ESA Top Multimedia

About 12 billion years ago, a dwarf galaxy known as LKH (left) collided with a young Milky Way (right) and merged with it. This artist’s concept portrays that collision. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope uncovered definitive evidence of this long-ago collision by studying ancient globular star clusters.

[Image description: An illustration of two galaxies in the midst of a collision against a dark, star-filled background. The collision takes up the middle third of the illustration. On the right, a larger galaxy is viewed at an angle from 11 o’clock to 4 o’clock, with a white-yellow core surrounded by mottled brown dust lanes and faint bluish spiral arms. To the left, a smaller, bright blue-white galaxy is stretched into a curved, hook-like shape as gravity distorts it. A broad, glowing bridge of pale blue gas and stars extends off the galaxy at the left, while wispy streams extend above and below the larger galaxy at the right. The words “Artist’s Concept” appear in the lower left corner.]

[English] Experience a musical simulation of the 12 August 2026 total solar eclipse as seen from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (Spain). Click here for information about ESA’s live broadcast from this observatory, or visit esa.int/solareclipse for an overview of all ESA eclipse activities & resources. 

This is a ‘musification’ – an artistic interpretation of a set of data. In this case, the eclipse determines when and how much of each sound is heard. The music is simply the way those data are presented.

This musification is a collaboration ESA’s CESAR team and Rubén García Benito from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC). It uses nine parameters extracted from a Stellarium simulation of the total solar eclipse:

Arpeggio (the rapid succession of notes): Visible sunlight. Its rhythm, range (spanning almost four octaves), and volume are determined by the light itself; the chord follows the colour of the sky. It fades out as the Sun sets. (The data determine the behaviour; the scale and pattern are artistic choices.)

Pad (background chord): The colour of the light; the redder and warmer the light becomes, the darker the chord. (The colour is the data.)

Bass (sub): The weight of the darkness; deepest during totality. (Data-driven.)

Heartbeat: The tension, reflecting how quickly the light is falling; it comes to rest during totality. (Data: rate of change.)

Bells: The actual contacts C1, C2, maximum eclipse and C3 (there is no C4, as the Sun sets before the eclipse ends). (Sonification: marking a real moment in time.)

Shimmering sound during totality: The solar corona. (A musical element placed at the real event.)

Descending whoosh: The exact moment when the Sun disappears behind the horizon. (An icon of the event; not measured wind.)

Low night drone: The onset of night (entering when the Sun passes below the horizon). (Data: when it happens and to what extent.)

Stars (soft sparkling tones): The stars that become visible at night (but not during totality). (Data: when they appear and how many are visible.)

[Spanish] Vive una simulación musical del eclipse solar total del 12 de agosto de 2026 tal como se verá desde el Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (España). Visita esa.int/solareclipse para consultar un resumen de todas las actividades y recursos de la ESA relacionados con el eclipse.

Se trata de una musificación, es decir, una interpretación artística de un conjunto de datos. En este caso, el eclipse determina cuándo se escucha cada sonido y con qué intensidad. La música es simplemente la forma en que se presentan esos datos.

Esta musificación es fruto de una colaboración entre el equipo CESAR de la ESA y Rubén García Benito, del Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC). Utiliza nueve parámetros extraídos de una simulación del eclipse solar total realizada con Stellarium:

• Arpegio (rápida sucesión de notas): La luz solar visible. Su ritmo, extensión (que abarca casi cuatro octavas) y volumen están determinados por la propia luz; el acorde sigue el color del cielo. Se desvanece a medida que el Sol se pone. (Los datos determinan el comportamiento; la escala y el patrón son elecciones artísticas).
• Pad (acorde de fondo): El color de la luz. Cuanto más rojiza y cálida se vuelve la luz, más oscuro es el acorde. (El color es el dato).
• Grave (subgrave): El peso de la oscuridad, que alcanza su máxima intensidad durante la totalidad. (Basado en datos).
• Latido: La tensión, que refleja la rapidez con la que disminuye la luz; se calma durante la totalidad. (Dato: tasa de cambio).
• Campanas: Los contactos reales C1, C2, máximo eclipse y C3 (no hay C4 porque el Sol se pone antes de que termine el eclipse). (Sonificación: marca un instante real en el tiempo).
• Brillo suspendido durante la totalidad: La corona solar. (Elemento musical situado en el momento real del acontecimiento).
• Soplo descendente: El instante exacto en que el Sol desaparece tras el horizonte. (Un recurso sonoro que representa el evento; no se trata de viento medido).
• Zumbido (dron) nocturno grave: El inicio de la noche (cuando el Sol desciende por debajo del horizonte). (Datos: cuándo ocurre y en qué grado).
• Estrellas (suaves tonos centelleantes): Las estrellas que se hacen visibles durante la noche (pero no durante la totalidad). (Datos: cuándo aparecen y cuántas son visibles).

When the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, it casts a shadow onto Earth's surface. For people in the darkest part of this shadow, the face of the Sun is totally blocked out, and its wispy atmosphere becomes visible.

On Wednesday 12 August, such a shadow will cross Greenland, Iceland, northeastern Portugal and Spain. With this being the first total eclipse visible from mainland Spain since 1905, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to do something special.

ESA’s live broadcast from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre will allow anyone to experience this rare phenomenon from anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the Agency is working with the City and University of León to organise a free in-person event, inviting people to come together for a day of interactive workshops, talks and live observations.

Find out more

This image features data from Webb’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) to capture the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the field that hosts the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

[Image description: A dense star field fills the entire image, with countless stars scattered across a backdrop of glowing clouds in shades of red, orange, pink, white, and blue. At the centre, a brilliant concentration of stars creates a bright, almost white core surrounded by intricate filaments and wisps of illuminated gas and dust that radiate outward. Dark, irregular patches of opaque dust interrupt the glowing clouds, particularly toward the left side of the image, where they appear as silhouetted shapes against the brighter background. The surrounding stellar population varies in brightness and colour, with cool blue stars and warmer orange and red stars distributed throughout the scene.]

[English] On 12 August 2026, Europe will witness one of nature’s most spectacular events: a total solar eclipse starting at 19:30 CEST.

As the Moon’s shadow sweeps across Spain, join the European Space Agency live from Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre where Dame Dr. Maggie Aderin and ESA scientists will fill you in on everything you need to know about the eclipse and reveal the science behind the spectacle.

Are you watching from Spain? Join ESA in León at Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de León for a day of science, hands-on activities and safe eclipse viewing.

Whether you're under the path of totality or watching from across the globe, ESA is your front-row seat to the cosmos.

Watch live here:

https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency

 https://watch.esa.int/

Learn more about the event in León.

Safe eclipse watching.

[Spanish] El 12 de Agosto de 2026, Europa será testigo de uno de los espectáculos más impresionantes de la naturaleza: un eclipse total de Sol, que comenzará a las 19:30 CEST.

Mientras la sombra de la Luna recorre España, acompaña a la Agencia Espacial Europea en directo desde el Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre, donde la Dra. Maggie Aderin y científicos de la ESA te explicarán todo lo que necesitas saber sobre el eclipse y descubrirán la ciencia que se esconde detrás de este extraordinario fenómeno.

¿Vas a verlo desde España? Únete a la ESA en el Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de León para disfrutar de una jornada llena de ciencia, actividades interactivas y observación segura del eclipse.

Tanto si te encuentras bajo la franja de totalidad como si lo sigues desde cualquier otro lugar del mundo, la ESA te ofrece un asiento en primera fila para vivir este espectáculo del cosmos.

Sigue la retransmisión en directo aquí:

https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency

https://watch.esa.int/

Más información sobre el evento en León.

Mira el eclipse de forma segura.

The footage shows the simultaneous deployment of two landing legs from the ExoMars landing platform, in two sequential pairs.  

The legs travel stowed on the spacecraft through deep space, and are automatically deployed in pairs in less than a second using non-explosive actuators, just after the front shield is jettisoned. This is a crucial step in the landing module’s preparation for touchdown.  

The tests used a full-scale model of the landing platform at the Thales Alenia facilities in Turin, Italy. The four legs replicate the structure and dimensions of those that will fly to Mars. 

The landing legs are crucial gear for the safe touchdown of ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission in 2030, alongside parachutes and engines that will slow the spacecraft’s descent onto Mars.   

While Thales Alenia Space is the industrial lead of the mission, Airbus provides the landing platform.  Teams from the Sener company, based in Spain, designed and built the landing legs. 

This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month takes us to a fantastical realm within our home galaxy, where piercing starlight and billowing winds sculpt dust clouds into inventive shapes. This scene is from the Carina Nebula, which lies just 7500 light-years away in the constellation Carina (the Keel).

Spanning roughly 260 light-years, the nebula is home to an incredible collection of objects, including the Cosmic Cliffs revealed in the first-ever Webb image release. The Carina Nebula is also the nearest high-mass star-forming region that allows astronomers to study the full range of star formation. This nebula houses some of the most massive stars in our galaxy as well as tens of thousands of protostars, offering a valuable opportunity to understand how stars shape their neighbourhoods.

The feature highlighted in today’s image, aptly called the Treasure Chest, looks right at home in this celestial sculpture garden. The Treasure Chest is what’s known as a cometary globule. A cometary globule is an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, dark head and a sweeping tail. These clouds often somewhat resemble comets, but the Treasure Chest looks distinctly like a wooden chest with its lid wide open.

However, this chest doesn’t contain jewels or gold coins, but instead a compact cluster of young stars. These stars are responsible for the otherworldly glow coming from within the Treasure Chest, revealed by Webb’s sensitive Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Researchers estimate that the Treasure Chest’s cluster contains about 70 stars, the most massive of which is a rare O-type star roughly 19 times as massive as the Sun.

The star cluster is likely around 1.3 million years old, though earlier estimates found it to be as young as just 100 000 years old. Because of its youth, the cluster is still deeply embedded within the dusty clouds of the Treasure Chest. The individual stars in the cluster are wrapped up in dust as well; astronomers have found evidence that many of these stars are surrounded by circumstellar discs. Over time, the brilliant starlight from these young stars will dissipate the surrounding cloud and reveal the entire cluster.

The key to the Treasure Chest’s sculptural shape lies outside this image: just 39 light-years to the northwest, as measured on the sky, sits Eta Carinae, the most luminous object in the entire Carina Nebula. Eta Carinae is a star system containing at least two stars, one of which is 100 times as massive as the Sun. This star alone is about 5 million times as luminous as the Sun. Adding to this intense radiation is the nearby star cluster Trumpler 16, which also contains several extremely hot massive stars.

With Webb, astronomers have carried out an observing programme (#5408; PI: Reiter) dedicated to studying how young stars in the Carina Nebula collect gas from their surroundings and expel it through outflows.

[Image Description: A region of space filled with bright stars and clouds of gas. In the centre, the densest clouds form the shape of a chest with its lid open. The chest appears to glow from within. At its base it breaks apart into long pillars of thick gas. Many of the gas clouds in the background are dark orange globules, while others form large, pale hazes. A few brightly shining stars lie in the foreground, the biggest and brightest in front of the chest’s lid.]

• Release on esawebb.org

What does it take to send gourmet food to the International Space Station? Follow ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot's bonus menu from a French kitchen to orbit, where chefs, engineers and food specialists work together to transform traditional recipes into meals that are safe for spaceflight, while preserving the flavours, memories and moments of sharing that make them special.

This timelapse was published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:

[English] Day 167 orbit 2587 — Movies sometimes make it look easy to put on a spacesuit and head outside the spaceship. In reality, getting two astronauts and their spacesuits ready for the vastly hostile environment just beyond the Station takes a looooong time. It requires hours of carefully rehearsed procedures, precise gestures, and endless checks to make sure everything is ready before the hatch opens.

For this EVA-95, I had the privilege of leading the intravehicular (IV) operations, and I couldn't be happier of how well we worked together. While strictly following all procedures, we still managed to get Jessica and Chris into the airlock about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. That may not sound like much, but for the crew members in the suit, it’s 30 minutes of energy saved for the EVA marathon ahead, a huge advantage!

Next EVA on August 6! As usual, you can watch it live on the NASA website or on their YouTube channel.

[French] Jour 167, orbite 2587 – C’est si facile dans les films d’enfiler un scaphandre et de sortir du vaisseau spatial… Dans la vraie vie, préparer deux astronautes et leurs scaphandres à affronter l’environnement extrêmement hostile qui règne juste à l’extérieur de la Station prend un trèèèès long moment. Des heures de procédures soigneusement répétées, de gestes précis et de vérifications pour s’assurer que tout est prêt avant l’ouverture de l’écoutille.

Pour cette EVA-95, j’avais la joie de diriger les opérations intravéhiculaires, et nous avons formé une équipe super efficace. Tout en suivant strictement toutes les procédures, Jessica et Chris étaient dans le sas, prêts à sortir, avec 30 minutes d’avance. 30 minutes, ce n’est pas grand chose, mais pour les membres d’équipage dans le scaphandre, c’est toujours 30 minutes d’énergie économisée pour le marathon que représente une EVA !

Prochaine sortie extravéhiculaire le 6 août! Elle sera comme d’habitude retransmise en direct par la NASA sur leur site et sur leur chaîne YouTube.

[English]: A solar eclipse is an unforgettable sight, but only if you watch it safely!

ESA reserve astronaut Sara García Alonso shows you how to enjoy this incredible cosmic event using certified eclipse glasses and explains why ordinary sunglasses are not enough.

Learn what happens during the different stages of an eclipse, when it is safe to look up, and how to experience one of the greatest shows in the Solar System without risking your eyes.

[Spanish]: Un eclipse solar es un espectáculo inolvidable, ¡pero solo si lo observas de forma Segura!

El astronauta de reserva de la ESA Pablo Álvarez Fernández te explica cómo disfrutar de este increíble fenómeno cósmico utilizando gafas de eclipse certificadas y por qué unas gafas de sol normales no son suficientes.

Descubre qué ocurre durante las distintas fases de un eclipse, cuándo es seguro mirar al Sol y cómo disfrutar de uno de los mayores espectáculos del Sistema Solar sin poner en Riesgo tu vista.