Category Astronomy/Space

Mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station, the Space Debris Sensor (SDS) collects information on small orbital debris. Credit: NASA

The International Space Station isn’t the only spacecraft orbiting the Earth. In fact, it is accompanied by the Hubble Space Telescope, satellites within the Earth Observing System, and more than 1,000 other operational spacecraft and CubeSats. In addition to spacecraft, bits of orbital debris – human-made objects no longer serving a purpose in space – are also in orbit. With an estimated more than 100 million pieces of orbital debris measuring smaller than one centimeter currently in Earth’s orbit, they can be too small to track, but many are large enough to cause damage to operational spacecraft.

The space station has orbital debris shields ...

The power of a supermassive black hole is seen in this image of Centaurus A, one of the active galactic nuclei closest to Earth. The image combines data from several telescopes at different wavelengths, showing jets and lobes powered by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Image credit: ESO/WFI (Optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (Submillimetre); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray)

Young galaxies blaze with bright new stars forming at a rapid rate, but star formation eventually shuts down as a galaxy evolves. A new study shows that the mass of the black hole in the center of the galaxy determines how soon this “quenching” of star formation occurs...

HAWC+ performed polarization measurements at 89 μm to capture the structure of the magnetic field in the Orion star forming region. Each line segment represents the orientation of the magnetic field at that location, overlaid on an image of the total intensity at the same wavelength. Credits: NASA/SOFIA/Caltech/Darren Dowell

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, is preparing for its 2018 observing campaign, which will include observations of celestial magnetic fields, star-forming regions, comets, Saturn’s giant moon Titan and more. This will be the fourth year of full operations for SOFIA, with observations planned between February 2018 and January 2019...

Kwanzaa Tholus on Ceres map and elevation map on right showing prominences

What is a tholus? A tholus is a type of small mountain. These images show such a feature on dwarf planet Ceres called Kwanzaa Tholus. Kwanzaa, meaning “first fruits” in Swahili, is an African-American festival based on ancient African harvest celebrations, and takes place each year from December 26 to January 1.

Kwanzaa Tholus measures about 22 by 12 miles (35 by 19 kilometers) and is elevated about 2 miles (3 km) above its surroundings. Because the mountain does not rise sharply above the ground, it is difficult to see in the mosaic on the left, although a small crescent-shaped shadow stands out. The image on the right, which is an elevation map of the area, shows where Kwanzaa Tholus is more prominently.

The round...