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Westerlund 2 is a young cluster of thousands of stars — a cosmic garden where new suns rise from interstellar soil made of gas and dust. This close‑up view, roughly 12 light-years across, combines observations from NASA’s Chandra and @NASAWebb.✨

Visual Description:
This is a composite image of the young star cluster known as Westerlund 2. Here, scores of gleaming white specks ringed in neon pink are scattered across the image in a band that stretches from our lower right to our upper left, and beyond. Clouds of brick-orange dust enter the image from our lower left, and spread along the bottom edge of the frame, showing off the raw materials of this active stellar nursery.

X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO/Sejong Univ./Hur et al;
Infrared, Webb: NASA, ESA, CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, and the EWOCS team.
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand

#nasa #space #stars #beautiful #garden

A black hole walks into a buffet... ⚫

At the heart of galaxy NGC 1365, a supermassive black hole is basically feasting at an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet in this image from Chandra and @NASAWebb. Located about 60 million light-years from Earth, this gobbling black hole has a mass of roughly 2 million suns... and growing.

Visual Description:
A close up image of spiral galaxy NGC 1365 and the supermassive black hole at its center. Here, the galaxy is shown at a dramatic angle, as if the bright pink core is gazing past our right shoulder. Swirls of pale, grey-blue material, resembling waves in a dark ocean, spiral toward the radiant pink core, which hangs at our lower left. Glowing pink circles, and flecks of red, dot the churning spiral galaxy.

X-ray, Chandra X-ray Observatory: NASA/CXC/SAO;
Infrared, Webb Space Telescope: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI;
Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major

#nasa #space #galaxy #black #hole

It’s chill now, but it used to be a wild child!🌀

Galaxy cluster Abell 2029 is sometimes described as “the most relaxed cluster in the universe.” This nickname doesn’t arise from some sort of mellow vibe, but rather because of how calm and undisturbed the superheated gas that pervades the cluster appears to be.

New observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory clearly show that Abell 2029 had a much more colorful history than its current disposition suggests. The latest study finds that Abell 2029 is still settling down after a raucous collision with another smaller cluster about four billion years ago. More in the comments!

Visual Description:
This is a composite image of galaxy cluster Abell 2029, a galaxy cluster with a unique spiral shape, giving it the appearance of a giant galactic seashell floating in the star-speckled blackness of space.

The surrounding stars and individual galaxies appear white, captured in optical light from Pan-STARRS, a telescope in Hawaii. But much of the spiraling cluster is rendered in neon blues, representing X-ray gas observed by Chandra. This super-heated gas fills the space between galaxies, giving the cluster its spiral shape when observed by scientists using an X-ray telescope.

Here, the blue spiral begins as a pale blue dot at the center of the cluster. The spiral stream of light and dark neon blue gas then widens as it moves away from the center of the cluster, gently corkscrewing one full rotation as it extends two-million lightyears into the distance.

X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/CfA/C. Watson et al.;
Optical: PanSTARRS;
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and P. Edmonds

#wild #space #galaxy #astronomy #science

A galaxy seen in many kinds of light.🌀

This striking view of the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) combines data from multiple telescopes. Visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observations (white, light blue, and yellow) reveals the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms, while ultraviolet light from XMM-Newton (blue), X-rays from Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple), and infrared light from Spitzer Space Telescope (red) highlight different cosmic ingredients.

By layering these wavelengths together, astronomers can trace where stars are forming, where older stars reside, and where extreme environments — like exploding stars, million-degree gas, and matter swirling around black holes — light up the galaxy.

Located about 21 million light-years away, the Pinwheel Galaxy is roughly 170,000 light-years across, making it even larger than our own Milky Way.

Visual Description:
The image shows a luminous, face-on spiral shaped like a softly glowing cosmic pinwheel against a dark, star-speckled background. A compact white central core anchors the scene, from which broad spiral arms sweep outward in graceful arcs, filling much of the frame. These arms look textured and mottled rather than smooth, dotted with bright knots and layered colors with blue highlights, red sprinkles and purple confetti. Together, the overlapping colors give the galaxy a speckled, dynamic appearance, emphasizing both its immense scale and the active environments distributed throughout its wide, extended disk.

X-ray: Chandra: ASA/CXC/JHU/K. Kuntz et al.;
UV/Optical: XMM-Newton: ESA/XMM/R. Willatt;
Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI/JHU/K. Kuntz et al.; Ground-based: R. J. GaBany;
IR: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/K. Gordon;
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, K.Arcand

#Space #NASA #Universe #Galaxy #Astronomy

Hello, Moon! 👋

For as long as we’ve been looking to the sky, humans have been drawn to the Moon. Our @NASAArtemis II astronauts recently gave us spectacular new photos of the Moon, adding to the treasure trove of images across the spectrum of light.

By studying the Moon in many different forms of light we learn about its composition, surface conditions, and much more.

Image credits:
Radio (Greenbank): GBO/AUI/NSF
Microwave (SCUBA-2): University of British Columbia, East Asian Observatory, SCUBA-2 Instrument Team
Mid-infrared (MSX): DCATT Team, MSX Project, BMDO
Near-infrared (Galileo): NASA/JPL
Visible (Artemis II): NASA
Ultraviolet (ASTRO-2): Southwest Research Institute
X-ray (Chandra): NASA/CXC/SAO/J.Drake et al.
Gamma ray (Fermi): NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

Music: “Unseen,” David Husband [PRS], Universal Production Music

Video description is in the comments.

#Moon #Artemis

Stars on stars on stars!✨

Over 1,000 stars are located within 4 light-years of the center of the Westerlund 1 “super” star cluster. To give you a little context, 4 light-years is roughly the distance between our Sun and the next closest star to Earth. 🤯

Visual Description:
This is a multiwavelength image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region in X-ray and optical light. The black canvas of space is peppered with colored dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white.

At the center of the image is a hazy cloud of red and yellow gas encircling a grouping of tightly packed gold stars. The arrangement and distribution of stars in the cluster call to mind effervescent soda bubbles dancing above the ice cubes of a recently poured beverage.

X-ray (Chandra): NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.;
Optical (Hubble): NASA/ESA/STScI;
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

#Space #Stars #Universe #NASA #Astronomy

In the time it takes you to read this post, the expansion of the universe will carry the Cartwheel galaxy another 56,000 miles away from us. That’s like crossing the United States from east to west 20 times. Even so, it’s not much compared to the galaxy’s distance of over 2 billion trillion miles.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P. N. Appleton (SSC-Caltech)

Image description: The Cartwheel galaxy and two of its smaller companions shine in data from NASA’s Spitzer, Hubble, Chandra, and GALEX telescopes released in 2006. The large galaxy on the right is a bright blue and purple ring with a compact yellow spiral in the center. To the left, two spiral galaxies are stacked on top of each other, with the top shining bright blue and purple, and the bottom a neon green. The bright blue outer ring of the large galaxy and top smaller galaxy show ultraviolet light captured by GALEX. Clumps of pink and purple along the outer blue ring are X-ray and ultraviolet radiation viewed by Chandra. Wisps of light red and pale green spread throughout the interior of the large galaxy, illuminated by nearby low-level star formation. Visible and infrared light from Hubble and Spitzer make up the yellow spiral at the center of the large galaxy. The green bottom spiral is a candidate for the galaxy that collided with the Cartwheel.

#CartwheelGalaxy #ExpandingUniverse #MondayMotivation

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

Too fast, too windy! 🌬️

Using data from the XRISM telescope, led by JAXA in partnership with @NASA and with contributions from the @EuropeanSpaceAgency, astronomers were able to measure winds of superheated gas barreling out of the heart of starburst galaxy M82, a galaxy with extremely high levels of star formation.

The wind was clocked at more than 2 million mph (3 million kph) based on calculations made with data from XRISM’s Resolve instrument. Astronomers studied the X-ray signal from superheated iron at the center of the galaxy, revealing its temperature was over 45 million degrees Fahrenheit (25 million degrees Celsius). This extreme heat creates pressure that pushes the gas outward, forming a wind just as atmospheric pressure variations create wind on Earth. The wind from M82 is so fast that it could blow across the width of the continental United States in five seconds!

XRISM’s data on M82 will improve models of similar galaxies to help scientists answer more of their questions.

Credits:
1. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team
2. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab & NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alberto Bolatto (UMD)
3-4. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
5. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, JAXA/NASA, XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
6. NASA/CXC/JHU/XRISM Collaboration et al. 2026
7. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
8. NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (National Science Foundation)

Image descriptions are in the comments.

#XRISM #Universe #Windy

We're coloring in the picture, one telescope at a time! 🎨

NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) telescope has taken a new observation of a supernova remnant, RCW 86, which helps create a fuller picture of what other telescopes have observed.

When astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory targeted RCW 86, they discovered that there was a largeregion around the system with very low density. This would have allowed the supernova to expand more rapidly than expected, leading to the remnant’s unique shape. IXPE observed a section of the outer rim of this supernova remnant, where astronomers suspected the expansion was halted at the edge of the "cavity," creating the reflected shock effect highlighted in purple.

Visual description: In this image of RCW 86, the data appears like a golden ring in the sky with hints of blues and purples in some areas. NASA’s IXPE data is showcased in a circled region in the bottom right side of the ring. The full image also includes legacy observations from two other X-ray telescopes: NASA’s Chandra and the ESA (European Space Agency) XMM-Newton telescope. Yellow represents low-energy X-rays, while blue shows high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra and XMM-Newton. The starfield in the image comes from the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab).

#NASA #NASAChandra #NASAIXPE #Telescopes #ChandraXrayObservatory #IXPE #NASAUniverse #Space #Supernova #NASATelescopes #ESA

What were we like in the ‘90s? Busy!

For space science at @NASA, the 1990s were a decade of thrilling launches and groundbreaking discoveries. We kicked off the Great Observatories program, putting @NASAHubble and @NASAChandraXray in orbit as well as the now-retired Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. Numerous smaller missions joined these flagships to help us learn about how the universe works and how it has changed over time.

We measured the universe’s expansion rate with unprecedented accuracy and narrowed down the age of the universe. We got the deepest views of the universe yet, and even captured a “baby picture” of the cosmos that resulted in a Nobel Prize a decade later. We rapidly increased our understanding of black holes, exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and other objects and events, near and far.

While it’s fun to reminisce about this pivotal decade in space science … we can’t wait to see what we learn next about the universe.

Credits: NASA
LL Ori: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Orion Nebula: NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Rice University), and S.K. Wong (Rice University)
COBE maps: NASA/COBE Science Team
Hubble Deep Field: NASA/JPL/STScI Hubble Deep Field Team
Ring Nebula: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA)
Cassiopeia A and E0102-72: NASA/CXC/SAO

Music: “Country Story,” Aaron Steinberg [BMI] and Christopher Bentley Kemp [ASCAP], Universal Production Music

Video description is in the comments.

#90s #90sThrowback

Spring into spring with the Cat’s Paw Nebula. We expect it to start knocking planets off the counter for sport any minute now.

This week in the Northern Hemisphere, the calendar officially passes from winter into spring when the length of the day and night become equal as the days become longer. Meanwhile, there are places in space where blooms of the stellar variety are always growing. The Cat’s Paw Nebula is one of those places — a cosmic garden from which stars, not plants, emerge from the interstellar soil of gas and dust.

This “cat-tacular” image is roughly 91 light-years across and combines infrared data from @NASAWebb and X-ray data from @NASAChandraXray.

Visual Description:
In this composite image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula, pockets of starry blue sky appear behind thick, overlapping rings of dark orange cloud. At the center of the image, tucked amongst the clouds, is a mottled patch of purple.

Neutron stars merge! 🌟➡️💥⬅️🌟

Astronomers have spotted an extreme collision between two neutron stars in a very odd place about 4.7 billion light-years from Earth. This result may help answer two different mysteries about stars and intergalactic space. 💥More information is available in the comments, including a visual description of this image.

#Stars #Space #Astronomy #NASA #science