In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of the legendary NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651) located 3400 light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Perseus. The photogenic nebula is a favourite target of amateur astronomers.
M76 is classified as a planetary nebula. This is a misnomer because it is unrelated to planets. But its round shape suggested it was a planet to astronomers who first viewed it through low-power telescopes. In reality, a planetary nebula is an expanding shell of glowing gases that were ejected from a dying red giant star. The star eventually collapses to an ultra-dense, hot white dwarf.
M76 is composed of a ring, seen edge-on as the central bar structure, and two lobes on either opening of the ring. Before the star burned out, it ejected the ring of gas and dust. The ring was probably sculpted by the effects of the star that once had a binary companion star. This sloughed-off material created a thick disc of dust and gas along the plane of the companion’s orbit. The hypothetical companion star isn’t seen in the Hubble image, and so it could have been later swallowed by the central star. The disc would be forensic evidence for that stellar cannibalism.
The primary star is collapsing to form a white dwarf. It is one of the hottest stellar remnants known at a scorching 120 000 degrees Celsius, 24 times our Sun’s surface temperature. The sizzling white dwarf can be seen as a pinpoint in the centre of the nebula. A star visible in projection beneath it is not part of the nebula.
Pinched off by the disc, two lobes of hot gas are escaping from the top and bottom of the ‘belt’ along the star’s rotation axis that is perpendicular to the disc. They are being propelled by the hurricane-like outflow of material from the dying star, tearing across space at two million miles per hour. That’s fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in a little over seven minutes! This torrential ‘stellar wind’ is ploughing into cooler, slower-moving gas that was ejected at an earlier stage in the star’s life, when it was a red giant. Ferocious ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red colour is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen.
The entire nebula is a flash in the pan by cosmological timekeeping. It will vanish in about 15 000 years.
[Image description: A Hubble image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. The name comes from its shape, which is a two-lobed structure of colourful, mottled glowing gases that resemble a balloon that has been pinched around a middle waist. Like an inflating balloon, the lobes are expanding into space from a dying star seen as a white dot in the centre. Blistering ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red colour is from nitrogen, and blue is from oxygen.]
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Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI); CC BY 4.0
Tags: M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology HST Hubble Space Telescope Galaxy Supernova NASA Creative Commons Stars Star Messier 76 NGC 650/651 Perseus Nebula
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ESA’s new class of astronauts is ready to hop on their next adventure, and their class name says it all: the Hoppers.
On 22 April, the new ESA astronauts Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber and Australian Space Agency astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg graduated from their one-year basic astronaut training at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
After completing an intense year of training, they have now received their certification, marking their official transition into fully-fledged astronauts eligible for spaceflight.
In keeping with tradition, the previous ESA astronaut class picked the name from a list of suggestions given by the new class.
The name ‘Hoppers’ refers to the ambition of the new astronauts to hop in low gravity, beginning with missions to the International Space Station and eventually venturing to explore the Moon.
The visual, created by ESA graphic designer Karen Lochtenberg, is in the shape of a space hopper, the bouncy balloon toy familiar to many from their childhood, often connected with the image of a playful alien.
The six ESA astronauts together with the Australian Space Agency astronaut are represented bouncing on their own space hopper in the colour of their respective national flag. During training, it's said that the newcomers often improvised their own set of rules. Similarly, they now bounce through the patch with energy, crossing its borders freely. Among them, the Australian space hopper follows her own path, flipping upside down.
The 12 white stars on the patch represent the 12 members of the astronaut reserve who are also part of the ESA astronaut class of 2022, standing ready to hop into basic training when a future flight opportunity arises.
The backdrop features the seven windows of the European-built Cupola of the International Space Station, offering a glimpse of the next destination for our new astronauts. Moreover, it establishes a connection between the new class and their predecessors, the Shenanigans from the ESA class of 2009, whose class patch also features the iconic Cupola in the background.
Credits: ESA–K. Lochtenberg
Tags: Sophie Adenot Pablo Álvarez Fernández Rosemary Coogan Raphaël Liégeois Marco Sieber. Katherine Bennell-Pegg Australian Space Agency European Astronaut Centre ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology Astronaut EAC Cologne GERMANY the hoppers Astronaut graduation Graduation Patch Design Graphic Design
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ESA's astronaut class of 2022 including Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber, and Australian Space Agency's Katherine Bennell-Pegg during their graduation ceremony at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre on 22 April 2024. Receiving certification marks their transition from candidates to fully qualified astronauts eligible for space missions. Selected in November 2022, the group began their training in April 2023. Basic astronaut training covers spacecraft systems, spacewalks, flight engineering, robotics, life support systems, survival, and medical training, followed by pre-assignment and mission-specific training, setting the stage for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
Tags: Sophie Adenot Pablo Álvarez Fernández Rosemary Coogan Raphaël Liégeois Marco Sieber. Katherine Bennell-Pegg Australian Space Agency European Astronaut Centre ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology Astronaut EAC Cologne GERMANY the hoppers Astronaut graduation Graduation
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ESA's astronaut class of 2022 including Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber, and Australian Space Agency's Katherine Bennell-Pegg during their graduation ceremony at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre on 22 April 2024. Receiving certification marks their transition from candidates to fully qualified astronauts eligible for space missions. Selected in November 2022, the group began their training in April 2023. Basic astronaut training covers spacecraft systems, spacewalks, flight engineering, robotics, life support systems, survival, and medical training, followed by pre-assignment and mission-specific training, setting the stage for future missions to the International Space Station and beyond.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
Tags: Sophie Adenot Pablo Álvarez Fernández Rosemary Coogan Raphaël Liégeois Marco Sieber. Katherine Bennell-Pegg Australian Space Agency European Astronaut Centre ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology Astronaut EAC Cologne GERMANY the hoppers Astronaut graduation Graduation Thomas Pesquet Alexander Gerst Matthias Maurer
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The astronaut class of 2022 social event the evening before the graduation ceremony at EAC in Cologne, Germany on 22 April 2024.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
Tags: Sophie Adenot Pablo Álvarez Fernández Rosemary Coogan Raphaël Liégeois Marco Sieber. Katherine Bennell-Pegg Australian Space Agency European Astronaut Centre ESA European Space Agency Space Universe Cosmos Space Science Science Space Technology Tech Technology Astronaut EAC Cologne GERMANY the hoppers Astronaut graduation Graduation Thomas Pesquet Alexander Gerst Matthias Maurer
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