NASA Preparing for 2014 Comet Watch at Mars

NASA patch.

Jan. 28, 2014

This spring, NASA will be paying cautious attention to a comet that could put on a barnstorming show at Mars on Oct. 19, 2014.

On that date, comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring will buzz Mars about 10 times closer than any identified comet has ever flown past Earth.

Spacecraft at Mars might get a good look at the nucleus of comet Siding Spring as it heads toward the closest approach, roughly 86,000 miles (138,000 kilometers) from the planet, give or take a few percent. On the other hand, dust particles that the comet nucleus sheds this spring could threaten orbiting spacecraft at Mars in October.

The level of risk won’t be known for months, but NASA is already evaluating possible precautionary measures as it prepares for studying the comet.

"Our plans for using spacecraft at Mars to observe comet Siding Spring will be coordinated with plans for how the orbiters will duck and cover, if we need to do that," said Rich Zurek, Mars Exploration Program chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

NEOWISE Spies Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring

Image above: NASA's NEOWISE mission captured images of comet 2013 A1 Siding Spring, which is slated to make a close pass by Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Comet Siding Spring, formally named C/2013 A1, was discovered on Jan. 3, 2013, from Australia's Siding Spring Observatory. At the time, it was farther from the sun than Jupiter is. Subsequent observations enabled scientists at JPL and elsewhere to calculate the trajectory the comet will follow as it swings past Mars. Observations in 2014 will continue to refine knowledge of the comet's path, but in approximate terms, Siding Spring's nucleus will come about as close to Mars as one-third of the distance between Earth and the moon.

Comet Ready for Its Close-up

Observations of comet Siding Spring are planned using resources on Earth, orbiting Earth, on Mars and orbiting Mars, and some are already underway.  NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the NEOWISE mission have observed the comet this month both to characterize this first-time visitor from the Oort cloud and to study dust particle sizes and amounts produced by the comet for understanding potential risks to the Mars orbiters. Infrared imaging by NEOWISE reveals a comet that is active and dusty, even though still nearly three-fourths as far from the sun as Jupiter is. Ground-based observatories such as the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility are also expected to join in as the comet becomes favorably positioned for viewing.

As the comet nears Mars, NASA assets there will be used to study this visitor from distant reaches of the solar system.

"We could learn about the nucleus -- its shape, its rotation, whether some areas on its surface are darker than others," Zurek said.

Researchers using spacecraft at Mars gained experience at trying to observe a different comet in 2013, as comet ISON (formally C/2012 S1) approached Mars. That comet's Mars-flyby distance was about 80 times farther than Siding Spring's will be. Another difference is that ISON continued inward past Mars for nearly two months, briefly becoming visible to some unaided-eye skywatchers on Earth before flying very close to the sun and disintegrating. Siding Spring will reach its closest approach to the sun just six days after its Mars flyby. It won't put on a show for Earth, and it won't return to the inner solar system for about a million years.

Image above: Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a very close approach to Mars in October 2014. Photo-montage credit: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

At comet Siding Spring's flyby distance, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could provide imagery with resolution of dozens of pixels across the diameter of the nucleus. When HiRISE observed comet ISON, the nucleus was less than one pixel across. ISON did not get bright enough to make itself visible to other cameras at Mars that made attempted observations, but Siding Spring could provide a better observation opportunity.

Cameras on the Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity might watch for meteors in the sky that would be an indication of the abundance of particles in the comet's tail, though the geometry of the flyby would put most of the meteors in daytime sky instead of dark sky.

"A third aspect for investigation could be what effect the infalling particles have on the upper atmosphere of Mars," Zurek said. "They might heat it and expand it, not unlike the effect of a global dust storm." Infrared-sensing instruments on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Odyssey might be used to watch for that effect.

Assessing Possible Hazards to Mars Orbiters

One trait Siding Spring shares with ISON is unpredictability about how much it will brighten in the months before passing Mars. The degree to which Siding Spring brightens this spring will be an indicator of how much hazard it will present to spacecraft at Mars.

"It's way too early for us to know how much of a threat Siding Spring will be to our orbiters," JPL's Soren Madsen, Mars Exploration Program chief engineer, said last week. "It could go either way. It could be a huge deal or it could be nothing -- or anything in between."

The path the nucleus will take is now known fairly well. The important unknowns are how much dust will come off the nucleus, when it will come off, and the geometry of the resulting coma and tail of the comet.

During April and May, the comet will cross the range of distances from the sun at which water ice on a comet's surface typically becomes active -- vaporizing and letting dust particles loose. Dust ejected then could get far enough from the nucleus by October to swarm around Mars.

"How active will Siding Spring be in April and May? We'll be watching that," Madsen said. "But if the red alarm starts sounding in May, it would be too late to start planning how to respond. That's why we're doing what we're doing right now."

Two key strategies to lessen risk are to get orbiters behind Mars during the minutes of highest risk and to orient orbiters so that the most vulnerable parts are not in the line of fire.

Many satellites and rovers will be involved. Image Credit: NASA

The Martian atmosphere, thin as it is, is dense enough to prevent dust from the comet from becoming a hazard to NASA's two Mars rovers active on the surface. Three orbiters are currently active at Mars:  NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express. Two more departed Earth in late 2013 and are due to enter orbit around Mars about three weeks before the comet Siding Spring flyby: NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) and India's Mars Orbiter Mission.

Orbiters are designed with the risk of space-dust collisions in mind. Most such collisions do not damage a mission. Design factors such as blanketing and protected placement of vulnerable components help. Over a five-year span for a Mars orbiter, NASA figures on a few percent chance of significant damage to a spacecraft from the background level of impacts from such particles, called meteoroids. Whether the Siding Spring level will pack that much hazard -- or perhaps greater than 10 times more -- into a few hours will depend on how active it becomes.

This comet is orbiting the sun in almost the opposite direction as Mars and the other planets. The nucleus and the dust particles it sheds will be travelling at about 35 miles (56 kilometers) per second, relative to the Mars orbiters. That's about 50 times faster than a bullet from a high-powered rifle and double or triple the velocity of background meteoroid impacts.

Cautionary Preparations

If managers choose to position orbiters behind Mars during the peak risk, the further in advance any orbit-adjustment maneuvers can be made, the less fuel will be consumed. Advance work is also crucial for the other main option: reorienting a spacecraft to keep its least-vulnerable side facing the oncoming stream of comet particles. The safest orientation in terms of comet dust may be a poor one for maintaining power or communications.

"These changes would require a huge amount of testing," Madsen said. "There's a lot of preparation we need to do now, to prepare ourselves in case we learn in May that the flyby will be hazardous."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the NASA's Mars Exploration Program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the flyby of Mars by comet Siding Spring, visit http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/ .

For more about the Mars Exploration Program, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov

Related article:

Comet to Make Close Flyby of Red Planet in October 2014: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/search?q=comet+at+mars

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech /Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Hubble's Double Take

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

28 January 2014

In this new Hubble image two objects are clearly visible, shining brightly. When they were first discovered in 1979, they were thought to be separate objects — however, astronomers soon realized that these twins are a little too identical! They are close together, lie at the same distance from us, and have surprisingly similar properties. The reason they are so similar is not some bizarre coincidence; they are in fact the same object.

These cosmic doppelgangers make up a double quasar known as QSO 0957+561, also known as the "Twin Quasar," which lies just under 14 billion light-years from Earth. Quasars are the intensely powerful centers of distant galaxies. So, why are we seeing this quasar twice?

Some 4 billion light-years from Earth — and directly in our line of sight — is the huge galaxy YGKOW G1. This galaxy was the first ever observed gravitational lens, an object with a mass so great that it can bend the light from objects lying behind it. This phenomenon not only allows us to see objects that would otherwise be too remote, in cases like this it also allows us to see them twice over.

Along with the cluster of galaxies in which it resides, YGKOW G1 exerts an enormous gravitational force. This doesn't just affect the galaxy's shape, the stars that it forms, and the objects around it — it affects the very space it sits in, warping and bending the environment and producing bizarre effects, such as this quasar double image.

Hubble Space Telescope

The first detection of gravitational lensing meant more than just the discovery of an impressive optical illusion allowing telescopes like Hubble to effectively see behind an intervening galaxy. It was evidence for Einstein's theory of general relativity. This theory had identified gravitational lensing as one of its only observable effects, but until the observation of these quasar "twins,"  no such lensing had been observed since the idea was first mooted in 1936.

Notes for editors:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

For more information about NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble and http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / ESA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Tacking sails to a satellite

ESA - Clean Space logo.

28 January 2014

Satellites ending their working lifetimes could sprout sails in future to ensure they are dragged down into Earth’s atmosphere, keeping crucial low orbits free of space debris. ESA’s Clean Space initiative is looking to test how this promising concept might work in practice.

In 2008 ESA pledged to remove satellites from key orbits within 25 years after their missions have ended.

The most straightforward method of satellite disposal would be to reserve sufficient propellant to steer the satellite downwards – but this might seriously drive up the satellite mass while cutting the overall mission lifetime.

What are sometimes called ‘terminator’ or drag sails, deployed to increase the drag on low-orbiting satellites at the top of the atmosphere, are a low-cost, low-mass alternative.

ESA has researched various aspects of sail technology, including deployable booms and suitable ultra-light sail membranes.

Solar sail

Now ESA’s Clean Space initiative has issued a pair of research contracts: one to design a complete sail subsystem and another to select an optimal sail material, going on to produce testable ‘breadboard’ prototypes and devise plans for follow-on development.

The aim for the ‘Architectural Design and Testing of a De-orbiting subsystem’ tender is to consider the trade-offs of the various available technologies and design an overall subsystem that could easily be accommodated on a variety of satellites.

This subsystem is intended to be modular and scalable – its scale, and the area of its sail, could be varied based on the size and altitude of its satellite host: the higher the satellite, the greater the need to augment its atmospheric drag.

For the purpose of the study, the intention is to design a unit to serve a satellite compact enough to be launched by ESA’s Vega rocket, able to transport satellites of 150 kg or less into low-Earth orbit.

The challenge is to come up with a unit that can endure years of storage before it is finally put to use, before finally deploying flawlessly, with sails solidly attached to the booms to provide all the necessary strength and stiffness.

Potentially relevant technologies include deployable booms based on carbon-fibre reinforced polymer, developed by Germany’s DLR space agency, and inflatable booms incorporating a new resin material and LED-based curing developed by ESA together with Airbus Space and Defence. Ground-based deployment of 20 x 20 m sails have been tested on the ground, while a 5 x 5 m gossamer sail engineering model has also been demonstrated.

Solar sail towing a satellite in low orbit

Once the breadboard is complete it will undergo rigorous thermal vacuum testing to ensure it can withstand the space environment over many years.

Clean Space’s second ‘Deployable Membrane’ tender involves a review of all available membrane materials to select an optimal candidate for a drag sail.

This material would need to be compatible with parachute-style packaging, withstand years of ageing, be reliably unfurled, and – once deployed in open space – endure years of meteoroid and space debris damage, ultraviolet and particle radiation, thermal extremes and outgassing.

A prototype breadboard and test rig would then be produced for practical testing, with plans drawn up for future development.

For more information, check these two new invitation to tender packages, accessible via ESA’s Electronic Mailing Invitation to Tender System (EMITS).

About Clean Space:

What is Clean Space?: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering/Clean_Space/What_is_Clean_Space

Why is it needed?: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering/Clean_Space/Why_is_it_needed

What are its objectives?: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering/Clean_Space/What_are_its_objectives

Q & A on Clean Space: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering/Clean_Space/Q_A_on_Clean_Space

ESA’s Invitation to Tender System EMITS: h://ttpwww.esa.int/About_Us/Industry/Industry_how_to_do_business/ESA_s_Invitation_to_Tender_System_EMITS

EMITS: http://emits.esa.int/emits/owa/emits.main

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / NASA / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Space Station 2024 Extension Expands Economic and Research Horizons

ISS - International Space Station patch.

Jan. 27, 2014

When it comes to potential, sometimes a little space to grow can make a big difference. For the International Space Station, a little more time in space provides that room to flourish. The announcement by the Obama Administration to support the extension of the orbiting laboratory to at least 2024 gives the station a decade to continue its already fruitful microgravity research mission. This offers scientists and engineers the time they need to ensure the future of exploration, scientific discoveries and economic development.

The decision to extend the life of the space station was announced in a blog entry from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “The [space station] is a unique facility that offers enormous scientific and societal benefits,” Bolden wrote. “The Obama Administration’s decision to extend its life until at least 2024 will allow us to maximize its potential, deliver critical benefits to our nation and the world, and maintain American leadership in space.”

This decision provides traction for space exploration by prolonging the testing timeframe for essential technologies related to long-duration journeys—such as to an asteroid or Mars. Optimizing systems like the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) aboard station refines designs for future spacecraft.

Image above: The International Space Station, seen here from the vantage point of the crew of the 2010 STS-130 space shuttle mission, completed more than 1,500 investigations during its first 15 years in orbit. Image Credit: NASA.

“I really see the space station as the first step in exploration,” said NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier. “It is gaining us operational experience in a distant location, well beyond the Earth, at 75,000 km off the surface of the moon. Those are the kind of experience, technology and hardware that we need to go to Mars, so all that feeds forward.”

Exploration is hardly limited to space travel, as investigators show with their pursuit of discoveries using microgravity research. In the decade ahead, scientists have the forward timeline necessary for research planning and to make the most of facilities being built today. With an already ready-to-use suite of facilities aboard station, opportunities to run studies will include a greater chance for follow-up investigations. This enables results from station science to cycle through follow-on studies and increase the collective knowledge in the various disciplines. Since the impact of science results emerges over a five to 10 year timescale, this is an attractive incentive for new researchers.

“For 14 years, the space station has had a continuous human presence, allowing breakthroughs in science and technology not possible on Earth,” said Sam Scimemi, NASA’s International Space Station director. “The ability to extend our window of discovery through at least 2024 presents important new opportunities to develop the tools we need for future missions to deep space while reaping large benefits for humanity.”

In the next 10 years a wide variety of investigations will begin, continue and complete experimentation in orbit. From developments in astrophysics from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) we learn more about our universe. Meanwhile, space station Earth remote sensing instruments keep watchful eyes open to help researchers study our climate, planet and can even assist with disaster recovery efforts.

Anticipated developments from the upcoming 1-year mission and biology studies such as T-Cell Act In Aging aid not only future explorers, but people with related health concerns on the Earth. Industries also benefit, with applications from fundamental physics investigations, such as microgravity fluid physics and combustion tests.

“Humankind has never had laboratory capabilities like these—where gravity can be controlled as a variable,” said International Space Station Chief Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D. “The extension of the space station to at least 2024 gives scientists what we need: time to build the experiments and theories that could come from nowhere else.”

Now that commercial cargo vehicles are regularly serving the space station, this extension can help transition low Earth orbit from exclusive to accessible. Business opportunities and growth for companies that provide cargo to the space station helps them to expand and compete. This can drive down costs per visit, and eventually those costs will improve access to orbit without a NASA-maintained laboratory. The even more impressive aspect to this development is that as these international interests expand, they grow global economies. This means the potential for new jobs, technologies and the possible creation of untapped markets.

Image above: Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Mike Hopkins works with a cell array for the Selectable Optics Diagnostic Instrument-Diffusion Coefficient in Mixtures 2 (SODI-DCMIX 2) investigation. Findings may help refine petroleum reservoir models for more efficient extraction of oil resources. Image Credit: NASA.

“Commercial use of the space station is growing for research and development each year. Other government agencies, such as NSF and NIH also are funding scientists to use the laboratory,” said Robinson. “Space agency funding is enabling a much larger set of innovative research ideas from the private sector that will transform the way we see orbit.”

This extension shows a belief in the continued potential and a recognition of the growing benefits of this singular laboratory. Even as the space community is abuzz about the decade ahead, NASA moves forward with the conversation, continuing with international partnership talks and the possibility for space station life beyond 2024.

“We’ve talked to our partners about this,” said Gerstenmaier. “They want to go forward with this. It’s just working through the government approval, through their individual groups to get to where they need to be.”

Ultimately, the space station provides the capability for us to perform microgravity research in important areas of study, understand our changing planet from climate and global perspectives, and figure out how to survive in the harsh, but necessary environment of space. The benefits from the station already enhance our lives and enrich our future as we continue with missions to low Earth orbit and beyond.

“If we as a species are going to get off the Earth…we are going to have to use this small foothold called the International Space Station to go do that,” said Gerstenmaier. “This is our only opportunity to really move forward in this manner. So that should be our focus going forward, is how can we optimize and maximize the use of what we’ve got from this facility.”

For more information about the Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Texr, Credits: NASA / Jessica Nimon.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Cosmonauts Complete Fourth Expedition 38 Spacewalk

ISS - Expedition 38 Mission patch / ROSCOSMOS - Russian Federation Cosmonaut Flag patch.

 Jan. 27, 2014

Image above: Spacewalkers Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy get ready to enter the Pirs docking compartment. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Expedition 38 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy closed the hatch to the Pirs docking compartment at 3:08 p.m. EST signaling the end of their six-hour, eight minute spacewalk. The cosmonauts finished up work that could not be completed during their last spacewalk on Dec. 27.

The duo wrapped up the installation of a pair of high fidelity cameras that experienced connectivity issues Dec. 27. Kotov and Ryazanskiy also retrieved scientific gear outside the station’s Russian segment.

Read about the Dec. 27 Russian spacewalk:  http://www.orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/12/station-cosmonauts-complete-spacewalk.html

ISS Expedition 38 Russian Cosmonauts Install Cameras on EVA

After exiting Pirs, the duo translated to the Zvezda service module and installed a high resolution camera and a medium resolution camera to capture Earth imagery. However, the medium resolution camera again experienced telemetry issues. The installation work was part of a commercial agreement between a Canadian firm and the Russian Federal Space Agency to provide Earth views to internet-based subscribers.

The spacewalkers also retrieved a cassette container attached to Pirs, part of a materials exposure experiment. The cosmonauts then removed a worksite interface adapter attached to a portable data grapple fixture on the Zarya cargo module. The adapter removal work will ensure that future operations with the Canadarm2 robotic arm will not be impeded.

Image above: Spacewalker Oleg Kotov works outside the Zvezda service module. Image Credit: NASA TV.

This was the fourth spacewalk conducted during Expedition 38 and the 178th in support of space station assembly and maintenance. It is the sixth spacewalk in Kotov’s career and the third for Ryazanskiy. Both spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan spacesuits bearing blue stripes.

The first two spacewalks were conducted Dec. 21 and Dec. 24 by NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins. The two flight engineers removed and replaced a degraded ammonia pump module to restore the station’s cooling system.

Read about the Dec. 21 pump removal spacewalk: http://www.orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/12/spacewalkers-remove-degraded-ammonia.html

Read about the Dec. 24 pump installation spacewalk: http://www.orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/12/spacewalkers-complete-installation-of.html

For more information about the Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credit: NASA / NASA TV.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Russian neutron detector DAN, located on the Mars Rover Curiosity makes two millionth pulse neutron radiation on the surface of Mars

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

01/27/2014

Russian scientific equipment Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) is working on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity from August 9, 2012. Its mission to find Martian life, the source of which is water. DAN looking hydrogen-one of two parts of water. Measuring water content in the soil of Mars to answering the question of whether Mars ever inhabited. During the operation of a neutron detector DAN scientific team of the experiment, it was found that the water content of the top and bottom soil layers, the boundary between which is at a depth of about 20-30 cm, varies. The top layer of soil contains about 1.5 % water by weight, and in the lower layer mass fraction of water is about 3%. The water content was measured at 249 points, while some regions of the lower layer found to 6 % water.

Graphic above: These values ​​are close to the water content in the soil of deserts earth, in which, as is known, live organisms. Whether primitive life also be present in the Martian soil ? The question of life on Mars inspires researchers from the 19th century, when astronomers first saw the planet's surface structure similar to artificially constructed channels. If space exploration of Mars will continue, then we will know the answer to that one of the most important issues of science.

Also survey the surface through its irradiation by short pulses of neutrons (active screening), DAN apparatus monitors the natural radiation background of the Martian surface (passive survey).
January 25 DAN made ​​its two millionth pulse neutron radiation on the Martian surface.

In August last year, ended the warranty period of the neutron generator on the surface of Mars, but now it still retains its full functionality. The researchers hope to continue probing the Martian surface neutron your device long-lived for a few more months.

Detecting Subsurface Water

Image above: Water, whether liquid or frozen, absorbs neutrons more than other substances. The Detector of Albedo Neutrons on the Mars Science Laboratory rover will use this characteristic to search for subsurface ice on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Russian Federal Space Agency.

About the project

Russia's participation in the project Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity determined by the Executive agreement between NASA and the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), which commissioned the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences was established DAN instrument.

Image above: The Curiosity science payload, showing the DAN detector mounted at the rover's left hip. Credit: NASA/JPL.

In the creation of scientific equipment DAN and preparing space experiment involved All-Russian Research Institute of Automatics. NL Spirits Institute of Mechanical Engineering. AA Blagonravov and Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna). Currently conducting an experiment aboard mars rover Curiosity DAN  involved and American scientists and experts from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Arizona and Tennessee , and also Brown University USA.

Research project leader DAN - Dr. Igor Mitrofanov, head of the laboratory space gamma spectroscopy IKI.

Roscosmos Press Release: http://www.federalspace.ru/20156/

NASA / JPL - DAN website: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/instruments/radiationdetectors/dan/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: Roscosmos press service / Translation: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

All in a whirl

ESA - Herschel Mission patch / ESA - XMM-Newton Mission patch.

Jan. 27, 2014

The whirl of stellar life

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as M51 or NGC 5194, is one of the most spectacular examples of a spiral galaxy. With two spiral arms curling into one another in a billowing swirl, this galaxy hosts over a hundred billion stars and is currently merging with its companion, the smaller galaxy NGC 5195.

Around 30 million light-years away, the Whirlpool Galaxy is close enough to be easily spotted even with binoculars. Using the best telescopes available both on the ground and in space, astronomers can scrutinise its population of stars in extraordinary detail.

In this image, observations performed at three different wavelengths with ESA’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space telescopes are combined to reveal how three generations of stars coexist in the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Artist's view of the XMM-Newton observatory

The infrared light collected by Herschel – shown in red and yellow – reveals the glow of cosmic dust, which is a minor but crucial ingredient in the interstellar material in the galaxy’s spiral arms. This mixture of gas and dust provides the raw material from which the Whirlpool Galaxy’s future generations of stars will take shape.

Artist's view of the Herschel space observatory

Observing in visible and ultraviolet light, astronomers can see the current population of stars in the Whirlpool Galaxy, since stars in their prime shine most brightly at shorter wavelengths than infrared. Seen at ultraviolet wavelengths with XMM-Newton and portrayed in green in this composite image are the galaxy’s fiercest stellar inhabitants: young and massive stars pouring powerful winds and radiation into their surroundings.

The image also shows the remains of previous stellar generations, which shine brightly in X-rays and were detected by XMM-Newton. Shown in blue, these sources of X-rays are either the sites where massive stars exploded as supernovae in the past several thousand years, or binary systems that host neutron stars or black holes, the compact objects left behind by supernovae.

For more information about Herschel Mission, visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel

For more information about XMM-Newton Mission, Visit: http://sci.esa.int/xmm-newton/ and http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/XMM-Newton_overview

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / Herschel / XMM-Newton. Acknowledgements: "Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium of Very Nearby Galaxies" Key Programme, Christine Wilson.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch