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This composite image shows the Saturn Lyman-alpha bulge, an emission from hydrogen which is a persistent and unexpected excess detected by three distinct NASA missions, namely Voyager 1, Cassini, and the Hubble Space Telescope between 1980 and 2017. A Hubble near-ultraviolet image, obtained in 2017 during the Saturn summer in the northern hemisphere, is used as a reference to sketch the Lyman-alpha emission of the planet. The rings appear much darker than the planet's body because they reflect much less ultraviolet sunlight. Above the rings and the dark equatorial region, the Lyman-alpha bulge appears as an extended (30 degree) latitudinal band that is 30 percent brighter than the surrounding regions. A small fraction of the southern hemisphere appears between the rings and the equatorial region, but it is dimmer than the northern hemisphere. North of the bulge region (upper-right portion of image), the disk brightness declines gradually versus latitude toward the bright aurora region that is here shown for reference (not at scale). A dark spot inside the aurora region represents the footprint of the spin axis of the planet. It's believed that icy rings particles raining on the atmosphere at specific latitudes and seasonal effects cause an atmospheric heating that makes the upper atmosphere hydrogen reflect more Lyman-alpha sunlight in the bulge region. This unexpected interaction between the rings and the upper atmosphere is now investigated in depth to define new diagnostic tools for estimating if distant exoplanets have extended Saturn-like ring systems. Credits: NASA, ESA, Lotfi Ben-Jaffel (IAP & LPL)

Saturn’s Rings Heating Its Atmosphere According to Hubble

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Saturn's Rings Heating Its Atmosphere According to Hubble and the secret has been hiding in plain view for 40 years. However, this phenomenon has never seen before in the solar system.

This sequence shows how the nucleus of Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) was isolated from a vast shell of dust and gas surrounding the solid icy nucleus. On the left is a photo of the comet taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 on January 8, 2022. A model of the coma (middle panel) was obtained by means of fitting the surface brightness profile assembled from the observed image on the left. This allowed for the coma to be subtracted, unveiling the point-like glow from the nucleus. Combined with radio telescope data, astronomers arrived at a precise measurement of the nucleus size. That's no small feat from something about 2 billion miles away. Though the nucleus is estimated to be as large as 85 miles across, it is so far away it cannot be resolved by Hubble. Its size is derived from its reflectivity as measured by Hubble. The nucleus is estimated to be as black as charcoal. The nucleus area is gleaned from radio observations. Credits: NASA, ESA, Man-To Hui (Macau University of Science and Technology), David Jewitt (UCLA); Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Largest Comet ever seen is coming toward Earth

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The largest comet ever seen by Hubble Space Telescope is hurtling towards Earth. This behemoth has a diameter of 80 miles (129 km) across, with a nucleus 50 times bigger than normal, which according t...

This image features the spectacular galaxy NGC 4254, also known as Messier 99. It’s an example of a grand design spiral galaxy, featuring strong, prominent, well-defined arms that wrap clearly around the galaxy’s centre.

A Hypnotic Grand Design Galaxy

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Observe this image of NGC 4254, also known as Messier 99, A Hypnotic Grand Design Galaxy recently shared by European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Composite Xray image showing IXPE data in Magenta and Chandra data in Blue. Image: NASA/CXC/SAO/IXPE

New X-Ray Space Telescope Takes its first Look at the Universe

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The New X-Ray Space Telescope IXPE Takes its first Look at the Universe and focusses on supernova remnant Cassiopeia A that exploded in the 1690s.