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Secrets of Space
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Black Holes of the Circinus Galaxy

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Picture of black holes in the Circinus Galaxy taken by NASA/JPL-Caltech's NuSTAR mission
Picture of black holes in the Circinus Galaxy taken by NASA/JPL-Caltech’s NuSTAR mission

The two purple/magenta coloured spots in this picture show a massive black hole in the center of the Circinus Galaxy and a smaller black hole beside it. The smaller black hole belongs to a class called ultraluminous X-ray sources, or ULXs. It was what lead to this discovery, where the larger black hole is believed to be around one hundred times the size of our Sun. The Circinus galaxy is located about 13 million light years away from Earth in the Circinus constellation.

The X-ray data came from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescopic Array (NuSTAR) mission managed by JPL-Caltech.

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Pictures

Enceladus, Moon of Saturn

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NASA’s Voyager 1 took this grainy picture of Enceladus on November 12, 1980 from a distance of 655,000 kilometers (393,000 miles).

Enceladus - NASA
Saturn’s moon Enceladus

Enceladus is the sixth largest moon/satellite of the planet Saturn and the fourteenth satellite, ordered by distance from the planet. It seems to be composed of (liquid) water under an icy surface. This creates a lack of visible surface detail on the satellite and makes it very different from other, larger Saturnian moons. Enceladus is named after the Giant Enceladus of Greek mythology.

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Map of the Universe

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Isn’t the universe infinite in size or always expanding in size or of unknown size? Can the universe be mapped?

Universe - ESA
Map of the Universe generated by ESA’s Planck mission

Apparently it can be mapped! The European Space Agency’s Planck mission was launched in 2009 and comprised of a satellite housing a large telescope, which collected the light from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Placed in space from its L2 (Lagrangian) position, Planck’s mission was to “look back in time”. Data from Planck created this map of the universe showing the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet. By analyzing these light patterns, scientists and researchers hope to learn more about origins of the universe.

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Pictures

Martian dust and pebbles photographed by Curiosity

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Martian Dust - NASA
Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) took this picture of red Martian dust

This highly detailed image was taken by Curiosity rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on September 8, 2012. On that day, which happened to be Curiosity’s 33rd day on Mars, its MAHLI dust cover was finally retracted and picture of the surface was taken. This patch of dusty Maritan ground is only about 34 inches across and the one large pebble,  near the bottom of the image, is about 3 inches in size. That area seems more pebbly than dusty leaving scientists to ponder the composition of the Martian surface, its wind patterns, etc.

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What are the rings around Saturn?

Galileo Galilei was the first person to notice something strange around Saturn and in 1655, Christian Huygens studied the planet with a better telescope and wrote down his strange observations in code.

“It is girdled by a think flat ring, nowhere touching, included to the ecliptic.”

Saturn - NASA
The planet Saturn with its distinctive rings and its moons Rhea and Dione, visible in the southeast quadrant of the picture

There are four main groups of rings around Saturn lying on the same plane, in-line with the planet’s equator. The rings extend outwards for about 170,000 miles. These rings are separated by distinct gaps and the rings are composed of pieces of ice coated rubble, orbiting the planet. More rings seem to be added over time as we get better data about Saturn. The source of Saturn’s rings are believed to be either the remnants of the original nebular material that formed Saturn or that they are what’s left of its former moon Veritas, which broke up because it came too close to the planet Saturn.

Saturn F Ring NASA
Synthesized picture of Saturn’s F-Ring composed by Voyager 2’s photopolarimeter

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