This article was originally featured on Popular Science.

With the summer solstice behind us, it’s true that we are losing tiny bits of sunlight per day.  But that just means the short summer nights are growing a bit longer—all the better to catch exciting things happening this month. Skygazing in July should be pretty comfortable for those in the Northern Hemisphere as temperatures reach their summer highs. Here are some events to look out for and if you happen to get any stellar sky photos, tag us and include #PopSkyGazers.

July 1- Conjunction of Venus and Mars 

Kicking off the first full month of summer with Venus and Mars making a close approach to one another. The two planets will be visible just after 8 PM EDT on June 30, and will reach their closest approach at 3:09 AM EDT on July 1 as dusk fades into darkness. Both planets will lie roughly within the constellation Leo. 

[Related: We finally know why Venus is absolutely radiant.]

July 3- Full Buck Supermoon

July’s full moon will rise on Monday, July 3 and reach peak illumination at 7:39 AM EDT. The moon will be below the horizon, so skygazers should look towards the southeast after the sunset to watch the Buck Moon rise. 

It is also a supermoon, which means that it will appear bigger than many other full moons this year. It will be 224,895.4 miles away from Earth, and only next month’s Blue Moon will venture closer to Earth this year. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanacs, this is the first of four total supermoons for 2023.

The name Buck Moon refers to the time of year when the antlers of male deer are in full-growth mode. Additional names for July’s full moon include the Blueberry Moon or Miini-giizis in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), the String Bean Moon or Ohyotsheli in Oneida, and the Thunderstorm Moon or Hiyeswa Tiriri Nuti in the Catawba Language.

[Related: ‘Skyglow’ is rapidly diminishing our nightly views of the stars.]

July 7- Venus at its brightest point of the year

The second planet from our sun is already an extremely luminescent planet, but it will be at its brightest point for all of 2023 this month. It’s hard to miss this dazzling planet, so look in the direction of sunset on any clear summer evening beginning on July 7. The lighted portion of the planet, known as the crescent Venus, will cover its greatest area on our sky’s dome. 

July 16–27- Lāhaina Noon

This twice a year event occurs during the months of May and July in the Earth’s tropical region when the sun is directly overhead at around solar noon. At this point, upright objects do not cast shadows. 

According to the Bishop Museum, in English, the word “lāhainā” can be translated as “cruel sun,” and is a reference to severe droughts experienced in that part of the island of Maui in Hawaii. An older term in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is “kau ka lā i ka lolo,” which means “the sun rests upon the brain,” and references both the physical and cultural significance of the event.

July 29–30- Delta Aquarids meteor shower peaks

The lesser known Delta Aquarids is the first of the summer’s annual meteor showers. It starts on July 18, but is predicted to peak on July 29 and 30. However, if you miss it, don’t worry. The meteor shower doesn’t have a noticeable peak like others. It “rambles” along steadily from the end of July into the beginning of August, when it joins up with the Perseids Meteor shower—but more on that next month.

The Delta Aquarids’ can reach a maximum rate 15 to 20 meteors per hour in a dark sky with no moon. Since August’s full moon arrives early, take advantage of the moonless nights towards the end of July. Skygazing for this meteor shower is a bit better in the Southern Hemisphere, but can still be quite visible in the southern United States. 

The same skygazing rules that apply to pretty much all space-watching activities are key this month: Go to a dark spot away from the lights of a city or town and let the eyes adjust to the darkness for about a half an hour. 

The post Catch a Buck Moon, luminous Venus, and more in the sky this July appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Date Event

April showers may bring May flowers, but this spring has several meteor showers in store. Between April’s Lyrid meteor shower, the official announcement of NASA’s Artemis II astronauts, and a particularly strange “hybrid” eclipse, it’s a pretty exciting time to be a space cadet. The celestial excitement continues this month–especially around May 5–as the weather warms up and skygazing at night becomes a bit more comfortable. Here are some events to look out for and if you happen to get any stellar sky photos, tag us and include #PopSkyGazers.

May 4 and 5- Full Flower Moon

The Full Flower moon reaches peak illumination at 1:36 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 5. The moon will be below the horizon and in daylight at this time, so the best bet is to take a look on the nights of May 4 and 5. The name Flower Moon is in reference to May’s blooms when flowers are typically most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere. 

May’s full moon is also called the Budding Moon or Zaagibagaa-giizis in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe, the Summer Moon or Upinagaaq in Inupiat, and the Dancing Moon or Tahch’ahipu in Tunica, the language of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana.

May 5 and 6- Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

Following April’s total solar eclipse, May will see a penumbral lunar eclipse. Here, the moon will pass deep into the counterpart of planet Earth’s shadow, known as a penumbra. It will be the deepest penumbral eclipse until September 2042. This kind of eclipse is very subtle and those in the regions that can see it will most likely notice that the moon appears a little bit darker, as long as the night skies are clear. 

People living in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa will have the best chance of seeing this event.  

May 5 and 6- Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower

We were not kidding when we said that May 5 is a big day for celestial events! The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower is expected to peak on May 5 and 6, where roughly 10 to 30 meteors per hour can be seen. Eta Aquarid meteors are known to be speed demons, with some traveling at about 148,000 mph into the Earth’s atmosphere. These fast meteors can leave behind little incandescent bits of debris in their wake called trains. 

This meteor shower is usually active between April 19 and May 28 every year, peaking in early May. It’s radiant, or the point in the sky where the meteors appear to come from, is in the direction of the constellation Aquarius and the shower is named for the constellation’s brightest star, Eta Aquarii. It is also one of two meteor showers created by the debris from Comet Halley.

The Eta Aquarids are visible in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres just before dawn, but the Southern Hemisphere has a better chance of seeing more of the Eta Aquarids.

May 27-30- Lāhaina Noon

This twice a year event in the Earth’s tropical region is when the sun is directly overhead around solar noon. At this point, upright objects do not cast shadows. It happens in May and then again in July.

According to the Bishop Museum, in English, the word “lāhainā” can be translated as “cruel sun,” and is a reference to severe droughts experienced in that part of the island of Maui in Hawaii. An older term in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is “kau ka lā i ka lolo,” which means “the sun rests upon the brain” and references both the physical and cultural significance of the event

May 29- Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation

The planet Mercury will reach its greatest separation from the sun in late May and into June. It may be difficult to see from the United States, but is expected to reach this point in pre-dawn hours beginning on May 29. 

The same skygazing rules that apply to pretty much all space-watching activities are key this month: Go to a dark spot away from the lights of a city or town and let the eyes adjust to the darkness for about a half an hour. 

The post Here’s what you can expect to see in the night sky throughout May appeared first on Popular Photography.

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In the grand scheme of the universe and its stars, our sun isn’t all that powerful or special. While its death will certainly wreak havoc on the solar system, it isn’t big enough to trigger a supernova—one of the most violent cosmic phenomena we know of.

So, to understand what a star’s demise truly entails, astronomers have to zoom around to other parts of the galaxy with tools such as GAIA and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). One of the fascinating subjects they’ve keyed in on is WR 124, a “runaway star” that’s speeding away from home as it sheds gas, dust, and other stellar matter. Located at a distance of 15,000 light-years from Earth, it’s churning through a pre-supernova state that experts want to study up close.

A new JWST infrared image, captured last summer but shared publicly this week, exposes some of the explosive details scientists have been looking for. The telescope used a spectrograph and two of its advanced cameras to record the halo of dust emanating from WR 124. The star is currently in the “Wolf-Rayet phase,” in which it loses much of its mass to surrounding space. The bright white spot at the center shows the burning stellar core; the pink and purple ripples represent a nebula of hydrogen and other ejecta.

Stars of a certain magnitude will go through the Wolf-Rayet transformation as their lifespan winds down. WR 124 is one of the mightiest stars in the Milky Way, with 3,000 percent more mass than our sun. But its end is nye—it will collapse into a supernova in a few hundred thousand years.

In the meantime, astronomers will use images and other data from JWST to measure WR 124’s contribution to the universe’s “dust budget.” Dust is essential to the universe’s workings, as NASA explains. The stuff protects young stars and forms a foundation for essential molecules—and planets. But much more of it exists than we can account for, the space agency notes: “The universe is operating with a dust budget surplus.”

The spectacular cloud around WR 124 might explain why that is. “Before Webb, dust-loving astronomers simply did not have enough detailed information to explore questions of dust production in environments like WR 124, and whether the dust grains were large and bountiful enough to survive the supernova and become a significant contribution to the overall dust budget. Now those questions can be investigated with real data,” NASA shared.

As JWST enters its second year of exploration, the observatory will take a sweeping look at galaxies far and near to reconstruct a timeline of the early universe. But individual stars can add to that cosmological understanding, too, even if they aren’t all on a glorious death march like WR 124.

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NASA successfully slammed a satellite into an asteroid yesterday, in a first-of-its-kind test of our planetary defense capabilities. Like something out of a blockbuster movie, the objective of the interstellar collision was to see if we can alter the trajectory of an approaching comet with a human-made object.

We won’t know if the experiment accomplished its goal for another two months or more. But the collision portion of the test was a resounding success. And best of all, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft sent back some really cool asteroid collision images, along with a video of its final moments.

What is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)?

Related: A stormy, iridescent Jupiter shines bright in Webb’s latest images

NASA’s DART project is seven years and $325 million in the making. If that price sounds high, consider the fact that information gleaned from the experiment could one day save our planet from total or partial destruction.

The DART spacecraft, which was about the size of a four-door sedan, launched into space 10 months ago. Its ultimate target, an egg-shaped Asteroid named Dimorphos, is about 525-foot-wide. The goal was not to destroy Dimorphos—you’d need a much bigger spacecraft for that—but rather to nudge it enough to adjust its orbit around another, larger asteroid, Didymos (the two are considered “twin” asteroids).

“This really is about asteroid deflection, not disruption. This isn’t going to blow up the asteroid,” says Nancy Chabot, DART coordination lead at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. It’ll be a little while before we know whether or not the kinetic impact altered the asteroid’s trajectory. But if it did, it’ll be a huge accomplishment for science and humanity. And even if it didn’t, just making contact is a huge achievement in itself.

“DART’s success provides a significant addition to the essential toolbox we must have to protect Earth from a devastating impact by an asteroid. This demonstrates we are no longer powerless to prevent this type of natural disaster,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer.

Asteroid collision images

The DART spacecraft made contact with Dimorphos at around 7:16 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, September 26. And thanks to the craft’s onboard “DRACO imager” camera—operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland—we got a front-row seat to that exact moment, which was also live-streamed to the public. See the video below.

Initially, the DART spacecraft targeted the larger, more visible Didymos asteroid, before switching to its smaller twin during the mission’s final hour. NASA lost command of the spacecraft in the final minutes before impact, which occurred at a leisurely speed of 14,000 miles per hour.

The final four images show the spacecraft passing by Didymos with Dimorphos growing larger and larger in the frame until we see only its surface. And then, KABOOM, the last frame is almost completely red due to the transmission cutting. According to NASA, that image was taken just four miles from the surface of the asteroid and one second before impact.

What’s next for DART?

It’s worth mentioning that Dimorphos and Didymos are more than 7 million miles from Earth and pose no threat. However, there are plenty of unknown objects yet to be identified by scientists, and at least some of these could potentially make contact with our planet. This is why the DART experiment doesn’t end with this initial impact.

Another smaller spacecraft was hanging around nearby to observe the collision. And countless land-based telescopes also witnessed it. While it may take a few weeks before we get additional views from space, videos from the ground are already circulating, like this one captured by the ATLAS asteroid tracking telescope.

Additionally, the European Space Agency plans to send up its hera spacecraft in the next few years to further investigate the aftermath of the test. For now, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that everything went according to plan as we eagerly anticipate more asteroid collision images.

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When you think of planets with rings, Saturn normally takes the cake for its iconic icy spirals. But, Saturn isn’t the only planet in our solar system that the universe put a ring on. As a matter of fact, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just capture the clearest view of Neptune’s rings in over 30 years.

A fresh view of Neptune’s rings

“It has been three decades since we last saw these faint, dusty rings, and this is the first time we’ve seen them in the infrared,” said Heidi Hammel, a Neptune system expert and interdisciplinary scientist for Webb, in a press release.

In 1989, NASA’s Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to observe Neptune during its late 80’s flyby. Now, JWST has taken this crisp image of the planet’s rings—some of which have not been detected since that mission over three decades ago. The photo clearly shows Neptune’s finer bands of dust, in addition to the bright and narrow rings.

Neptune is an ice giant due to the chemical makeup of the planet’s interior. When compared with the solar system’s gas giants (Jupiter and the more famously ringed Saturn), Neptune is much richer in elements that are heavier than hydrogen and helium.

Where’s the blue?

Related: Cosmic cartwheels, Webb captures the chaos of a galactic collision

JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) can see space objects on a different light spectrum called the near-infrared range. This means that Neptune doesn’t appear blue in the pictures the NIRCam takes. “The planet’s methane gas so strongly absorbs red and infrared light that the planet is quite dark at these near-infrared wavelengths, except where high-altitude clouds are present,” according to NASA. These methane-ice clouds show up as bright streaks and spots, which reflect sunlight before begin absorbed by the methane gas. The Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory have also recorded these rapidly changing cloud features.

Astronomers suspect that the thin line of brightness circling the planet’s equator could be a sign that there is atmospheric circulation that fuels Neptune’s winds and storms. It glows at infrared wavelengths more than the surrounding cooler gases because the atmosphere drops down and warms at Neptune’s equator.

It takes Neptune 164 Earth years to orbit the sun, so its northern pole is just out of view for astronomers. However, the JWST images show a possible brightness up there. JWST can see a previously-known vortex at Neptune’s southern pole, but a continuous band of high-latitude clouds surrounding it was revealed for the first time in these images.

The 14 moons of Neptune

Related: The James Webb Space Telescope’s first 5 images deliver stunning views of the universe

JWST also captured pictures of seven of Neptune’s 14 known moons (Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus, Larissa, and Triton). Neptune’s large and “unusual” moon Triton dominates this portrait of the planet, creating a point with diffraction spikes that make it look like a star. Triton is covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen and it reflects 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it. It is much brighter than Neptune in this image because the planet’s atmosphere is darkened by methane absorption when seen at these near-infrared wavelengths. Since Triton orbits Neptune in an unusual retrograde orbit (aka backward), astronomers believe that this moon may have originally been a Kuiper belt object that Neptune used its gravity to capture. Studies of both Triton and Neptune by JWST are planned for the coming year.

Since the first documented discovery of Neptune in 1846, Neptune has long fascinated scientists. Compared to Earth, it’s 30 times farther from the sun. It orbits in the remote, dark region of the outer solar system, where the sun is so small and faint that high noon on Neptune is similar to a dim twilight on Earth.

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An aurora dances, illuminating the night sky. The Milky Way stretches across snowy mountain tops. An abstracted view of the sun and moon. These images and more make up the winning cohort for this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards, which are put on anually by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London. 

About the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 

Related: Feast your eyes on these brilliant astronomy photos

In its 14th year, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards whittled down over 3,000 submissions from 67 countries to crown the winners. The competition is hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and the images are on display at the National Maritime Museum in London starting September 17. 

The goal of the awards is to present the best space photography from around the world. Photographers can enter images into the following categories: Aurorae; Galaxies; Our Moon; Our Sun; People and Space; Planets, Comets, and Asteroids; Skyscapes; Stars and Nebulae; and the Young Competition. There are also two special prizes, the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation.

The grand prize winner receives £10,000 (approximately $11,400), while the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year nets £1,500 ($1,700). Runners-up and highly commended entries will see £500 ($570) and £250 ($285), respectively. All winners receive a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine. 

Astronomy Photographer of the Year

Related: Best telescopes

Also the winner of the “Planets, Comets, and Asteroids” category, Gerald Rhemann now bears the title of Astronomy Photographer of the Year with his image, Disconnection event. The picture shows Comet Leonard’s gas tail being swept away by solar wind. 

“Rhemann’s astonishing image of Comet Leonard, a long-period comet first identified in January 2021, was captured by the Austrian photographer in Namibia on Christmas Day. Comet Leonard was the brightest comet of the year in 2021 but won’t be seen from Earth again,” the jury writes. 

“When I first saw this image of Comet Leonard, I was blown away. This picture of a recent visitor to our Solar System has been captured beautifully. The stars in the background give the comet’s tail a magical appearance. I could stare at this image all day,” commented Melissa Brobby, judge and Social Media Officer for the Institute of Physics.

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year

A team of plucky 14-year-olds snagged the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year prize. Yang Hanwen and Zhou Zezhen submitted a photo of the Milky Way’s closest and largest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy.

“I think this photo shows how gorgeous our nearest neighbor is,” Hanwen says. “One of the main functions of astrophotography is to attract more people to fall in love with astronomy by showing the beauty of the Universe,” adds Zezhen.

The judges were impressed, too. 

“It is a superb capture by young astrophotographers, who also demonstrate their exceptional talent in processing a deep-sky photo.” writes László Francsics, judge and Chairman of the Hungarian Astrophraphers’ Association.  

Skyscapes

Zijui Hu’s winning image uses light trails to give the illusion of speed, evoking a scene reminiscent of Star Wars against the dramatic backdrop of a mountain peak rising above the fog. 

“I love the juxtaposition of the star trails against the clear peak of the mountain. The motion of the clouds adds to the drama,” Hu says.

People & Space

Andrew McCarthy puts the International Space Station into perspective as it traverses its stellar path. Mighty though it may be, the picture highlights how small we truly are. 

“The symbol of man, the tiny silhouette of the ISS, is dwarfed by the vast and detailed lunar surface, colored by mineral deposits. It shows us just how fragile we are,” notes judge Francsics.

Aurorae

Jagged chunks of ice glow softly in the gentle light of an aurora, which streaks green against a dark, starry night sky. 

“I love this photo because it really sums up aurorae for me: the green ‘swoosh’ reflected in the icy lake, the clarity of the edges of the ice blocks and the looming shadow of the mountain,” comments judge Sheila Kanani. 

Galaxies

The team of Utkarsh Mishra, Michael Petrasko, and Muir Evenden claimed the Galaxies category prize with Majestic Sombrero Galaxy. Upon closer inspection, you can see where it gets its unusual name: the faint galaxy does indeed resemble a hat.

“The Sombrero is a well-documented galaxy, yet astrophotographers still find ways to tease more majesty from it. To see the misty remnants of previous collisions surrounding the galaxy, itself floating alone in the void, is just exquisite,” notes judge Steve Marsh.

Our Moon 

Martin Lewis is the winner of the Our Moon category with a stunning detail image featuring Plato’s East Rim. The stark lighting and heavy shadow add an element of mystery to an otherwise well-known fixture of space.

“This close-up of the Plato crater has become one of my favorite photographs of the Moon. This image of the east rim being hit by the Sun’s rays is wondrously unique and proves that, no matter how often we look at the Moon, it always has many more wonderful sights for us to observe,” says judge Brobby. 

Our Sun

Here, the sun glows—not a fiery, explosive, bubbling dance, but rather projecting a powerful calm over the planets it presides. 

“The commitment and diligence (not to mention luck) needed to image the Sun every day for a year is a feat within itself. But, more than just a matter of hard work, this photographer has achieved a fascinating and unique look at the progression of sunspot bands across its disc,” judge Marsh writes.

Stars & nebulae

If a higher power is out there, Weitang Liang sure captured some convincing proof. It doesn’t look like anything you’d want to cross—but the beauty is dazzling nonetheless. 

“The colors in this photograph make for a stunning composition—from the fiery red to the defiant, moody blue at the center of the ‘eye’. It’s easy to see how the ancients used to stargaze into the heavens and imagine that the cosmos was looking back, keeping a watchful eye over us,” shares judge Imad Ahmed. 

The Annie Maunder Prize for Digital Innovation

With a little bit of abstraction, Pauline Woolley transforms the sun into a desolate maze streaked by ominous black swirls that harken back to swaying branches in the wind. 

“Dendrochronology—the scientific method of calculating dates based on tree rings—is used by art historians and conservators to date wood panel paintings, but here the technology has been utilized to create an unusual and beautiful composition. This is an innovative photograph that immediately astonished all the judges,” writes judge Hannah Lyons.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer

Stretching high into the starry sky, the Milky Way forms a celestial bridge across snow-capped mountains, earning Lun Deng the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer. 

“The icy, ragged mountaintop is contrasted beautifully with the Milky Way, the lighter pink and indigo hues of which offer us a mesmerizing, warm glow. I also have to commend the photographer’s dedication—standing in the snow in freezing conditions—to capture this picture!” judge Ahmed comments. 

How to enter the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition

The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is open to all photographers worldwide. The submission period begins on January 10, with a limit of 10 photos per participant. Check the website or the Facebook group for updated information and deadlines.

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Lobster, anyone? Another day, another mouthwatering space photo to feast your eyes on. This 570-megapixel image was made using the US Department of Energy’s Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is located on top of the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Captured as part of the department’s Dark Energy Survey, it reveals thousands of young stars shining in and around a region known as the “Lobster Nebula.”

About the Dark Energy Survey

Operated by the Nation Science Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab, DECam has spent the past 10 years hunting far and wide for signs of dark energy. Why? Researchers believe dark energy is the force responsible for a somewhat troubling acceleration in the universe’s expansion. So, as you might imagine, finding and understanding the elusive matter is a top priority.

More fledging stars than an LA coffee shop

To commemorate DECam’s decade of service, the NSF released this colorful image of the Lobster Nebula, which is ironically located in the Scorpius Constellation. At about 8,000 light-years from Earth, the nebula, also known as NGC 6357, is filled with thousands of fledging stars on the cusp of birth.

Stretching roughly 400 light-years across, at its center is an “open star cluster” called Pismis 24. Beyond that, you’ll find “a region brimming with newborn stars, protostars still wrapped in their cocoons of star-forming material, and dense cores of gas and dust that will eventually become new stars,” according to a post on NOIRLab’s blog. Interstellar winds, radiation, and magnetic fields also contribute to the twisting “braids” of red clouds.

How the Lobster Nebula image was made

Researchers observed the Lobster Nebula on multiple occasions, employing a different filter each time, to capture a wide range of light wavelengths. The individual images were then stacked to create the final version shown here.

According to the NOIRLab, DECam is one of the strongest wide-field, charged-coupled device (CCD) cameras in the world. It can capture even the faintest sources of light in our universe and is able to deliver up to 500 observations a night. In fact, DECam just hit its one millionth image milestone!

What a year for space photography

2022 is turning out to be a fantastic year for space photography. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been hard at work since its December 2021 launch, focusing on some of the oldest portions of the universe as well as our own neighbors, while Hubble continues to impress with snaps of star clusters and phantom galaxies (with some help from Webb).

Land-based telescopes have also contributed to the fun. Just a few days ago we were treated to an incredibly up-close-and-personal view of our sun, thanks to researchers using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. And now we have this smashing shot of everyone’s favorite interstellar crustacean. Which begs the question, what will we be treated to next?

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In recent months, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has dazzled us with breathtaking shots of galactic collisions and phantom galaxies, while Hubble continues to churn out exquisite views of distant nebulas and far-off star clusters. But now, our very own sun gets in the limelight as the focus of study for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) newly inaugurated Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.

The Inouye Solar Telescope is the world’s most powerful, and to celebrate its first successful year in its Operations Commissioning Phase (OCP), the NSF has released two stunning photos of our sun, as never before seen.

Related: On Hubble’s 32nd birthday, NASA shares a photo of 5 close-knit galaxies 

About the new Inouye Solar Telescope Images

The new images detail the Sun’s chromosphere, which is the area of the atmosphere above the surface. The telescope captured an area of 51,263 miles using the hydrogen-beta line, a visible wavelength emitted by the hydrogen atom. The telescope’s goal is to gather data about solar physics and space weather that affects life on Earth. 

“NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope is the world’s most powerful solar telescope that will forever change the way we explore and understand our sun,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “Its insights will transform how our nation, and the planet, predict and prepare for events like solar storms.”

The Inouye Solar Telescope is situated on sacred land significant to native Hawaiians, and the Inouye Solar Telescope Native Hawaiian Working Group advised the project on cultural matters during construction. Since the launch of the OCP in February of this year, the telescope, which was a 25-year endeavor, has collected data for over 20 projects and worked in coordination with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter.

While we’re keen to see all that JWST and Hubble discover across the universe, these new Inouye Solar Telescope photos have us just as excited to see what will be discovered in our neighborhood next. 

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In suburban Chicago, about 34 miles west of Lake Michigan, sits a hole in the ground that goes about 330 feet straight down. Long ago, scientists had the shaft drilled for a particle physics experiment that’s long vanished from this world. Now, in a few short years, they will reuse the shaft for a new project with the mystical name MAGIS-100.

When MAGIS-100 is complete, physicists plan to use it for detecting hidden treasures: dark matter, the mysterious invisible something that’s thought to make up much of the universe; and gravitational waves, ripples in space-time caused by cosmic shocks like black holes collisions. They hope to find traces of those elusive phenomena by watching the quantum signatures they leave behind on raindrop-sized clouds of strontium atoms.

But actually observing those atoms is trickier than you might expect. To pull off similar experiments, physicists have so far relied on cameras comparable to the ones on a smartphone. And while the technology might work fine for a sunset or a tasty-looking food shot, it limits what physicists can see on the atomic level.

Related: This may be the highest-resolution microscope we’ll ever get

Stanford-developed dark matter camera makes the most of mirrors

Fortunately, some physicists may have an upgrade. A research team from different groups in Stanford, California, has created a unique camera contraption that relies on a dome of mirrors. The extra reflections help them to see what light is entering the lens, and tell what angle a certain patch of light is coming from. That, they hope, will let them peer into an atom cloud like never before.

Your mobile phone camera or DSLR doesn’t care where light travels from: It captures the intensity of the photons and the colors reflected by the wavelengths, little more. For taking photographs of your family, a city skyline, or the Grand Canyon, that’s all well and good. But for studying atoms, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. “You’re throwing away a lot of light,” says Murtaza Safdari, a physics graduate student at Stanford University and one of the creators.

Physicists want to preserve that information because it lets them paint a more complex, 3D picture of the object (or objects) they’re studying. And when it comes to the finicky analyses physicists like to do, the more information they can get in one shot, the quicker and better. 

One way to get that information is to set up multiple cameras, allowing them to snap pictures from multiple angles and stitch them together for a more detailed view. That can work great with, say, five cameras. But some physics experiments require such precise measurements that even a thousand cameras might not do the trick.

So, in a Stanford basement, researchers decided to set out on making their own system to get around that problem. “Our thinking…was basically: Can we try and completely capture as much information as we can, and can we preserve directional information?” says Safdari.

Their resulting prototype—made from off-the-shelf and 3D-printed components—looks like a shallow dome, spangled with an array of little mirror-like dots on the inside. The pattern seems to form a fun optical illusion of concentric circles, but it’s carefully calculated to maximize the light striking the camera.

How the dark matter camera works

For the MAGIS-100 project, the subject of the shot—the cloud of strontium atoms—would sit within the dome. A brief light flash from an external laser beam would then scatter off the mirror-dots and through the cloud at a myriad angles. The lens would pick up the resulting reflections, how they’ve interacted with the molecules, and which dots they’ve bounced off.

Then, from that information, machine learning algorithms can piece the three-dimensional structure of the cloud back together. Currently, this reconstruction takes many seconds; in an ideal world, it would take milliseconds, or even less. But, like the algorithms used to trainy self-driving cars to adjust to the surrounding world, researchers think their computer codes’ performance will improve. 

While the creators haven’t gotten around to testing the camera on atoms just yet, they did try it out by scanning some suitably sized sample parts: 3D-printed letter-shaped pieces the size of the strontium droplets they intend to use. The photo they took was so clear, they could find defects where the little letters D, O, and E varied from their intended design. 

For atom experiments like MAGIS-100, this equipment is distinct from anything else on the market. “The state of the art are just cameras, commercial cameras, and lenses,” says Ariel Schwartzman, a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California and co-creator of the Stanford setup. They scoured photo-equipment catalogs for something that could see into an atom cloud from multiple angles at once. “Nothing was available,” says Schwartzman.

What’s next for the dark matter camera

Complicating matters is that many experiments require atoms to rest in extremely cold temperatures, barely above absolute zero. This means they require low-light conditions—shining any bright light source for too long could heat them up too fast. Setting a longer exposure time on a camera could help, but it also means sacrificing some of the detail and information needed in the final image. “You are allowing the atom cloud to diffuse,” says Sanha Cheong, a physics graduate student at Stanford University and member of the camera-building crew. The mirror dome, on the other hand, aims to use only a brief laser-flash with an exposure of microseconds. 

Related: DIYer 3D-prints a working 35mm movie camera

The creators’ next challenge is to actually place the camera in MAGIS-100, which will take a lot of tinkering to fit the camera to a much larger shaft and in a vacuum. But physicists are hopeful: A camera like this might go a lot further than detecting obscure effects around atoms. Its designers plan to use it for everything from tracking particles in plasma to measuring quality control of small parts in the factory.

“To be able to capture as much light and information in a single shot in the shortest exposure possible—it opens up new doors,” says Cheong.

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Patches of stardust. The gleam of distant galaxies. Gaseous swirls in colors rich enough to paint a renaissance tableau. In the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) latest image drop, we get a peek at the Tarantula Nebula as never seen before, and the images are mesmerizing. 

Related: Webb photographs what may be the universe’s oldest galaxy

About the Tarantula Nebula

Formally known as 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula is a frequent object of study for astronomers focused on star formation. At 161,000 light-years away, it is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The name alludes not to the spider itself but rather to its resemblance to the silk-lined burrow.

The region is home to plenty of young and still-forming stars, many of which the JWST has just revealed for the first time. The JWST team notes that the Tarantula Nebula is the largest, brightest star-forming region in the Local Group, which consists of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors. The hottest, largest stars known exist here. 

“A range of Webb’s high-resolution infrared instruments, working together, reveal the stars, structure, and composition of the nebula with a level of detail not previously possible,” the JWST website shares. “Astronomers will use Webb throughout its mission to gain insight into star formation and the stellar life cycle, the implications of which extend to our own star, the Sun, as well as the formation of the heavy chemical elements that are integral to life as we know it.”

Related: Webb’s latest ‘photo’ is actually chorizo

What the images of the Tarantula Nebula show

The JWST employed its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to capture images of the Tarantula Nebula. Using the NIRCam, the JWST catches an otherwise unseen moment: a young star emerging. 

“The nebula’s cavity centered in the NIRCam image has been hollowed out by blistering radiation from a cluster of massive young stars, which sparkle pale blue in the image,” the JWST team explains. “Only the densest surrounding areas of the nebula resist erosion by these stars’ powerful stellar winds, forming pillars that appear to point back toward the cluster. These pillars contain forming protostars, which will eventually emerge from their dusty cocoons and take their turn shaping the nebula.”

What’s so important about the Tarantula Nebula?

30 Doradus is distinct in that it shares a similar chemical composition with early gigantic star-forming regions at the beginning of the cosmos. The Milky Way doesn’t see star production at nearly the same rate as the Tarantula Nebula, and the chemical makeup isn’t similar, either. 30 Doradus is a fine example of what it would have been like way back when.

“Webb will provide astronomers the opportunity to compare and contrast observations of star formation in the Tarantula Nebula with the telescope’s deep observations of distant galaxies from the actual era of cosmic noon,” JWST notes.

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