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NASA Webb 'Pierces' Bullet Cluster, Refines Its Mass June 30, 2025 10:00am Release ID: 2025-128 Summary Webb shows fainter and more distant galaxies, along with light from stars that trace dark matter in these galaxy clusters, helping researchers carefully map everything in the scene. It’s rare for galaxy clusters to collide and merge at high speeds. An iconic example is the Bullet Cluster, the aftermath of two vast galaxy clusters that collided. To be able to “replay” what happened, and in which order, researchers need to first fully define all the contents in this scene. Full Article: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-128 Pic Description: This is the central region of the Bullet Cluster, which is made up of two massive galaxy clusters. The vast number of galaxies and foreground stars in the image were captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light. Glowing, hot X-rays captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory appear in pink. The blue represents the dark matter, which was precisely mapped by researchers with Webb’s detailed imaging. Normally, gas, dust, stars, and dark matter are combined into galaxies, even when they are gravitationally bound within larger groups known as galaxy clusters. The Bullet Cluster is unusual in that the intracluster gas and dark matter are separated, offering further evidence in support of dark matter. [ED There's also a video comparing Webb to Hubble view in the main article.]

Hubble Captures an Active Galactic Center Jun 27, 2025 The light that the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope collected to create this image reached the telescope after a journey of 250 million years. Its source was the spiral galaxy UGC 11397, which resides in the constellation Lyra (The Lyre). At first glance, UGC 11397 appears to be an average spiral galaxy: it sports two graceful spiral arms that are illuminated by stars and defined by dark, clumpy clouds of dust. What sets UGC 11397 apart from a typical spiral lies at its center, where a supermassive black hole containing 174 million times the mass of our Sun grows. As a black hole ensnares gas, dust, and even entire stars from its vicinity, this doomed matter heats up and puts on a fantastic cosmic light show. Thick clouds of dust hide much of this energetic activity from view in optical light. Despite this, UGC 11397's actively growing black hole was revealed through its bright X-ray emission — high-energy light that can pierce the surrounding dust. This led astronomers to classify it as a Type 2 Seyfert galaxy, a category used for active galaxies whose central regions are hidden from view in visible light by a donut-shaped cloud of dust and gas. https://share.google/ZpUL9ggytoVwFYAbC

Hello, neighbor! See the Andromeda galaxy like never before in stunning new image from NASA's Chandra telescope. By Robert Lea 2 days ago [Nice 3 min 26 sec video] Created as a tribute to dark matter pioneer Vera Rubin, the image was created with the aid of a vast array of telescopes. The galaxy next door to the Milky Way, Andromeda, has never looked as stunning as it does in a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray space telescope. The image of the galaxy, also known as Messier 31 (M31), was created with assistance from a range of other space telescopes and ground-based instruments... As the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way, at just around 2.5 million light-years away, Andromeda has been vital in allowing astronomers to study aspects of galaxies that aren't accessible from our own galaxy. For example, from inside the Milky Way, we can't see our galaxy's spiral arms, but we can see the spiral arms of Andromeda! Full Article: https://www.space.com/astronomy/hello-neighbor-see-the-andromeda-galaxy-like-never-before-in-stunning-new-image-from-nasas-chandra-telescope-video

[ED: Technically not "WEBB", but pretty interesting imho.] Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency, is revealing the first-ever views of the sun's south pole. These never-before-seen images offer scientists a chance to better understand our star and its effects on Earth. https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/science/video/solar-orbiter-first-images-sun-south-pole-digvid 1min 30sec Video link:

NASA's Webb Digs into Structural Origins of Disk Galaxies June 26, 2025 10:00am Release ID: 2025-121 Summary Scientists “excavated” disk galaxies across cosmic time to understand their formation history. Disk galaxies, like our own Milky Way galaxy, commonly consist of both a thick and thin disk of stars — each with different features, including stellar population and movement. Three major theoretical scenarios have been proposed to explain the formation mechanisms and timing of thick and thin disks. A team of astronomers has recently investigated the structure of disk galaxies by sifting through multiple surveys from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. This extensive sample includes over 100 edge-on disk galaxies up to roughly 11 billion years ago. The team’s analysis aligns with one of the three scenarios, suggesting that thick stellar disk formation occurs first, and thin stellar disk formation follows. When this happens in a galaxy’s formation history depends on the galaxy’s mass. Full Article: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-121?utm_id Pic Description: Present-day disk galaxies often contain a thick, star-filled outer disk and an embedded thin disk of stars. Three major theoretical scenarios have been proposed by astronomers to explain how this dual-disk structure comes to be. Using archival data from the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is closer to understanding disk galaxies’ origins, and the stellar thick- and thin-disk formation process. The team carefully identified, visually verified, and analyzed a statistical sample of more than 100 edge-on disk galaxies at various periods — up to 11 billion years ago (or approximately 2.8 billion years after the big bang). The results of their analysis suggest that galaxies form a thick disk first, followed by a thin disk. The timing of this process depends on a galaxy’s mass: high-mass, single-disk galaxies transitioned to two-disk structures around 8 billion years ago, while low-mass, single-disk galaxies formed their thin disks about 4 billion years ago. Link: https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01JXX24CYFPGSG7YYXCTV7E7QD.png

A [1 min] video was also revealed, which offers a unique perspective of what LSST is capable of: This is just the start of what we will see from LSST and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Later this year, it will kick off a decade-long survey, which the team is calling the "ultimate movie of the night sky." The Rubin Observatory will scan the sky repeatedly over the course of a decade, resulting in an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse of our Universe. The survey will involve observations of about 40 billion stars, galaxies and other celestial objects. Each object will be checked hundreds of times, resulting in 60 petabytes of raw data, which the Rubin Observatory says is "more data than everything that's ever been written in any language in human history."

More from Vera Within just 10 hours, the Rubin Observatory already revealed new discoveries, including 2104 asteroids. The team says that it will be able to discover millions of new asteroids within the first two years of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, compared to 20,000 asteroids discovered annually by all other ground and space-based observatories. You can see all of the asteroids in the short video below. https://m.dpreview.com/news/7841694397/rubin-observatory-shares-the-first-look-from-the-world-s-biggest-camera [Approx 1min video showing discoveries - still below showing: 1. 2,000 new discoveries; 2. Slice of heavens explored]

... "I just look at it and I think: what on Earth is going on there?" Dr Webster said. "I've never seen a galaxy that looks like that before." More images to come! The official unveiling happens at 1am (AEST) this Tuesday, June 24. If you are keen, you can watch the unveiling live on the telescope's website or rug up and go to a watch party in Melbourne, Sydney or Perth. [ED: See end of article for links]

Find new pics here: https://jwtalk.net/topic/51407-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst/?do=findComment&comment=1055639

First images from Vera C. Rubin Observatory released, giving a taste of what's to come By Ellen Phiddian - 20h ago The images are a taster of what is expected to be unveiled at 1AM AEST Tuesday morning in a live stream that will also include ultra-high definition video. According to astronomers, even these first previews are unlike anything they've ever seen before. Rachel Webster, an astrophysicist at the University of Mebourne, said she was stunned by the vast scale of each picture. "There's just so much going on in each of these images...." [ED: Some super nice pics in the article! They are too big to post here. Lol] Full Article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-06-23/first-taste-images-vera-c-rubin-observatory-released/105448868

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I have no doubt that you may have been told this. However, that would be news to the cast who are still filming! (And will be for some time...)

Parts may have been recorded, but they are by no means complete. The filming of these episodes are still ongoing....

The Vera C Rubin Observatory is about to show us the universe like never before In short: The Vera C Rubin Observatory is starting operations in Chile, and will survey the southern night sky in detail every few days for 10 years. Astronomers are hoping to use the observatory to learn more about dark matter, the nature of the universe, and closer objects like asteroids and Solar System features... The Vera C Rubin Observatory is about to open its eyes. Perched on top of a Chilean mountain, the US-funded observatory promises to "revolutionise our view of the cosmos"... Using the world's largest digital camera, the observatory will take images of the Southern Hemisphere over the next 10 years. After a decade under construction, which cost $US810 million ($1.2 billion) alone, it is about to release its first snapshots to the public early in the week. Full Article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-06-22/vera-rubin-observatory-universe-never-before/105442694

Home base in Chile: