Rambling Readers

Euclid Consortium

Gravitational lens or not? Join our #ESAEuclid #citizenscience classification of #galaxies' masses bending space itself:

https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/aprajita/space-warps-esa-euclid

#astronomy #space #cosmology #science #Euclid #astrodon

An image from #ESAEuclid showing a galaxy with features that might or might not be related to gravitational lensing.

Were happy to announce #Euclid #SpaceWarps - our first citizen science search for gravitational lenses in #ESAEuclid data. Curious how mass bends light-paths? Want to see gravity in action? Join our #CitizenScience project on the #Zooniverse:

https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/aprajita/space-warps-esa-euclid

#astronomy #space #science #cosmology #astrodon

Daniel Pomarède

We Are Here

a beautiful visualization of Laniakea, our Home supercluster of galaxies, produced by Félix Pharand-Deschênes

#laniakea #supercluster #galaxies #LaniakeaSupercluster #astronomy #cosmology #cosmography #universe #astrodon #science #STEM #visualization #astrophysics #scicomm

A rendering of the three-dimensional envelope delineating the basin of attraction inside which our galaxy the Milky Way is located. The envelope is rendered with a semi-transparent blueish surface inside which are displayed thousands of very thin flowlines rendered in gold color, that are seen converging onto a unique attractor. A particular spot in the periphery of this object is pinpointed with a label that reads "WE ARE HERE". The scene is rendered against a colorful background image of a numerical simulation of the cosmic web, made of filaments, voids and knots, typical of the distribution of matter on cosmological scales. This visualization is entitled "The Laniakea Supercluster" and a text reads "Among the largest known structures in the Universe, superclusters are large groups of smaller galaxy clusters. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of the Local Group, which itself is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which in turn belongs to the Laniakea Supercluster. The Laniakea Supercluster extends more than 500 million light-years and contains the mass of hundred million billion stars, grouped in over 100,000 large galaxies."

Euclid Consortium

#ESA is organizing the 56th #ESLAB Symposium focussed on #ESAEuclid from 24-26 March 2025 in #Leiden, #Netherlands. This conference is open to the scientific community - and abstract submission for contributions is now open until 15 December.

More information and abstract submission: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/euclid-eslab-2025

#space #astronomy #cosmology #astrodon #science #Euclid

Alex San

The splendid "In Our Time" program from BBC's Radio 4 podcast released back in September an episode dedicated to the wormholes. Totally recommend. 😉

#Astrodon #wormholes #science #cosmology #physics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00237yt

Euclid Consortium

How do raw images of the sky by #ESAEuclid actually look like? No, not as polished as the ones #ESA published last week. They are individual images, with lots of image artefacts, and hits by cosmic rays.

We talk a bit about the background and show an illustrative video of how #Euclid sees the sky: https://www.euclid-ec.org/what-euclid-really-sees-in-the-sky

#astronomy #astrodon #cosmology #space #photography

A raw image by the Euclid VIS camera, with a galaxy in the center, detector edges to the side, and many traces of cosmic rays having hit the detector.

Project Gutenberg

Stars behaving absurdly

For centuries, the only way in which to illuminate the mysteries of black holes was through the power of mathematics.

As celestial entities go, black holes are, paradoxically, both commonplace and extraordinary. They could be seen as commonplace due to their general ubiquity.

By Steve Nadis and Shing-Tung Yau via @aeonmag

https://aeon.co/essays/mathematics-is-the-only-way-we-have-of-peering-into-a-black-hole?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fe59a6d476-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-fe59a6d476-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

#cosmology #astronomy #science

A 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the M87 galaxy’s 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, September 2024. Courtesy NASA/ESA/STSCI

Euclid Consortium

#ESA's release of a major #ESAEuclid image: 132 deg², approximately 2 weeks of #Euclid observations. Background: https://www.euclid-ec.org/euclids-first-large-piece-of-the-sky

All captured in one video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZCsUfgLRQ

#astronomy #astrodon #space #science #cosmology

Euclid Consortium

You can now get a description of #Euclid52weeks by astronomer, Youtuber, and Euclid Consortium member Chris Pattison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=behtA5F_HZg

#ESAEuclid #space #astronomy #astrodon #cosmology

Euclid Consortium

After arrival around L2, #ESAEuclid immediately started to produce first images. Both instruments on board worked perfectly. But there were some issues: some straylight in the VIS instrument required survey replanning, sometimes solar X-rays needed to be flagged, and a fix was required for initial guiding problems of the spacecraft.

All this was quickly fixed.

More images and explanations, #Euclid52weeks: https://www.euclid-ec.org/euclid-anniversary

#astrodon #space #astronomy #science #cosmology

Alarming straylight on the VIS instrument in certain pointing orientations. Credits: ESA

Small guiding problem: the telescope moves while taking pictures. Credits: ESA / Euclid Consortium / TAS-I

X-ray flares from the Sun printed the telescope's insides on VIS. Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA

Daniel Pomarède

Euclid Consortium

#ESAEuclid was developed since more than a decade. Would everything work? The instrument teams were visibly nervous after launch before the first images were linked back to Earth. Then great relief: yes, both instruments were alive and worked as planned.

More images and explanation, #Euclid52weeks: https://www.euclid-ec.org/euclid-anniversary

#astrodon #space #astronomy #science #cosmology

Performance Verification team looking at something in a VIS image. Credit: Mischa Schirmer

NISP instrument team gathered around their first spectra image. Credit: Reiko Nakajima

Euclid Consortium

Looking back at #ESAEuclid's first 52 weeks: after many years of development on Earth, #Euclid's time as a satellite and space telescope started with a rocket launch. On 1 September 2023, from Cape Canaveral, with a #SpaceX #Falcon9, perfectly inserted into its orbit.

More about #Euclid52weeks at: https://www.euclid-ec.org/euclid-anniversary

#astronomy #space #astrodon #cosmology

Euclid released into space after launch, now on its 1.5 million kilometer cruise to the Lagrange Point 2. Image credit: SpaceX

Euclid launches on top of a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida. Image credit: SpaceX

Euclid Consortium

#ESAEuclid has been in space since 1 July 2023, and, after commissioning and initial calibration, started surveying the sky ultimately in February. We now celebrate "52 weeks of #Euclid in space - first year of a big journey to new physics":

https://www.euclid-ec.org/euclid-anniversary

These images tell a story about technology, challenges, the #Universe, but foremost about the many people that made #Euclid possible, and that are now working on the #science.

#astronomy #astrodon #cosmology #space

~500 members of the Euclid Consortium during this year's annual meeting, here in Rome, Italy. These meetings are a forum to both get up to speed on the current state of the mission, but also to network between the different science working groups and the groups carrying out the sky survey and developing and running the data and science pipelines.

StratoCat

World Balloon News (previously known as Weekly Balloon News) is a somewhat regular bulletin containing balloon-related news of what's going on in the field of scientific, aerospace and military ballooning and commercial exploitation of near space.

Subscribe today for free to receive a notification when a new issue is published. Never miss an update.

https://stratocat.substack.com/

#fedi22 #Ballooning #Balloon #Science #STEM #Research #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Technology #Cosmology #Astrodon #Space