A galactic spectrum. 🌈 ⁣ ⁣ The Pinwheel Galaxy is about 70 percent larger than the Milky Way galaxy at a diameter of about 170,000 light-years. It’s located at 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major (also known as the Big Dipper). ⁣ ⁣ This image combines data from four of our space telescopes, which allow astronomers to analyze features using multiple parts of the spectrum. The yellow shown here is visible light seen from @NASAHubble. In red, the Spitzer Space Telescope shows red colors of infrared light emitted where stars are forming. @NASAChandraXRay captures the hottest area, shown in purple, where we see exploded stars, gas, and material colliding with black holes. Finally, the blue areas are where Galaxy Evolution Explorer depicts ultraviolet light projected by hot young stars. ⁣ ⁣ Image description: A spiral galaxy with yellow, red, purple and blue stars at the center and along its spiral arms. The blue stars at the end of the spiral arms are fading into the darkness of space. ⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/STScI/CXC ⁣ ⁣ #Galaxy #Space #NASA #Stars #Telescope #Rainbow #Pinwheel⁣

Artemis II crew, prepare for take off ✈️ With Johnson Space Center being the home of astronaut training, the Artemis II crew is preparing for their mission around the Moon and back through T-38 flight training at Ellington Airfield in Houston. The T-38 is a two-engine jet that can hold two crew members together and reach speeds as high as Mach 1.2, making it faster than the speed of sound. The T-38, which can fly to heights of 50,000 feet/15,240 meters, is used for aerobatic maneuvers to help the astronauts become adjusted to unusual attitudes that they might experience in space. They also manage real risks in real time that helps prepare for quick decision making in the harsh environment of space. Since the Apollo era, astronauts have received dedicated training in the T-38. Working together in flight is similar to how the crew might work together in their Orion spacecraft. The Artemis II mission will send @NASAastronauts @Astro_Reid, @AstroVicGlover, and @astro_christina, and @CanadianSpaceAgency astronaut @AstroJeremy on a 10-day flight test around the Moon. This first crewed mission back to the Moon will set the tone as we look forward to establishing a long term presence on the lunar surface with #Artemis. Video Credit: NASA Thumbnail Image Credit: Josh Valcarcel #NASA #Aviation #T38 #astronaut #flighttraining #training #Ellington #Houston #AvGeek

⁣Pumpkin space latte. ☕ ⁣ The glittering star cluster of Terzan 12 is a group of stars deep in the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius. ⁣ ⁣ The star cluster was discovered by the Turkish-Armenian astronomer Agop Terzan. Located about 15,000 light-years from Earth, Terzan 12 is one of eleven clusters. Star clusters orbit around the galactic center and are bonded together by gravity. The bright red stars appear bloated and are many times larger than are Sun. While the blue stars are not inside the cluster, they remain visible aging stars. Due to the location of the cluster, interstellar gas and dust clouds cause the starlight to be altered which is why we see redder wavelengths from Earth. ⁣ ⁣ Image description: A scattering of red-orange and blue stars fill the frame of the black background in space. Interstellar gas and dust at the center-right of the image is covering the star cluster and altering the view to see more red wavelengths. ⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA, ESA, ESA/Hubble, Roger Cohen (RU)⁣ ⁣ #Stars #Space #MilkyWay #NASA #PSL

A field of stars is released ✨⁣ ⁣ Twelve million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, the Cigar galaxy shines bright thanks to @NASAHubble, @NASAChandraXray, and the now retired Spitzer Space Telescope come together to capture rapid star formation in this galaxy in multiple spectrums of light.⁣ ⁣ Hubble captured hydrogen gas around 18,000º F (10,000º C)  in orange and visible light in yellow-green. Chandra captured gas that has been heated to millions of degrees in X-ray, represented in blue. Spitzer captures cool gas and dust seen here in infrared light captured in red. The newly forming stars quickly exploded into supernovas driving out gas and dust, likely helping spread carbon and oxygen across the universe. ⁣ ⁣ Image description: A bright purple center of the galaxy gives way to jets and clouds of orange, red, blue, yellow-green, and eventually black space which surrounds the galaxy. ⁣ ⁣ Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of AZ/C. Engelbracht⁣ ⁣ #Hubble #Chandra #Spitzer #Starfield #NASA #Space #Galaxy #Universe

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude.⁣ ⁣ @SpaceX's Dragon Endeavour delighted many as it streaked across Florida skies just after midnight EDT on Sept. 4. #Crew6 are all smiles back on Earth following splashdown off the coast of Jacksonville. ⁣ ⁣ Image descriptions: ⁣ ⁣ 1-3: A three-image swipe-through of a panoramic image of SpaceX’s Crew-6 descent back to Earth. The long exposure image shows the Crew-6 crew capsule as a line in the sky. Stars scatter above, as clouds on the left and right sides of the image appear blurry in due to movement. The lights of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center glow in the horizon. Credit: SpaceX⁣ ⁣ 4: Support teams work around the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft shortly after splashdown as a support team member leaps off the capsule. The conical capsule floats in dark water, illuminated by the recovery ship's lights. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky⁣ ⁣ 5: Support teams raise the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft aboard the recovery ship MEGAN shortly after it landed. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky⁣ ⁣ 6: Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, left, NASA astronaut Warren “Woody" Hoburg, second from left, NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, second from right, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Crew6 #SpaceX #Space #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #CapeCanveral #NightPhotography #Spacecraft #astronauts

This Labor Day, we’re thinking of all of those who help make our world go ‘round. We show our gratitude to workers of every field whose contributions bring homes, communities, and the world together. We’re all made of star stuff. Image description: The Midwestern United States at night with Aurora Borealis is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 29 crew member on the International Space Station (@ISS). A green light of the Aurora Borealis appears strongly in this view (top left) and seems to be reflected off Earth’s surface – in Canada – beneath the aurora. Lights from city clusters scatter below. Credit: NASA #NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #LaborDay

Cruise control. 🚢 Severe drought is reducing the number of daily passages on the Panama Canal, causing the traffic backup of ships seen in this Landsat 8 image. The canal uses a series of locks fed by artificial lakes, which are now near-record low levels. The average wait time for August 2023 was nearly four times what it was a June. The Panama Canal is a 50-mile (80 km) artificial waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, providing a vital connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for up to 14,000 ships a year. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, got a rare cloud-free view of delayed ships on the Pacific side of the canal on Aug. 18, 2023. Image descriptions: Satellite image of ships waiting to cross the Panama Canal on Aug. 18, 2023. Blue water of the Pacific Ocean covers most of the image. The water is dotted with many ships, which appear as brightly colored rectangles in the otherwise blue ocean. In the top left corner is the green and brown land mass of Panama, partially obscured by puffy white clouds. The canal is a straight line of water running through the country, passing the red and tan buildings of the Port of Balboa. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. #NASA #Earth #Panama #Canal #Ships #Traffic #Landsat

Here’s lookin at you kid 🪐⁣ ⁣ Our Cassini spacecraft captured this image from about 746,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) using red, green, and blue filters to create this natural-color view of Saturn. Cassini not only captured the gas giant but also some world photobombers with Venus, Mars, Earth, and Earth’s Moon visible as small dots of light.⁣ ⁣ Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, will be visible each day at sunset until Feb. 2024, appearing like a bright yellowish “star” on the southeastern horizon.⁣ ⁣ In the first image, Venus appears as a bright white dot in the upper left. Mars is diagonally above Venus and appears as a faint red dot. Earth and the Moon appear in the second image as a pale blue dot and a smaller dot to the lower right. Cassini was not the first to see Saturn up close: Pioneer 11, a spacecraft that helped pave the way for exploring the solar system, first studied Saturn 44 years ago.⁣ ⁣ Image descriptions:⁣ ⁣ Image 1: Half of Saturn appears outlined by bright sunlight that highlights its rings, which unfurl out to the left at various distances from the planet. Small dots in blue, white, and red represent moons and planets.⁣ ⁣ Image 2: Half of Saturn appears outlined by bright sunlight that highlights its rings, which unfurl out to the right at various distances from the planet. Small dots of blue, white, and yellow represent moons and planets.⁣ ⁣ Image 3: A whole view of the same image, with annotations showing the locations of Venus, Mars, the Moon, and Earth.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Saturn #Earth #Moon #Venus #Mars #Casablanca #Cassini #SolarSystem

September sky sightings ✨⁣ ⁣ This month: Venus will return to the morning sky, plus opportunities to see the zodiacal light and a Harvest Moon. ⁣ ⁣ Venus will appear as a bright beacon in the morning sky. Look for the planet before sunrise in the eastern sky throughout this month. In the mornings before dawn, you’ll get a chance to search for zodiacal light, a cone-shaped pillar of light that extends upward from the horizon. Northern Hemisphere skywatchers should look in the east before twilight begins and in the Southern Hemisphere you can look in the west following evening twilight.⁣ ⁣ You can also see Saturn and Jupiter, with Saturn low in the southeast after sunset and Jupiter appearing a few hours later. This month’s full moon on Sept. 29 is known as a Harvest Moon because it’ll be the closest full moon to the September equinox. ⁣ ⁣ Details: go.nasa.gov/WhatsUp⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech⁣ ⁣ #WhatsUp #Stargazing #Astronomy #Space #Moon #FullMoon #Venus⁣

Rodents of Unusual Size 🐭⁣ ⁣ These twin galaxies are nicknamed “The Mice” due to their long tails of stars and gas stretching hundreds of thousands of light-years, due to gravitational forces likely from their last encounter approximately 160 million years ago. The galaxies will eventually merge, in about a billion years, into a single massive elliptical galaxy after colliding several times. The collision of The Mice may presage the eventual collision between Andromeda and our own galaxy, the Milky Way.⁣ ⁣ @NASAHubble captured this view of the pair, located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, with its Advanced Camera for Surveys in blue, orange, and near-infrared filters. This image shows the most detail and the most stars ever seen in these galaxies; above the left galaxy, a bright blue patch contains a cascade of clusters of young, hot, blue stars.⁣ ⁣ Image description: Surrounded by black space dotted by small stars and galaxies, The Mice appear in blue, white, and brown in the center of the photo, connected with a smaller blue trail connecting them and large blue trail heading toward the upper-right part of the image.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and @EuropeanSpaceAgency⁣ ⁣ #Mice #Mouse #PrincessBride #NASA #Space #Hubble #Galaxy #ESA #stars #galaxies #AsYouWish

Look up tonight to see a Super Blue Moon!⁣ ⁣ August begins and ends with a full moon. When there are two full moons in a single calendar month, we call the second one a "blue moon." This doesn’t mean that the Moon will actually look blue, but it will still be worth checking out (weather permitting). But wait, there's more! The blue moon will also be a "supermoon," as it will be at its closest point to Earth and appear about 7% larger and brighter than an average full moon.⁣ ⁣ This rare occurrence will peak at 9:36pm ET on Aug. 30 (0136 UTC on Aug. 31). Keep your eyes on the sky for this trifecta of labels being applied to the Moon which only occurs about every 10 years on average.⁣ ⁣ Image description: A bright supermoon is seen at the center of the image. Craters are shown on the center and most of the left side of the Moon appearing to be a darker shade of gray. The supermoon stands out against the darkness of space. Taken on Aug. 10, 2014, in Washington.⁣ ⁣ Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls⁣ ⁣ #Moon #SuperMoon #FullMoon #SkyWatching #NASA #Space #astronomy #BlueMoon

Ripple effect 🌀⁣ ⁣ Seen here by the @NASAWebb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is the galaxy M51, also known as NGC 5194. The gravity of M51's neighbor, the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195, is thought to be partially responsible for those prominent and distinct spiral arms! Slide through to see the full image.⁣ ⁣ This observation was taken as part of the FEAST (Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers) program, which aims to discover and study stellar nurseries in galaxies beyond our own Milky Way.⁣ ⁣ Image descriptions: Taken together, these images make up a large spiral galaxy. The core of the galaxy is mostly bright white, but around it are swirling, detailed structures that resemble water circling a drain. There is white and pale blue light that emanates from stars and dust at the core’s center, but it is tightly limited to the core. The detailed rings feature bands of deep orange and cloudy gray, which are interspersed by darker empty regions throughout.⁣ ⁣ Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo and the FEAST JWST team⁣ ⁣ #JWST #Galaxy #Spiral #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #NASA #ESA #Star #Space #Universe