April 2023

The galaxy Arp 220 as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope

An image (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)) captured by the James Webb Space Telescope portrays Arp 220, a galaxy that is the result, still not fully completed, of a galaxy merger. Intense processes are ongoing within this new galaxy as a consequence, starting with a remarkable star formation activity. X-ray emissions detected by other instruments suggest the presence of an active galactic nucleus. These are activities connected to its nature as an ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) whose emissions allowed Webb to capture many new details.

The Dragon cargo spacecraft departing the International Space Station in its CRS-27 mission (Image NASA TV)

A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-27 (Cargo Resupply Service 27) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly off the Florida Coast. The Dragon left the International Space Station a few hours earlier. For SpaceX, this was the 7th mission of the 2nd contract with NASA to transport supplies to the Station with the new version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft.

Shortly after the splashdown, SpaceX’s recovery ship went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA within a few hours. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on March 16, 2023.

The JUICE space probe blasting off atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket (Image courtesy Arianespace)

A little while ago, ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) space probe was launched atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Kourou base in French Guiana. After about 27 minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and began the long journey that will take it to Jupiter orbit, where it will conduct its scientific mission, focused on the largest planet in the solar system’s so-called icy moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.

The map of dark matter based on observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

During the Future Science with CMB x LSS conference underway at Kyoto University, Japan, the results of a detailed mapping of dark matter in a part of the universe were presented. Three articles available in preview and submitted to “The Astrophysical Journal” illustrate these results, obtained using observations conducted at the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile, which operated between 2007 and 2022. This map (Image courtesy ACT Collaboration) was obtained by analyzing the cosmic microwave background radiation and its deviations caused to the gravity of massive structures such as concentrations of dark matter.

The Cassiopeia A supernova remnant as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope

An image of the supernova remnant cataloged as Cassiopeia A (NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (UGent), J. DePasquale (STScI)), or simply Cas A, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope shows never-before-seen details of the structures present within the materials surrounding what remains of the progenitor star. These are useful details for astronomers to reconstruct the processes that take place in the last stages of the life of a massive star and the consequences of a supernova. Elements generated by the star are scattered into space, including cosmic dust in quantities that could explain the abundance discovered in early galaxies.