APOD: Carina Nebula North


The Great Carina Nebula is home to strange stars and iconic nebulas. Named for its home constellation, the huge star-forming region is larger and brighter than the Great Orion Nebula but less well known because it is so far south -- and because so much of humanity lives so far north. The featured image shows in great detail the northern-most part of the Carina Nebula. Visible nebulas include the semi-circular filaments surrounding the active star Wolf-Rayet 23 (WR23) on the far left. Just left of center is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula consisting of an emission nebula of glowing gas (IC 2599) surrounding the small open cluster of stars (NGC 3324). Above the image center is the larger star cluster NGC 3293, while to its right is the relatively faint emission nebula designated Loden 153. The most famous occupant of the Carina Nebula, however, is not shown. Off the image to the lower right is the bright, erratic, and doomed star star known as Eta Carinae -- a star once one of the brightest stars in the sky and now predicted to explode in a supernova sometime in the next few million years. via NASA https://ift.tt/zm9qyjwRC

Popular posts from this blog

Space News: Dream Chaser Undergoes Testing at NASA Test Facility in Ohio

Image
https://ift.tt/s0DKWRq 1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for the first flight of the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser and its companion cargo module, called Shooting Star, arrived at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, for environmental testing, scheduled to start in mid-December, ahead of its first flight, scheduled for the first half of 2024. Credit: Sierra Space/Shay Saldana More About Dream Chaser in Ohio Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Commercial Resupply International Space Station News Neil Armstrong Test Facility Mission to the International Space Station from NASA https://ift.tt/jGNk2bl
Read more

APOD:

Image
Sometimes lightning occurs out near space. One such lightning type is red sprite lightning, which has only been photographed and studied on Earth over the past 25 years. The origins of all types of lightning remain topics for research, and scientists are still trying to figure out why red sprite lightning occurs at all. Research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the speed of light. They are quickly followed by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. Featured here is an extraordinarily high-resolution image of a group of red sprites. This image is a single frame lasting only 1/25th of a second from a video taken above Castelnaud Castle in Dordogne, France, about three weeks ago. The sprites quickly vanished -- no sprites were visible even on the very next video frame. via NASA https://ift.tt/sQvWMF0
Read more

Space News: MEV-2 servicer closing in on Intelsat-10-02 docking attempt

Image
by Jason Rainbow TAMPA, Fla. — Northrop Grumman’s MEV-2 satellite servicer is performing close proximity operations with Intelsat’s in-orbit 10-02 spacecraft ahead of a docking attempt, SpaceNews has learned. Both spacecraft remain healthy after being in close quarters to calibrate and test systems before MEV-2 backed off, according to a Northrop Grumman official. The company intends to release an update once it completes the docking. It is understood the satellite servicer’s predecessor MEV-1 made several close proximity operations maneuvers and approaches before successfully attaching to Intelsat-901 last year , enabling the 19-year-old satellite to resume services from April 2. MEV-2 has a similar design to MEV-1, but the two missions have distinct differences. While Intelsat-901 was no longer functioning as it languished in a graveyard orbit, Intelsat-10-02 has been active in geosynchronous orbit since 2004 and is carrying communications traffic.  The two companies are w
Read more