Nancy Atkinson, Author at Universe Today

October 7, 2022October 7, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

Webb and Hubble Work Together to Reveal This Spectacular Galaxy Pair — and Several Bonuses!

By combining data from the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, this image of galaxy pair VV 191 includes near-infrared light from Webb, and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), JWST PEARLS Team, Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

What’s better than a pair of galaxies observed by a pair of iconic space telescopes? The answer to that, according to researchers using the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, is finding even more galaxies and other remarkable details no one expected in the duo’s observations.

“Galaxies in the foreground, background, deep background, and into the depths,” said astronomer William Keel from Galaxy Zoo, on Twitter.

October 6, 2022October 6, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

While SLS is Delayed, Crew-5 Zips in and Launches to the International Space Station

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission is the fifth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikini launched at 12:00 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six-month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

A new crew is on the way to the International Space Station, and the crew is a true and hopeful reflection of the international nature of the station. Commander Nicole Mann become the first Native American woman in space, and she is joined by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, as well as pilot and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada.

October 6, 2022October 6, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

Here are the High-Resolution Images of Europa Captured by Juno During its Recent Flyby

It’s been over twenty-two years since we’ve been able to see Jupiter’s enticing moon Europa close-up. But now the Juno spacecraft has made its closest pass of Europa, sending back some amazing pictures of the icy mini-world, which likely has an ocean that contains more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined.

Observations from the spacecraft’s 45^th orbit around Jupiter brought it close enough to give us some of the best views of Europa that we’ve ever had.

October 5, 2022October 6, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

A Year After a Failed Launch, Firefly Reaches Orbit and Deploys Satellites

Alpha FLTA002 mission successfully reached orbit but not so successfully deployed customer payloads. It lifted off on October 1, 2022 at 12:01am PST from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Credit: Firefly Aerospace.

Edited on 10/6/22 to add new information from Seradata.

Commercial space company Firefly Aerospace successfully launched its Alpha rocket for the first time last weekend, reaching orbit and deploying three satellites. While the latest determination of the satellites’ orbit reveals they may have not been placed in the correct orbit, the company appears to consider the orbit high enough to be considered a success. But others might not agree.

This launch comes just over a year after the Alpha rocket’s first launch attempt exploded two and a half minutes after liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

October 4, 2022October 4, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

After Getting Slammed by DART, Asteroid Dimorphos has Grown a Tail

Astronomers using the NSF’s NOIRLab’s SOAR telescope in Chile captured the vast plume of dust and debris blasted from the surface of the asteroid Dimorphos by NASA’s DART spacecraft when it impacted on 26 September 2022. In this image, the more than 10,000 kilometer long dust trail — the ejecta that has been pushed away by the Sun’s radiation pressure, not unlike the tail of a comet — can be seen stretching from the center to the right-hand edge of the field of view.

More images and details keep coming in about the asteroid intentionally smashed by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft last week, and this latest image is stunning.

A telescope in Chile called SOAR took an image of the asteroid Dimorphos two days after the impact by DART and found the asteroid is trailing a stream of debris more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) long. However, other reports indicate that the debris trail could now be as long as 50,000 km (31,000 miles), and could still be growing.

October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

Gaze Down Into the eye of Hurricane Ian, Seen From Orbit

On September 28, the Landsat 8 satellite passed directly over Ian’s eye as the storm approached southwest Florida. Credit: US Geological Survey.

NASA and NOAA satellites — as well as astronauts on the ISS — captured some stunning imagery of Hurricane Ian, as seen from orbit. Our lead image shows an eerie view of the hurricane’s eye on September 28. The Landsat 8 satellite passed directly over Ian’s eye as the storm approached southwest Florida.

October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

A Small Piece of “Foreign Object Debris” Fell off Ingenuity’s Leg During its 33rd Flight

A small piece of foreign object debris (FOD) is seen in this image from the navigation camera of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 33rd flight on Mars on Sept 24, 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

We hope this is just as inconsequential as having a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe, but images from the Ingenuity helicopter show it had a piece of debris fluttering from its leg during its most recent flight. A blog post from NASA said a small piece of foreign object debris (FOD) was seen in footage from the Mars helicopter’s navigation camera (Navcam) for a portion of its 33rd flight on September 24, 2022.

September 30, 2022September 30, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

A Computer Algorithm is 88% Accurate in Finding Gravitational Lenses

Pictures of gravitational lenses from the AGEL survey. Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3-Dimensions (ASTRO3D) and the University of NSW (UNSW).

Astronomers have been assessing a new machine learning algorithm to determine how reliable it is for finding gravitational lenses hidden in images from all sky surveys. This type of AI was used to find about 5,000 potential gravitational lenses, which needed to be confirmed. Using spectroscopy for confirmation, the international team has now determined the technique has a whopping 88% success rate, which means this new tool could be used to find thousands more of these magical quirks of physics.

September 30, 2022September 30, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

A Single High-Resolution Image of Dimorphos Stacked From DART’s Final Images

A high resolution image of Dimorphos made by stacking the last images received from DART. Credit: Eydeet on Imgur.

Here’s a sharper view of Dimorphos, the small asteroid moonlet that the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally crashed into. Eydeet on Imgur created a higher resolution image of Dimorphos by stacking the last few images received from the spacecraft before impact.

First impressions? It’s an egg-shaped rubble pile.

September 28, 2022September 28, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

Watch a Nicely Stabilized Video of DART Flying Past Didymos and Slamming Into Dimorphos

The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA’s DART mission from ~7 miles (12 kilometers) from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. The image shows a patch of the asteroid that is 100 feet (31 meters) across. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

Here’s one of the best videos we’ve seen of the last minutes of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission as it headed towards and slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos. This stabilized version of the last five-and-a-half minutes of images leading up to DART’s intentional collision with the asteroid was produced from NASA’s DART images. It was produced by the YouTube channel Spei’s Space News from Germany.