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Is the nearest star cluster to the Sun being destroyed?
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By NASA
2 min read
NASA Science: Being Responsive to Executive Orders
February 18, 2025
To the NASA Science Community –
As the nation’s leader in Earth and space science, NASA Science operates within the broader context of the federal government and its priorities. As part of the Executive Branch, we are always responsive to the direction set by the Administration, including executive orders and policy guidance that relate to our programs and activities.
We are working as quickly as possible to implement these Executive Orders and related policies. We understand that these priorities can have tangible effects on our community, from potential changes in solicitations and mission planning to impacts on grants and research programs. We recognize that uncertainty can be challenging but we are committed to keeping you as informed as possible as we comply with these changes.
Our goal remains steadfast: to support groundbreaking science that advances knowledge and benefits society. As we work through these transitions, we are engaging with stakeholders, assessing implications, and ensuring that we continue to deliver on NASA’s science mission.
We appreciate your patience and dedication, and we will share more details as they become available. Thank you for your continued partnership in advancing NASA Science for the benefit of the nation.
-Nicky Fox
Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate
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Last Updated Feb 18, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA’s SPHEREx is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The SPHEREx space telescope will share its ride to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PUNCH mission.
Credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Christopher
NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), the agency’s newest space telescope. This will lift off with another NASA mission, Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH, which will study the Sun’s solar wind.
The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) Thursday, Feb. 27, for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Watch coverage on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The SPHEREx mission will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
The four small spacecraft that comprise PUNCH will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into solar wind.
The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. NASA’s media credentialing policy is available online. For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Tuesday, Feb. 25
2 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Science Overview News Conference
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH Mission Scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Rachel Akeson, SPHEREx science data center lead, Caltech/IPAC Phil Korngut, SPHEREx instrument scientist, Caltech The news conference will stream on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person or via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Wednesday, Feb. 26
3:30 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Prelaunch News Conference
Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters David Cheney, PUNCH program executive, NASA Headquarters James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Ina Park, 30th Operations Support Squadron launch weather officer Coverage of the prelaunch news conference will stream live on NASA+.
Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Thursday, Feb. 27
12 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Launch Preview will stream live on NASA+.
9:15 p.m. – Launch coverage begins on NASA+.
10:09 p.m. – Launch window opens.
Audio Only Coverage
Audio only of the launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, or -1240. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA+ media launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.
NASA Website Launch Coverage
Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include links to live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 9:15 p.m., Feb. 27, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff.
For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on the SPHEREx blog.
Attend the Launch Virtually
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch.
Watch, Engage on Social Media
You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
X: @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASAUnivese, @NASASun, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP
Facebook: NASA, NASAJPL, NASA Universe, NASASunScience, NASA’s Launch Services Program
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL, @NASAUnivese
For more information about these missions, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/
-end-
Alise Fisher – SPHEREx
Headquarters, Washington
202-617-4977
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier – PUNCH
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
Laura Aguiar
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-593-6245
laura.aquiar@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 18, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Missions Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
5 Min Read Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars
Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Credits:
NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) Discovery proves decades-old theory of galaxy feeding cycle.
Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally solved the mystery of how a massive galaxy cluster is forming stars at such a high rate. The confirmation from Webb builds on more than a decade of studies using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, as well as several ground-based observatories.
The Phoenix cluster, a grouping of galaxies bound together by gravity 5.8 billion light-years from Earth, has been a target of interest for astronomers due to a few unique properties. In particular, ones that are surprising: a suspected extreme cooling of gas and a furious star formation rate despite a roughly 10 billion solar mass supermassive black hole at its core. In other observed galaxy clusters, the central supermassive black hole powers energetic particles and radiation that prevents gas from cooling enough to form stars. Researchers have been studying gas flows within this cluster to try to understand how it is driving such extreme star formation.
Image A: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA Annotated)
Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Webb’s powerful sensitivity in the mid-infrared detected the cooling gas that leads to a furious rate of star formation in this massive galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) “We can compare our previous studies of the Phoenix cluster, which found differing cooling rates at different temperatures, to a ski slope,” said Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, principal investigator of the program. “The Phoenix cluster has the largest reservoir of hot, cooling gas of any galaxy cluster — analogous to having the busiest chair lift, bringing the most skiers to the top of the mountain. However, not all of those skiers were making it down the mountain, meaning not all the gas was cooling to low temperatures. If you had a ski slope where there were significantly more people getting off the ski lift at the top than were arriving at the bottom, that would be a problem!”
To date, in the Phoenix cluster, the numbers weren’t adding up, and researchers were missing a piece of the process. Webb has now found those proverbial skiers at the middle of the mountain, in that it has tracked and mapped the missing cooling gas that will ultimately feed star formation. Most importantly, this intermediary warm gas was found within cavities tracing the very hot gas, a searing 18 million degrees Fahrenheit, and the already cooled gas around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The team studied the cluster’s core in more detail than ever before with the Medium-Resolution Spectrometer on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). This tool allows researchers to take two-dimenstional spectroscopic data from a region of the sky, during one set of observations.
“Previous studies only measured gas at the extreme cold and hot ends of the temperature distribution throughout the center of the cluster,” added McDonald. “We were limited — it was not possible to detect the ‘warm’ gas that we were looking for. With Webb, we could do this for the first time.”
Image B: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA)
This image of the Phoenix cluster combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Very Large Array radio telescope. X-rays from Chandra depict extremely hot gas in purple. Optical light data from Hubble show galaxies in yellow, and filaments of cooler gas where stars are forming in light blue. Outburst generated jets, represented in red, are seen in radio waves by the VLA radio telescope. NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT). A Quirk of Nature
Webb’s capability to detect this specific temperature of cooling gas, around 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is in part due to its instrumental capabilities. However, the researchers are getting a little help from nature, as well.
This oddity involves two very different ionized atoms, neon and oxygen, created in similar environments. At these temperatures, the emission from oxygen is 100 times brighter but is only visible in ultraviolet. Even though the neon is much fainter, it glows in the infrared, which allowed the researchers to take advantage of Webb’s advanced instruments.
“In the mid-infrared wavelengths detected by Webb, the neon VI signature was absolutely booming,” explained Michael Reefe, also of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead author on the paper published in Nature. “Even though this emission is usually more difficult to detect, Webb’s sensitivity in the mid-infrared cuts through all of the noise.”
The team now hopes to employ this technique to study more typical galaxy clusters. While the Phoenix cluster is unique in many ways, this proof of concept is an important step towards learning about how other galaxy clusters form stars.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).
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View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Read the research paper published in Nature.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hannah Braun hbraun@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:00:40 Back in 2023, we reported on Solar Orbiter’s discovery of tiny jets near the Sun’s south pole that could be powering the solar wind. The team behind this research has now used even more data from the European Space Agency’s prolific solar mission to confirm that these jets exist all over dark patches in the Sun’s atmosphere, and that they really are a source of not only fast but also slow solar wind.
The newfound jets can be seen in this sped-up video as hair-like wisps that flash very briefly, for example within the circled regions of the Sun's surface. In reality they last around one minute and fling out charged particles at about 100 km/s.
The surprising result is published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, highlighting how Solar Orbiter’s unique combination of instruments can unveil the mysteries of the star at the centre of our Solar System.
The solar wind is the never-ending rain of electrically charged particles given out by the Sun. It pervades the Solar System and its effects can be felt on Earth. Yet despite decades of study, its origin remained poorly understood. Until now.
The solar wind comes in two main forms: fast and slow. We have known for decades that the fast solar wind comes from the direction of dark patches in the Sun’s atmosphere called coronal holes – regions where the Sun’s magnetic field does not turn back down into the Sun but rather stretches deep into the Solar System.
Charged particles can flow along these ‘open’ magnetic field lines, heading away from the Sun, and creating the solar wind. But a big question remained: how do these particles get launched from the Sun in the first place?
Building upon their previous discovery, the research team (led by Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany) used Solar Orbiter’s onboard ‘cameras’ to spot more tiny jets within coronal holes close to the Sun’s equator.
By combining these high-resolution images with direct measurements of solar wind particles and the Sun’s magnetic field around Solar Orbiter, the researchers could directly connect the solar wind measured at the spacecraft back to those exact same jets.
What’s more, the team was surprised to find not just fast solar wind coming from these jets, but also slow solar wind. This is the first time that we can say for sure that at least some of the slow solar wind also comes from tiny jets in coronal holes – until now, the origin of the solar wind had been elusive.
The fact that the same underlying process drives both fast and slow solar wind comes as a surprise. The discovery is only possible thanks to Solar Orbiter’s unique combination of advanced imaging systems, as well as its instruments that can directly detect particles and magnetic fields.
The measurements were taken when Solar Orbiter made close approaches to the Sun in October 2022 and April 2023. These close approaches happen roughly twice a year; during the next ones, the researchers hope to collect more data to better understand how these tiny jets ‘launch’ the solar wind.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA. This research used data from Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), Solar Wind Plasma Analyser (SWA) and Magnetometer (MAG). Find out more about the instruments Solar Orbiter is using to reveal more about the Sun.
Read our news story from 2023 about how Solar Orbiter discovered tiny jets that could power the solar wind
Read more about how Solar Orbiter can trace the solar wind back to its source region on the Sun
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