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A glimpse of a colorful cloud near the Milky Way's nearest neighbors.

By Surendra Uikey
  In this week’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week, we are introduced to a stunning view of one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors – the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). A dwarf galaxy located about 200,000 light-years away, the SMC resides primarily in the constellation Tucana, with a small part extending into the constellation Hydrus. Because of its proximity, the SMC is one of the few galaxies visible to the naked eye from Earth, without the need for a telescope or binoculars. For stargazers in the southern hemisphere and certain northern latitudes, the SMC appears as a faint fragment of the Milky Way itself, though in reality, it is far removed from our galaxy. Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope's advanced 2.4-meter ‘eye’ and highly sensitive instruments, the view of the SMC is much more detailed and vivid than what is visible to the human eye. The Wide Field Camera 3 on Hubble captured this breathtaking scene using four different filters that observe distinc...
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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Direct Images of Gas Giants in Iconic Planetary System.

By Surendra Uikey
  NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the clearest infrared images yet of the HR 8799 system, showcasing the intrinsic differences of its planets. HR 8799 e orbits 1.5 billion miles from its star, while HR 8799 b orbits 6.3 billion miles away. The image uses colors applied to Webb’s NIRCam filters—blue for 4.1 microns, green for 4.3 microns, and red for 4.6 microns—to reveal the planets' unique characteristics. The host star’s light is blocked by the coronagraph. Webb’s NIRCam captured this image of 51 Eridani b, a cool, young exoplanet orbiting 890 million miles from its star, similar to Saturn’s orbit. The 51 Eridani system is located 97 light-years from Earth. The image uses a 4.1-micron light filter, with the red background resulting from light subtraction during processing, not from other planets. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured groundbreaking images of multiple gas giant planets within the HR 8799 system, located 130 light-years away. This...
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Hubble Snaps a Cosmic Duo: A Star and a Galaxy That Aren’t Even Close.

By Surendra Uikey
  In a classic case of “looks can be deceiving,” NASA and ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a sparkling spiral galaxy and a bright star that appear to be hanging out together in the constellation Virgo. Spoiler alert: they’re not. In fact, they’re separated by a *mere* 45 million light-years. Talk about a long-distance relationship!   Meet the Stars of the Show. The Star: This dazzling point of light, marked by four long diffraction spikes (Hubble’s signature style), is actually a resident of our own Milky Way galaxy, sitting about 7,109 light-years from Earth.   The Galaxy: NGC 4900, a beautiful spiral galaxy, is way out there—45 million light-years away. It’s like the star photobombed a galaxy selfie from another cosmic neighborhood.   How Did Hubble Capture This?  This image is a mashup of data from two of Hubble’s instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys (still going strong since 2002) and the older Wide Field and Plane...
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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Reveals New Insights Into Brown Dwarfs in the Flame Nebula.

By Surendra Uikey
  This collage compares images of the Flame Nebula: the left shows a near-infrared view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, while the right features near-infrared images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, revealing a more translucent cloud and highlighting young stars and brown dwarfs. Webb’s images offer a deeper look into this star-forming region. The Flame Nebula, located approximately 1,400 light-years from Earth, is a vibrant and dynamic region where stars are still in the process of being born. Within this cosmic nursery, astronomers have discovered objects that are too small to ignite hydrogen fusion—the defining characteristic of stars—called brown dwarfs. These so-called “failed stars” are cooler and dimmer than full-fledged stars, which makes them notoriously hard to detect, especially from vast distances. However, when these brown dwarfs are young, they are still relatively bright and warm, making them easier to observe, even through the dense dust and gas that ...
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NASA's James Webb Telescope Reveals Breathtaking Details of Star-Forming Nebula Lynds 483.

By Surendra Uikey
  Shimmering ejections from two forming stars shape Lynds 483 (L483), with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope revealing stunning new details, including asymmetrical lines that intersect, located 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured extraordinary new images of Lynds 483 (L483), a star-forming region located within a vast molecular cloud. These high-resolution near-infrared images offer unprecedented views of two actively forming stars at the heart of the nebula. Their luminous ejections of gas and dust, visible in a stunning blend of orange, blue, and purple hues, have been intricately revealed by Webb’s powerful instruments. Over tens of thousands of years, these central protostars have periodically expelled dense gas and dust in the form of tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows. When more recent ejections collide with older material, the interaction creates intricate patterns of crumpling and twisting. This proces...
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Would energy-saving measures extend the life of the Voyager mission?

By Surendra Uikey
  The image concept showcases one of NASA's iconic Voyager probes, which were launched in 1977 to explore the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond. These twin spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were designed to gather scientific data about the planets, moons, and other celestial bodies in our solar system. As they venture further into interstellar space, they continue to provide valuable insights, making them some of the most significant missions in space exploration history. NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, the ultimate space pioneers, are still out there exploring the cosmos—but they’re starting to feel their age. Launched in 1977, these twin spacecraft have been cruising through space for over 45 years, and they’re now the farthest human-made objects from Earth. But with their power supply dwindling, NASA has had to make some tough decisions to keep them going.   What’s the Plan?  To save energy, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have started tu...
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A Planet's Destruction by White Dwarf Detected in Helix Nebula.

By Surendra Uikey
This image depicts a planet (left) being torn apart by tidal forces from a white dwarf (right) at the center of a planetary nebula, with other planets in the system (upper left and lower right) influencing its inward migration. Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, observing the first-ever planet being destroyed by a white dwarf at the heart of a planetary nebula. This finding, detailed in a recent press release, could explain a mysterious X-ray signal that has been detected from the Helix Nebula for over four decades. The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula, the remnant of a star like our Sun that has shed its outer layers, leaving behind a small, dim star known as a white dwarf. The white dwarf at the center of the Helix Nebula, identified as WD 2226-210, has been emitting an unusual X-ray signal, puzzling astronomers for years. This signal is now believed to be the result of a planet's destruction by the white dwarf's intense tidal forces. The X-ray data, captured...
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