From a cosmic carnival parade in the most colorful image of the universe ever created, to the spicy surface of a supervolcanic moon – space in 2023 really goes out of its way to be beautiful. Here are 8 of our favorite space photos from this year.
First image from the Euclid Space Telescope
The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope was launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this year. The telescope aims to map the composition of the “dark universe” – a collective term for the “dark universe”. dark matter and dark energy—but it’s also great for capturing wide-angle images of the universe.
besides First image captured by space telescope No exception: they are absolutely stunning. Sparse clouds of gas, glowing clusters of stars, and rotating spiral galaxies abound.
Perhaps our favorite is this image of the Horsehead Nebula. The Orion Nebula is the closest star-forming region to Earth, 1,500 light-years away, and is filled with stars that sparkle beneath a billowing haze of gas and dust.
In addition to mapping the region’s invisible dark matter and energy, Euclid will also search for Jupiter-mass planets, brown dwarfs and newborn stars.
Juno looked at Io
this Stunning image of Jupiter’s third moon IoThis image, taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, is the highest-resolution image taken in the past 22 years.
Io is the most volcanic world on our planet solar system There are 100 times more volcanoes than on Earth. It shows. Volcanoes on the moon’s surface spew plumes of gas across the moon’s pockmarked surface. Look to the top of the image and you’ll see never-before-seen detail in the moon’s north polar region, which is topped by a group of mountains as high as 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) high.
JWST Ring Nebula
Looks either like an all-seeing cosmic eye or like an unfortunate remains Extra large jelly donut dropped from a heightThere’s a lot to see in this James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image of the 2,000 light-year distant Ring Nebula.
Named for its massive central ring and 10 concentric outer rings, this flattened cloud of gas formed as the final act of a dying star, which shed layers of gas that were then destroyed by a smaller neighboring star. Stars form huge smoke rings.
Compare this image to 2013 Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescopeand the unprecedented power of JWST is easy to appreciate.
James Webb Telescope reveals giant ‘Mothra’ star in most colorful images of the universe yet
Taken using JWST’s powerful infrared imaging instrument, A stunning parade of stars and galaxies across a galaxy cluster MACS0416 Found 4.3 billion light years away from Earth.
A cosmic carnival of galactic windmills, dust lanes, and twisted neon lights of distant starlight stretched by the space-bending gravity of giant star clusters.
Images like this can do more than just blow our minds – full-color displays are captured using multiple wavelengths of light over a stretch of space. By measuring changes in these wavelengths due to the expanding universe, astronomers can determine the distances between many background and foreground objects.
Dazzling new James Webb Telescope image reveals Uranus’ ‘hidden’ rings
The cold outer planet Uranus is about 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the sun, Not considered a “ringed planet”but that’s because its halo is too faint to be seen with most telescopes.
In fact, it wasn’t until the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the edge of the solar system in 1986 that astronomers confirmed the existence of Uranus’s 13 rings – which are composed of a mixture of finely divided ice and dust.
Eleven of the planet’s 13 rings are visible in this image. The last two are so faint that they are only visible when the planet is tilted toward Earth so that all of its rings overlap. The last time it happened was in 2007, when the Hubble Space Telescope took the entire set of images. The next opportunity will be in 2091, when the Earth has rotated sufficiently relative to the Earth for us (or more likely our children and grandchildren) to see the next opportunity.
Rare ‘rainbow cloud’ lights up Arctic sky for three consecutive days
Put aside your multi-million dollar telescopes for now, because This is what you can see with two eyes and a raised head ——Of course, the premise is that you can bravely face the sub-zero temperatures in the Arctic.
Photographer shoots over Glan in southern Norway Ramunie SapeletIn late December, these beautiful iridescent clouds begin to twinkle over the Arctic due to cold currents in the upper atmosphere.they are called polar stratospheric clouds (PSC), or nacreous clouds (named after the iridescent luster of mother-of-pearl, or mother-of-pearl), are formed by sunlight scattering through tiny ice crystals suspended in the air.
James Webb Space Telescope discovers a secret at the center of the Crab Nebula
Located at the core of the Crab Nebula is The remnants of a star’s explosion. It went supernova in 1054 AD, and the shell of the once massive star at the center of the nebula was now a neutron star, spinning streaks of gas rapidly in all directions.
Pointing JWST’s camera at the nebula revealed thin filaments of orange-red gas interspersed with yellow-white and green dust particles. But it was the smoky blue glow that attracted NASA scientists because it may be radiation produced by charged particles moving rapidly along the magnetic field lines produced by the neutron star. This may be the first image of its kind.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx capsule returns to Earth with samples from “potentially hazardous” asteroid Bennu
It seems cruel to end the countdown with a stunning fluorescent image Photo of black and white space rock. But what excites us is what’s on this rock: a possible precursor to life on Earth.
This asteroid is called Bennu. potentially dangerous asteroid It has a 1 in 2,700 chance of hitting Earth by 2182 – the highest chance of any known space object. But the main reason NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed on this remote pile of rubble is the chemicals lurking on the surface.
“This is the largest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever returned to Earth,” NASA Administrator bill nelson Said about press conference After the sample is returned to Earth. “Carbon and water molecules are exactly the elements we want to find. They are key elements in the formation of our own planet, and they will help us determine the origin of elements that could lead to life.”
Tiny slices of the entire sample have been recovered and sent to labs around the world. Some preliminary results could be released as early as 2024, and we can’t wait to see what’s on board.
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Image Source : www.livescience.com