NASA UniverseVerified account

@NASAUniverse

Your backstage pass to the universe and how NASA studies it.

Greenbelt, MD
science.nasa.gov/astrophysics
Joined March 2009
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Nov 26

    Meet IXPE! This new X-ray telescope is slated to launch next month and will help reveal the shapes of things that are otherwise invisible to us. It will help astronomers understand how black holes spin and why pulsars shine so brightly in X-rays.

    29 replies 257 retweets 1,436 likes
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  2. Retweeted
    20 hours ago

    Well, folks. It’s the last day of ! As we close out an epic month of nebula content, take a tour of some spectacular cosmic clouds, narrated by our senior project scientist Dr. Jennifer Wiseman. Explore our Hubble nebulae album here:

    26 replies 250 retweets 1,380 likes
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  3. Retweeted
    23 hours ago

    This Chandra & image showcases the complex bipolar planetary nebula Menzel 3, also known as the Ant Nebula. Spanning about 2 light years (~19 trillion kilometers), this not so garden-variety ant is expanding at roughly 50 kilometers per second!

    Mz3 is composed of a bright core and four distinct high-velocity outflows called lobes. It is often referred to as the Ant Nebula because it resembles the head and thorax of an ant.
    21 replies 304 retweets 1,948 likes
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  4. 21 hours ago

    At the size of a tennis court, with 18 gold-coated hexagonal mirrors, the unique design of will help us see the universe in a new light. Tune into NASA’s Curious Universe podcast for more about Webb!

    Curious Universe - James Webb Space Telescope miniseries social card
    13 retweets 135 likes
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  5. Retweeted
    Nov 29

    With a pull so strong that even light can't escape, black holes are notoriously hard to see. We aren't discouraged! Our comes from the satellites 🛰️, space telescopes 🔭, & supercomputers 🖥️ that help us uncover some of their mysteries:

    Black hole image with the tagline "Black holes: What happens here, stays here."
    8 replies 39 retweets 290 likes
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  6. Retweeted
    Nov 29

    Hidden within a spiral galaxy are invisible, S-shaped arms bending in the opposite direction to the parts of the galaxy that we can see. What causes these so-called “counter-arms”? 🌀꩜ More:

    1 reply 47 retweets 250 likes
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  7. Retweeted
    Nov 29

    This image captures two galaxies bridging a divide. A tenuous bridge of gas, dust and stars is seen connecting the two galaxies, created when they pulled material into space across the diminishing gap between them. : Reach out where you can.

    16 replies 133 retweets 773 likes
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  8. Retweeted
    Nov 29

    Right now Chandra is peering into Ursa Major. Nearby in the sky is M97, the Owl Nebula. Though discovered in 1781, it was later observed by Ireland's 3rd Earl of Rosse who decided to draw the world a picture! The object has been called the Owl Nebula ever since.🦉

    The greenish nebula is roughly circular with a faint internal structure of three concentric shells. The owl-like appearance of the nebula is the result of an inner shell that look like owl eyes/face to some.
    A simple drawing of the nebula by William Parsons, Ireland's 3rd Earl of Rosse, that shows the nebula's face-like structure.
    19 replies 160 retweets 910 likes
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  9. Nov 29

    Spitzer studied the cosmos in infrared light before retiring in January 2020. Spitzer revealed unknown materials hiding in nebulae — like oddly-shaped molecules and cosmic materials similar to soot found in the California Nebula pictured here.

    This is a series of images taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope on Jan. 25, 2020, which shows part of the California Nebula, which is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth. This is the final mosaic taken by the mission before it was decommissioned on Jan. 30, 2020. Spitzer's infrared detectors reveal the presence of warm dust, similar to soot, mixed in with the gas. The dust absorbs visible and ultraviolet light from nearby stars and then re-emits the absorbed energy as infrared light.
    3 replies 21 retweets 139 likes
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  10. Nov 29

    Webb will observe the universe in infrared light! With it, scientists will peer into clouds of dust and gas to study stars and planetary systems that are forming.

    2 replies 11 retweets 128 likes
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  11. Nov 29

    Chandra studies the universe in X-ray light! The spacecraft is helping scientists see features within nebulae that might otherwise be hidden by gas and dust when viewed in longer wavelengths. In the Crab Nebula, Chandra sees high-energy X-rays from the central source.

    An X-ray image of the Crab Nebula as seen by Chandra. The image includes a bright ring of high-energy particles around the heart of the nebula.
    1 reply 14 retweets 75 likes
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  12. Nov 29

    Hubble observes the cosmos in multiple wavelengths of light. They range from ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared. Hubble peered at the iconic Eagle Nebula in visible and infrared light, revealing these grand spires of dust and countless stars within and around them.

    3 replies 12 retweets 64 likes
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  13. Nov 29

    Missions like , , our soon-to-launch , and the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope help scientists see the different elements that oftentimes light up nebulae!

    15 replies 168 retweets 1,212 likes
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  14. Retweeted
    Nov 29

    This newly released Hubble image of NGC 6891 shows a planetary nebula, which forms from a dying star shedding its outer layers of material! NGC 6891 is located in the constellation Delphinus:

    51 replies 605 retweets 4,035 likes
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  15. Nov 29

    When two galaxies encounter each other, it takes 1-2 billion years for them to merge and settle down. While the stars already in the galaxies don’t change much, the collision can spark lots of new stars to form! ✨

    A dozen images of colliding and interacting galaxies. [Top row, left to right] Arp 148, UGC 9618, Arp 256, NGC 6670 [Middle row, left to right] NGC 6240, ESO 593-8, NGC 454, UGC 8335 [Bottom row, left to right] NGC 6786, NGC 17, ESO 77-14, NGC 6050
    55 replies 727 retweets 4,265 likes
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  16. Retweeted
    Nov 26

    It wouldn't be without the iconic Pillars of Creation! 🤩 In this sonification, sounds represent visible (Hubble) and X-ray light (). Moving from left to right, the vertical position of the recorded light controls the pitch:

    72 replies 670 retweets 3,573 likes
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  17. Nov 26

    Sometimes, the story of science is told through cake. 🎂 The unofficial Fermi Cake Committee created this rendition of a supernova remnant left at the end of a large star’s life. But there’s a Fermi twist: its frosting “gamma-ray” regions glow under UV light!

    A cake of a supernova remnant with its "gamma-ray" frosting glowing under UV light.
    13 replies 84 retweets 742 likes
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  18. Retweeted
    Nov 26

    🤔 What is a black hole? How do we study them when we can’t see them? Celebrate with a chat about the latest research between Astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman and Chief Scientist Jim Green in this episode of our podcast:

    116 replies 577 retweets 4,402 likes
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  19. Retweeted
    Nov 26

    Happy ! This simulated video shows what a system would look like up close. We haven’t seen one with our own eyes—yet—since our Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole is over 25,000 light-years away. 📹: Chael, Wielgus, Palumbo, Johnson, Bouman

    11 replies 108 retweets 471 likes
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  20. Nov 26

    ⚪Our galaxy likes blowing bubbles! These gamma-ray bubbles were first detected by Fermi. They might be leftovers from a meal eaten by our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole or may be powered by intense star formation.

    2 replies 47 retweets 307 likes
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  21. Retweeted
    Nov 26

    🔭 The first space observatory of its kind, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, will explore the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy and other extreme cosmic objects.

    3 replies 49 retweets 260 likes
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