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@nasa All that is glitters is not gold… But it may still be a galaxy. This sparkling field is Abell 2125, a galaxy cluster located 3 billion light-years away from us in the Ursa Minor constellation. Each golden yellow dot you see is an individual galaxy, captured in visible light by the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The purple dots and haze are gas clouds seen in X-ray light by @NASAChandraXray. X-rays are not part of the visible light spectrum, so they've been translated into color we can see in this image. It takes billions of years to build a massive galaxy cluster like Abell 2125, which may contain thousands of galaxies. Since it’s so far away, this cluster also gives us insight into the early stages of galaxy cluster development, as well as the effects on galaxies within it. For example, data from Chandra, @NASAHubble, and the Very Large Array show that several galaxies in Abell 2125 are being stripped of their gas as they fall through hot, high-pressure clouds. Image description: This entire image is covered with purple and gold dots. Slightly above center is the largest and brightest dot, a galaxy with four diffraction spikes. Throughout the image, but especially at upper left and bottom right, are purple clouds of gas that you can see through. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NSF/NOIRLab/KPNO/F. Owen; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, K. Arcand #NASA #Chandra #Xray #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Galaxy #Gold #Telescope #Space

@nasa Rings and moons 🪐 Saturn's moon Mimas stands alone in this ethereal image captured by our Cassini spacecraft in 2004. Mimas is the smallest of Saturn's major moons, checking in at less than 123 miles (198 km) wide. Its most prominent feature is a massive impact crater, with a small bump in the middle that draws comparisons to the Death Star from Star Wars. Saturn's rings stretch across the bottom of this image, with a small gap near the top known as the Cassini division. (Both this gap and the spacecraft were named after Jean-Dominique Cassini, the first astronomer to discover several of Saturn's moons.) These rings cast shadows on the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn's northern hemisphere, fading into darkness on Saturn's night side. Image description: Two bands of color arc across this photo of space: a brownish-tan streak across the bottom of the image, and blue-white streaks arcing downward from left to right. A small moon, half in shadow, touches one of the white bands near the right side of the image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #NASA #Space #Universe #Saturn #SolarSystem #Cassini #RingOfTheDay

@nasa Stars / In your multitudes / Scarce to be counted✨⁣ ⁣ NASA astronaut @astro_pettit used a homemade tracking device to capture this starfield from a window on the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft docked to the International Space Station.⁣ ⁣ To get a stellar view like this, Pettit took a 25-second-long exposure with an ISO (camera light sensitivity) of 3200. With a longer exposure – that is, leaving the camera’s shutter open for a longer period of time – more light falls on the camera’s sensor. On top of that, the cameras the astronauts often use are designed to be more sensitive in low-light situations. All this means they’re more likely to capture bright stars in their images.⁣ ⁣ Images of the Earth from orbit are typically taken with exposures just right to image the bright planet, but too short to record many stars, which are far dimmer in comparison.⁣ ⁣ Image description: Looking through an oval, we can see space blanketed by white stars. There are two blue smudges: these are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two irregular dwarf galaxies. Moving down, Earth’s atmosphere glows red and green.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/Don Pettit⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Astrophotography #Stars #SpaceStation #Astronaut #ISS #Photography #Earth #Space

@nasa Stardust roasting on an open fire 🔥⁣ ⁣ The colorful supernova remnant DEM L 190 resembles a cosmic flaming marshmallow as it billows across the screen in this image captured by @NASAHubble. Located approximately 160,000 light-years away from Earth, these delicate sheets and intricate filaments are debris from the death of a massive star that once lived in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.⁣ ⁣ Image description: A supernova remnant appears to float in space. Its core glows in shades of yellow and gold, as filaments wisp out into cooler shades of blue. The remnant’s shape is similar to a cone, spiraling upwards towards the top of the image. The background is dotted with stars in various shades of red and purple.⁣ ⁣ Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Kulkarni, Y. Chu⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Space #Hubble #Telescope #Supernova #Stars #Astronomy #Hygge

@nasa You know Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, Saturn, and Geminid meteors, too, But do you recall... the longest night of them all? (In the Northern Hemisphere, that is.) This month has it all: planetary cameos, appearances from distant stars, and the winter triangle. Tune in to hear what’s up for December. Planet Visibility Mercury: Visible very low in the southeast just before sunrise during the last half of the month. Venus: Shines brightly as the "Evening Star" in the southwest after sunset, climbing higher each evening. Mars: Brightens significantly during December, rising in the east-northeast and visible from late evening to early morning. Jupiter: Reaches opposition on Dec. 7, making it visible all night, rising in the east-northeast. Saturn: Visible after sunset in the southern sky, shifting slightly westward as the month progresses. Highlights Dec. 3-5 – Venus and the Moon: Look southwest after sunset to see a beautiful pairing. On Dec. 4, a slim crescent Moon will sit directly below Venus. Dec. 7 – Jupiter at Opposition: Jupiter will shine at its brightest for the year, rising in the east-northeast among Taurus's stars. Best viewed through a telescope for details like the Galilean moons and atmospheric belts. Dec. 14 – Jupiter, the Moon, and Aldebaran: Look for Jupiter midway between the nearly full Moon and bright orange star Aldebaran in the evening sky. Dec. 17 – Mars and the Moon: Mars, glowing brightly in its approach to opposition, appears super close to the waning gibbous Moon. All Month – Winter Triangle: Formed by Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse, this asterism marks the arrival of winter skies and is a prominent feature throughout the season. Dec. 13-14 – Geminid Meteor Shower: The peak occurs under a nearly full Moon, reducing visibility, but bright meteors may still be spotted the week before. Dec. 21 – Winter Solstice: At 4:20 a.m. EST, the solstice marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Thumbnail credit: Bill Dunford #NASA #Nightsky #Stargazing #Stars #Planets #ThingsToDo #December #astronomy

@nasa Trying to avoid getting drawn into holiday shopping? Zoom into another galaxy with us (and @NASAUniverse) instead! In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope revealed the shadow of a supermassive black hole in the elliptical galaxy M87—the first time such an image had been captured. Astronomers have studied M87 for centuries, in part due to a spectacular jet of high-energy material streaming from its center. This video zooms in on M87 with visible, X-ray, and radio images, ending on the historic image from 2019. This #BlackHoleFriday, visit the link in our bio to get up to speed on some black hole basics! Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Image credits: NOAO/AURA/NSF; Robert Lupton and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey; NASA and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); NASA/CXC/Villanova/J. Neilsen; F. Owen, NRAO, with J. Biretta, STScI; Y.Y. Kovalev, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy; NRAO/R. Craig Walker et al. (2016); EHT Collaboration Video description is in the comments. #NASA #Universe #BlackHole #BlackHoles #GalaxyM87 #EventHorizonTelescope #ZoomIn

@nasa Diaries from an astronaut ✍️⁣ ⁣ NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick reflects on his last few days on the International Space Station (@ISS) before his return, as the undocking for #Crew8 was rescheduled for no earlier than Oct. 13, due to potential impacts from Hurricane #Milton.⁣ ⁣ “Peering out a Dragon Endeavor window that frames red and green aurora streaming by Dragon Freedom docked to the front of the International Space Station. When Crew-9 arrived, I moved out of my crew quarters on the ISS to make room for @AstroHague.⁣ ⁣ I now sleep in Dragon Endeavor while we wait to undock. We take most of our images from the cupola, but sleeping here has been amazing. This is the view out the window this evening. ...⁣ ⁣ I miss my family and friends, but we would have missed today’s insane aurora if we had undocked today. I watched the aurora with Don Pettit today from the cupola and on a later pass I watched it from Endeavor with @AstroHague.”⁣ ⁣ Image description: A window from the Dragon Endeavour, docked on the ISS, peers over Earth. A marbling of clouds is seen from below a vivid green aurora; shades of magenta hover above it in a distance. In contrast, the left half of the window is lit in blue.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/Matthew Dominick⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Space #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #Aurora #Earth #Astronaut

@nasa Eye see you… 👁 Back in 1996, @NASAHubble revealed the hourglass shape of this young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away. In previous images taken from the ground, the nebula looked like a pair of large outer rings with a smaller central one, but the finer details could not be seen. Planetary nebulae are created by the death of Sun-like stars: the star collapses to form a dense and hot white dwarf star. At the same time, the dying star throws off its outer layers of material, forming an elaborate cloud of gas and dust known as a planetary nebula. This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, and yet, this “eye” star is a little unique: it should be at the center of the nebula, but it’s off center. Hubble also revealed other new and unexpected features in the nebula. For example, there is a pair of intersecting elliptical rings in the central region, which appear to be the rims of a smaller hourglass. There are also the intricate patterns of the etchings on the hourglass walls. There are a few possible explanations for the arc-like etchings – for instance, they could be the remnants of shells ejected from the star when it was younger. This picture was composed of three separate images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in the light of ionized nitrogen (represented by red), hydrogen (green), and doubly ionized oxygen (blue). Image description: This nebula has an interesting appearance: what looks like a turquoise blue eye stares right at you from the center of a red-orange hourglass-like shape made from two interlocking circles – like a Venn diagram turned on its side. The circles each have arcs within them. The darkness of space forms the backdrop of this image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA #NASA #Nebula #Eerie #Circles #Astronomy

@nasa You’re gonna hear me roar Have no fear: what might look like a nightmarish beast throwing its head back in an angry red sea is just a pillar of gas and dust. The Cone Nebula is 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. This image, captured by @NASAHubble, shows the upper 2.5 light-years of the nebula; the entire nebula is 7 light-years long. Monstrous pillars of cold gas like the Cone are common in large regions of star birth. Astronomers believe the pillars are incubators for developing stars. Over millions of years, radiation from hot, young stars (located beyond the top of the image) has slowly eroded the nebula. This process causes the hydrogen gas to glow, which produces the red halo of light seen around the pillar. A similar process occurs on a much smaller scale to gas surrounding a single star, forming the bow-shaped arc seen near the upper left side of the Cone. Eventually, only the densest regions of the Cone will be left. Inside these regions, stars and planets may form. Image description: Against a dramatic red backdrop, a dark pillar of gas and dust stretches upward, its top illuminated by the reflected light of nearby stars. Some stars are sprinkled across the top of the image. There are also a few stars dotting the bottom of the pillar. Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (USCS/LO), M. Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA #NASA #Nebula #Stars #Universe #Astronomy