NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

January 28, 2025

Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay

Comets can be huge. When far from the Sun, a comet's size usually refers to its hard nucleus of ice and rock, which typically spans a few kilometers smaller than even a small moon. When nearing the Sun, however, this nucleus can eject dust and gas and leave a thin tail that can spread to an enormous length even greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Pictured, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) sports a tail of sunlight-reflecting dust and glowing gas that spans several times the apparent size of a full moon, appearing even larger on long duration camera images than to the unaided eye. The featured image shows impressive Comet ATLAS over trees and a grass field in Sierras de Mahoma, San Jose, Uruguay about a week ago. After being prominent in the sunset skies of Earth's southern hemisphere, Comet G3 ATLAS is now fading as it moves away from the Sun, making its impressive tails increasingly hard to see.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

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Mahakumbh Mela Captured In Breathtaking Photos From International Space Station By Astronaut Don Pettit

Monday, January 27, 2025, 02:08 PM IST

The Mahakumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, on Sunday, was captured in stunning images from the International Space Station.

Shared by astronaut Don Pettit on social media platform X, the photos showcase the illuminated banks of the Ganga, reflecting the vibrant energy of this grand event from a celestial perspective.

The breathtaking images capture the radiant lights and vast gathering of devotees at Mahakumbh, showcasing it as a truly majestic spectacle.

These space-shot photos underscore the sheer scale of this religious event, which continues to amaze people worldwide.

The Mahakumbh Mela, regarded as the most significant religious event globally, draws millions of devotees who immerse themselves in the sacred Ganga to attain spiritual solace.

Over 13 crore devotees have participated in this profound experience at the Sangam, while the stunning images from space have left the world in awe.

These visuals are bound to elevate global attention toward the 2025 Maha Kumbh.

Sharing the photos, Don Pettit remarked on the remarkable view of the Mahakumbh Mela from the ISS, highlighting the radiant brilliance of the world’s largest human gathering along the Ganga’s banks.

https://www.freepressjournal.in/mahakumbh/mahakumbh-mela-captured-in-breathtaking-photos-from-international-space-station-by-astronaut-don-pettit

https://x.com/astro_Pettit/status/1883613984563355783

Vanderbilt-led NASA satellite mission enters implementation phase

January 27, 2024

Vanderbilt’s $42 million NASA-supported satellite mission dedicated to studying ice cloud formation was approved for its next stage of development on Oct. 29, 2024.

Since then, engineers and scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have been gathering materials while Blue Canyon Technology builds the two spacecrafts necessary for the estimated 2027 launch.

The mission was selected with the intention of helping scientists and humanity at large understand Earth’s dynamic atmosphere.

Dr. Ralf Bennartz, professor of earth and environmental science, is the principal investigator for the mission. He emphasized the project’s focus on ice clouds as an underrepresented area for research within climate science.

“Climate predictions come with uncertainty. We don’t quite know exactly how the Earth is going to be warming in 10, 20 [or] 50 years from now,” Bennartz said.

“We want to give constraints to people who model the climate system, and in doing so, provide better guidance for environmental and government agencies on mitigating climate change 30, 40 years from now.”

The NASA instrument that will be used in the mission is known as the Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer (PolSIR), which can travel around the Earth 14 to 15 times in one day and will take measurements to help scientists determine how ice clouds behave.

Bennartz said this project represents the technological development of the U.S. on a global scale.

“This is an observation concept that has not been realized in the U.S. as of yet. The Chinese have instruments they’re putting into space.

The Europeans have similar instruments they’re putting into space, although not quite with exactly the same capabilities,” Bennartz said.

“On the U.S. side, we’re playing a little bit of technological catch-up with other global leaders in Earth exploration.”

In addition to the technological development occurring in the implementation phase, the project also includes student collaboration and educational programming.

Christopher Vanags, director of the Peabody research office and a research assistant professor in earth and environmental sciences, currently leads the project’s educational efforts.

He said a big objective of this work is to make science more accessible.

“My job is about connecting scientists with the community.

They’re thinking very deeply about the science that’s involved in getting this radiometer up into space [and] how to control it — things like that,” Vanags said.

“I think a really important component of that is to take what they’re doing and sort of give the public an eye into that process.”

According to Vanags, one of the biggest educational initiatives he leads includes providing high school students at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt opportunities to work on projects involving topics like computational thinking and electrical engineering.

Pamela Popp, an instructor at Vanderbilt’s collaborative for STEM education and outreach, expressed excitement about seeing students’ enthusiasm for a project with such significance.

“It’s about following these processes that are parallel to the high-tech processes that the NASA scientists are doing,” Popp said. “Everybody wants to work with NASA. If you’re interested in STEM at all, that’s every kid’s dream.”

Beyond K-12 outreach, Bennartz said he sees a lot of potential for undergraduate involvement, as students would gain exposure to scientists from various universities, including Columbia University, the University of Michigan and Texas A&M.

“We’re trying to do a little sandbox theoretical experiment to see how the instrument will take observations, eventually leading all the way down to improved climate modeling,” Bennartz said.

“There is a great science team beyond just my group at Vanderbilt, which is something potentially very attractive to undergraduates as well as graduate students because they get embedded in this nationwide and international project.”

Planning for the project initially began in May of 2023, which is when NASA-granted funding for the project was approved.

While there have been pauses on research funding due to recent executive actions by President Donald Trump’s administration, Bennartz said he does not think the project will be immediately affected by these actions.

Additionally, Bennartz added that while the $42 million project is on the smaller side of NASA missions, he believes the project still represents notable strides in the field of climate research.

“We are a small mission, but I think we can ultimately contribute something significant to help make better climate predictions. It’s very exciting,” Bennartz said.

https://vanderbilthustler.com/2025/01/27/vanderbilt-led-nasa-satellite-mission-enters-implementation-phase/

NASA's Juno Mission Captures Close-Ups of Polar Storms on Jupiter

Jan. 27, 2025

During its 65th close flyby of Jupiter on Sept. 20, 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this series of images as it approached the giant planet and swung low over its north polar region.

Juno's recent orbits have provided exceptionally clear views of Jupiter's circumpolar cyclones.

At closest approach in this series of images, the Juno spacecraft was about 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops, at a latitude of 82 degrees north of the equator.

Citizen scientist Brian Swift made this image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, applying digital processing techniques to enhance color and clarity.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia25730-nasas-juno-mission-captures-close-ups-of-polar-storms-on-jupiter/

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing

Black Holes Can Cook for Themselves, Chandra Study Shows

Jan 27, 2025

Astronomers have taken a crucial step in showing that the most massive black holes in the universe can create their own meals.

Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) provide new evidence that outbursts from black holes can help cool down gas to feed themselves.

This study was based on observations of seven clusters of galaxies.

The centers of galaxy clusters contain the universe’s most massive galaxies, which harbor huge black holes with masses ranging from millions to tens of billions of times that of the Sun.

Jets from these black holes are driven by the black holes feasting on gas.

These images show two of the galaxy clusters in the study, the Perseus Cluster and the Centaurus Cluster.

Chandra data represented in blue reveals X-rays from filaments of hot gas, and data from the VLT, an optical telescope in Chile, shows cooler filaments in red.

The results support a model where outbursts from the black holes trigger hot gas to cool and form narrow filaments of warm gas.

Turbulence in the gas also plays an important role in this triggering process.

According to this model, some of the warm gas in these filaments should then flow into the centers of the galaxies to feed the black holes, causing an outburst.

The outburst causes more gas to cool and feed the black holes, leading to further outbursts.

This model predicts there will be a relationship between the brightness of filaments of hot and warm gas in the centers of galaxy clusters.

More specifically, in regions where the hot gas is brighter, the warm gas should also be brighter.

The team of astronomers has, for the first time, discovered such a relationship, giving critical support for the model.

This result also provides new understanding of these gas-filled filaments, which are important not just for feeding black holes but also for causing new stars to form.

This advance was made possible by an innovative technique that isolates the hot filaments in the Chandra X-ray data from other structures, including large cavities in the hot gas created by the black hole’s jets.

The newly found relationship for these filaments shows remarkable similarity to the one found in the tails of jellyfish galaxies, which have had gas stripped away from them as they travel through surrounding gas, forming long tails.

This similarity reveals an unexpected cosmic connection between the two objects and implies a similar process is occurring in these objects.

This work was led by Valeria Olivares from the University of Santiago de Chile, and was published Monday in Nature Astronomy.

The study brought together international experts in optical and X-ray observations and simulations from the United States, Chile, Australia, Canada, and Italy.

The work relied on the capabilities of the MUSE (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) instrument on the VLT, which generates 3D views of the universe.

Visual Description

This release features composite images shown side-by-side of two different galaxy clusters, each with a central black hole surrounded by patches and filaments of gas.

The galaxy clusters, known as Perseus and Centaurus, are two of seven galaxy clusters observed as part of an international study led by the University of Santiago de Chile.

In each image, a patch of purple with neon pink veins floats in the blackness of space, surrounded by flecks of light. At the center of each patch is a glowing, bright white dot.

The bright white dots are black holes. The purple patches represent hot X-ray gas, and the neon pink veins represent filaments of warm gas. According to the model published in the study, jets from the black holes impact the hot X-ray gas.

This gas cools into warm filaments, with some warm gas flowing back into the black hole. The return flow of warm gas causes jets to again cool the hot gas, triggering the cycle once again.

While the images of the two galaxy clusters are broadly similar, there are significant visual differences.

In the image of the Perseus Cluster on the left, the surrounding flecks of light are larger and brighter, making the individual galaxies they represent easier to discern.

Here, the purple gas has a blue tint, and the hot pink filaments appear solid, as if rendered with quivering strokes of a paintbrush.

In the image of the Centaurus Cluster on the right, the purple gas appears softer, with a more diffuse quality.

The filaments are rendered in more detail, with feathery edges, and gradation in color ranging from pale pink to neon red.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/black-holes-can-cook-for-themselves-chandra-study-shows/

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/

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