Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
Galaxy Drift Challenges Ideas About Universe's Evolution
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Captures a New View of… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Captures a New View of Galaxy M90
This eye-catching image offers us a new view of the spiral galaxy Messier 90 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the striking spiral galaxy Messier 90 (M90, also NGC 4569), located in the constellation Virgo. In 2019, Hubble released an image of M90 created with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data taken in 1994, soon after its installation. That WFPC2 image has a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the layout of its sensors. Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) replaced WFPC2 in 2009 and Hubble used WFC3 when it turned its aperture to Messier 90 again in 2019 and 2023. That data resulted in this stunning new image, providing a much fuller view of the galaxy’s dusty disk, its gaseous halo, and its bright core.
The inner regions of M90’s disk are sites of star formation, seen here in red H-alpha light from nebulae. M90 sits among the galaxies of the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster, and its orbit took M90 on a path near the cluster’s center about three hundred million years ago. The density of gas in the inner cluster weighed on M90 like a strong headwind, stripping enormous quantities of gas from the galaxy and creating the diffuse halo we see around it. This gas is no longer available to form new stars in M90, with the spiral galaxy eventually fading as a result.
M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it’s one of the very few galaxies getting closer to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated so much that M90 is in the process of escaping the cluster entirely. By happenstance, it’s moving in our direction. Astronomers have measured other galaxies in the Virgo cluster at similar speeds, but in the opposite direction. As M90 continues to move toward us over billions of years, it will also be evolving into a lenticular galaxy.
Download this image
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Science Mission Directorate Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Messier 90
This beautiful spiral is expected to evolve into a lenticular galaxy.
Hubble’s Messier Catalog
Hubble’s Caldwell Catalog
View the full article
-
By NASA
The Progress Pride flag is seen flying at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building, June 9, 2022, in Washington.Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA is announcing the relaunch of the NASA Acquisition Innovation Launchpad (NAIL), a framework to drive innovation and modernize acquisition processes across the agency, after piloting the program for a year.
NASA spends approximately $21 billion or 85% of its budget on acquiring goods and services. Managed by NASA’s Office of Procurement, the NAIL was established to identify ways to manage risk-taking and encourage innovation through the submission, review, and approval of ideas from anyone who engages in the acquisition process.
Since launching last year, the goal of the NAIL has been to build an innovation-focused culture that can produce ideas from team members in the Office of Procurement or across the agency, as well as from industry.
“The success of the NAIL inaugural year has laid a strong foundation for the future,” said Karla Smith Jackson, deputy chief acquisition officer and assistant administrator for the Office of Procurement.
Over the past year, the NAIL has achieved numerous milestones, allowing NASA to approach various procurement challenges and implement diverse solutions. Key accomplishments include improving procurement processes and technological automations and developing an industry feedback forum. The program update will leverage industry’s feedback to continue fostering innovative solutions and optimize the agency’s procurement efforts.
As NASA’s Office of Procurement embarks on fiscal year 2025, the NAIL relaunch will use information from the program’s pilot year to focus on the following priorities:
Providing additional engagement opportunities for the agency’s network of innovators Enhancing the framework to improve internal outcomes for the agency Promoting procurement success stories Investing in talent and technology “We are incredibly proud of the program’s achievements and are even more excited about the opportunities ahead with the relaunch,” said Kameke Mitchell, NAIL chair and director for the Procurement Strategic Operations Division. “We encourage everyone to get involved and make fiscal year 2025 a standout year for innovation.”
In addition to programmatic updates, NAIL’s program manager, Brittney Chappell, will lead new engagements and framework enhancements moving forward.
“I am thrilled to step into this role and lead the program, using everything our team has learned from the last year,” said Chappell. “Together with internal and external stakeholders, we will turn bold ideas into impactful solutions that drive real change.”
To collaborate or share innovative ideas, reach out to the NAIL Procurement team at hq-op-nail@mail.nasa.gov.
For more information about the NAIL framework, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/procurement-nail-framework
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
NASA Headquarters Doing Business with NASA View the full article
-
By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Observes a Peculiar… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Observes a Peculiar Galaxy Shape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy, NGC 4694. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy, NGC 4694. Most galaxies fall into one of two basic types. Spiral galaxies are young and energetic, filled with the gas needed to form new stars and sporting spiral arms that host these hot, bright youths. Elliptical galaxies have a much more pedestrian look, and their light comes from a uniform population of older and redder stars. But some galaxies require in-depth study to classify their type: such is the case with NGC 4694, a galaxy located 54 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster.
NGC 4694 has a smooth-looking, armless disk which — like an elliptical galaxy — is nearly devoid of star formation. Yet its stellar population is still relatively young and new stars are actively forming in its core, powering its bright center and giving it a markedly different stellar profile from that of a classic elliptical. Although elliptical galaxies often host significant quantities of dust, they generally do not hold the fuel needed to form new stars. NGC 4694 is filled with the hydrogen gas and dust normally seen in a young and sprightly spiral, and a huge cloud of invisible hydrogen gas surrounds the galaxy.
As this Hubble image reveals, NGC 4694’s dust forms chaotic structures that indicate some kind of disturbance. It turns out that the cloud of hydrogen gas around NGC 4694 forms a long bridge to a nearby, faint dwarf galaxy named VCC 2062. The two galaxies have undergone a violent collision, and the larger NGC 4694 is accreting gas from the smaller galaxy. This collision helped give NGC 4694 its peculiar shape and star-forming activity that classify it as a lenticular galaxy. Lenticular galaxies lack the unmistakable arms of a spiral, but still have a central bulge and disk. They also hold more star-forming gas than an elliptical galaxy. Some galaxies, like NGC 4694, aren’t as easy to categorize as one type or the other. It takes a bit more digging to reveal their true nature, and thanks to Hubble, we have the ability to uncover their secrets.
Download this image
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 04, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Lenticular Galaxies Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble on the NASA App
Hubble’s Galaxies
Hubble by the Numbers
View the full article
-
By NASA
4 Min Read In Odd Galaxy, NASA’s Webb Finds Potential Missing Link to First Stars
What appears as a faint dot in this James Webb Space Telescope image may actually be a groundbreaking discovery. Full image and details below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alex Cameron (Oxford) Looking deep into the early universe with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found something unprecedented: a galaxy with an odd light signature, which they attribute to its gas outshining its stars. Found approximately one billion years after the big bang, galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (9422) may be a missing-link phase of galactic evolution between the universe’s first stars and familiar, well-established galaxies.
Image A: Galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (NIRCam Image)
What appears as a faint dot in this James Webb Space Telescope image may actually be a groundbreaking discovery. Detailed information on galaxy GS-NDG-9422, captured by Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) instrument, indicates that the light we see in this image is coming from the galaxy’s hot gas, rather than its stars. Astronomers think that the galaxy’s stars are so extremely hot (more than 140,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80,000 degrees Celsius) that they are heating up the nebular gas, allowing it to shine even brighter than the stars themselves. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Alex Cameron (Oxford) “My first thought in looking at the galaxy’s spectrum was, ‘that’s weird,’ which is exactly what the Webb telescope was designed to reveal: totally new phenomena in the early universe that will help us understand how the cosmic story began,” said lead researcher Alex Cameron of the University of Oxford.
Cameron reached out to colleague Harley Katz, a theorist, to discuss the strange data. Working together, their team found that computer models of cosmic gas clouds heated by very hot, massive stars, to an extent that the gas shone brighter than the stars, was nearly a perfect match to Webb’s observations.
“It looks like these stars must be much hotter and more massive than what we see in the local universe, which makes sense because the early universe was a very different environment,” said Katz, of Oxford and the University of Chicago.
In the local universe, typical hot, massive stars have a temperature ranging between 70,000 to 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit (40,000 to 50,000 degrees Celsius). According to the team, galaxy 9422 has stars hotter than 140,000 degrees Fahrenheit (80,000 degrees Celsius).
The research team suspects that the galaxy is in the midst of a brief phase of intense star formation inside a cloud of dense gas that is producing a large number of massive, hot stars. The gas cloud is being hit with so many photons of light from the stars that it is shining extremely brightly.
Image B: Galaxy GS-NDG-9422 Spectrum (NIRSpec)
This comparison of the data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope with a computer model prediction highlights the same sloping feature that first caught the eye of astronomer Alex Cameron, lead researcher of a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The bottom graphic compares what astronomers would expect to see in a “typical” galaxy, with its light coming predominantly from stars (white line), with a theoretical model of light coming from hot nebular gas, outshining stars (yellow line). The model comes from Cameron’s collaborator, theoretical astronomer Harley Katz, and together they realized the similarities between the model and Cameron’s Webb observations of galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (top). The unusual downturn of the galaxy’s spectrum, leading to an exaggerated spike in neutral hydrogen, is nearly a perfect match to Katz’s model of a spectrum dominated by super-heated gas.
While this is still only one example, Cameron, Katz, and their fellow researchers think the conclusion that galaxy GS-NDG-9422 is dominated by nebular light, rather than starlight, is their strongest jumping-off point for future investigation. They are looking for more galaxies around the same one-billion-year mark in the universe’s history, hoping to find more examples of a new type of galaxy, a missing link in the history of galactic evolution.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI) In addition to its novelty, nebular gas outshining stars is intriguing because it is something predicted in the environments of the universe’s first generation of stars, which astronomers classify as Population III stars.
“We know that this galaxy does not have Population III stars, because the Webb data shows too much chemical complexity. However, its stars are different than what we are familiar with – the exotic stars in this galaxy could be a guide for understanding how galaxies transitioned from primordial stars to the types of galaxies we already know,” said Katz.
At this point, galaxy 9422 is one example of this phase of galaxy development, so there are still many questions to be answered. Are these conditions common in galaxies at this time period, or a rare occurrence? What more can they tell us about even earlier phases of galaxy evolution? Cameron, Katz, and their research colleagues are actively identifying more galaxies to add to this population to better understand what was happening in the universe within the first billion years after the big bang.
“It’s a very exciting time, to be able to use the Webb telescope to explore this time in the universe that was once inaccessible,” Cameron said. “We are just at the beginning of new discoveries and understanding.”
The research paper is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Downloads
Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
View/Download the research results from the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu, Leah Ramsay – lramsay@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
Read more: “What Were the First Stars Like?”
Watch: “Massive Stars: Engines of Creation”
Learn about spectroscopy: “Spectroscopy 101 – Introduction”
Star Lifecycle
More Webb News
More Webb Images
Webb Science Themes
Webb Mission Page
Related For Kids
What is a galaxy?
What is the Webb Telescope?
SpacePlace for Kids
En Español
Ciencia de la NASA
NASA en español
Space Place para niños
Keep Exploring Related Topics
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Stars
Stars Stories
Galaxies
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 24, 2024 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
Astrophysics Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Science & Research Stars The Universe View the full article
-
By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Lights the Way with New… Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Lights the Way with New Multiwavelength Galaxy View
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy NGC 1559. ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, W. Yuan, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, A. Riess, K. Takáts, D. de Martin & M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble) The magnificent galaxy featured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is NGC 1559. It is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Reticulum, approximately 35 million light-years from Earth. The brilliant light captured in the current image offers a wealth of information.
This picture is composed of a whopping ten different Hubble images, each filtered to collect light from a specific wavelength or range of wavelengths. It spans Hubble’s sensitivity to light, from ultraviolet through visible light and into the near-infrared spectrum. Capturing such a wide range of wavelengths allows astronomers to study information about many different astrophysical processes in the galaxy: one notable example is the red 656-nanometer filter used here. Ionized hydrogen atoms emit light at this particular wavelength, called H-alpha emission. New stars forming in a molecular cloud, made mostly of hydrogen gas, emit copious amounts of ultraviolet light that the cloud absorbs, ionizing the hydrogen gas causing it to glow with H-alpha light. Using Hubble’s filters to detect only H-alpha light provides a reliable way to detect areas of star formation (called H II regions). These regions are visible in this image as bright red and pink patches filling NGC 1559’s spiral arms.
These ten images come from six different Hubble observing programs, spanning from 2009 all the way up to 2024. Teams of astronomers from around the world proposed these programs with a variety of scientific goals, ranging from studying ionized gas and star formation, to following up on a supernova, to tracking variable stars as a contribution to calculating the Hubble constant. The data from all of these observations lives in the Hubble archive, available for anyone to use. This archive is regularly used to generate new science, but also to create spectacular images like this one! This new image of NGC 1559 is a reminder of the incredible opportunities that Hubble provided and continues to provide.
Along with Hubble’s observations, astronomers are using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to continue researching this galaxy. This Webb image from February showcases the galaxy in near- and mid-infrared light.
Download this image
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 19, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Science Behind the Discoveries
Hubble’s Galaxies
Hubble Posters
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.