Stares into the Crammed Center of Star Cluster: This image shows the center of the globular cluster Messier 22, also known as M22, as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are spherical collections of densely packed stars, relics of the early years of the Universe, with ages of typically 12 to 13 billion years. This is very old considering that the Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. Messier 22 is one of about 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way and at just 10,000 light-years away it is also one of the closest to Earth. It was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, making it one of the first globulars ever to be discovered. This is not so surprising as it is one of the brightest globular clusters visible from the northern hemisphere, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, close to the Galactic Bulge — the dense mass of stars at the center of the Milky Way. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA #nasa #hubble #hst #hubble25 #astronomy #galaxy #stars #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 4,197
Our Sun Came Late to the Milky Way's Star-Birth Party: Artist's view of night sky from a hypothetical planet within a young Milky Way-like galaxy 10 billion years ago, the sky are ablaze with star birth. Pink clouds of gas harbor newborn stars, and bluish-white, young star clusters litter the landscape. In one of the most comprehensive multi-observatory galaxy surveys yet, astronomers find that galaxies like our Milky Way underwent a stellar "baby boom," churning out stars at a prodigious rate, about 30 times faster than today. Our sun, however, is a late "boomer." The Milky Way's star-birthing frenzy peaked 10 billion years ago, but our sun was late for the party, not forming until roughly 5 billion years ago. By that time the star formation rate in our galaxy had plunged to a trickle. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Z. Levay (STScI) (artist pic) #nasa #milkyway #space #esa #galaxy #hubble #sun #hubble25 #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 34,558
Sun Seasons: Our sun is constantly changing. It goes through cycles of activity - swinging between times of relative calm and times when frequent explosions on its surface can fling light, particles and energy out into space. This activity cycle peaks approximately every 11 years. New research shows evidence of a shorter time cycle as well, with activity waxing and waning over the course of about 330 days. Understanding when to expect such bursts of solar activity is crucial to successfully forecast the sun's eruptions, which can drive solar storms at Earth. These space weather events can interfere with satellite electronics, GPS navigation, and radio communications. The quasi-annual variations in space weather seem to be driven by changes in bands of strong magnetic field that are present in each solar hemisphere, Image Credit: NASA #sun #nasa #solar #solarstorm #science #space Instagram ดารา @nasa 19,658
The artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f , the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone-a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface. The discovery from April 2014 of Kepler-186f confirms that Earth-size planets exist in the habitable zones of other stars and signals a significant step closer to finding a world similar to Earth. Kepler-186f orbits its star once every 130 days and receives one-third the energy that Earth does from the sun, placing it near the outer edge of the habitable zone. If you could stand on the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon would appear as bright as our sun is about an hour before sunset on Earth. Kepler-186f resides in the Kepler-186 system about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The system is also home to four inner planets, seen lined up in orbit around a host star that is half the size and mass of the sun. Image Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech #nasa #nasabeyond #exoplanet #space #kepler #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 36,539
Fresh Tiger Stripes on Enceladus: Do underground oceans vent through the tiger stripes (in false-color blue) on Saturn's moon Enceladus? The long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to spew ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's south pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Why #Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears to be quite dead. An analysis of dust captured by Cassini found evidence for sodium as expected in a deep salty ocean. Such research is particularly interesting since such an ocean would be a candidate to contain life. Conversely however, recent Earth-based observations of ice ejected by Enceladus into Saturn's E-Ring showed no evidence of the expected sodium. Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Picture from June 2009 is a high resolution Cassini image of Enceladus from a close flyby #nasa #cassini #space #moons #water #nasabeyond#solarsystem #science #astronomy Instagram ดารา @nasa 32,155
Searching for Water in the Solar System and Beyond: As our missions explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of our search for habitable planets and life beyond Earth, yet it links many seemingly unrelated worlds in surprising ways. In this artist's concept, the moon #Ganymede orbits the giant planet Jupiter. The Hubble Space Telescope observed aurorae on the moon generated by Ganymede's magnetic fields. A saline ocean under the moon's icy crust best explains shifting in the auroral belts measured by Hubble. Image Credit: NASA/ESA #nasa #space #nasabeyond #astronomy #hubble #hst #science #jupiter Instagram ดารา @nasa 20,889
From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@stationcdrkelly on Instagram) took this photograph and posted it to social media on April 6, 2015. Kelly wrote, "Australia. You are very beautiful. Thank you for being there to brighten our day. #YearInSpace" Kelly and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko began their one-year mission aboard the space station on March 27. Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #iss #spacestation #isscrew #astronauts Instagram ดารา @nasa 22,578
This Earth Day, April 22, we're asking you to share pictures and video of your favorite places on Earth using social media – and tag them #NoPlaceLikeHome. At NASA, we explore lots of planets and there’s a lot to love: the mountains on Mars, the rings of Saturn, the 99.77-degree axial tilt of Uranus. Our scientists from around the world have now discovered more than 1,800 planets beyond our solar system. But how about a little something for the home team? It’s Earth Day. Let’s explore our home planet, too. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/likehome #earth #earthday #nasa #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 22,794
Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Terry Virts posted this image and wrote, "Happy Easter." Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #iss #spacestation #earth @astro_terry Instagram ดารา @nasa 37,890
Hubble View of a Cosmological Measuring Tape This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3021 which lies about 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo Minor, the Little Lion. Among many other types of stars, this galaxy contains Cepheid variable stars, which can be used work out the distance to the galaxy. These stars pulsate at a rate that is closely related to their intrinsic brightness, so measurements of their rate of pulsation and their observed brightness give astronomers enough information to calculate the distance to the galaxy itself. Cepheids are also used to calibrate an even brighter distance marker that can be used over greater distances: Type Ia supernovae. One of these bright exploding stars was observed in NGC 3021, back in 1995. In addition, the supernova in NGC 3021 was also used to refine the measurement of what is known as the Hubble constant. The value of this constant defines how fast the Universe is expanding and the more accurately we know it the more we can understand about the evolution of the Universe in the past as well as in the future. So, there is much more to this galaxy than just a pretty spiral. Credit: NASA & ESA. Acknowledgement: A. Riess, STScI #nasa #hubble #hubble25 #hst #galaxies #galaxy #space #science #stars Instagram ดารา @nasa 30,306
Set your alarm! On Saturday morning, April 4, 2015, not long before sunrise on the East Coast, the bright full moon over North America should turn a lovely shade of celestial red during a total lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipse will be visible from all parts of the United States. Eastern North America and western South America can see beginning stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the west before sunrise April 4, whereas middle Asia (India, western China, mid-Asian Russia) can view the ending stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the east after sunset April 4. Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Africa and the Middle East won't see this eclipse at all. The total eclipse will last only five minutes. From 6 - 8 a.m. EDT, NASA TV will offer live video and NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams will take Twitter questions via @NASA_Marshall on Twitter. Use the hashtag #eclipse2015 to send your questions. #nasa #eclipse #lunareclipse #bloodmoon #space #moon #astronomy #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 39,965
Phantom Objects Near Dead Quasars: Our Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a set of wispy, goblin-green objects that are the ephemeral ghosts of quasars that flickered to life and then faded. This image is one from the set of bizarre, looping, spiral, and braided shapes around eight active galaxies. The galaxies host a bright quasar that may have illuminated the structures. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and W. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa) #nasa #hubble #hubble25 #hst #galaxies #galaxy #quasar #space #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 8,881
Space Station Flies Over Super Typhoon Maysak: Typhoon Maysak strengthened into a super typhoon on March 31, reaching Category 5 hurricane status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. NASA Astronaut Terry Virts captured this image while flying over the weather system on board the International Space Station. Commenting on the storm, Virts wrote, "The eye of #Maysak typhoon really stands out early in the morning with the shadow being cast deep into the vortex." His ESA crewmate on station also viewed the storm and wrote, "Commands respect even from #space: we just flew over typhoon #Maysak." Image Credit: NASA #nasa #iss #space #typhoon #weather #hurricane #astronauts #spacestation Instagram ดารา @nasa 3,256
Hedgerow Prominence Erupts: A tangled mass of plasma strands rose up above the sun in an arch, then quickly fell apart as it broke away into space (Mar. 26-27, 2015). These densely structured prominences, usually unstable, are suspended above the sun by magnetic forces. Here they are imaged in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Amateur astronomers worldwide have been having a wonderful time watching this event unfold. Image Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA #nasa #sun #space #sdo #solar #astronomy #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 18,245
Media photograph the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as it launched to the International Space Station (@ISS) with Expedition 43 NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly (@stationcdrkelly), Russian Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard Saturday, March 28, 2015, Kazakh time (March 27 Eastern time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #nasa #yearinspace #iss #spacestation #astronauts Instagram ดารา @nasa 20,186
An edge-on view of the spiral galaxy NGC 5023, which lies over 30 million light-years away from us. Due to its orientation seen here by our Hubble Space Telescope, we cannot appreciate its spiral arms, but we can admire the elegant profile of its disk. Astronomers are particularly interested in the vertical structure of disks like these to help understand galaxy evolution. The incredible sharp sight of Hubble has allowed scientist to count more than 30,000 individual bright stars in this image. This is only a small fraction of the several billion stars that this galaxy contains, but the others are too faint to detect individually even with Hubble. Credit: ESA/NASA #nasa #hubble #hubble25 #hst #telescope #space #astronomy #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 32,858
And Lift Off! At 3:42 p.m. EDT, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. Kelly and Kornienko will begin a one-year mission in space, testing the limits of human research, space exploration and the human spirit. Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer. It also carries potential benefits for humans here on Earth, from helping patients recover from long periods of bed rest to improving monitoring for people whose bodies are unable to fight infections. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #nasa #yearinspace #space #iss #spacestation #journeytomars #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 17,531
Clues that May Help Identify Dark Matter: Using observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found that dark matter does not slow down when colliding with itself, meaning it interacts with itself less than previously thought. Researchers say this finding narrows down the options for what this mysterious substance might be. Dark matter is an invisible matter that makes up most of the mass of the universe. Because dark matter does not reflect, absorb or emit light, it can only be traced indirectly by, such as by measuring how it warps space through gravitational lensing, during which the light from a distant source is magnified and distorted by the gravity of dark matter. Here are images of four different galaxy clusters taken with Hubble (blue) and Chandra (pink) in a study of how dark matter in clusters of galaxies behaves when the clusters collide. A total of 72 large cluster collisions were studied. Image Credit: NASA and ESA #nasa #space #chandra #hubble #hst #hubble25 #astronomy #darkmatter #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 21,336
Ready to launch astronauts on a one-year mission, the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen after having rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz at 3:42 p.m. EDT, Friday, March 27 (March 28, Kazakh time). As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. This knowledge from the one-year mission is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #nasa #iss #spacestation #space #yearinspace #journeytomars #soyuz #science Instagram ดารา @nasa 22,256
Fierce black hole "wind" linked to galactic clearing of star-making gas: By combining observations from the Japan-led Suzaku X-ray satellite and the European Space Agency's infrared Herschel Space Observatory, scientists have connected a fierce "wind" produced near a galaxy's monster black hole to an outward torrent of cold gas a thousand light-years across. The finding validates a long-suspected feedback mechanism enabling a supermassive black hole to influence the evolution of its host galaxy. This artist's rendering shows a galaxy being cleared of interstellar gas, the building blocks of new stars. New X-ray observations by Suzaku have identified a wind emanating from the black hole's accretion disk that ultimately drives such outflows. Image Credit: ESA/ATG Medialab Instagram ดารา @nasa 31,586
