Space Stories: Upcoming ESA Exoplanet Mission, Evidence of Early Water in the Universe, and a New Nearby Dwarf Galaxy

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Here are some recent stories of interest.

—German Aerospace Center: “PLATO Mission to Launch in Late 2026 Onboard Ariane 6“

On 29 January 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Director of Science, Carole Mundell; ESA’s Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen; and Arianespace’s Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Rutgers, signed the launch contract for the ESA PLATO science mission...PLATO stands for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars…PLATO’s goal is to detect Earth-like planets that orbit Sun-like stars in the Milky Way and may even have conditions suitable for life.

—ScienceNews: “The Universe’s First Supernovas Probably Produced Water“

The first generation of stars in the universe could have produced significant amounts of water upon their deaths, just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang. Signatures of water have previously been observed some 780 million years after the Big Bang. But now, computer simulations suggest that this essential condition for life existed far earlier than astronomers thought, researchers report March 3 in Nature Astronomy.

—Phys.org: “New Dwarf Galaxy Discovered in the Halo of Andromeda Galaxy“

An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new dwarf galaxy, which they have named Pegasus VII. The newfound galaxy, which lies about 2.4 million light years away, was identified in the Ultraviolet Near-Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS). The discovery was detailed in a research paper published Feb. 13 on the arXiv preprint server. Dwarf galaxies are low-luminosity and low-mass stellar systems, usually containing a few billion stars. Their formation and activity are thought to be heavily influenced by interactions with larger galaxies.

Space Quote: More on the ISS “Stranded” Story

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Image (Credit): European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen (Twitter/X)

“You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.”

–Comments by Andreas Mogensen, a Danish astronaut who commanded the ISS between September 2023 to early 2024, in response to Elon Musk’s constant tweets about his efforts to “rescue” the two Starliner astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA already resolved the issue, yet Mr. Musk seems to need the attention given that otherwise the media keeps ignoring his actions (such as harassing federal employees, including those at NASA).

Space Stories: Solar Orbiter Encounters Venus, White Dwarf Exoplanets, and the End of Gaia

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Credit: ESA

Here are some recent stories of interest..

—European Space Agency: “Solar Orbiter Ready for Close Encounter with Venus’“

The European Space Agency (ESA) is ready to guide the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft through its closest encounter with Venus so far. Today’s flyby will be the first to significantly ‘tilt’ the spacecraft’s orbit and allow it to see the Sun’s polar regions, which cannot be seen from Earth. Studying the Sun’s poles will improve our understanding of solar activity, space weather, and the Sun-Earth connection.

—UC Irvine News: “UC Irvine Astronomers Gauge Livability of Exoplanets Orbiting White Dwarf Stars’“

Among the roughly 10 billion white dwarf stars in the Milky Way galaxy, a greater number than previously expected could provide a stellar environment hospitable to life-supporting exoplanets, according to astronomers at the University of California, Irvine. In a paper published recently in The Astrophysical Journal, a research team led by Aomawa Shields, UC Irvine associate professor of physics and astronomy, share the results of a study comparing the climates of exoplanets at two different stars. One is a hypothetical white dwarf that’s passed through much of its life cycle and is on a slow path to stellar death. The other subject is Kepler-62, a “main sequence” star at a similar phase in its evolution as our sun.

—Uppsala University: “Mission Accomplished for Space Telescope Gaia’“

The space telescope Gaia has created the largest three-dimensional map of the Milky Way ever. On January 15, 2025, Gaia shut down after 11 years in space. But the research on data Gaia collected will continue for many years to come. Gaia is a space telescope onboard a satellite that has orbited the sun for 11 years. With the help of astrometry, which is a technique to measure the positions, distances and movements of stars and other heavenly bodies, Gaia has been able to measure distances and luminosities for up to 2 billion stars, which is about 1% of all stars in the Milky Way.

2024 Space Hightlights – Missions

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Image (Credit): An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft over Europa. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Another list worth highlighting at year-end covers all of the space missions from 2024. For example, this list from Freethink, “the top 10 space stories of 2024,” includes the launch of the Europa Clipper, China’s Chang’e 6 round-trip to the Moon, and a successful commercial launch to the Moon (Odysseus lunar lander).

Here are some other lists of missions from 2024:

Note: The Awesome-Universe list of top missions looking back in 2024 include:

Pic of the Week: Grand Design Spiral Galaxy NGC 5643

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Image (Credit): Spiral galaxy NGC 5643, which is located roughly 40 million light-years away in the constellation Lupus. (ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess, D. Thilker, D. De Martin (ESA/Hubble), M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble))

This week’s image comes from the NASA/European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope. It shows colorful spiral galaxy NGC 5643, which is located roughly 40 million light-years away in the constellation Lupus.

Here is more on the spiral galaxy from the ESA Hubble site:

NGC 5643 is what’s known as a grand design spiral, referring to how the galaxy’s two large, winding spiral arms are clear to see. The spiral arms are defined by bright blue stars, lacy reddish-brown dust clouds and pink star-forming regions. As fascinating as the galaxy appears at visible wavelengths, some of NGC 5643’s most interesting features are invisible to the human eye. Ultraviolet and X-ray images and spectra of NGC 5643 show that the galaxy hosts an active galactic nucleus: an especially bright galactic core powered by a feasting supermassive black hole. When a supermassive black hole ensnares gas from its surroundings, the gas collects in a disc that heats up to hundreds of thousands of degrees. The superheated gas shines brightly across the electromagnetic spectrum, but especially at X-ray wavelengths.

NGC 5643’s active galactic nucleus isn’t the brightest source of X-rays in the galaxy, though. Researchers using ESA’s XMM-Newton discovered an even brighter X-ray-emitting object, called NGC 5643 X-1, on the galaxy’s outskirts. What could be a more powerful source of X-rays than a supermassive black hole? Surprisingly, the answer appears to be a much smaller black hole!

While the exact identity of NGC 5643 X-1 is not yet known, evidence points to a black hole that is about 30 times more massive than the Sun. Locked in an orbital dance with a companion star, the black hole ensnares gas from its stellar companion, creating a superheated disc that outshines the galactic centre.