Infinity Cosmos

  🚀Hubble Found It, Webb Flexed on It! NASA, ESA, and CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just hit us with another mind-blowing “Picture of the Month,” and this time, it’s all about HH 30 —a baby star with a dramatic flair! Sitting pretty in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, this young star is rocking a protoplanetary disc that’s literally glowing with potential future planets. And oh, it’s got some serious jets and a disc wind to show off!   💫 What’s So Special About HH 30? Ever heard of Herbig-Haro objects? No? Cool, neither did most of us until now! These are glowing gas clouds marking the tantrums of young stars as they spit out jets of gas at supersonic speeds. HH 30 is one of them, but with a twist—it’s a prototype edge-on disc, meaning we get a front-row seat to the magic of planet formation!   📡 Webb, Hubble & ALMA—The Ultimate Space Detective Team.   To break down HH 30’s secrets, astronomers went full detective mode using:   ✔️...

  Imagine looking up at the night sky, expecting to see a dazzling cosmic traveler, only to find... well, a "headless wonder." That’s exactly what’s happening with Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) after its fiery rendezvous with the Sun in mid-January. The once-bright, show-stopping comet is now fading fast, losing its head (literally), while its ghostly tails still streak across the Southern Hemisphere’s evening sky. The Great Disappearing Act. Astronomers in Río Hurtado, Chile, have captured stunning before-and-after images, showing how the comet's bright nucleus (aka the "head") started dimming and eventually ghosted us all. In early snapshots, G3 ATLAS looked like a proper comet—bright and compact. Fast forward a few nights, and it became more of a celestial smudge than a solid object. Why Is G3 ATLAS Falling Apart? Short answer? The Sun is a brutal landlord. Long answer? When this comet swung in close—way inside Mercury’s orbit—it faced some serious heat. Comets are...

  Get ready for a cosmic collaboration that’s about to take Earth observation to the next level! The upcoming NISAR mission, a joint effort between NASA and ISRO, promises to offer groundbreaking insights into our planet's constantly changing surface. Think of it as a "super-powered spy satellite," but instead of tracking people, it’s tracking earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and even glacier movements. It’s like a reality show where Earth is the drama queen, and NISAR’s the backstage pass. What makes NISAR stand out in the crowd? Well, it has a dual-band radar system—that’s NASA and ISRO flexing their muscle. You see, the L-band radar is all about spotting the big stuff, like boulders and tree trunks, while the S-band radar gets up close and personal with the smaller stuff, like leaves and rough surfaces. Together, they give us a high-definition view of Earth’s surface—down to the centimeter! It’s like the Earth’s Instagram feed but in super high-res, updated...

  The Hubble Space Telescope has recently captured a striking image of a supernova-hosting galaxy, located approximately 600 million light-years away in the constellation Gemini. This image, taken about two months after the discovery of supernova SN 2022aajn, reveals a bright blue dot at the center, signifying the explosive event. Although SN 2022aajn was first announced in November 2022, it has not yet been the subject of extensive research. However, Hubble's interest in this particular supernova lies in its classification as a Type Ia supernova, a type that is key to measuring cosmic distances. Type Ia supernovae occur when a star's core collapses, and they are particularly useful for astronomers because they have a predictable intrinsic brightness. No matter how far away a Type Ia supernova is, it emits the same amount of light. By comparing its observed brightness to this known luminosity, astronomers can calculate how far away the supernova — and its host galaxy — are from...

  In a groundbreaking study, astronomers have unveiled new evidence that the universe's most massive black holes can influence their own feeding process by generating outbursts that help cool down gas. Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the team has made significant progress in understanding how black holes feed on gas through a self-sustaining cycle. The research focused on seven clusters of galaxies, which house the largest galaxies and the most massive black holes, with masses ranging from millions to billions of times the size of our Sun. These black holes are known to produce powerful jets driven by the consumption of gas. The new findings suggest that these jets not only feed the black holes, but also play a role in regulating the temperature of surrounding gas, facilitating the black holes' continued feeding. Images captured by Chandra and VLT show the Perseus and Centaurus galaxy clusters, with Chandra’s X-ray data in bl...

NASA has awarded new study contracts aimed at advancing the capabilities necessary for long-term human exploration on the lunar surface. Announced Thursday, the agency awarded contracts to nine American companies across seven states as part of its ongoing efforts to support the Artemis program and deep space exploration. The Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Appendix R contracts will focus on overcoming everyday challenges associated with the lunar environment, as identified in NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture. These contracts are integral to developing sustainable solutions for life and work on the Moon, setting the stage for future missions, including those to Mars. “These contract awards are the catalyst for developing critical capabilities for the Artemis missions and the everyday needs of astronauts for long-term exploration on the lunar surface,” said Nujoud Merancy, Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Strategy and Architecture Office. “The strong respons...