Archive | Science

Zoom into Solar Orbiter’s four new Sun images, assembled from high-resolution observations by the spacecraft’s PHI and EUI instruments made on 22 March 2023. The PHI images are the highest-resolution full views of the Sun’s visible surface to date, including maps of the Sun’s messy magnetic field and movement on the surface. These can be […]

On 12 November 2014, after a ten year journey through the Solar System and over 500 million kilometres from home, Rosetta’s lander Philae made space exploration history by touching down on a comet for the first time. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary feat, we celebrate Philae’s impressive achievements at Comet […]

The Sun follows a roughly 11-year rhythm of waking up and becoming very active before calming down again, a stellar beat known as the solar cycle. This affects Earth because it shapes space weather, determining how much radiation, magnetic field and particles the Sun flings out into space and towards our planet.  To source

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided a dramatic and colourful close-up look at one of the most boisterous stars in our galaxy, weaving a huge spiral pattern among the stars. Hubble’s images capturing its details and its evolution are featured by a unique timelapse video. To source

What’s better than one spacecraft on the quest to search for life-friendly ocean worlds in the Jupiter system? Two! ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is set to join forces with NASA’s Europa Clipper – launched on 14 October – to tackle one of the biggest questions in Solar System science. To source

In a surprise finding, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the blowtorch-like jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of a huge galaxy seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called novae, are not caught inside the jet, but apparently in a dangerous neighbourhood nearby. […]

Image: Webb’s new view of Arp 107 To source

Video: 00:01:15 See Mercury in a whole new light, through the ‘eyes’ of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft, as it sped past Mercury during its latest encounter on 4 September 2024. During the flyby, BepiColombo’s three monitoring cameras (M-CAMs) captured detailed images of the planet’s cratered surface. Within these images, Mercury scientists identified various geological features […]

Video: 00:04:11 ESA’s Euclid mission is surveying the sky to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. But how can Euclid see the invisible? Watch this video to learn about the light-bending effect that enables scientists to trace how dark matter is distributed in the Universe. By making use of Euclid’s flagship simulation […]

During its flyby of Earth  on 20 August, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) found ingredients for life in Earth’s atmosphere. To source

Image: During its recent flyby of Earth , ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice ) travelled through the zones of charged particles that surround our planet. These two zones are known as the Van Allen radiation belts . The inner belt is mostly full of energetic protons, and the outer belt is mostly full of energetic electrons. The region between the two belts is mostly empty.  The high levels of radiation in […]

ESA is part of the Big Science Business Forum 2024 event on 1–4 October in Trieste, Italy. This is where industry and Europe’s leading science organisations, research infrastructures and their collaborators will meet to inform, network and discuss business opportunities in a market valued at nearly €10 billion annually. To source

Video: 00:01:02 On 8 September 2024, Salsa (Cluster 2), one of four satellites that make up ESA’s Cluster  mission, will reenter Earth’s atmosphere  over the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area. Salsa’s reentry marks the end of the historic Cluster mission, over 24 years after the quartet was sent into space to measure Earth’s magnetic environment. Though the remaining three satellites will also stop […]