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Space News Update — December 2, 2016 —

Contents

In the News

Story 1: Russian space station cargo freighter lost on launch

Story 2: First Views of Mars Show Potential for ESA’s New Orbiter

Story 3: First signs of weird quantum property of empty space?

Departments

The Night Sky

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Space Calendar

NASA-TV Highlights

Food for Thought

Space Image of the Week

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1. Russian space station cargo freighter lost on launch

Russian mission control said Thursday an unpiloted Progress space station supply ship carrying nearly 5,400 pounds of rocket fuel, food, water and a new spacesuit burned up in Earth’s atmosphere shortly after it blasted off from Kazakhstan, and evidence points to a problem with the third stage of the cargo carrier’s Soyuz booster.

The Russian space agency — Roscosmos — confirmed the demise of the Progress MS-04 cargo craft in a statement, saying the automated spaceship was lost as it flew nearly 120 miles (190 kilometers) over the Tuva Republic in Southern Russia.

Engineers lost telemetry during the Soyuz rocket’s third stage engine burn, and most of the vehicle’s fragments burned up in the atmosphere, Roscosmos said.

The spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1451:52 GMT (9:51:52 a.m. EST; 8:51 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, roughly the moment the Earth’s rotation brought the remote Central Asia spaceport in line with the space station’s flight path.

The three-stage kerosene-fueled Soyuz booster heaved the cargo ship northeast from Baikonur and dropped its four strap-on boosters around two minutes after liftoff. An aerodynamic shield covering the Progress spacecraft jettisoned a few minutes later, followed by separation of the Soyuz core stage and ignition of the rocket’s third stage RD-0110 engine.

But Russian mission control lost contact with the rocket and its cargo payload at around T+plus 6 minutes, 22 seconds, according to Roscosmos. That was more than two minutes before the Progress spacecraft was to arrive in orbit.

The flight proceeded normally until that point, Russian officials said.

If all went according to plan, the Soyuz launcher should have deployed the cargo capsule into a preliminary orbit less than nine minutes into the flight. The Progress MS-04 spacecraft should have extended its power-generating solar panels and navigation antennas almost immediately after separating from the Soyuz upper stage.

But “ratty” telemetry from the spacecraft left ground controllers struggling to verify the status of the Progress cargo freighter. Rob Navias, a NASA TV commentator covering the launch, reported there was some indication the Soyuz third stage and Progress supply carrier may have prematurely separated.

“Our astronauts and the Russian cosmonauts are safe aboard the station,” a NASA spokesperson said in a statement. “Consumables aboard the station are at good levels.”

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir gave station commander Shane Kimbrough some “not-so-good news” a few hours after the launch.

“We have some news about the Progress,” Meir radioed from mission control in Houston. “Basically, what we saw was indications of the third stage sep (separation) occurring a few minutes early, and we haven’t had any communications with the Progress at all, so the Russians are, of course, looking into this, and we will inform you when we get more status.”

“OK, thanks, Houston, for the words,” Kimbrough replied. “Please keep us updated whenever you hear something.”

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“We’ll continue to keep updating,” Meir said. “The Russians have sent the Progress team home at this point, and they have formed a State Commission.”

“Copy all,” Kimbrough said.

Russian space officials typically form State Commissions to investigate launch failures.

Thursday’s launch failure marks the fourth time in 25 months that a supply ship heading for the space station has fallen short of the complex.

A commercial Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter crashed moments after liftoff in October 2014 when its Antares booster suffered an engine failure, then a Russian Progress spacecraft spun out of control after a botched separation from its Soyuz rocket in April 2015. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated in mid-air on a June 2015 launch with a Dragon logistics capsule.

That record signifies a turnaround in fortune for the international research outpost. Only one mission to the space station failed — another Soyuz/Progress launch in August 2011 — in nearly 16 years of assembly and resupply missions from November 1998 through October 2014.

Part refueling vehicle, reboost tug and resupply ship, the Progress logistics craft was embarking on a two-day chase of the space station, with a series of orbital maneuvers planned before targeting an automated docking with the outpost’s Zvezda service module around 1643 GMT (11:43 a.m. EST) Saturday.

The supply carrier’s official manifest included 5,383 pounds (2,442 kilograms) of cargo, a figure encompassing 1,565 pounds (710 kilograms) of propellant to be pumped into the Zvezda module’s fuel tanks, 926 pounds (420 kilograms) of fresh water, 114 pounds (52 kilograms) of oxygen, and 2,777 pounds (1,260 pounds) of dry cargo inside its pressurized cabin, according to information provided on the Russian space agency’s website.

The resupply mission was the 65th Progress spacecraft to launch toward the International Space Station since 2000, and the third Progress flight of the year.

A list posted on the Roscosmos website indicated the Progress MS-04 mission was to deliver about 694 pounds (315 kilograms) of food for the space station’s crew, 253 pounds (115 kilograms) of medical gear, personal hygiene items, and health monitoring equipment, 183 pounds of supplies for the Russian segment’s toilet and waste containers, and 147 pounds (67 kilograms) of hardware for the station’s air purification system.

Russian technicians also packed a new Orlan spacesuit inside the Progress MS-04 spacecraft to be used by Russian cosmonauts on future spacewalks. Also aboard the supply mission were myriad cables, photographic equipment and science experiments.

There were 191 pounds (87 kilograms) of supplies for NASA stowed on-board for the station’s environmental control and water recycling systems, according to Roscosmos.

Another resupply mission is due for launch to the space station Dec. 9, when a Japanese HTV cargo freighter will lift off with more experiments, provisions and six lithium-ion batteries to begin a major overhaul of the research lab’s U.S. power system.

Source: Spaceflight Now Return to Contents

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2. First Views of Mars Show Potential for ESA’s New Orbiter

ESA’s new ExoMars orbiter has tested its suite of instruments in orbit for the first time, hinting at a great potential for future observations.

The Trace Gas Orbiter, or TGO, a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos, arrived at Mars on 19 October. Its elliptical orbit takes it from 230–310 km above the surface to around 98 000 km every 4.2 days.

It spent the last two orbits during 20–28 November testing its four science instruments for the first time since arrival, and making important calibration measurements.

Data from the first orbit has been made available for this release to illustrate the range of observations to be expected once the craft arrives into its near-circular 400 km-altitude orbit late next year.

TGO’s main goal is to make a detailed inventory of rare gases that make up less than 1% of the atmosphere’s volume, including methane, water vapour, nitrogen dioxide and acetylene.

Of high interest is methane, which on Earth is produced primarily by biological activity, and to a smaller extent by geological processes such as some hydrothermal reactions.

Arsia Chasmata

The two instruments tasked with this role have now demonstrated they can take highly sensitive spectra of the atmosphere. During the test observations last week, the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite focused on carbon dioxide, which makes up a large volume of the planet's atmosphere, while the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery instrument homed in on water.

They also coordinated observations with ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as they will in the future.

Complementary measurements by the orbiter’s neutron detector, FREND, will measure the flow of neutrons from the planet’s surface. Created by the impact of cosmic rays, the way in which they are emitted and their speed on arriving at TGO points to the composition of the surface layer, in particular to water or ice just below the surface. The instrument has been active at various times during the cruise to Mars and on recent occasions while flying close to the surface could identify the relative difference between regions of known higher and lower neutron flux, although it will take several months to produce statistically significant results.

Similarly, the instrument showed a clear increase in neutron detections when close to Mars compared to when it was further away.

The different capabilities of the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System were also demonstrated, with 11 images captured during the first close flyby on 22 November.

At closest approach the spacecraft was 235 km from the surface, and flying over the Hebes Chasma region, just north of the Valles Marineris canyon system. These are some of the closest images that will ever be taken of the planet by TGO, given that the spacecraft’s final orbit will be at around 400 km altitude.

Source: ESA Return to Contents

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3. First signs of weird quantum property of empty space?

By studying the light emitted from an extraordinarily dense and strongly magnetized neutron star using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers may have found the first observational indications of a strange quantum effect, first predicted in the 1930s. The polarization of the observed light suggests that the empty space around the neutron star is subject to a quantum effect known as vacuum birefringence.

A team led by Roberto Mignani from INAF Milan (Italy) and from the University of Zielona Gora (Poland), used ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile to observe the neutron star RX J1856.5-3754, about 400 light-years from Earth.

Despite being amongst the closest neutron stars, its extreme dimness meant the astronomers could only observe the star with visible light using the FORS2 instrument on the VLT, at the limits of current telescope technology.

Neutron stars are the very dense remnant cores of massive stars—at least 10 times more massive than our Sun—that have exploded as supernovae at the ends of their lives. They also have extreme magnetic fields, billions of times stronger than that of the Sun, that permeate their outer surface and surroundings.

These fields are so strong that they even affect the properties of the empty space around the star. Normally a vacuum is thought of as completely empty, and light can travel through it without being changed. But in quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum theory describing the interaction between photons and charged particles such as electrons, space is full of virtual particles that appear and vanish all the time. Very strong magnetic fields can modify this space so that it affects the polarisation of light passing through it.

Mignani explains: "According to QED, a highly magnetised vacuum behaves as a prism for the propagation of light, an effect known as vacuum birefringence."

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Among the many predictions of QED, however, vacuum birefringence so far lacked a direct experimental demonstration. Attempts to detect it in the laboratory have not yet succeeded in the 80 years since it was predicted in a paper by Werner Heisenberg (of uncertainty principle fame) and Hans Heinrich Euler.

This wide field image shows the sky around the very faint neutron star RX J1856.5-3754 in the southern constellation of Corona Australis. This part of the sky also contains interesting regions of dark and bright nebulosity surrounding the …more

"This effect can be detected only in the presence of enormously strong magnetic fields, such as those around neutron stars. This shows, once more, that neutron stars are invaluable laboratories in which to study the fundamental laws of nature." says Roberto Turolla (University of Padua, Italy).

After careful analysis of the VLT data, Mignani and his team detected linear polarisation—at a significant degree of around 16%—that they say is likely due to the boosting effect of vacuum birefringence occurring in the area of empty space surrounding RX J1856.5-3754.

Vincenzo Testa (INAF, Rome, Italy) comments: "This is the faintest object for which polarisation has ever been measured. It required one of the largest and most efficient telescopes in the world, the VLT, and accurate data analysis techniques to enhance the signal from such a faint star."

"The high linear polarisation that we measured with the VLT can't be easily explained by our models unless the vacuum birefringence effects predicted by QED are included," adds Mignani.

"This VLT study is the very first observational support for predictions of these kinds of QED effects arising in extremely strong magnetic fields," remarks Silvia Zane (UCL/MSSL, UK).

Mignani is excited about further improvements to this area of study that could come about with more advanced telescopes: "Polarisation measurements with the next generation of telescopes, such as ESO's European Extremely Large Telescope, could play a crucial role in testing QED predictions of vacuum birefringence effects around many more neutron stars."

"This measurement, made for the first time now in visible light, also paves the way to similar measurements to be carried out at X-ray wavelengths," adds Kinwah Wu (UCL/MSSL, UK).

This research was presented in the paper entitled "Evidence for vacuum birefringence from the first optical polarimetry measurement of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5−3754", by R. Mignani et al., to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Source: Phys.org Return to Contents

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The Night Sky Friday, December 2

• For the next two evenings, the thickening crescent Moon poses with bright Venus in the southwest at dusk. This evening Venus and the Moon are 7° or 8° apart at the time of twilight for the Americas, with the Moon on the right, as shown here.

Saturday, December 3

• Now the Moon shines above Venus during and after dusk, as shown below. They're once again about 7° apart for the Americas. Although they may look like they're keeping each other company, Venus is currently 370 times more distant than the Moon.

Sunday, December 4

• The Moon shines about 5° or 6° to the right of little orange Mars in early evening, with Venus blazing far to their lower right. Farther to the Moon's lower left, you'll find twinkly Fomalhaut.

Monday, December 5

• At nightfall, look lower right of the Moon for Mars and much farther lower right from there for bright Venus. Meanwhile, well to the Moon's lower left is Fomalhaut.

Tuesday, December 6

• In late twilight, the Moon, Mars, and Venus form a long diagonal line in the south to southwest. Well below the Moon twinkles Fomalhaut.

Source: Sky & Telescope Return to Contents

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ISS Sighting Opportunities

For Denver: Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Fri Dec 2, 6:09 PM 2 min 44° 25° above W 34° above N

Sat Dec 3, 5:17 PM 4 min 83° 36° above WSW 11° above NE

Sat Dec 3, 6:53 PM < 1 min 14° 11° above WNW 14° above NW

Sun Dec 4, 6:01 PM 3 min 23° 15° above WNW 19° above N

Mon Dec 5, 5:10 PM 4 min 35° 23° above W 10° above NE

Mon Dec 5, 6:47 PM < 1 min 10° 10° above NW 10° above NW

Tue Dec 6, 5:54 PM 3 min 15° 10° above NW 13° above N

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Daylight Time)

• 9 a.m., 4 p.m., 8 p.m., Saturday, December 3 - Replay of the NASA Education Event at the Langley Research Center (Recorded 12/1/16) (all channels)

• 10 a.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., Saturday, December 3 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 51-52 Crew (Yurchikhin, Fischer) News Conference (Recorded 11/30/16 (all channels)

• 8 a.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., Sunday, December 4 - Replay of the NASA Education Event at the Langley Research Center (Recorded 12/1/16) (all channels)

• 9 a.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m., Sunday, December 4 - Replay of the ISS Expedition 51-52 Crew (Yurchikhin, Fischer) News Conference (Recorded 11/30/16) (all channels)

• 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 6 - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Event for ESA with the French Academy of Sciences in Paris and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (NTV-1 with English interpretation; NTV-3 in native language) (all channels)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to the NASA website. Return to Contents

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Space Calendar • Dec 02 - Comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham At Opposition (1.746 AU) • Dec 02 - Comet 246P/NEAT At Opposition (4.180 AU) • Dec 02 - Asteroid 96192 Calgary Closest Approach To Earth (1.376 AU) • Dec 02 - Asteroid 10866 Peru Closest Approach To Earth (1.533 AU) • Dec 02 - Asteroid 72432 Kimrobinson Closest Approach To Earth (1.943 AU) • Dec 02 - Asteroid 37452 Spirit Closest Approach To Earth (2.202 AU) • Dec 02 - Asteroid 19911 Rigaux Closest Approach To Earth (2.364 AU) • Dec 02 - 45th Anniversary (1971), Mars 3, Mars Orbit Insertion • Dec 03 - Asteroid 1833 Shmakova Occults HIP 110602 (5.8 Magnitude Star) • Dec 03 - [Dec 02] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WU9 Near-Earth Flyby (0.047 AU) • Dec 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2007 VM184 Near-Earth Flyby (0.074 AU) • Dec 03 - Asteroid 250840 Motorhead Closest Approach To Earth (1.719 AU) • Dec 03 - Asteroid 397278 Arvidson Closest Approach To Earth (1.845 AU) • Dec 03 - Kuiper Belt Object 145451 (2005 RM43) At Opposition (35.513 AU) • Dec 04 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #467 (OTM-467) • Dec 04 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Methone & Pan • Dec 04 - Comet 10P/Tempel Closest Approach To Earth (2.441 AU) • Dec 04 - Comet C/2016 B1 (NEOWISE) Perihelion (3.206 AU) • Dec 04 - Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) At Opposition (4.280 AU) • Dec 04 - Asteroid 21895 (1999 VA5) Occults HIP 20533 (6.3 Magnitude Star) • Dec 04 - Aten Asteroid 2005 WS3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.065 AU) • Dec 04 - Asteroid 193 Ambrosia Closest Approach To Earth (0.890 AU) • Dec 04 - Asteroid 4763 Ride Closest Approach To Earth (1.805 AU) • Dec 04 - Asteroid 1832 Mrkos Closest Approach To Earth (2.017 AU) • Dec 04 - Asteroid 12104 Chesley Closest Approach To Earth (2.098 AU) • Dec 04 - 20th Anniversary (1996), Mars Pathfinder Launch • Dec 04 - Wilhelm Tempel's 195th Birthday (1821) • Dec 05 - [Nov 29] Gokturk 1A Vega Launch • Dec 05 - [Nov 28] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WB8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.009 AU) • Dec 05 - Aten Asteroid 2010 TK7 (Earth Trojan) Closest Approach To Earth (0.200 AU) • Dec 05 - Apollo Asteroid 137052 Tjelvar Closest Approach To Earth (0.548 AU) • Dec 05 - Centaur Object 8405 Asbolus At Opposition (19.452 AU) • Dec 05 - 15th Anniversary (2001), STS-108 Launch (Space Shuttle Endeavour, International Space

Station) • Dec 06 - Moon Occults Neptune • Dec 06 - Comet 227P/Catalina-LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.517 AU) • Dec 06 - [Nov 26] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WD7 Near-Earth Flyby (0.011 AU) • Dec 06 - [Dec 02] Apollo Asteroid 2016 WH10 Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU) • Dec 06 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 TD18 Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU) • Dec 06 - Amor Asteroid 2016 UN36 Near-Earth Flyby (0.054 AU) • Dec 06 - Asteroid 11335 Santiago Closest Approach To Earth (1.173 AU) • Dec 06 - Asteroid 9885 Linux Closest Approach To Earth (1.229 AU) • Dec 06 - Asteroid 305254 Moron Closest Approach To Earth (1.578 AU) • Dec 06 - Asteroid 10916 Okina-Ouna Closest Approach To Earth (1.966 AU) • Dec 06 - Asteroid 99905 Jeffgrossman Closest Approach To Earth (2.138 AU) • Dec 06 - Niccolo Zucchi's 430th Birthday (1586)

Source: JPL Space Calendar Return to Contents

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Food for Thought

Culprit Found in Blurry Astronaut Vision Mystery

The ability to take part in long-term space missions is a rare privilege, usually enjoyed by only a handful of men and women within every generation. But that privilege comes with a pretty high price. In addition to all the hard work, training, and sacrifice that is needed to go into space, there are also the health effects of spending prolonged periods in a microgravity environment.

Until recently, the most well-document of these effects were muscle degeneration and loss of bone density. But thanks to a new study released by the Radiological Society of America, it is now understood how microgravity can impair eyesight. This is certainly good news for ISS crews, not to mention the astronauts who will be taking part in long-range missions to Mars and beyond in the near future.

For years, NASA and other space agencies have been seeking to understand how time in space can adversely affect eyesight. Nearly two-thirds of astronauts who have taken part in long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been diagnosed with Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) syndrome. Symptoms include blurred vision, flattening at the back of eyeballs, and inflammation of the head of the optic nerves.

Previously, scientists believed that the primary source of VIIP was a shift of vascular fluid toward the upper body that takes place when astronauts spend time in the microgravity of space. But thanks to the new study, which was led by Dr. Noam Alperin and his team of researchers from the University of Miami, the cause of the syndrome has been properly diagnosed.

Dr. Alperin is a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami and the lead author of the study. According to the study he and his colleagues produced – which was presented on Monday, Nov. 28th, at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago – the culprit is cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

This clear fluid is chiefly responsible for cushioning the brain and spinal cord, circulating nutrients and removing waste materials. At the same time, the CSF system is designed to accommodate significant changes in hydrostatic pressures, like when a person goes from lying down or sitting to a standing position. However, this system evolved within Earth’s own gravity environment, and exposing it to microgravity presents unique challenges.

As Dr. Alperin explained in a RSNA press statement, which coincided with the annual meeting:

“People initially didn’t know what to make of it, and by 2010 there was growing concern as it became apparent that some of the astronauts had severe structural changes that were not fully reversible upon return to Earth. On earth, the CSF system is built to accommodate these pressure changes, but in space the system is confused by the lack of the posture-related pressure changes.”

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To arrive at this conclusion, Dr. Alperin and his colleague performed a series of before and after MRI scans on seven astronauts who took part in long-duration missions aboard the ISS. The results were compared against nine astronauts who took part in short-duration missions aboard the now-retired Space Shuttle. With the help of some special imaging algorithms, they looked for correlations between changes in CSF volumes and VIIP.

The results of their study Their study, titled “Role of Cerebrospinal Fluid in Spaceflight-Induced Visual Impairment and Ocular Changes“, showed that astronauts who participated in long-duration missions experienced a comparably higher flattening of their eyeballs and protrusions in their optic nerves. These astronauts also had significantly higher post-flight increases in CSF around their optic nerves and in the cavities of the brain where CSF is produced.

This study is both timely and significant, given the growing important of long-duration space missions. At present, it is expected that operations aboard the ISS will last for another decade. One of the most important activities there will be the study of the long-term effects of microgravity on human physiology, which will be intrinsic to preparing astronauts for missions to Mars and other long-range destinations.

Magnetic-resonance (MR) image of an astronauts eye before and after a long-duration space flight. Credit: RSNA

In short, identifying the origin of the space-induced ocular changes will help NASA and other space agencies to develop the proper countermeasures to protect the crew from potentially harmful changes to their eyesight. It will also come in handy for private space ventures that are hoping to send human beings on one-way trips to locations where the gravity is lower than on Earth (i.e. the Moon and Mars).

“The research provides, for the first time, quantitative evidence obtained from short- and long-duration astronauts pointing to the primary and direct role of the CSF in the globe deformations seen in astronauts with visual impairment syndrome,” said Alperin. If the ocular structural deformations are not identified early, astronauts could suffer irreversible damage. As the eye globe becomes more flattened, the astronauts become hyperopic, or far-sighted.”

As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. In addition to having regiments that will help maintain their musculature and bone density, astronauts taking part in long-term missions in the future will also likely need to undergo treatments to ensure their eyesight doesn’t suffer.

Source: Universe Today Return to Contents

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Space Image of the Week

Dusty filaments in NGC 4696

This picture, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), shows NGC 4696, the largest galaxy in the Centaurus Cluster.

The new images taken with Hubble show the dusty filaments surrounding the centre of this huge galaxy in greater detail than ever before. These filaments loop and curl inwards in an intriguing spiral shape, swirling around the supermassive black hole at such a distance that they are dragged into and eventually consumed by the black hole itself.

Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble, A. Fabian

Source: SpaceTelescope.org Return to Contents