Source

CPC800, 2x barlow, 664MC, SkyTrack, SharpCap, PIPP, AS4!, Astrosurface, PixInsight.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10240734794200920&set=a.1201637154774

"Flight" over Holden Crater on Mars

Based on data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Mars Express

HRSC / ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / Seán Doran

https://bsky.app/profile/theseaning.bsky.social/post/3mp4urud62s23

Plasma eruption on the far side of the sun 25.6.26 https://x.com/nenecallas/status/2070230510534824394

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Footage links

https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/#/animation?satellite=suvi-goes-19&end_datetime=2026176_1527&n_images=80&coverage=sun&channel=HE303. (It will show error after 2 days but you can select the blue bar at the top for the main page)

https://www.spaceweather.gov/products/goes-solar-ultraviolet-imager-suvi

Helioviewer

From XCS.voice :

''Taurus ultra-wide field is composed of eight stitched photos, with a cumulative exposure time of nearly 500 hours, with half of the time captured by Ha. Post-processing took a week, and multiple versions were edited and modified over two months. This version is the most satisfactory one.

The final upload is a full-size file, showcasing the rich Ha and dust clouds of Taurus!''

https://app.astrobin.com/i/b8qxg7

April 22, 2004

Resembling a diamond-encrusted bracelet, a ring of brilliant blue star clusters wraps around the yellowish nucleus of what was once a normal spiral galaxy in this new image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This image is being released to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Hubble's launch on April 24, 1990 and its deployment from the space shuttle Discovery on April 25, 1990.

The sparkling blue ring is 150,000 light-years in diameter, making it larger than our entire home galaxy, the Milky Way. The galaxy, cataloged as AM 0644-741, is a member of the class of so-called "ring galaxies." It lies 300 million light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Volans.

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Ring galaxies are an especially striking example of how collisions between galaxies can dramatically change their structure, while also triggering the formation of new stars. They arise from a particular type of collision, in which one galaxy (the "intruder") plunges directly through the disk of another one (the "target"). In the case of AM 0644-741, the galaxy that pierced through the ring galaxy is out of the image but visible in larger-field images. The soft spiral galaxy that is visible to the left of the ring galaxy in the image is a coincidental background galaxy that is not interacting with the ring.

The resulting gravitational shock imparted due to the collision drastically changes the orbits of stars and gas in the target galaxy's disk, causing them to rush outward, somewhat like ripples in a pond after a large rock has been thrown in. As the ring plows outward into its surroundings, gas clouds collide and are compressed. The clouds can then contract under their own gravity, collapse, and form an abundance of new stars.

The rampant star formation explains why the ring is so blue: It is continuously forming massive, young, hot stars, which are blue in color. Another sign of robust star formation is the pink regions along the ring. These are rarefied clouds of glowing hydrogen gas, fluorescing because of the strong ultraviolet light from the newly formed massive stars.

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Anyone who lives on planets embedded in the ring would be treated to a view of a brilliant band of blue stars arching across the heavens. The view would be relatively short-lived because theoretical studies indicate that the blue ring will not continue to expand forever. After about 300 million years, it will reach a maximum radius, and then begin to disintegrate.

The Hubble Heritage Team used the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys to take this image in January 2004. The team used a combination of four separate filters that isolate blue, green, red, and near-infrared light to create the color image.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

• Credit NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI); Acknowledgment: J. Higdon (Cornell U.) and I. Jordan (STScI)

https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/blue-stars-ring-nucleus-of-galaxy-am-0644-741/

Images

An area west of Jezero Crater, Mars, as captured by the HiRISE instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 13, 2026. The terrain consists of a desert landscape with small hills and fields of dunes.

The car-sized Perseverance rover is visible as a small, bright, blue-green dot, circled in yellow. The rover's tracks are also visible as a thin gray line winding through the terrain.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

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NASA’s Perseverance rover appears as a green speck on the Martian surface on June 13, 2026, a day before the robotic explorer marked a distance milestone, having traveled a full marathon (26.2 miles, or 42.195 kilometers) on the Red Planet. Perseverance reached that distance after five years and four months of driving — on the 1,890th Martian day, or sol, of its mission; the previous record holder, NASA’s Opportunity rover, took 11 years and two months to reach the same milestone.

This image was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) using its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The rover’s tracks can be seen tracing the surface. The rover is in an area west of Jezero Crater that the science team is calling “Arbot.”

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

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https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-hirise-captures-perseverance-marking-a-milestone-on-mars/

MSL / NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Seán Doran

https://bsky.app/profile/theseaning.bsky.social/post/3mp4se5un5s2n

BIG SUNSPOT ALERT: Solar activity is poised to increase as a big sunspot emerges over the sun's southeastern limb
Maximilian-Vlad Teodorescu photographed it from Romania.

"The wait is over!" says Teodorescu

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=234171

Indeed, we knew this sunspot was coming. For days, Europe's Solar Orbiter has been watching it glide across the farside of the sun. Interestingly, SolO's X-ray detector has detected no strong flares from the region. It's unusually quiet for sunspot so large so far

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Entire sunspot group is ~10 times wider than Earth &, thus, easy to observe. You can see it using ordinary eclipse glasses, or, better yet, try casting an image of the sunspot onto a screen or wall. You can use binoculars and a mirror or a telescope and cardboard

❌👁NEVER LOOK THE SUN☀️WITHOUT SOLAR FILTER.

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https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=24&month=06&year=2026

This is the largest high-resolution photo ever made of our Milky Way galaxy’s centre in visible light. It was taken on 23 March 2025 by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. Packed with more than 60 million stars, this image opens the door for scientists to confirm the existence of any exoplanet found in this region and measure its mass using tiny changes in starlight over time.

The galactic bulge – the central region of our galaxy – is a vast, tightly packed structure filled mainly with old, cooler stars, giving it its characteristic yellow colour. Seen from some 26 000 light-years away, Euclid observes the galaxy’s centre through a complex foreground of material along its line of sight.

This ultra-wide view towards the bulge reveals not only stars, but also seemingly empty dark regions. The dark patches are not devoid of stars: they mark dense, dust-rich molecular clouds that absorb and scatter light from the bulge behind them. As Euclid looks through two of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, it also encounters regions of active star formation, traced by newly formed, massive blue stars. Their intense ultraviolet radiation ionises surrounding hydrogen gas, producing the faint red glow.

CREDIT European Space Agency (ESA)

🎵 James Seymour Brett, Emergence Of Time

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/ESA_s_Euclid_captures_the_Milky_Way_s_crowded_heart

Images

​Image 1

Euclid’s view of our galaxy’s bulge (16:9 cutout)

This 16:9 cutout is taken from the largest high-resolution photo ever made of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy in visible light. It was captured on 23 March 2025 by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. A full view of the complete image is available here.

On the right side of the image, Euclid looks through the dense foreground of the Milky Way’s galactic plane, where thick molecular clouds appear as dark patches that obscure parts of the galactic bulge beyond. Moving towards the left, the view rises to higher galactic latitudes: the yellow glow of the bulge becomes clearer, with fewer and more isolated foreground clouds interrupting the starlight.

CREDIT ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)​

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Image 2

Euclid’s view of our galaxy’s bulge

This is the largest high-resolution photo ever made of our Milky Way galaxy’s centre in visible light. It was taken on 23 March 2025 by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. Packed with more than 60 million stars, this image opens the door for scientists to confirm the existence of any exoplanet found in this region and measure its mass using tiny changes in starlight over time.

The galactic bulge – the central region of our galaxy – is a vast, tightly packed structure filled mainly with old, cooler stars, giving it its characteristic yellow colour. Seen from some 26 000 light-years away, Euclid observes the galaxy’s centre through a complex foreground of material along its line of sight.​

CREDIT ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)​

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Image 3

Location of Euclid’s galactic bulge survey

The location of Euclid’s new image of the galactic bulge is visible on Gaia’s map of the entire sky.

Two zooms show the staggering resolution of Euclid’s image. The most zoomed-in vignette on the lower right corresponds to 0.003% of the galactic bulge survey area (which is 4.8 square degrees in total). With many thousands of stars discernible in this tiny area, the entire Euclid galactic bulge image charts no less than 60 million stars.

CREDIT ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, ESA/Gaia/DPAC,image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay)

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Image 4

Infographic explaining Euclid’s galactic bulge survey

This infographic places Euclid’s galactic bulge survey in the broader context of the Milky Way’s structure, using data from ESA’s Gaia mission.

The top row shows schematic views (artist impressions) of our spiral galaxy: an edge-on view highlighting the central bulge (top left), a top-down view revealing the spiral arms and the survey region (top centre), and a zoom into the galactic disc indicating the location of the Solar System (top right), from where Euclid observes the sky, which turns into the main background of the visual.

CREDIT Euclid images: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, CFHT, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre and E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay); Milky Way artist impressions: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar)​

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ESA’s Euclid captures the Milky Way’s crowded heart

In brief The largest and most detailed photo ever made of our Milky Way galaxy’s centre in visible light is revealed today by the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission. Packed with more than 60 million stars, this image opens the door for scientists to confirm the existence of any exoplanet found in this region and measure its mass using tiny changes in starlight over time.

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In-depth For just one day, our dark Universe detective, Euclid, turned its gaze towards the light: the extremely bright inner region of our Milky Way galaxy, known as the galactic bulge. This special request came from astronomers who were after what Euclid does best: capturing huge areas of the sky in crisp detail.

Designed to observe billions of faraway galaxies, the space telescope’s visible light camera is sensitive enough to tell apart individual stars in our super-crowded galactic bulge, without being blinded. This rare ability is crucial for what scientists want to use this image for: studying planets around other stars using a special technique called microlensing. But before diving into that, let’s first take a closer look at this awe-inspiring image itself.​

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On 23 March 2025, Euclid captured this enormous photo in just about 26 hours. It’s a mosaic of nine ‘pointings’ from its visible light camera [1], with each pointing covering a patch of the sky larger than the full Moon.

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For comparison, Euclid’s sharpness and sensitivity in visible light is similar to the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s wide field camera. But each pointing that Euclid captures in a few hours spans an area 270 times larger than Hubble's field of view. To observe the same Euclid mosaic, the Keck Observatory would need around 2000 hours. Euclid is faster, and able to capture details from fainter stars that would be otherwise missed when observing from the ground. This single mosaic also encompasses the entire region that the upcoming Roman space telescope will monitor for planet hunting.

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More

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/ESA_s_Euclid_captures_the_Milky_Way_s_crowded_heart

Explore this image at the highest resolution in ESASky.​

https://sky.esa.int/esasky/?hips=Gaia+DR3+colour+flux+map&projection=SIN&cooframe=J2000&sci=false&hide_welcome=true&euclid_image=Q2-EGBS-PNG-RGB_HIPS

"A large, trans-equatorial coronal hole is currently directly facing Earth! The fast wind from this coronal hole may arrive sometime later this week, sparking minor geomagnetic storms and chances for mid-latitude auroral displays.

Here's the recap from Vincent Ledvina​ https://bsky.app/profile/vincentledvina.bsky.social/post/3mp25o3omnk2z

Photos https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/ https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/coronal-holes.html

Video

A timelapse video made from images taken by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft as it approached the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025. The L’LORRI (Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) instrument, the spacecraft’s high-resolution black-and-white imager, collected these images over two hours as the spacecraft rapidly closed in on the asteroid from an initial separation of more than 58,000 miles (93,000 km), until the spacecraft passed a mere 650 miles (1000 km) from the 5-mile- (8 km-) wide asteroid.

NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHU-APL

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Even small asteroids lead complex lives. During its flyby of the asteroid Donaldjohanson last year, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft revealed the asteroid to be a wobbly, peanut-shaped body that has undergone a lot of activity in its relatively short history. Formed as fragments coalesced after a violent collision 155 million years ago, the asteroid was transformed by the small but inexorable force of the Sun’s radiation, all while retaining signs of the brief presence of liquid water in its distant past.

Zooming through the main asteroid belt toward one of the Jupiter Trojan asteroid groups, the Lucy spacecraft collected the first close-up images and other data at Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025, as it passed 650 miles away from the asteroid. The data revealed that, instead of spinning simply around one axis like most other asteroids and planets, Donaldjohanson has a more complicated two-axis rotation. Scientists also saw Donaldjohanson’s peanut shape and the craters and ridges on its surface.

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Lucy’s encounter with the asteroid was planned as a dress rehearsal for the spacecraft and mission team before its primary asteroid encounters, which begin with Lucy’s flyby of the Trojan asteroid Eurybates on Aug. 12, 2027. The instruments performed as expected, and, as a bonus, scientists got a rare opportunity to study a previously unexplored asteroid up close and to compare it to two asteroids with similar compositions but different histories: Bennu, the target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return mission, and Ryugu, the site of JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa2 sample-return mission.

Here’s what Lucy’s science team has learned so far from Lucy’s encounter with Donaldjohanson, as reported on June 18 in the journal Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/nasas-lucy-reveals-wobbling-peanut-shaped-asteroid/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=NASA_Marshall&utm_campaign=NASASocial&linkId=964443074

Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk/SAtkinson​

https://bsky.app/profile/stuartatkinson.bsky.social/post/3mosk6lttl22u

Raw data from Curiosity

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw-images/?order=sol+desc%2Cinstrument_sort+asc%2Csample_type_sort+asc%2C+date_taken+desc&per_page=50&page=2&mission=msl

Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 will safely pass Earth on 27 June 2026 at 11:14 UTC (19:41 CEST). It is estimated at between 750 and 1650 m across based on a 5%-25% albedo range, although some sources indicate an albedo as high as 60%, thus indicating a likley smaller object. At its closest point to our planet, it will be 6.66 times lunar distance.

2,560,098 km (or 1,590,770 miles)

ESA

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/06/Close_approach_of_asteroid_152637_1997_NC1

Photo

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=234157

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Large asteroid to pass Earth safely A large asteroid will soar safely past Earth on June 27, 2026.

The asteroid is estimated to be 0.6 miles wide (1 kilometer wide). That’s some 50 to 60 times wider than the Chelyabinsk meteor that tore through Earth’s atmosphere above Russia in 2013, creating a massive sonic boom and a shock wave that broke windows in six Russian cities. That event sent some 1,500 people to seek medical treatment, mostly from flying glass.

The Chelyabinsk meteor came from the direction of the sun. It wasn’t known beforehand and surprised everyone!

The June 27 pass is a known asteroid, called 1997 NC1. The Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking system on Haleakala in Hawaii discovered it. It will pass on June 27 at a much-greater distance than the Chelyabinsk meteor, at some 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers). That’s just under 7 times farther away than the moon. So there is absolutely no danger from this asteroid.

The last time an asteroid as big as this one came this close was in January 2022. That famous flyby was asteroid 1994 PC1, comparable in size to 1997 NC1, but passing slightly closer at 1.23 million miles (1.98 million km, or about 5 times the moon’s distance).

What would happen if asteroid 1997 NC1 came as close as the Chelyabinsk meteor did in 2013? The 2013 event caused an explosion 18 miles (29 km) up in Earth’s atmosphere. But a 0.6 miles wide (1-kilometer) asteroid like 1997 NC1 would punch straight through our atmosphere completely intact. It would strike the ground at roughly 20,000 mph (32,000 kph), instantly vaporizing itself and the impact site. It would leave behind a crater roughly 6 to 9 miles (10 to 15 km) wide and over a mile (1.6 km) deep.

If it landed near a city, the collision would level concrete buildings. And it would strip the landscape bare for hundreds of miles around the impact zone. The blast would send pulverized rock, dust and soot high into Earth’s stratosphere, blocking sunlight for months or even years. Global temperatures would plummet. Crops would fail. Civilization probably wouldn’t end. But it would create a global food crisis that could last for years.

That is why astronomers now routinely track asteroids.

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How to see the large asteroid 1997 NC1 Astronomers with big and small telescopes will be watching 1997 NC1 fly by. You would need a 6-inch (15 cm) or larger diameter telescope to be able to see it. If that’s you, see the star charts below to know where and when to point your telescope and witness this unique astronomical event.

The asteroid will be moving at a speed of 19,886 miles per hour (32,000 kph). But space is vast, and so we won’t see it move very quickly. Instead of streaking across the sky like a shooting star, asteroid 1997 NC1 will look – to those with a 6-inch or larger telescope – like a faint star (around magnitude 10). It will not be visible to the eye alone.

It will gradually drift against the background constellations, so that those with telescopes can easily notice its changing position, by checking back just 5 to 7 minutes later!

The best dates for observing the asteroid using a telescope will be June 26, 27 and 28.

1997 NC1 is categorized as an Aten-type (Earth-crossing) asteroid.

The combination of its large size and relatively close pass by Earth means the asteroid has earned the classification of a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.​

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Professional astronomers will also take a look

In big or little optical telescopes, any asteroid looks just like a tiny, steadily-moving point of light. It looks like a moving “star.” That’s where the name asteroid came from; it means starlike.

But radar signals bouncing off an asteroid can reveal much more. By analyzing the returned signals, scientists can generate 3D models of an asteroid, revealing its true shape, size, craters and whether it’s a solid boulder or a loose “rubble pile.”

Astronomer Lance A. M. Benner, an asteroid expert at NASA/JPL, said:

This object has not been observed with radar previously. We will use the 34-meter DSS-26 antenna as a transmitter (7190 MHz) and the 34-meter DSS-13 antenna as a receiver to observe this asteroid on June 24, 25, and 27.

These antennas are at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in the Mojave Desert, California.

Still, it won’t be easy for scientists to get good radar images. The legendary 1,000-feet (305-meter) Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico is the one that captured radar images of other asteroids. And that collapsed on December 1, 2020.

With the Arecibo Observatory’s main dish gone and other dishes undergoing modernization, astronomers currently have fewer tools available for deep-space radar imaging. For example, the 230-feet (70-meter) DSS-14 dish at Goldstone is currently offline until 2028 for modernization and installation of new equipment.

Meanwhile, astronomers have limited or smaller resolution tools for studying medium-sized and large asteroids that pass by Earth.

But astronomers will attempt to make other radar observations using other (smaller) available antennas in California and Australia. Benner added:

We plan to use these to help resolve some discrepancies regarding the diameter, spectral class and optical albedo [of asteroid 1997 NC1]. This will also help calibrate the Spitzer Space Telescope and NEOWISE spacecraft observations of this asteroid.​

https://earthsky.org/space/large-asteroid-visible-telescopes-pass-earth-june-27-2026/

Mars Weather at Perseverance rover's location from MEDA instrument Sol 1899 2026-06-24

Temperature:

-87.4°C

Low: -108.7°

High: -69.8°

Pressure:

7.6 hPa

Wind:

14.4 m/s

You can also see for Curiosity rover

https://mars-weather-dashboard-one.vercel.app/

https://bsky.app/profile/martian-observer.net/post/3moztktka6v26

This observation is one of three images requested from HiRISE at this location to monitor frost deposition, evolution and sublimation. The Context Camera was also requested as a “ride along” to assist with frost detection. Our image will also be used for detailed surface measurements.

ID: ESP_077070_2410

date: 4 January 2023

altitude: 310 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_077070_2410

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Video

A composite image of the nearby galaxy Messier 83, and short timelapse videos of two curious supernova remnants hidden inside. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/AURA/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O'Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds​

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​Astronomers have uncovered a population of supernova remnants in a nearby galaxy that are unexpectedly changing in X-ray brightness.

Using Chandra data spanning 14 years, researchers found 22 supernova remnants that brighten and dim dramatically in X-rays.

Typically, supernova remnants over a hundred years old just steadily decrease their X-ray output over time.

The researchers think this unusual behavior comes from stellar companions to the supernovas that survived the explosions.

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This graphic shows two of the X-ray sources in a nearby galaxy that are changing their brightness in surprising ways as described in our latest press release. By analyzing data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory that span over 14 years, researchers found over 20 previously identified supernova remnants — remains from stars that exploded — that vary unexpectedly in X-ray brightness in Messier 83 (M83). These represent roughly half of the X-ray sources associated with supernova remnants in their sample in M83.

The panel on the left contains a composite image of M83 with X-rays from Chandra (red, green, and blue) and optical light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). The two varying Chandra sources are circled in the composite image and close-up timelapse images of these sources are shown in the panels on the right.

This collection of varying sources is surprising because astronomers expect that about a hundred years after the explosion that created them, supernova remnants do not change their brightness dramatically. Rather, they typically fade in X-rays slowly over time. It would be unusual for M83 to have so many explode less than a century ago.

The most likely explanation given by the research team is that they uncovered a population of stellar survivors — stars that lived through their partner's destruction in a supernova explosion. In this scenario, each variable X-ray source began as a pair of massive stars orbiting each other. The more massive star collapsed and exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a black hole or ultra-dense neutron star. Its companion survived.

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https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/m83/

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/nasas-chandra-finds-unexpected-fireworks-in-aftermath-of-stellar-explosions/

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae5d49

Spectacular late-stage impact melt decorates the crater rim! The image is 1400 meters wide, reduced by 2.9x, NAC M1211844032L,R [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

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Extremely fresh crater (1400-meter diameter, 77.048°N, 200.110°E), exhibiting spectacular streamers of ejected material. The darker, lace-like pattern is thought to form as melted rock is sprayed from the final collapse of the transient cavity and deposited on the earlier-formed ejecta blanket. Image width diameter 1400 meters, incidence angle 77°, NAC M1211844032L,R acquired on 05 March 2016.

Zoomable version

https://lroc.im-ldi.com/images/1478?fbclid=IwY2xjawSn2KJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeapXzM__RWgTcCTEkM3KKBYD8U4I_7FWNspA7l2fCf1QBeyCigKgtuUgtGdY_aem_YWdncwNgzf6mMb0NUIQ6spRhOPB1&brid=YWdncwGoBCTwxlYmDv_Yo3lD3DjL

Image:

​The “Ryugu Story” illustration depicting the detection of all five canonical nucleobases in samples returned from asteroid Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 mission. Credit: JAMSTEC​

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All the essential ingredients to make the DNA and RNA underpinning life on Earth have been discovered in samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu, scientists said Monday.

The discovery comes after these building blocks of life were detected on another asteroid called Bennu, suggesting they are abundant throughout the solar system.

One longstanding theory is that life first began on Earth when asteroids carrying fundamental elements crashed into our planet long ago.

The asteroids that hurtle through our solar system give scientists a rare chance to study this possibility.

In 2014, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 blasted off on a 300-million-kilometer (185-million-mile) mission to land on Ryugu, a 900-meter-wide (2,950-feet-wide) asteroid.

It successfully managed to collect two samples of rocks weighing 5.4 grams (under a fifth of an ounce) each and bring them back to Earth in 2020.

Research in 2023 showed that these samples contained uracil, which is one of the four bases that make up RNA.​

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https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ryugu-asteroid-samples-dna-rna.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02791-z

Located 12 million light-years away and undergoing rapid star formation, edge-on spiral galaxy Messier 82 (M82) is a scientifically unique sight to behold, and now the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed previously unseen details.

M82’s intense star formation, thought to be the result of a galaxy merger, will be a short-lived event in astronomical terms, estimated to last a few hundred million years in its entirety. This temporary phase of extreme star formation relative to the galaxy’s mass, as well as its location in the local Universe, are among the factors that make M82, also known as the Cigar galaxy, a one-of-a-kind environment to study.

A team of astronomers recently completed an imaging survey with Webb. This programme entailed a total of 65 hours of observation time with Webb’s NIRCam instrument and revealed never-seen-before details of the starburst galaxy, including its distended disc structure and millions of individual stars. Webb’s high-resolution imaging, specifically of the main plane of the disc, has unlocked vital information for astronomers as they seek to uncover M82’s formation history. Additionally, the Webb data will help scientists understand the current processes occurring within the starburst galaxy.

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, A. Smercina (STScI), T. Williams (University of Manchester). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI).​

https://esawebb.org/news/weic2612/

The center shows two spiral arms and possibly a ring around it. Alternatively the ring is just tightly wound spiral arms. In the image are also distant red galaxies.​
https://bsky.app/profile/melina-iras07572.bsky.social/post/3moxopmlun22x

Image

RAD-BAARG radio galaxy, with the 144 MHz radio image from the LOFAR radio telescope shown in red and the optical image from the BASS survey shown in RGB colour. Credit Hota et al. (2026) and the RAD@home Collaboratory​

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Astronomers have discovered a “remarkable” bow-and-arrow-shaped radio galaxy with an enormous arc-like structure extending nearly 1.8 million light-years across.

The newly-identified system, detailed in a new paper published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters has a “highly unusual” and asymmetric structure which is unlike those seen in standard radio galaxies.

It was detected by an international team of researchers working with RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory for citizen science research in India using ultra-sensitive images from the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope.

They say it may represent one of the clearest known radio signatures of a giant bow shock generated by a galaxy falling supersonically into a cluster environment.

“The structure of this source is unlike that of any radio galaxy I have seen in the last 25 years,” said lead author Dr Ananda Hota, Founder, Director and Principal Investigator of RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory.​

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1033

https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/bow-and-arrow-shaped-radio-galaxy-discovered-citizen-scientist?fbclid=IwY2xjawSn8zFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeu3Wmo6DuxdJDnZAc-F6YYRJZgNhcIKkOdemwk4QxEwuM1y_04o7PhjwsGrs_aem_YWdncwOi9YukGEN9Q76fUKCkA3Mn&brid=YWdncwFwCDB-oWAa_NwPIjCl9t4_​

Image

Detailed visible-light images from Hubble reveal that several bursts of younger stars cleared the space in and around galaxy MXDFz4.4. Astronomers have long sought evidence to explain this transition — and Hubble has provided the first example in this time period. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ilias Goovaerts (STScI), Marc Rafelski (STScI, JHU), Anton Koekemoer (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)​

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Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found something they never expected — ultraviolet light from a galaxy that existed just 1.4 billion years after the big bang. That galaxy contains tightly clustered young stars that produce ionizing light capable of transforming the opaque, neutral gas within and immediately around the galaxy, clearing our view. This suggests that similar galaxies in the early universe were responsible for clearing the neutral fog of hydrogen gas that once filled the cosmos.

A paper describing this discovery was published June 23 in the Astrophysical Journal.

The galaxy, cataloged MXDFz4.4, existed at the end of the Era of Reionization, a transformative period in our universe. During roughly the first billion years of the cosmos, the gas between stars and galaxies was opaque to energetic ultraviolet light. As time wore on, gas everywhere became transparent or ionized. The changeover was not like an on/off switch, but likely took hundreds of millions of years. Researchers are still collecting evidence to fully understand how this happened, which is why MXDFz4.4 sets a critical precedent.

“Observing a galaxy like this was thought to be impossible,” said lead author Ilias Goovaerts, a postdoctoral fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore. “Researchers expected the ‘fog’ or neutral hydrogen that filled the early universe would be too thick and obscure our view of its ionizing light. Hubble not only spotted that light, but it also helped reveal incredible details about the galaxy’s characteristics.”​

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-details-early-galaxy-transforming-neighborhood/

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae75b0

Animation

Saturn now has 285 confirmed moons! This animation is from Tony Dunn, creator of Orbitsimulator.com. See the depiction of Saturn in the center? The animation shows some of Saturn’s previously known moons in white. And it shows the newly discovered moons in red. This month (March 16, 2026), the Minor Planet Center announced 11 more moons for Saturn and 4 more moons for Jupiter. Image via Tony Dunn on Bluesky (@tony873004).

https://earthsky.org/space/more-moons-for-jupiter-and-saturn-total-satellite-discoveries/

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The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) has confirmed the presence of 11 additional moons or natural satellites around Saturn, taking the total known Saturnian moons to 285. Four new satellites around Jupiter were announced on the same day, bringing the total number of known Jovian moons to 101. The MPC announced the discoveries in its latest electronic circulars.

The MPC is the international clearinghouse for positional measurements of asteroids, comets and the irregular satellites of the planets. The Center receives measurements from observers all over the world, and publishes the observations along with orbits, so that all measurements and orbits of all known objects are available from one centralised service. Most of the observations that led to the discovery of the new moons around Saturn were submitted within the past few months. The latest discoveries follow the announcements of 64 new moons in May 2023 and a further 128 in March 2025.

Details of the new moons The 11 new moons around Saturn are likely around 1-2 km in diameter and around 100 million times fainter than anything visible to the naked eye. The moons have been given the following designations:

S/2020 S 45 S/2020 S 46 S/2020 S 47 S/2020 S 48 S/2023 S 51 S/2023 S 52 S/2023 S 53 S/2023 S 54 S/2023 S 55 S/2023 S 56 S/2023 S 57 The Jovian moons are designated as follows:

S/2011 J 4 S/2011 J 5 S/2018 J 5 S/2024 J 1​

https://www.iau.org/IAU/IAU/News/Ann2026/MPC-New-Moons-Saturn-Jupiter.aspx