxies has changed over the universe’s history.

At the same time, spectroscopy will allow SPHEREx to seek out frozen water, carbon dioxide, and other key ingredients for life. The mission will provide an unprecedented survey of the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving researchers better insight into the interstellar chemistry that set the stage for life.

Launch Sequence

But, first, SPHEREx has to get into space. Prelaunch testing is complete on the spacecraft’s various systems, and it’s been encapsulated in the protective nose cone, or payload fairing, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will get it there from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-4 East.

NASA’s SPHEREx mission will lift off from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vanden-berg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, just as the Sur-face Water and Ocean Topography mission, shown here, did in December 2022. NASA/Keegan Barber

A little more than two minutes after the Falcon 9 lifts off, the main engine will cut off. Shortly after, the rocket’s first and second stages will separate, followed by second-stage engine start. The reusable first stage will then begin its automated boost-back burn to the launch site for a propulsive landing.

Once the rocket is out of Earth’s atmosphere, about three minutes after launch, the payload fairing that surrounds the spacecraft will separate into two halves and fall back to Earth, landing in the ocean. Roughly 41 minutes after launch, SPHEREx will separate from the rocket and start its internal systems so that it can point its solar panel to the Sun. After this happens, the spacecraft can establish communications with ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission for the agency. This milestone, called acquisition of signal, should happen about three minutes after separation.

About 52 minutes after liftoff, PUNCH should separate as well from the Falcon 9.

Both spacecraft will be in a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, where their position relative to the Sun remains the same throughout the year. Each approximately 98-minute orbit allows the SPHEREx telescope to view a 360-degree strip of the celestial sky. As Earth’s orbit around the Sun progresses, that strip slowly advances, enabling SPHEREx to image almost the entire sky in six months. For PUNCH, the orbit provides a clear view in all directions around the Sun.

About four days after launch, SPHEREx should eject the protective cover over its telescope lens. The observatory will begin science operations a little over a month after launch, once the telescope has cooled down to its operating temperature and the mission team has completed a series of checks.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is providing the launch service for SPHEREx and PUNCH.

For more information about the SPHEREx mission, visit:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex

More About SPHEREx

SPHEREx is managed by NASA JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive.

Get the SPHEREx Press Kit How to Watch March 8 SPHEREx Launch 6 Things to Know About SPHEREx Why NASA’s SPHEREx Will Make ‘Most Colorful’ Cosmic Map Ever NASA’s SPHEREX Space Telescope Will Seek Life’s Ingredients News Media Contacts

Karen Fox / Alise Fisher 
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-2546
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

Calla Cofield, SPHEREx
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

Sarah Frazier, PUNCH
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov

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NASA Receives Some Data Before Intuitive Machines Ends Lunar Mission

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 3:59pm
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 captured an image March 6, 2025, after landing in a crater from the Moon’s South Pole. The lunar lander is on its side about 820 feet from the intended landing site, Mons Mouton. In the center of the image between the two lander legs is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 suite, which shows the drill deployed.Credit: Intuitive Machines

Shortly after touching down inside a crater on the Moon, carrying NASA technology and science on its IM-2 mission, Intuitive Machines collected some data for the agency before calling an early end of mission at 12:15 a.m. CST Friday.

As part of the company’s second Moon delivery for NASA under the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the IM-2 mission included a drill to bring lunar soil to the surface and a mass spectrometer to look for the presence of volatiles, or gases, that could one day help provide fuel or breathable oxygen to future Artemis explorers.

Planned to land at Mons Mouton, IM-2 touched down at approximately 11:30 a.m. March 6, more than 1,300 feet (400 meters) from its intended landing site. Intuitive Machines said images collected later confirmed the lander was on its side, preventing it from fully operating the drill and other instruments before its batteries were depleted.

The IM-2 mission landed closer to the lunar South Pole than any previous lander.

“Our targeted landing site near the lunar South Pole is one of the most scientifically interesting, and geographically challenging locations, on the Moon,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow, and we will use this lesson to propel our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development as we get ready for human exploration of Mars.”

The Nova-C lander, named Athena, captured and transmitted images of the landing site before activating the technology and science instruments. Among the data collected, NASA’s PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1) suite, which includes the lunar drill known as TRIDENT (The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain), successfully demonstrated the hardware’s full range of motion in the harsh environment of space. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) as part of the PRIME-1 suite of instruments, detected elements likely due to the gases emitted from the lander’s propulsion system. 

“While this mission didn’t achieve all of its objectives for NASA, the work that went into the payload development is already informing other agency and commercial efforts,” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator for space technology, NASA Headquarters. “As we continue developing new technologies to support exploration of the Moon and Mars, testing technologies in-situ is crucial to informing future missions. The CLPS initiative remains an instrumental method for achieving this.”

Despite the lander’s configuration, Intuitive Machines, which was responsible for launch, delivery, and surface operations under its CLPS contract, was able to complete some instrument checkouts and collect 250 megabytes of data for NASA.

“Empowering American companies to deliver science and tech to the Moon on behalf of NASA both produces scientific results and continues development of a lunar economy,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “While we’re disappointed in the outcome of the IM-2 mission, we remain committed to supporting our commercial vendors as they navigate the very difficult task of landing and operating on the Moon.”

NASA’s Laser Retroreflector Array, a passive instrument meant to provide a reference point on the lunar surface and does not power on, will remain affixed to the top deck of the lander. Although Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Hopper and Nokia’s 4G/LTE Tipping Point technologies, funded in part by NASA, were only able to complete some objectives, they provided insight into maturing technologies ready for infusion into a commercial space application including some checkouts in flight and on the surface.

Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launched at 6:16 p.m., Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Intuitive Machines has two more deliveries on the books for NASA in the future, with its IM-3 mission slated for 2026, and IM-4 mission in 2027.

To date, five vendors have been awarded a total of 11 lunar deliveries under CLPS and are sending more than 50 instruments to various locations on the Moon, including the Moon’s far side and South Pole region. CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through 2028.

Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

-end-

Cheryl Warner / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

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NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Speaks to Students

NASA Image of the Day - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 2:55pm
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson points to the Expedition 71 patch on her flight suit as she answers a question from students, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington. Dyson and fellow crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps served as part of Expedition 71 aboard the International Space Station.
Categories: Astronomy, NASA

NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Speaks to Students

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 2:48pm
NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson points to the Expedition 71 patch on her flight suit on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Dyson and her fellow Expedition 71 crewmates Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps answered questions from students at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington.

While aboard the International Space Station, Dyson conducted dozens of scientific and technology activities to benefit future exploration in space and life back on Earth. She remotely controlled a robot on Earth’s surface from a computer aboard the station and evaluated orbit-to-ground operations. She operated a 3D bioprinter to print cardiac tissue samples, which could advance technology for creating replacement organs and tissues for transplants on Earth. Dyson also participated in the crystallization of model proteins to evaluate the performance of hardware that could be used for pharmaceutical production and ran a program that uses student-designed software to control the station’s free-flying robots, inspiring the next generation of innovators.

Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Categories: NASA

NASA Invites Creators to Design Mascot for Artemis Moon Mission

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 2:40pm
Credit: NASA

NASA is seeking design ideas from global creators for a zero gravity indicator that will fly aboard the agency’s Artemis II test flight. Zero gravity indicators are small, plush items carried aboard spacecraft to provide a visual indication of when the spacecraft and its crew reach space.

This opportunity, with a submission deadline of May 27, asks for original designs representing the significance of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the mission, or exploration and discovery, and meet specific requirements for materials and size.

“What better way to fly a mission around the Moon than to invite the public inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft with us and ask for help in designing our zero gravity indicator?” asked Reid Wiseman, NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The indicator will float alongside Victor, Christina, Jeremy, and me as we go around the far side of the Moon and remind us of all of you back on Earth.”

Up to 25 finalists, including from a K-12 student division, will be selected. The Artemis II crew will choose one design that NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab will fabricate to fly alongside them in Orion. Imagine seeing your creation floating weightlessly with astronauts on their way around the Moon.

For complete contest details, visit:

http://www.freelancer.com/moon-mascot

Crowdsourcing company Freelancer is hosting the challenge, called Moon Mascot: NASA Artemis II ZGI Design Contest, on behalf of the agency through the NASA Tournament Lab, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

NASA has a long history of flying zero gravity indicators for human spaceflight missions. Many missions to the International Space Station include a plush item. A plush Snoopy rode inside Orion during NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I mission.

Artemis II will be the first test flight of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground system with crew aboard. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will venture around the Moon and back. The mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.

All major elements for Artemis II are readying for flight. Engineers recently completed stacking the twin solid rocket boosters for the SLS (Space Launch System) on their launch platform and are preparing for integration of the SLS core stage in the coming weeks. Teams also recently installed the solar array wings on the Orion spacecraft that will carry the four astronauts on their journey around the Moon and home.

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Learn more about Artemis II at:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

-end-

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov

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NASA Astronaut to Answer Questions from Students in Oregon

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 12:14pm
NASA astronaut Don Pettit inside the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft. (Credit: NASA)

Students from Oregon will have the chance to connect with NASA astronaut Don Pettit as he answers prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related questions from aboard the International Space Station.

Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 2:15 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 10, on NASA+ and learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.

Oregon Charter Academy, a virtual school serving thousands of kindergarten through 12th grade students statewide, is hosting an event in Wilsonville, Oregon, for students and their families. The event aims to raise awareness of career opportunities for aspiring STEM students.

Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m., Friday, March 7, to Laura Dillon at ldillon@oregoncharter.org or 971-301-5060.

For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.

Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

-end-

Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 11:00am
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5 Min Read NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System

Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes.

Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows extraordinary new detail and structure in Lynds 483 (L483). Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image.

Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars have periodically ejected some of the gas and dust, spewing it out as tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows that “trip” across space. When more recent ejections hit older ones, the material can crumple and twirl based on the densities of what is colliding. Over time, chemical reactions within these ejections and the surrounding cloud have produced a range of molecules, like carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.

Image A: Actively Forming Star System Lynds 483 (NIRCam Image) Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Dust-Encased Stars

The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

It’s equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked — look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it’s actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.

Unraveling the Stars’ Ejections

Some of the stars’ jets and outflows have wound up twisted or warped. To find examples, look toward the top right edge where there’s a prominent orange arc. This is a shock front, where the stars’ ejections were slowed by existing, denser material. 

Now, look a little lower, where orange meets pink. Here, material looks like a tangled mess. These are new, incredibly fine details Webb has revealed, and will require detailed study to explain.

Turn to the lower half. Here, the gas and dust appear thicker. Zoom in to find tiny light purple pillars. They point toward the central stars’ nonstop winds, and formed because the material within them is dense enough that it hasn’t yet been blown away. L483 is too large to fit in a single Webb snapshot, and this image was taken to fully capture the upper section and outflows, which is why the lower section is only partially shown. (See a larger view observed by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope.)

All the symmetries and asymmetries in these clouds may eventually be explained as researchers reconstruct the history of the stars’ ejections, in part by updating models to produce the same effects. Astronomers will also eventually calculate how much material the stars have expelled, which molecules were created when material smashed together, and how dense each area is.

Millions of years from now, when the stars are finished forming, they may each be about the mass of our Sun. Their outflows will have cleared the area — sweeping away these semi-transparent ejections. All that may remain is a tiny disk of gas and dust where planets may eventually form.

L483 is named for American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds, who published extensive catalogs of “dark” and “bright” nebulae in the early 1960s. She did this by carefully examining photographic plates (which preceded film) of the first Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, accurately recording each object’s coordinates and characteristics. These catalogs provided astronomers with detailed maps of dense dust clouds where stars form — critical resources for the astronomical community decades before the first digital files became available and access to the internet was widespread.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

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Media Contacts

Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Claire Blomecblome@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Christine Pulliamcpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Related Information

More Webb News

More Webb Images

Webb Science Themes

Webb Mission Page

View more: Webb images of similar protostar outflows – HH 211 and HH 46/47

Animation Video: “Exploring Star and Planet Formation”

Explore the jets emitted by young stars in multiple wavelengths: ViewSpace Interactive

Read more: Birth of Stars with Hubble observations

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Hubble Spies a Spiral in the Water Snake

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 9:21am
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Hubble Spies a Spiral in the Water Snake This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spiral galaxy called NGC 5042 ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of a vibrant spiral galaxy called NGC 5042 resides about 48 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra (the water snake). The galaxy nicely fills the frame of this Hubble image, while a single, foreground star from the Milky Way shines with cross-shaped diffraction spikes near the galaxy’s edge toward the top, center of the image.

Hubble observed NGC 5042 in six wavelength bands from the ultraviolet to infrared to create this multicolored portrait. The galaxy’s cream-colored center is packed with ancient stars, and the galaxy’s spiral arms are decorated with patches of young, blue stars. The elongated yellow-orange objects scattered around the image are background galaxies far more distant than NGC 5042.

Perhaps NGC 5042’s most striking feature is its collection of brilliant pink gas clouds studded throughout its spiral arms. These flashy clouds are H II (pronounced “H-two” or hydrogen-two) regions, and they get their distinctive color from hydrogen atoms that were ionized by ultraviolet light. If you look closely at this image, you’ll see that many of these reddish clouds are associated with clumps of blue stars, often appearing to form a shell around the stars.

H II regions arise in expansive clouds of hydrogen gas, and only hot and massive stars produce enough high-energy, ultraviolet light to create a H II region. Because the stars capable of creating H II regions only live for a few million years — just a blink of an eye in galactic terms — this image represents a fleeting snapshot of this galaxy.

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Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

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Blue Ghost to the Moon

APOD - Fri, 03/07/2025 - 9:00am

With spacecraft thrusters at top center,


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