NASAUniverse

@NASAUniverse

Replying to @NASAHubble: 🛑 Pit stop!

Hubble spotted a comet that found a temporary parking place near Jupiter’s asteroids. This is the first time a…

@NASAUniverse

Replying to @chandraxray: 🎶🌟Would you like to help out with some new research on @NASA data sonifications? You can listen to sounds from our space d…

@NASAHubble

🛑 Pit stop!

Hubble spotted a comet that found a temporary parking place near Jupiter’s asteroids. This is the first time a comet-like object has been seen near these asteroids, called Trojans, but this unexpected guest won’t stay for long. Find out more:

@NASAUniverse

Like light, gravitational waves come in a range of wavelengths and different detectors are needed to cover the full spectrum. 🌈 @esa and @NASA are working on a space-based mission called LISA that will help fill in parts of this spectrum. More:

@NASAUniverse

Just a couple of years after that first detection, our Fermi spacecraft spotted the first light from a gravitational wave source, kicking off a new era of coordinated gravity and light studies.

@NASAUniverse

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity, but they weren’t detected until 2015 when @NSF’s @LIGO caught them from the collision of two black holes in an event called GW150914. ⚫🌀⚫

@NASAUniverse

Another messenger we use to study the universe is gravitational waves. 〰️〰️ These are ripples in space-time that occur when massive objects are accelerated, like orbing black holes or neutron stars. 💫

@chandraxray

🎶🌟Would you like to help out with some new research on @NASA data sonifications? You can listen to sounds from our space data & answer a few questions. It should take about 15 minutes. 🎧 Listen & participate here: #CitizenScience

@NASAUniverse

Astronomers recently linked another neutrino to an extragalactic source, this time from a black hole tearing apart a star. ⚫ Astronomers think the neutrino originated in the disk that formed as the unlucky star’s remains fell toward the black hole. 🥏

@NASAUniverse

In 2017, a neutrino that had traveled 3.7 billion years was detected by @NSF’s @uw_icecube in Antarctica. 🐧 Our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope helped trace its source to a flaring blazar — a type of galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole.

@NASAUniverse

While most are from the Sun, we do see neutrinos from outside the solar system. In 1987, astronomers detected some from a supernova a few hours before we saw the light. 💥 The neutrinos escaped first.

@NASAUniverse

Another messenger we detect from cosmic sources is neutrinos. These tiny particles travel at near lightspeed and tend to pass through the cosmos unaffected. 💨 They can help us understand how particles are accelerated across the universe.

@NASAUniverse

Replying to @NASA: Neutrinos are everywhere, and also extremely hard to find! How do we detect particles that are so tiny and fast – especially when…

@NASAUniverse

#ICYMI: Meet TOI 451, a planetary system with a star that’s 95% of our Sun’s mass but only 3% of its age! 👶☀️ Studying the hot young worlds of this system gives astronomers an opportunity to test theories about how planetary atmospheres evolve. Read more:

@NASA

Neutrinos are everywhere, and also extremely hard to find! How do we detect particles that are so tiny and fast – especially when they rarely interact with other matter? @NASAUniverse experts explain:

@NASAUniverse

Replying to @chandraxray: ⭐Astronomers have found evidence for the existence of a neutron star at the center of Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), which sc…

@NASAUniverse

So far, we’ve found that cosmic rays can be created in a number of different sources like:
🏋️‍♀️ massive stars (stars with 10 or more times the mass of our Sun)
💥 supernovae (explosions of massive stars at the ends of their lives)
🕳 massive stars falling into black holes

@NASAUniverse

The SuperTIGER balloon 🎈 instrument searches for cosmic rays of heavy elements like gold, iron, and barium to help us understand where they’re made and how they get to such high speeds.

@NASAUniverse

Magnetic fields can deflect the paths of charged cosmic rays, so we determine their sources indirectly. 🧲 For example, our Fermi satellite detects gamma rays produced when cosmic rays from supernovae interact with particles in interstellar gas. 💥

@NASAUniverse

Cosmic rays are another type of messenger coming to us from objects in the universe. They are charged particles that travel at nearly the speed of light, and most are the nuclei of atoms that have been stripped of their electrons. ⚛️

@chandraxray

⭐Astronomers have found evidence for the existence of a neutron star at the center of Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), which scientists have been seeking for over three decades. More about this exciting discovery:

@NASAUniverse

Replying to @NASAHubble: These interacting galaxies, named AM 0500-620, reside a whopping 350 million light-years away. 🤯

Despite the distance, we…

@NASAHubble

These interacting galaxies, named AM 0500-620, reside a whopping 350 million light-years away. 🤯

Despite the distance, we can find intricate details in this #HubbleClassic image, like lanes of dust between spiral arms and bright knots of stars:

@NASAUniverse

Untangling the puzzle of how star-destroying black holes produce neutrinos can only be solved by bringing together observations from @NSF, @NASA, and @ESA facilities, among others. We’re excited to be part of this discovery!