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A citizen scientist digging through data from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has found the mission’s 5000th comet.

The tiny comet – indicated between the vertical lines in the inset – belongs to the ‘Marsden group’, named after the British astronomer Brian Marsden, who first recognised the group based on SOHO observations. Marsden group comets are thought to be pieces shed by the much bigger Comet 96P/Machholz, which SOHO observes as it passes close to the Sun every 5.3 years.

This 5000th comet was discovered by Hanjie Tan, an astronomy PhD student in Prague, Czechia. Hanjie has been comet hunting since he was just 13 years old, discovering over 200 comets since 2009.

Hanjie explains how he felt upon spotting this comet in the data: “The Marsden group comets represent only about 1.5% of all SOHO comet discoveries, so finding this one as the 5000th SOHO comet felt incredibly fortunate. It's really exciting to be the first to see comets get bright near the Sun after they've been travelling through space for thousands of years.”

Launched in 1995, SOHO studies the Sun from its interior to its outer atmosphere, providing unique views and investigating the cause of the solar wind. During the last three decades, SOHO has become the most prolific discoverer of comets in astronomical history.

The telescope’s prowess as a comet-hunter was unplanned, but turned out to be an unexpected success. With its clear view of the Sun’s surroundings, SOHO can easily spot a special kind of comet called a sungrazer – so-called because of their close approach to the Sun.

Like most who have discovered comets in SOHO’s data, Hanjie Tan is a volunteer citizen scientist, searching for comets in his free time with the Sungrazer Project. This NASA-funded citizen science project, managed by Karl Battams from the US Naval Research Lab, grew out of the huge number of comet discoveries by citizen scientists early into SOHO’s mission.

“Prior to the launch of the SOHO mission and the Sungrazer Project, there were only a couple dozen sungrazing comets on record – that’s all we knew existed,” said Karl Battams, who is the principal investigator for the Sungrazer Project. “The fact that we’ve finally reached this milestone – 5000 comets – is just unbelievable to me.”

SOHO is a cooperative effort between ESA and NASA. Mission control is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. SOHO’s Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment, or LASCO, which is the instrument that provides most of the comet imagery, was built by an international consortium, led by the US Naval Research Lab.

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SOHO’s 4000th comet

SOHO’s 3000th comet

[Image description: A bright orange circle covers almost the whole image, with a smaller disc in the middle. Out of the smaller disc protrude wisps of the Sun's atmosphere. To the upper right of the inner circle, an inset zooms in on a small square, with vertical lines surrounding a faint smudge.]

Dall’11 al 15 marzo, oltre 1.400 giovani studenti e studentesse si sono ritrovati al Centro ESA a Frascati, dedicato all’Osservazione della Terra, per l’edizione 2024 degli ESA School Days. Il Centro ESRIN ha accolto le scuole primarie (quarta e quinta classe) nei giorni 11, 12 e 13 marzo, mentre gli ultimi due giorni della settimana sono stati dedicati alle scuole medie. Durante cinque giorni di presentazioni e laboratori pratici, le scuole provenienti da tutta Italia hanno avuto l’opportunità di esplorare la vasta gamma di attività spaziali che si svolgono nel sito dell’ESA. 

L’iniziativa, che ha visto la partecipazione di ESERO Italia e dell’Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), si propone l’obiettivo di coinvolgere e ispirare le prossime generazioni di studenti e studentesse STEM, diffondendo conoscenza sullo Spazio e sull’Agenzia Spaziale Europea.

From 11 to 15 March, over 1400 young students gathered at ESA Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati for the 2024 edition of ESA School Days. ESRIN welcomed primary school students (4th and 5th grades) on 11, 12 and 13 March, while the last two days were dedicated to secondary schools. During these five days of presentations and laboratories, schools from across Italy had the opportunity to explore the wide range of space activities carried out at ESA’s establishment. 

The initiative, that saw the participation of ESERO Italia and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aims to engage and inspire the next generation of STEM students, while sharing knowledge about space and the European Space Agency.

A team of European scientists have published the most detailed geologic map of Oxia Planum – the landing site for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars. This thorough look at the geography and geological history of the area will help the rover scout the once water-rich terrain, in the search for signs of past and present life.

The map gives scientists a head start before Rosalind Franklin lands there in 2030. Four years in the making, this map identifies 15 geological units with characteristic features that can help decide how the rover explores the area, interprets its surroundings, and tries to collect evidence of primitive life.

Oxia Planum is located near the martian equator and contains sedimentary deposits that are nearly four billion years old.

The map includes the main types of bedrock, and structures with distinct shapes like ridges and craters. It even features the material that rests on top, for example blown by the wind, or thrown long distances when meteorites impacted the surface. The shape model of the surface on which the map is shown here was generated from orbital images by a painstaking process. In some places, long and straight ‘stripes’ can be seen as a result of this processing.

Data came from the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and several instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), including the HiRISE camera, which returns images from Mars orbit at 25 cm per pixel.

For more information, visit the ExoMars website: www.esa.int/exomars.

This simulation shows how a galaxy like the Milky Way forms and evolves through time. It runs from the birth of the Universe (13.7 billion years ago) to 3 billion years ago. 

The forming galaxy begins as a clump of dark matter threads that knit together; gas and stars then begin to form along these bright veins as time ticks on. A major event in the Milky Way’s history is also labelled at around one minute in, when another object collided with the infant Milky Way. 

Gas is shown in blue, stars in white, dark matter in red, and iron in green, as indicated by the labels displayed at bottom left. In the bottom right, the amount of time ago is shown via both the ‘z’ label (referring to redshift), and the ‘GYR’ label (with 1 Gyr, or gigayear, equalling 1 billion years). 

The simulation was produced by Florent Renaud as part of his Vintergatan Project (Vintergatan being the Swedish word for ‘Milky Way’, meaning ‘The Winter Street’). 

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen stepping out of the plane at Ellington Field, Texas, US after splashing down with Crew-7 earlier that day.  

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen flew with his Crew-7 crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA), Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA), and Konstantin Borisov (Roscosmos) to Ellington Field near Houston, Texas, US, after spending six months on the International Space Station and returning to Earth in the Dragon Endurance. 

Crew-7 splashed down off the coast of Florida, US, close to Pensacola, at 09:47 GMT/10:47 on 12 March 2024, following a nearly 19-hour journey after undocking from the Space Station.  

Andreas spent 199 days in space during his Huginn mission, 197 of them on the Space Station. During this time, he conducted more than 30 European experiments and technology demonstrations, as well as many international ones. From filtering waste water and figuring out astronauts’ sleep in space, to capturing the image of a special lightning called a red sprite, Andreas shared the science he conducted with the world through his social media, l like the mythical bird that gave its name to his mission 

Huginn is named after one of the two ravens of the Norse god Odin, the other being Muninn. According to Norse mythology, the two ravens are said to fly into the world every day, gathering information and relaying it to Odin at the end of the day, telling him what they have seen across the globe.  

After more than 6 months on the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen returned to Earth, marking the end of his Huginn mission. It was his second mission to the Space Station and his first long-duration, where he was the pilot of Crew-7, which consisted of Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA), Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA), and Konstantin Borisov (Roscosmos).

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen together with Crew-7 after their return to Earth. The Dragon splashed down at 09:47 GMT/10:47 CET on 12 March after undocking from the International Space Station on 11 March at 15:20 GMT/16:20 CET. 

From left to right: Konstantin Borisov, Andreas Mogensen, Jasmin Moghbeli, and Satoshi Furukawa. 

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen explains how two experiments involving virtual reality makes on International Space Station. The first is Virtual Assistance Mental Balance (VAMB) where Andreas gets to enjoy a calm setting in nature that helps him relax. The second one is VR for Exercise, where he cycles on the Space Station’s exercise bike and through different bike routes in Denmark on the VR headset, which has quickly become a favourite for Andreas.

Access the related broadcast quality video material.

Highlights of the Muninn mission with ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt, from the countdown to launch, to his work on the International Space Station and the return to Earth.

ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt launched together with the rest of the Axiom-3 crew at 22:49 CET on 18 January 2024, from launch pad 39A, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. 

Marcus will start his Muninn mission when he enters the International Space Station on Saturday 20 January, where he will spend up to 14 days conducting science and testing technology that can one day help people on Earth. 

You can follow Marcus mission on his social media: 

https://twitter.com/astro_marcus

https://www.instagram.com/esaastro_marcus/

And learn more about his Muninn mission on ESA Muninn page: 

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/muninn

ESA astronaut and commander of Expedition 70 Andreas Mogensen has some advice for Marcus Wandt, ESA’s first project astronaut, who will join him on the International Space Station on his Muninn mission. It will be the first time two Scandinavians are in space together, which fits perfectly with their mission names, Huginn and Muninn.