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40 Years Ago: STS-41D – First Flight of Space Shuttle Discovery
On Aug. 30, 1984, space shuttle Discovery lifted off on the STS-41D mission, joining NASA’s fleet as the third space qualified orbiter. The newest shuttle incorporated newer technologies making it significantly lighter than its two predecessors. Discovery lofted the heaviest payload up to that time in shuttle history. The six-person crew included five NASA astronauts and the first commercial payload specialist. During the six-day mission, the crew deployed a then-record three commercial satellites, tested an experimental solar array, and ran a commercial biotechnology experiment. The astronauts recorded many of the activities using a large format film camera, the scenes later incorporated into a motion picture for public engagement. The mission marked the first of Discovery’s 39 trips to space, the most of any orbiter.
Left: Space shuttle Discovery rolls out of Rockwell’s Palmdale, California, facility. Middle: Discovery atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during the cross-country ferry flight. Right: Discovery arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space shuttle Discovery, the third space-qualified orbiter in NASA’s fleet and named after several historical ships of exploration, incorporated manufacturing lessons learned from the first orbiters. In addition, through the use of more advanced materials, the new vehicle weighed nearly 8,000 pounds less than its sister ship Columbia and 700 pounds less than Challenger. Discovery rolled out of Rockwell International’s plant in Palmdale, California, on Oct. 16, 1983. Five of the six crew members assigned to its first flight attended the ceremony. Workers trucked Discovery overland from Palmdale to NASA’s Dryden, now Armstrong, Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), where they mounted it atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747, for the transcontinental ferry flight to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Discovery arrived at KSC on Nov. 9 following a two-day stopover at Vandenberg Air Force, now Space Force Base, in California.
Left: STS-41D crew patch. Middle: Official photograph of the STS-41D crew of R. Michael “Mike” Mullane, front row left, Steven A. Hawley, Henry “Hank” W. Hartsfield, and Michael L. Coats; Charles D. Walker, back row left, and Judith A. Resnik. Right: Payloads installed in Discovery’s payload bay for the STS-41D mission include OAST-1, top, SBS-4, Telstar 3C, and Leasat-2.
To fly Discovery’s first flight, originally designated STS-12 and later renamed STS-41D, in February 1983 NASA assigned Commander Henry W. Hartsfield, a veteran of STS-4, and first-time flyers Pilot Michael L. Coats, and Mission Specialists R. Michael Mullane, Steven A. Hawley, and Judith A. Resnik, all from the 1978 class of astronauts and making their first spaceflights. In May 1983, NASA announced the addition of Charles D. Walker, an employee of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, to the crew, flying as the first commercial payload specialist. He would operate the company’s Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) experiment. The mission’s primary payloads included the Leasat-1 (formerly known as Syncom IV-1) commercial communications satellite and OAST-1, three experiments from NASA’s Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, including the Solar Array Experiment, a 105-foot long lightweight deployable and retractable solar array. Following the June 1984 launch abort, NASA canceled the STS-41F mission, combining its payloads with STS-41D’s, resulting in three communications satellites – SBS-4 for Small Business Systems, Telstar 3C for AT&T, and Leasat 2 (Syncom IV-2) for the U.S. Navy – launching on the flight. The combined cargo weighed 41,184 pounds, the heaviest of the shuttle program up to that time. A large format IMAX® camera, making its second trip into space aboard the shuttle, flew in the middeck to film scenes inside the orbiter and out the windows.
Left: First rollout of Discovery from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Right: The June 26 launch abort.
The day after its arrival at KSC, workers towed Discovery to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to begin preparing it for its first space flight. They towed it to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on May 12, 1984, for mating with its External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The completed stack rolled out to Launch Pad 39A a week later. On June 2, engineers successfully completed an 18-second Flight Readiness Firing of Discovery’s main engines. Post test inspections revealed a debonding of a thermal shield in main engine number 1’s combustion chamber, requiring its replacement at the pad. The work pushed the planned launch date back three days to June 25. The failure of the shuttle’s backup General Purpose Computer (GPC) delayed the launch by one day. The June 26 launch attempt ended just four seconds before liftoff, after two of the main engines had already ignited. The GPC detected that the third engine had not started and shut all three down. It marked the first time a human spaceflight launch experienced an abort after the start of its engines since Gemini VI in October 1965. The abort necessitated a rollback to the VAB on July 14 where workers demated Discovery from the ET and SRBs. Engineers replaced the faulty engine, and Discovery rolled back out to the launch pad on Aug. 9 for another launch attempt. The six-person crew participated in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, essentially a dress rehearsal for the actual countdown to launch, on Aug. 15. A software issue delayed the first launch attempt on Aug. 29 by one day.
Left: The STS-41D crew pose at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Right: Liftoff of Discovery on the STS-41D mission.
Finally, on Aug. 30, 1984, Discovery roared off its launch pad on a pillar of flame and within 8 and a half minutes entered orbit around the Earth. The crew got down to work and on the first day Mullane and Hawley deployed the SBS-4 satellite. On the second day in space, they deployed Leasat, the first satellite designed specifically to be launched from the shuttle. On the third day, they deployed the Telstar satellite, completing the satellite delivery objectives of the mission. Resnik deployed the OAST-1 solar array to 70% of its length to conduct dynamic tests on the structure. On the fourth day, she deployed the solar array to its full length and successfully retracted it, completing all objectives for that experiment.
The deployment of the SBS-4, left, Leasat-2, and Telstar 3C satellites during STS-41D.
Walker remained busy with the CFES, operating the unit for about 100 hours, and although the experiment experienced two unexpected shutdowns, he processed about 85% of the planned samples. Hartsfield and Coats exposed two magazines and six rolls of IMAX® film, recording OAST-1 and satellite deployments as well as in-cabin crew activities. Clips from the mission appear in the 1985 IMAX® film “The Dream is Alive.” On the mission’s fifth day, concern arose over the formation of ice on the orbiter’s waste dump nozzle. The next day, Hartsfield used the shuttle’s robotic arm to dislodge the large chunk of ice.
Left: Payload Specialist Charles D. Walker in front of the Continuous Flow Experiment System. Middle: Henry “Hank” W. Hartsfield loading film into the IMAX® camera. Right: The OAST-1 Solar Array Experiment extended from Discovery’s payload bay.
On Sep. 5, the astronauts closed Discovery’s payload bay doors in preparation for reentry. They fired the shuttle’s Orbital Maneuvering System engines to slow their velocity and begin their descent back to Earth. Hartsfield guided Discovery to a smooth landing at Edwards AFB in California, completing a flight of 6 days and 56 minutes. The crew had traveled 2.5 million miles and orbited the Earth 97 times.
Left: The STS-41D crew pose in Discovery’s middeck. Right: Space shuttle Discovery makes a perfect landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California to end the STS-41D mission.
By Sept. 10, workers had returned Discovery to KSC to prepare it for its next mission, STS-51A, in November 1984. During its lifetime, Discovery flew a fleet leading 39 missions, making its final trip to space in February 2011. It flew both return to flight missions, STS-26 in 1988 and STS-114 in 2005. It launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and flew two of the missions to service the facility. Discovery flew two mission to Mir, docking once. It completed the first docking to the International Space Station in 1999 and flew a total of 13 assembly and resupply missions to the orbiting lab. By its last mission, Discovery had traveled 149 million miles, completed 5,830 orbits of the Earth, and spent a cumulative 365 days in space in the span of 27 years. The public can view Discovery on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
Read recollections of the STS-41D mission by Hartsfield, Coats, Mullane, Hawley, and Walker in their oral histories with the JSC History Office. Enjoy the crew’s narration of a video about the STS-41D mission.
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La NASA invita a creadores de las redes sociales al lanzamiento de la misión Europa Clipper
Read this article in English here
La NASA invita a los creadores de contenido digital a inscribirse para asistir al lanzamiento de la nave espacial Europa Clipper, la cual recopilará datos para ayudar a los científicos a determinar si Europa, la luna helada de Júpiter, podría albergar vida.
La NASA y SpaceX planean que la ventana de lanzamiento se abra el jueves 10 de octubre. La misión despegará a bordo de un cohete Falcon Heavy de SpaceX, desde el Complejo de Lanzamientos 39A en el Centro Espacial Kennedy de la NASA en Florida.
La nave espacial Europa Clipper llevará a bordo nueve instrumentos científicos para recopilar mediciones detalladas mientras realiza unos 50 sobrevuelos cercanos de esta luna del sistema joviano (es decir, perteneciente al planeta Júpiter). Las investigaciones sugieren que, debajo de la corteza de hielo de Europa, existe un océano que tiene dos veces el volumen de todos los océanos de la Tierra. La exploración detallada de Europa que llevará a cabo esta misión ayudará a los científicos a comprender mejor el potencial astrobiológico de los mundos habitables más allá de nuestro planeta.
Si tu pasión es comunicar e interactuar con el mundo digital, ¡este evento es para ti! Aprovecha la oportunidad para ver y compartir el lanzamiento de la misión Europa Clipper.
Se seleccionará a un máximo de 50 usuarios de las redes sociales para que asistan a este evento de dos días. Estos asistentes tendrán un acceso similar al de los medios de comunicación.
Los participantes de este evento de NASA Social tendrán la oportunidad de:
- Ver el lanzamiento de un cohete Falcon Heavy de SpaceX y la nave espacial Europa Clipper
- Recorrer las instalaciones de la NASA en el Centro Espacial Kennedy
- Conocer a expertos en temas relacionados con Europa Clipper e interactuar con ellos
- Conocer a otros entusiastas del espacio que están activos en las redes sociales
La inscripción de los participantes de NASA Social para el lanzamiento de Europa Clipper comenzará el martes 3 de septiembre, y la fecha límite para inscribirse es el lunes 9 de septiembre hasta las 10 a.m. hora del este. Todas las solicitudes de los creadores en redes sociales se considerarán caso por caso.
¿Necesito tener una cuenta en las redes sociales para inscribirme?
Sí. Este evento está diseñado para personas que:
- Utilizan activamente diferentes plataformas y herramientas de redes sociales para difundir información a un público característico
- Producen con regularidad nuevos contenidos que incluyen elementos multimedia
- Tienen el potencial de llegar a una gran cantidad de personas que utilizan plataformas digitales, o llegan a un público característico, definido y diferente de los medios de comunicación o los públicos tradicionales de la NASA
- Deben tener un historial acreditado de publicación de contenido en plataformas de redes sociales
- Tienen publicaciones anteriores que han logrado una gran visibilidad y que son respetadas y ampliamente reconocidas
Se anima a los usuarios de todas las redes sociales a utilizar la etiqueta #NASASocial. Las actualizaciones y la información sobre el evento se compartirán en X a través de las cuentas @NASASocial, @NASA_ES, y @NASAKennedy, y a través de publicaciones en Facebook e Instagram.
¿Cómo me inscribo?
Las inscripciones para este evento comienzan el martes 3 de septiembre y concluyen a las 10 a.m. hora del este del lunes 9 de septiembre. La inscripción es solo para una persona (tú) y no es transferible. Cada persona que desee asistir debe inscribirse por separado. Todas las solicitudes se considerarán caso por caso.
¿Puedo inscribirme si no tengo ciudadanía estadounidense?
Sí, cualquiera puede aplicar a este evento.
¿Cuándo sabré si mi inscripción ha sido seleccionada?
Después de que se hayan recibido y procesado las inscripciones, se enviará a los seleccionados un correo electrónico con información de confirmación e instrucciones adicionales. Esperamos enviar las notificaciones de aceptación antes del 30 de septiembre.
¿Qué son las credenciales de NASA Social?
Todas las solicitudes de los creadores en redes sociales se considerarán caso por caso. Las personas seleccionadas deben demostrar a través del proceso de inscripción que cumplen con los criterios específicos de participación.
Aunque tu inscripción no sea elegida en la lista de participantes para este evento de NASA Social, aún puedes asistir al lanzamiento fuera del sitio y participar en la conversación en línea. Descubre las formas en que puedes presenciar un lanzamiento en esta página web (en inglés).
¿Cuáles son los requisitos para la inscripción?
La inscripción debe indicar tu intención de viajar al Centro Espacial Kennedy de la NASA en Florida y de asistir en persona a este evento de dos días de duración. Eres responsable de tus propios gastos de viaje, alojamiento, comida y otros servicios.
La programación de algunos eventos y participantes en el evento está sujeta a cambios sin previo aviso. La NASA no se hace responsable de las pérdidas o daños ocasionados como resultado de la asistencia. Además, la NASA no es responsable de las pérdidas o daños ocasionados si el evento es cancelado con un aviso limitado o sin previo aviso. Por favor, planifica como corresponda.
El centro Kennedy es una instalación del gobierno. Aquellas personas seleccionadas deberán completar un paso de inscripción adicional para recibir autorización de ingresar a las áreas de seguridad.
IMPORTANTE: Para ingresar, deberás proporcionar dos formas de identificación vigentes emitidas por el gobierno; una debe ser una identificación con foto y esta debe coincidir con el nombre proporcionado en tu inscripción. No podrán ingresar personas sin la debida identificación.
Para obtener una lista completa de las formas de identificación aprobadas, visita el sitio web (en inglés): Requisitos de identificación para la acreditación de la NASA.
Todos los solicitantes deben tener al menos 18 años de edad cumplidos.
¿Qué sucede si cambia la fecha de lanzamiento?
Muchos factores diferentes pueden hacer que una fecha de lanzamiento programada cambie varias veces. Si la fecha de lanzamiento cambia, la NASA puede ajustar la fecha del evento de NASA Social como corresponda para que coincida con la nueva fecha de lanzamiento señalada. La NASA notificará por correo electrónico a las personas inscritas de cualquier cambio que ocurra.
Si el lanzamiento se pospone, se invitará a los asistentes a asistir a una fecha de lanzamiento posterior. La NASA no puede alojar a los asistentes por retrasos de más de 72 horas.
Los asistentes al evento de NASA Social son responsables de todos los gastos adicionales ocasionados en relación con cualquier retraso en el lanzamiento. Recomendamos encarecidamente a los participantes que hagan arreglos de viaje que sean reembolsables o flexibles.
¿Qué sucede si no puedo ir al Centro Espacial Kennedy?
Si no puedes venir al Centro Espacial Kennedy y asistir en persona, no debes inscribirte en el evento de NASA Social. Puedes seguir la conversación en línea usando la etiqueta#NASASocial.
Puedes ver el lanzamiento en NASA+ o en el sitio web plus.nasa.gov. La NASA ofrecerá actualizaciones periódicas sobre el lanzamiento y la misión en las cuentas @NASA_ES, @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP, @NASAJPL y @EuropaClipper, así como en el blog de la misión Europa Clipper de la NASA (en inglés).
Si no puedes asistir a este evento de NASA Social, no te preocupes; ¡la NASA está planificando muchos otros eventos para participantes de las redes sociales en el futuro cercano que se realizarán en diferentes lugares!
NASA Mission Gets Its First Snapshot of Polar Heat Emissions
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Data from one of the two CubeSats that comprise NASA’s PREFIRE mission was used to make this data visualization showing brightness temperature — the intensity of infrared emissions — over Greenland. Red represents more intense emissions; blue indicates lower intensities. The data was captured in July.NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
The PREFIRE mission will help develop a more detailed understanding of how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica radiate into space and how this influences global climate.
NASA’s newest climate mission has started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space. These measurements by the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) are key to better predicting how climate change will affect Earth’s ice, seas, and weather — information that will help humanity better prepare for a changing world.
One of PREFIRE’s two shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, launched on May 25 from New Zealand, followed by its twin on June 5. The first CubeSat started sending back science data on July 1. The second CubeSat began collecting science data on July 25, and the mission will release the data after an issue with the GPS system on this CubeSat is resolved.
The PREFIRE mission will help researchers gain a clearer understanding of when and where the Arctic and Antarctica emit far-infrared radiation (wavelengths greater than 15 micrometers) to space. This includes how atmospheric water vapor and clouds influence the amount of heat that escapes Earth. Since clouds and water vapor can trap far-infrared radiation near Earth’s surface, they can increase global temperatures as part of a process known as the greenhouse effect. This is where gases in Earth’s atmosphere — such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor — act as insulators, preventing heat emitted by the planet from escaping to space.
“We are constantly looking for new ways to observe the planet and fill in critical gaps in our knowledge. With CubeSats like PREFIRE, we are doing both,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The mission, part of our competitively-selected Earth Venture program, is a great example of the innovative science we can achieve through collaboration with university and industry partners.”
Earth absorbs much of the Sun’s energy in the tropics; weather and ocean currents transport that heat toward the Arctic and Antarctica, which receive much less sunlight. The polar environment — including ice, snow, and clouds — emits a lot of that heat into space, much of which is in the form of far-infrared radiation. But those emissions have never been systematically measured, which is where PREFIRE comes in.
“It’s so exciting to see the data coming in,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator and a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “With the addition of the far-infrared measurements from PREFIRE, we’re seeing for the first time the full energy spectrum that Earth radiates into space, which is critical to understanding climate change.”
This visualization of PREFIRE data (above) shows brightness temperatures — or the intensity of radiation emitted from Earth at several wavelengths, including the far-infrared. Yellow and red indicate more intense emissions originating from Earth’s surface, while blue and green represent lower emission intensities coinciding with colder areas on the surface or in the atmosphere.
The visualization starts by showing data on mid-infrared emissions (wavelengths between 4 to 15 micrometers) taken in early July during several polar orbits by the first CubeSat to launch. It then zooms in on two passes over Greenland. The orbital tracks expand vertically to show how far-infrared emissions vary through the atmosphere. The visualization ends by focusing on an area where the two passes intersect, showing how the intensity of far-infrared emissions changed over the nine hours between these two orbits.
The two PREFIRE CubeSats are in asynchronous, near-polar orbits, which means they pass over the same spots in the Arctic and Antarctic within hours of each other, collecting the same kind of data. This gives researchers a time series of measurements that they can use to study relatively short-lived phenomena like ice sheet melting or cloud formation and how they affect far-infrared emissions over time.
More About PREFIREThe PREFIRE mission was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built and now operates the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison is processing and analyzing the data collected by the instruments.
To learn more about PREFIRE, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire/
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
2024-116
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NASA Invites Media to View Launch of Jupiter Moon Mission
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a launch period opening Thursday, Oct. 10, for the agency’s Europa Clipper mission, which will help scientists determine if one of Jupiter’s icy moons could support life. The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Europa Clipper will carry nine instruments and a gravity science experiment aboard to gather detailed measurements as it orbits Jupiter and conducts multiple close flybys of its moon, Europa. Research suggests an ocean twice the volume of all of Earth’s oceans exists under Europa’s icy crust.
Media interested in covering the Europa Clipper launch must apply for media accreditation. Deadlines for accreditation are as follows:
- U.S. citizens representing domestic or international media must apply for accreditation by 11:59 p.m. EDT, Friday, Sept. 27.
- International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20.
Media requiring special logistical arrangements, such as space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections, should email ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov by Tuesday, Oct. 1.
A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other mission questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.
Accredited media will have the opportunity to participate in a series of prelaunch briefings and interviews with key mission personnel, including a briefing the week of Sept. 9. NASA will communicate additional details regarding the media event schedule as the launch date approaches.
NASA also will post updates on spacecraft launch preparations on NASA’s Europa Clipper blog.
Clipper’s primary science goal is to determine whether there are places below the surface of Europa that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to understand the nature of the ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with the moon’s composition and geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA Headquarters in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.
For further details about the mission and updates on launch preparations, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper
-end-
Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-747-8310
leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
Julian Coltre
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
Julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov
This Ancient Galaxy Merger Will Produce a very Luminous Quasar
In the contemporary Universe, massive galaxies are plentiful. But the Universe wasn’t always like this. Astronomers think that galaxies grew large through mergers, so what we see in space is the result of billions of years of galaxies merging. When galaxies merge, the merger can feed large quantities of gas into their centers, sometimes creating a quasar.
Much of this is theoretical and shrouded in mystery, but astronomers might have found evidence of a galaxy merger creating a quasar.
All galaxies contain interstellar gas, but some—typically younger ones—have a much higher concentration. When gas-rich galaxies merge, they trigger rapid star formation and feed large quantities of gas into the central black hole, which then flares brightly and appears as a luminous quasar.
A quasar is basically an extremely active black hole. It appears that all large galaxies host a supermassive black hole in their centers, and when these black holes are actively feeding, they’re called active galactic nuclei (AGN.) Quasars are the most luminous of all AGN and can outshine entire galaxies.
But quasars are mostly a thing of the past. Quasar activity seems to have peaked about 10 billion years ago, which is one reason there are still so many questions about how they form.
Astronomers have spotted two ancient, distant galaxies merging. Both have dim quasars at their centers. Could they be the progenitors of bright, massive quasars in the early Universe? One international team of researchers thinks so.
Their results are in new research published in The Astrophysical Journal titled “Merging Gas-rich Galaxies That Harbor Low-luminosity Twin Quasars at z = 6.05: A Promising Progenitor of the Most Luminous Quasars.” Takuma Izumi from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is the lead author.
The pair of distant, dim quasars detected with the Subaru Telescope. Image Credit: NAOJ/Izumi et al. 2024.“When we first observed the interaction between these two galaxies, it was like watching a dance, with the black holes at their centers having started their growth.”
Takuma Izumi, NAOJQuasars become extremely luminous and are more easily observed, but by that time, the merger that created them has played out. Astronomers need to see the dim ones in a pre-merger state to find answers to their questions. They want to know what processes govern merging gas-rich galaxies and how some of the gas is taken up in a burst of star formation while some of it is funnelled into the center, creating a quasar.
“While multiwavelength observations of quasars have progressed significantly in recent years, understanding of their progenitors lags behind,” the authors write in their paper.
At z = 6.05, these quasars are extraordinarily distant and ancient. The light reaching us now left these objects about 12.7 billion years ago in the Universe’s Cosmic Dawn. Due to the expansion of the Universe, the light has been travelling for about 23.5 billion light years. For many of these photons, their long journey ended when they reached the Subaru Telescope and the ALMA radio telescope.
The Subaru Telescope is an optical/infrared telescope on the summit of Maunakea, Hawaii, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). It is equipped with the Hyper Suprime-Cam, a 900-megapixel digital camera with an extremely wide field of view. Together, the Subaru telescope and Hyper Suprime-Cam allow astronomers to detect very faint objects in surveys.
Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam discovered the pair of dim galaxies earlier this year with help from the Gemini North Telescope. Yoshiki Matsuoka, at Ehime University in Japan, was looking over images taken by the Subaru Telescope and noticed a faint patch of red. “While screening images of quasar candidates I noticed two similarly and extremely red sources next to each other,” says Matsuoka, “The discovery was purely serendipitous.”
The Subaru Telescope, with its Hyper Suprime-Cam, detected the pair of galaxies. Image Credit:The pair of quasars the Subaru detected is so dim that astronomers assumed it was a pre-merger pair. But to determine the exact nature of the objects, lead author Izumi and his colleagues turned to another powerful observatory: ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array. To understand what they were seeing, the researchers needed to see how the gas in the galaxies was behaving. ALMA is one of astronomers’ most powerful tools for observing gas.
Most of the gas in galaxies is hydrogen, but it can be difficult to detect. ALMA observes what’s called the CII absorption line. Since both hydrogen and CII are commonly found in gas clouds, the CII line serves as a tracer for hydrogen.
By observing the distribution and motion of hydrogen in the galaxies, the astronomers concluded that the pair is in the process of merging. Two pieces of evidence support their conclusion: the bridge of matter connecting them and the motion of the gas.
This figure from the research shows the quasar locations C2 and C1. It also shows the ‘bridge’ and ‘tail’ features, both signs that the pair of galaxies is merging. “Both the Bridge and the Tail are most likely formed by interactions of the host galaxies of C1 and C2,” the authors write. Image Credit: Izumi et al. 2024.However, establishing that the pair is merging was just the first step. The real question is if the pair of merging galaxies will produce a luminous quasar. To determine that, the researchers had to measure the amount of gas.
The panel on the left is a velocity map of the galaxies and their quasars, marked C2 and C1. The panel on the right shows the four stages of the merger, including stage IV, the observed stage. Image Credit: Izumi et al. 2024.Using ALMA, the researchers determined that the galaxies hold 100 billion solar masses of gas. That’s more gas than some of the galaxies that host the brightest quasars. This extraordinarily large amount of gas won’t be depleted quickly. It’s enough to trigger and sustain both explosive post-merger star formation and fuelling of the supermassive black hole.
“According to models of merger-driven galaxy evolution, both star formation and AGN are activated by the interaction of gas-rich galaxies,” the authors write in their research. “Thus, we expect that this pair will evolve into a luminous quasar with a high SFR of greater than 1000 solar masses yr?1, comparable to the value for optically luminous quasars observed so far at high redshifts.”
Astronomers concluded that the pair of galaxies are interacting and in the process of merging. Image Credit: ALMA/Izumi et al. 2024.“When we first observed the interaction between these two galaxies, it was like watching a dance, with the black holes at their centers having started their growth. It was truly beautiful,” said lead author Izumi.
These findings are significant because they provide astronomers with perspectives not only on quasar formation and explosive star formation but also on galaxy structure and motion.
“With the combined power of the Subaru Telescope and ALMA, we have begun to unveil the nature of the central engines (supermassive black holes), as well as the gas in the host galaxies,” Izumi said.
Finding a pair of pre-merger quasars is a milestone achievement. Quasars have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected with radio astronomy in the 1950s. At first, they didn’t know what they were, and astronomers referred to them as quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and quasi-stellar radio sources. The name was shortened to quasar, and it stuck.
By 1960, astronomers had detected hundreds of quasars. Now we know what they are, but we have questions about how these objects come to be. This study is answering some of them, but astronomers always crave a deeper understanding of nature, and according to Izumi, the pair is ripe for further observations which should uncover some answers.
Izumi points out that the properties of the stars in both host galaxies are unknown. “Using the James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently operational, we could learn about the stellar properties of these objects. As these are the long-sought ancestors of high-luminosity quasars, which should serve as a precious cosmic laboratory, I hope to deepen our understanding of their nature and evolution through various observations in the future,” Izumi said.
The post This Ancient Galaxy Merger Will Produce a very Luminous Quasar appeared first on Universe Today.
Great Aurora
Great Aurora
A vivid aurora streams over the Earth as the International Space Station orbited 273 miles above the southern Indian Ocean in between Australia and Antarctica.
Image Credit: NASA/Shane Kimbrough
NASA Invites Social Creators to Experience Launch of Europa Clipper Mission
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Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will collect data to help scientists determine if Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could support life.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a launch period opening Thursday, Oct. 10. The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry nine science instruments on board to gather detailed measurements while performing approximately 50 close flybys of the Jovian moon. Research suggests an ocean twice the volume of all the Earth’s oceans exists under Europa’s icy crust. Detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
If your passion is to communicate and engage the world online, then this is the event for you! Seize the opportunity to see and share the Europa Clipper mission launch.
A maximum of 50 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event and will be given access similar to news media.
NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:
- View a launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and Europa Clipper spacecraft
- Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
- Meet and interact with Europa Clipper subject matter experts
- Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media
NASA Social registration for the Europa Clipper launch opens on Tuesday, Sept. 3, and the deadline to apply is at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 9. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Do I need to have a social media account to register?
Yes. This event is designed for people who:
- Actively use multiple social networking platforms and tools to disseminate information to a unique audience.
- Regularly produce new content that features multimedia elements.
- Have the potential to reach a large number of people using digital platforms, or reach a unique audience, separate and distinctive from traditional news media and/or NASA audiences.
- Must have an established history of posting content on social media platforms.
- Have previous postings that are highly visible, respected and widely recognized.
Users on all social networks are encouraged to use the hashtag #NASASocial. Updates and information about the event will be shared on X via @NASASocial and @NASAKennedy, and via posts to Facebook and Instagram.
How do I register?
Registration for this event opens on Tuesday, Sept. 3, and closes at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 9. Registration is for one person only (you) and is non-transferable. Each individual wishing to attend must register separately. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Can I register if I am not a U.S. citizen?
Yes, this event is open for all to apply.
When will I know if I am selected?
After registrations have been received and processed, an email with confirmation information and additional instructions will be sent to those selected. We expect to send the acceptance notifications by Sept. 30.
What are NASA Social credentials?
All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Those chosen must prove through the registration process they meet specific engagement criteria.
If you do not make the registration list for this NASA Social, you still can attend the launch offsite and participate in the conversation online. Find out about ways to experience a launch here.
What are the registration requirements?
Registration indicates your intent to travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and attend the two-day event in person. You are responsible for your own expenses for travel, accommodations, food, and other amenities.
Some events and participants scheduled to appear at the event are subject to change without notice. NASA is not responsible for loss or damage incurred as a result of attending. NASA, moreover, is not responsible for loss or damage incurred if the event is cancelled with limited or no notice. Please plan accordingly.
Kennedy is a government facility. Those who are selected will need to complete an additional registration step to receive clearance to enter the secure areas.
IMPORTANT: To be admitted, you will need to provide two forms of unexpired government-issued identification; one must be a photo ID and match the name provided on the registration. Those without proper identification cannot be admitted.
For a complete list of acceptable forms of ID, please visit: NASA Credentialing Identification Requirements.
All registrants must be at least 18 years old.
What if the launch date changes?
Many different factors can cause a scheduled launch date to change multiple times. If the launch date changes, NASA may adjust the date of the NASA Social accordingly to coincide with the new target launch date. NASA will notify registrants of any changes by email.
If the launch is postponed, attendees will be invited to attend a later launch date. NASA cannot accommodate attendees for delays beyond 72 hours.
NASA Social attendees are responsible for any additional costs they incur related to any launch delay. We strongly encourage participants to make travel arrangements that are refundable and/or flexible.
What if I cannot come to the Kennedy Space Center?
If you cannot come to the Kennedy Space Center and attend in person, you should not register for the NASA Social. You can follow the conversation online using #NASASocial.
You can watch the launch on NASA+ or plus.nasa.gov. NASA will provide regular launch and mission updates on @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP, @NASAJPL and @EuropaClipper as well as on NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission blog.
If you cannot make this NASA Social, don’t worry; NASA is planning many other Socials in the near future at various locations!
'It basically lifts the skies up.' NASA discovers Earth's electrical field at last after 60-year search
New NASA Sonifications Listen to the Universe’s Past
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Sonifications of three images have been released to mark the 25th anniversary of Chandra’s “First Light” image. For Cassiopeia A, which was one of the first objects observed by Chandra, X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Webb have been translated into sounds, along with some Hubble data. The second image in the sonification trio, 30 Doradus, also contains Chandra and Webb data. NGC 6872 contains data from Chandra as well as an optical image from Hubble. Each of these datasets have been mapped to notes and sounds based on properties observed by these telescopes.NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)A quarter of a century ago, NASA released the “first light” images from the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This introduction to the world of Chandra’s high-resolution X-ray imaging capabilities included an unprecedented view of Cassiopeia A, the remains of an exploded star located about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Over the years, Chandra’s views of Cassiopeia A have become some of the telescope’s best-known images.
To mark the anniversary of this milestone, new sonifications of three images – including Cassiopeia A (Cas A) – are being released. Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how digital data are more routinely turned into images. This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data.
This sonification of Cas A features data from Chandra as well as NASA’s James Webb, Hubble, and retired Spitzer space telescopes. The scan starts at the neutron star at the center of the remnant, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward. Astronomers first saw this neutron star when Chandra’s inaugural observations were released 25 years ago this week. Chandra’s X-rays also reveal debris from the exploded star that is expanding outward into space. The brighter parts of the image are conveyed through louder volume and higher pitched sounds. X-ray data from Chandra are mapped to modified piano sounds, while infrared data from Webb and Spitzer, which detect warmed dust embedded in the hot gas, have been assigned to various string and brass instruments. Stars that Hubble detects are played with crotales, or small cymbals.
Another new sonification features the spectacular cosmic vista of 30 Doradus, one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way. This sonification again combines X-rays from Chandra with infrared data from Webb. As the scan moves from left to right across the image, the volume heard again corresponds to the brightness seen. Light toward the top of the image is mapped to higher pitched notes. X-rays from Chandra, which reveal gas that has been superheated by shock waves generated by the winds from massive stars, are heard as airy synthesizer sounds. Meanwhile, Webb’s infrared data show cooler gas that provides the raw ingredients for future stars. These data are mapped to a range of sounds including soft, low musical pitches (red regions), a wind-like sound (white regions), piano-like synthesizer notes indicating very bright stars, and a rain-stick sound for stars in a central cluster.
The final member of this new sonification triumvirate is NGC 6872, a large spiral galaxy that has two elongated arms stretching to the upper right and lower left, which is seen in an optical light view from Hubble. Just to the upper left of NGC 6872 appears another smaller spiral galaxy. These two galaxies, each of which likely has a supermassive black hole at the center, are being drawn toward one another. As the scan sweeps clockwise from 12 o’clock, the brightness controls the volume and light farther from the center of the image is mapped to higher-pitched notes. Chandra’s X-rays, represented in sound by a wind-like sound, show multimillion-degree gas that permeates the galaxies. Compact X-ray sources from background galaxies create bird-like chirps. In the Hubble data, the core of NGC 6872 is heard as a dark low drone, and the blue spiral arms (indicating active star formation) are audible as brighter, more highly pitched tones. The background galaxies are played as a soft pluck sound while the bright foreground star is accompanied by a crash cymbal.
More information about the NASA sonification project through Chandra, which is made in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning, can be found at https://chandra.si.edu/sound/. The collaboration was driven by visualization scientist Kimberly Arcand (CXC), astrophysicist Matt Russo, and musician Andrew Santaguida, (both of the SYSTEM Sounds project), along with consultant Christine Malec.
NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
More about ChandraChandra, managed for NASA by Marshall in partnership with the CXC, is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It was first proposed to NASA in 1976 by Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics based on his contributions to X-ray astronomy, and Harvey Tananbaum, who would later become the first director of the Chandra X-ray Center. Chandra was named in honor of the late Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work explaining the structure and evolution of stars.
Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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Catch a Fall Feast of Lunar Occultations in September
September offers a number of fascinating lunar occultation events worldwide.
Chances are, there’s one near you this month. The Moon is certainly busy in September, as its passage covers up (occults) multiple celestial objects worldwide. If skies are clear, you may just get a chance to see one of these events listed below, as the Moon blocks out a star, planet or star cluster.
You may well have seen images from last month’s lunar occultation of Saturn from observers across the United Kingdom and western Europe. The Moon occults Saturn 10 times in 2024—once for every lunation pass. The slowest moving of the naked eye planets, Saturn makes a good repeated target for the Moon. The rings are headed towards edge-on in 2025, making for an appealing view as it peeks out from behind the lunar limb.
Why OccultationsOccultations occur in cycles, as the Moon journeys on its monthly trek five degrees above and below the ecliptic plane. In the current epoch, the Moon can occult four +1st magnitude stars: Aldebaran, Regulus, and (as is ongoing in 2024) Antares and Spica. The Moon moves its own diameter (30’ or half a degree) once every hour, and the dark limb leads the way when it’s waxing, and trails when it’s waning. Dark limb ingresses can be especially dramatic.
The Moon is also riding high in the sky in 2024, as we head towards a bi-decadal Major Lunar Standstill next year in 2025.
An Occultation, Transit… or Eclipse?Like eclipses, successive occultations in a cycle move westward by about 120 degrees of longitude. Lots of observational astronomy is no more than watching one thing pass in front of another, and seeing what happens: occultations, transits and eclipses are similar ways to express the what is essentially the same thing. Double star companions, profiles of asteroids, and diameters of tiny stellar sources have revealed themselves during occultations.
Occultations in SeptemberAll exciting stuff, to be sure. Here’s our rundown on what’s in store for lunar occultations in September worldwide:
First up, the 5% illuminated waxing crescent Moon occults Venus on September 5th, centered on 10:16 Universal Time (UT). Perhaps, only a few penguins and a few windswept remote research stations in Antarctica will witness to this daytime event. The rest of us will be treated to a very close pairing of the two at dusk.
Looking westward at dusk on September 5th. Credit: Stellarium.Next, the 10% illuminated, waxing crescent occults the +1st magnitude star Spica (Alpha Virginis) for central Africa on the evening of September 6th centered on 17:04 UT. Fun fact: located 250 light-years distant, Spica is a close candidate (along with Betelgeuse) for a nearby galactic supernova.
The visibility footprint for the Spica occultation on September 6th. Credit: Occult 4.1.Four days later on September 10th, the 43% illuminated, waxing crescent Moon occults the +1st magnitude star Antares (Alpha Scorpii) for western Australia centered on 13:09 UT. We caught a similar event back in 2009.
Seeking SaturnJust past mid-month on September 17th, the 99.2% illuminated, waxing gibbous Moon occults Saturn for western North America, centered on 10:22 UT in the early morning hours. Northeastern Australia and the nearby Pacific island region sees the event transpire in the evening. This is just nine days after Saturn will reach opposition for 2024 on the 8th. The occultation occurs 16 hours prior to Full Moon and the partial lunar eclipse on the 17th-18th. This eclipse favors the Americas, Africa and Europe. Saturn spans 19” during the event, and will take about 40 seconds to disappear and reappear from behind the Moon.
The visibility footprint for the September 17th occultation footprint. Credit Occult 4.1.Just five hours after the eclipse on the 18th, the Moon occults Neptune, also for North America. A tough catch, as faint +8th magnitude Neptune only spans 2.4”, but a challenge none the less. Neptune reaches opposition just 3 days later for 2024 on September 21st.
Finally, the 75% illuminated, waning gibbous Moon occults the well-known open star cluster Messier 45 (also known as the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades) for North America on September 22nd. The Moon visits the cluster once every lunation for the remainder of this current decade.
The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) maintains pages for stellar and planetary lunar occultations in 2024. These include ingress/egress times for select sites.
Observing OccultationsObserving an occultation of a bright star or planet by the Moon is as easy as watching at the appointed time. Binoculars or a small telescope will certainly improve the view. Imaging or recording can, however, be a tricky affair—especially if the dazzling Moon is near Full.
“Here in London we were lucky enough to catch an occultation of Mars by the Moon a few years ago, so I was excited to see that there would be a reasonably favorable occultation of Saturn visible towards the end of August this year,” astrophotographer Roger Hutchinson told Universe Today. “Imaging events like this where the main subjects have such a huge difference in brightness requires the capture of multiple shots at different exposures, these then being composited to record the event more or less as the eye sees it. Transits, occultations and eclipses bring home the constant motion of our solar system and are always amazing events to witness and capture. Can’t wait ‘til the next one!”
Ingress for this month’s occultation of Saturn by the Moon… be sure to keep an eye out for nearby Titan! Credit: Occult 4.1Don’t miss one of these spectacular celestial events, coming to a sky near you.
The post Catch a Fall Feast of Lunar Occultations in September appeared first on Universe Today.
