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Star Cluster Westerlund 1.X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced.

This is the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS, led by astronomers from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo. As part of EWOCS, Chandra observed Westerlund 1 for about 12 days in total.

Currently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the Sun. Westerlund 1 is between about 3 million and 5 million years old.

This new image shows the new deep Chandra data along with previously released data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The X-rays detected by Chandra show young stars (mostly represented as white and pink) as well as diffuse heated gas throughout the cluster (colored pink, green, and blue, in order of increasing temperatures for the gas). Many of the stars picked up by Hubble appear as yellow and blue dots.

Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 Suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years.

These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses.

This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study.

One revelation is that 1,075 stars detected by Chandra are squeezed into the middle of Westerlund 1 within four light-years of the cluster’s center. For a sense of how crowded this is, four light-years is about the distance between the Sun and the next closest star to Earth.

The diffuse emission seen in the EWOCS data represents the first detection of a halo of hot gas surrounding the center of Westerlund 1, which astronomers think will be crucial in assessing the cluster’s formation and evolution, and giving a more precise estimate of its mass.

A paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, led by Mario Guarcello from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo, discusses the survey and the first results. Follow-up papers will discuss more about the results, including detailed studies of the brightest X-ray sources. This future work will analyze other EWOCS observations, involving NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer).

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/

Visual Description:

This is an image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region, as detected in X-ray and optical light. The black canvas of space is peppered with colored dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white.

At the center of the image is a semi-transparent, red and yellow cloud of gas encircling a grouping of tightly packed gold stars. The shape and distribution of stars in the cluster call to mind effervescent soda bubbles dancing above the ice cubes of a recently poured beverage.

News Media Contact

Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998

Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034

An exotic molecule stabilized by intense pressure found in the icy depths of Neptune and Uranus could help explain a long-standing mystery.

SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket the day after Boeing’s Starliner craft made its first crewed flight, a sign that the space industry is hotting up

SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket the day after Boeing’s Starliner craft made its first crewed flight, a sign that the space industry is hotting up

Astronaut waves during a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station (Credits: NASA)

NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct three spacewalks targeted for June. NASA will discuss the upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 11.Live coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Participants in the news conference include:

• Dina Contella, deputy program manager, International Space Station
• Rebecca Wingfield, flight director, spacewalk 90
• Nicole McElroy, flight director, spacewalk 91
• Sandy Fletcher, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 90
• Faruq Sabur, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 91 and 92

U.S. media interested in participating in person must contact the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Monday, June 10, at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 15 minutes before the start of the news conference. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA.

For the first spacewalk, NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matt Dominick will exit the station’s Quest airlock to complete the removal of a faulty electronics box, called a radio frequency group, from a communications antenna on the starboard truss of the space station. The pair also will collect samples for analysis to understand the ability of microorganisms to survive and reproduce on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.

Dyson will serve as spacewalk crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Dominick will serve as spacewalk crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. spacewalk 90 will be the fourth for Dyson and the first for Dominick. NASA will announce participating crew members for U.S. spacewalks 91 and 92 following the completion of the first and will provide additional coverage details.

For the second spacewalk, astronauts will remove and replace the external high-definition camera located at camera port nine on the orbiting laboratory. This camera is one of several to provide external views of the space station. Additionally, crew members will complete a cable connection fit check for the alpha magnetic spectrometer, a particle physics experiment on the station’s exterior. If not completed during U.S. spacewalk 90, the astronauts will begin by collecting microorganism samples.

For the third spacewalk, crew members will remove and replace a rate gyro assembly, which provides data on the orientation of the space station. Astronauts will then attach a support bracket, called a modification kit, in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s next International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array on the 2A power channel on the port truss.

Learn more about the space station, its research, and crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones / Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov

Mexico and the southern US have seen extreme temperatures due to a heat dome, a weather phenomenon that will become more intense with climate change

Mexico and the southern US have seen extreme temperatures due to a heat dome, a weather phenomenon that will become more intense with climate change

The United States Air Force and U.S. Space Force conducted two routine test launches of unarmed intercontinental ballistic missiles this week from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons

What do you give to an ocean that has everything? This year, for National Ocean Month, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite— is gifting us a unique look at our home planet. The visualizations created with data from the satellite, which launched on Feb. 8, are already enhancing the ways that we view our seas and skies. 

The PACE satellite views our entire planet every day, returning data at a cadence that allows scientists to track and monitor the rapidly changing atmosphere and ocean, including cloud formation, aerosol movement, and differences in microscopic ocean life over time.

The visualization starts with a view of swaths of Earth from PACE’s Ocean Color Instrument. The Ocean Color Instrument observes Earth in ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared light — over 200 wavelengths. With this level of detail, scientists can now, from space, regularly identify specific communities of phytoplankton — tiny organisms floating near the surface of the ocean that serve as the center of the marine food web. This is a major advance, as different types of phytoplankton play different roles in ocean ecosystems and health.

PACE orbits Earth in this visualization, exposing a swath of true color imagery. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Zooming in, the visualization shows the ecosystems and surrounding atmosphere off the United States’ East Coast and The Bahamas on March 21. Like previous satellites, the Ocean Color Instrument can detect chlorophyll in the ocean, which indicates the presence and abundance of phytoplankton. The Ocean Color Instrument adds to this by allowing scientists to determine the types of phytoplankton present, such as the three different types of phytoplankton identified in the visualization.

False color data visualization of phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus), as observed by PACE’s Ocean Color instrument (OCI).NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

The portion of the swirls in green indicate the presence of picoeukaryotes, organisms which are smaller than 0.3 micrometers in size — 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair. In light blue are prochlorococcus, the smallest known organism to turn sunlight into energy (photosynthesis); they account for a major fraction of all photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean. The portion of the bloom in bright pink indicates synechococcus, a phytoplankton group that can color the water light pink when many are present in a small area.

False color data visualization of phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

These are just three of the thousands of types of phytoplankton, and just the start of what the Ocean Color Instrument will be able to identify.

The PACE satellite’s two polarimeters, Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2 (HARP2) and Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration one (SPEXone), provide a unique view of Earth’s atmosphere, helping scientists learn more about clouds and small particles called aerosols. The polarimeters measure light that reflects off of these particles. By learning more about the interactions between clouds and aerosols, these data will ultimately help make climate models more accurate. Additionally, aerosols can degrade air quality, so monitoring their properties and movement is important for human health.

Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 and SPEXone instruments.NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

In the visualization, the large swath of HARP2 data shows the concentration of aerosols in the air for that particular day. These data — a measure of the light scattering and absorbing properties of aerosols — help scientists not only locate the aerosols, but identify the type. Near the coast, the aerosols are most likely smoke from fires in the U.S. southeast. Adding detail to the visualization and the science, the thin swath of SPEXone data furthers the information by showing the aerosol particle size.

Over the next year, PACE scientists aim to create the first global maps of phytoplankton communities and glean new insights into how fisheries and aquatic resources are responding to Earth’s changing climate.

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NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft was specifically designed to study the invisible universe of Earth’s sea and sky from the vantage point of space. We’ve measured 4-6 colors of the rainbow for decades, which has enabled us to “see” phytoplankton from space through the lens of its primary photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll-a. PACE’s primary instrument is the first of its kind to measure all the colors of the rainbow, every day, everywhere. That means we can identify the type of phytoplankton behind the chlorophyll-a. Different types of phytoplankton have different effects on the food web, on water management, and on the climate, via their impact on the carbon cycle.NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

By Erica McNamee

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 EditorKate D. RamsayerContactErica McNameeerica.s.mcnamee@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms

• Earth
• Aerosols
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Oceans
• PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)

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This week U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for bans on fossil fuel ads, but legal challenges would make nationwide restrictions difficult to implement in the U.S.

In the fifth episode of "Doctor Who," called"'Dot and Bubble," a city has been invaded by giant, human-eating space slugs, and they seem to have a plan.

When writers are allowed to get help from ChatGPT, they accept lower pay, fuelling fears that AI will lower the value of skilled workers

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NASA engineers are working to extend operations for the venerable space telescope. Observations are expected to continue by mid-June.

The post Hubble to Transition to New Observing Mode, Will Continue Science appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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SENER is testing the docking capabilities of the SIROM system by launching the MANTIS floating platform into an equally free-floating REACSA at ESA's Orbital Robotics Laboratory. This free-floating tests simulate the dynamics of rigid body contact and present an opportunity to gather valuable insights into the performance of SIROM in approximately 200 docking scenarios.

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Going deep into lunar rock could give us an opportunity to see if protons can decay into something else – a finding that could help us unify conflicting physics theories

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