The Spider Nebula in space, a telescope mounted to the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), launched into Earth’s atmosphere on April 16, has released the first images showing it. see spider nebula in the mysterious deep space
spider nebula Recorded with SuperBIT is the Large Magellanic Cloud. floating beside milky way galaxy It is about 160,000 light-years away from Earth. Clouds and dust move turbulently swirling between the red stars. which astronomers hypothesize that it was formed later
In addition, the project of space exploration with telescopes. At an altitude in the stratosphere (about 33,000 meters above sea level), antennae galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 are also revealed, about 60 million light-years from Earth.
These galaxies collided and merged millions of years ago. which is a source of information for astronomers to study the possibilities of the universe But there is still no definitive information, so studying the galaxies and constellations near the Milky Way may tell them something.
The main goal of the SuperBIT space exploration program is to capture high-resolution images of the galaxies in deep space in the near-ultraviolet spectrum. That helps to reveal the details of the galaxy as well. to create a map of the surrounding dark matter galaxy clusters
Although the Hubble telescope has been able to cover a range of wavelengths covered by the SuperBIT, the advantage of this space exploration program is that it is located at high altitudes above Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in an angle of View of the SuperBIT camera captures a wider field of view. And it reduces costs by eliminating the need to attach a telescope to the space shuttle.
How does a SuperBIT explore dark matter?
SuperBIT probe to map dark matter apply a natural phenomenon called gravitational lens This is a phenomenon that has been heavily discussed in Einstein’s theory of relativity. as if galaxies have enveloped space-time Like an enlarged ball and there is a curved part when light travels through this curvature The path of light bends and changes with the force of the surrounding matter.
meanwhile Dark matter does not interact with electromagnetic radiation. Or light like the normal matter that surrounds us on a daily basis. This makes dark matter almost invisible to us. But given the fact that dark matter interacts with gravity, Astronomers were able to hypothesize the existence of dark matter.
Gravitational lensing is one way to map the distribution of dark matter. Deep space images from SuperBIT can help scientists explore how Can dark matter particles bounce off each other? when nearby galaxies move towards each other or collide This observation may reveal to astronomers that What particles does dark matter consist of?
NASA’s SuperBIT space exploration program duram university United Kingdom The University of Toronto, Canada, and Princeton University, USA, all participated in the launch of a football field-sized survey balloon in Wanaka. New Zealand
At an altitude of more than 34 kilometers above sea level, a balloon carrying a high-resolution telescope Orbit the Earth for more than 100 days at such a view above the atmosphere. This gives astronomers high-resolution data and images. By enabling the telescope to record light as it travels from galaxies in the distant universe. millions of light years away And it is an image that is not obscured by the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere.
On this exploration mission, SuperBIT returned safely to Earth via parachute mechanism. The research team collected data from the latest survey. And to improve the performance of the telescope better. for the next mission
A telescope mounted on a balloon saves millions of dollars more than launching a rocket into space. So NASA thinks This could be a potentially widespread new approach for future space exploration missions.
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open image NASA
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