Category: Science

A solar eruption detected simultaneously at Earth, the Moon and Mars emphasises the need to prepare human exploration missions for the dangers of space radiation. 

From May to August 2023 a structural model of ESA’s next exoplanet mission, Plato, is undergoing a test campaign at ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre, at Noordwijk in the Netherlands. Plato is planned to launch on an Ariane 6 in 2026. During lift-off Plato will have to withstand intense vibrations and immense blasts of noise. To make sure the satellite can survive the start of its journey to space, engineers test its structural integrity beforehand.

Follow Euclid on its journey to Lagrange point L2 and find out how mission controllers at ESOC in Darmstadt are proceeding with turning on, checking and calibrating the spacecraft’s equipment, the telescope and scientific instruments, as they prepare for routine science observations.

Video:
01:45:00

Watch a replay of the launch broadcast for ESA’s Euclid.

ESA’s Euclid mission was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, on 1 July 2023. It is now on its way to Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.  

By observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, the space telescope will create the most detailed 3D-map of the Universe, with time as the third dimension.

The launch broadcast programme includes live segments from the launch site and ESA’s European Spacecraft Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.

Watch the replay of the liftoff.

Access the related broadcast quality video material here (mission footage) and here (mission animations).

Watch Mercury appear from the shadows as the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped by the planet’s night side during its 19 June 2023 close flyby, and enjoy a special flyover of geologically rich terrain, along with a bonus 3D scene.

ESA’s Euclid gets fuelled inside an Astrotech facility near Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA) ahead of its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Image:

ESA has selected 12 new Fellows to pursue their own independent research in space science in 2023 The Research Fellowships in Space Science represent one of the highlights of the ESA Science programme. Early career postdoctoral scientists are offered the unique opportunity to carry out advanced research related to the space science areas covered by ESA Science missions at one of three ESA establishments (ESAC, ESTEC or STScI) for a period of up to three years.

The 2023 Research Fellows in Space Science are Ashley Chrimes, Guillaume Cruz-Mermy, Marjorie Decleir, Camille Diez, Henrik Eklund, Elena Favaro, Thibaud Moutard , Isabel Rebollido Vázquez, Rozenn Robidel, Laura Rodríguez García, Matthew Standing and Andy Shu Ho To. The research areas that they cover span a broad range of topics, including the origin of nature’s most powerful explosions, the composition of the exospheres of Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede, and the processes governing the heating of the solar corona. More information about the Fellows and their research can be found here.

The calls for the Space Science Research Fellowships open yearly. The next call is expected to open in August 2023. For more information, see: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/space-science-faculty/opportunities/research-fellowships

Video:
00:00:10

When ESA’s Gaia spacecraft scanned the Scorpius constellation and its ancient globular star cluster Messier 4, it captured something strange: a huge dark blob at the cluster’s centre, 800 times more massive than our Sun.

It is normal for globular clusters to have dark centres made up of many dead stars. But the mass at the centre of Messier 4 looks different – despite being especially large, it seems to be squeezed into a surprisingly small volume of space.

“Using the latest Gaia and Hubble data, it was not possible to distinguish between a dark population of stellar remnants and a single larger point-like source,” says Eduardo Vitral from the Space Telescope Science Institute, who led this research. “So one of the possible theories is that rather than being lots of separate small dark objects, this dark mass could be one medium-sized black hole.”

Astronomers have been pondering these ‘intermediate-mass black holes’ for over two decades, but conclusive proof that they exist remains elusive. Most black holes that we know of are either the smaller ‘stellar-mass’ remnants of giant stars (up to 100 times the mass of the Sun) or the supermassive central anchors of large galaxies (billions of times the mass of the Sun). Weighing in at about 100 to 1 million Suns, intermediate-mass black holes would be the link between the two.

“Science is rarely about discovering something new in a single moment. It’s about becoming more certain of a conclusion step by step, and this could be one step towards being sure that intermediate-mass black holes exist,” explains Gaia mission scientist Timo Prusti.

“Data from Gaia Data Release 3 on the proper motion of stars in the Milky Way was essential in this study. Future Gaia Data Releases, as well as follow-up studies from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes could shed further light.”

A paper summarising the research was published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The research also used data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Messier 4 is the closest globular cluster to Earth. It can be seen through telescopes and captured with a good camera. Stargazers in the southern hemisphere should look up towards the centre of the Milky Way, where Messier 4 can be found in the Scorpius constellation between Libra and Sagittarius.

Image acknowledgement: T. Roegiers, making use of Aladin Lite.

Video:
00:04:00

Timelapse of the integration and launch of Juice.

ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.

Juice – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe.

Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth.

Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

Access the related broadcast quality footage.

Help us visualise how much of the Universe we know and don’t know and win a trip to mission control as ESA’s Euclid mission launches into space no earlier than July to unlock the mysteries of the Dark Universe.

ESA’s Euclid spacecraft finished its ocean cruise safe and sound on 30 April at Port Canaveral in Florida. Subsequently, the satellite was moved by road to the Astrotech facility near Cape Canaveral.

Image:

Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to study a rocky exoplanet known as GJ 486 b. It is too close to its star to be within the habitable zone, with a surface temperature of about 430 degrees Celsius. And yet, their observations using Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) show hints of water vapor. If the water vapor is associated with the planet, that would indicate that it has an atmosphere despite its scorching temperature and close proximity to its star. Water vapor has been seen on gaseous exoplanets before, but to date no atmosphere has been detected around a rocky exoplanet. However, the team cautions that the water vapor could be on the star itself – specifically, cool starspots – and not from the planet at all.

This graphic shows the transmission spectrum obtained by Webb observations of rocky exoplanet GJ 486 b. The science team’s analysis shows hints of water vapor; however, computer models show that the signal could be from a water-rich planetary atmosphere (indicated by the blue line) or from starspots from the red dwarf host star (indicated by the yellow line). The two models diverge noticeably at shorter infrared wavelengths, indicating that additional observations with other Webb instruments will be needed to constrain the source of the water signal. The background illustration of a planet is an artist concept. Webb has not taken an image of the planet.

GJ 486 b is about 30% larger than the Earth and three times as massive, which means it is a rocky world with stronger gravity than Earth. It orbits a red dwarf star once every two Earth days. It is expected to be tidally locked, with a permanent day side and a permanent night side. While the water vapor could potentially indicate the presence of an atmosphere on GJ 486 b, an equally plausible explanation is water vapor from the star. The planet’s host star is cool enough that water vapor can exist in its photosphere. Since starspots (like sunspots on our Sun) are cooler than the surrounding area, the water vapor would concentrate there. As a result, it could create a signal that mimics a planetary atmosphere. If an atmosphere is present, it would likely have to be constantly replenished by volcanoes ejecting steam from the planet’s interior. If the water is indeed in the planet’s atmosphere, additional observations are needed to narrow down how much water is present.

Future Webb observations may shed more light on this system. An upcoming program will use the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to observe the planet’s day side. If the planet has no atmosphere, or only a thin atmosphere, then the hottest part of the day side is expected to be directly under the star. However, if the hottest point is shifted, that would indicate an atmosphere that can circulate heat.

Ultimately, observations at shorter infrared wavelengths by another Webb instrument, the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), will be needed to differentiate between the planetary atmosphere and starspot scenarios.

[Image description: Graphic titled “Exoplanet GJ 486 b Transmission Spectrum.” The y-axis is labeled “Amount of Light Blocked” and the x-axis has a scale that ranges from about 0.5 microns to over 5 microns. As you move right along the graph, two lines converge and become overlapping around 3 microns. An inset shows a legend with a yellow line labeled “starspots model,” a blue line labeled “water-rich atmosphere model,” and a white dot with gray, vertical error bar labeled “Webb data.”]

Contact:
ESA Media relations
media@esa.int

Image:

The seven galaxies highlighted in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA Telescope have been confirmed to be at a distance that astronomers refer to as redshift 7.9, which correlates to 650 million years after the big bang. This makes them the earliest galaxies yet to be spectroscopically confirmed as part of a developing cluster.

The seven galaxies confirmed by Webb were first established as candidates for observation using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Frontier Fields program. The program dedicated Hubble time to observations using gravitational lensing, to observe very distant galaxies in detail. However, because Hubble cannot detect light beyond near-infrared, there is only so much detail it can see. Webb picked up the investigation, focusing on the galaxies scouted by Hubble and gathering detailed spectroscopic data in addition to imagery.

Astronomers used Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument to precisely measure the distances and determine that the galaxies are part of a developing cluster. Galaxy YD4, previously estimated to be at a further distance based on imaging data alone, was able to be more accurately placed at the same redshift as the other galaxies. Before Webb, astronomers did not have high resolution imaging or spectral infrared data available to do this type of science.

At extreme distances, astronomers use the redshift reference to account for the fact that, as the universe expands, wavelengths of light are stretched and “shifted” to redder wavelengths, which are longer. Shorter wavelengths, for example ultraviolet and X-ray, are toward the bluer end of the electromagnetic spectrum. So extreme distances in the early universe are referenced by how much the light emitted there has been shifted as it travelled through space to be detected by a telescope.

The results have been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

More information
Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Contact:
ESA Media relations
media@esa.int