ESA Space Science

Who's behind the research using Euclid data? Meet some of the scientists who work with Euclid data 👉 https://lnkd.in/d_d_NUFP

All its parts have been built and put together. It has been wrapped in shiny gold insulating foil. Its launch is getting closer. But our Smile spacecraft had one major phase to pass before it could be certified ready for space – and it involved testing, testing and yet more testing. The recent 'space environment testing' phase is all covered in the latest episode of 'Let's Smile', giving you a peek behind the scenes at ESA's technical heart, ESTEC. Here's a snippet from the video, showing engineers moving Smile into an anechoic chamber for electromagnetic compatibility tests. Full video and photos 👉 https://lnkd.in/g4XZ4UjD

✨The Research Fellowships in Space Science represent one of the highlights of the ESA Science Programme. While we wait for the 2026 call for applications, let’s take a moment to spotlight this year’s inspiring new Research Fellows! 🚀 Benjamin studied Geology and Integrated Petroleum Geoscience in the UK before completing a PhD in Planetary Science, where his research focused on investigating Mercury’s tectonic structures in addition to making the first geological map of Mercury’s Neruda quadrangle (H13). Benjamin’s work at ESA will directly support ESA’s BepiColombo mission, where he will complete the global European quadrangle mapping effort by charting Mercury’s north polar region, Borealis (H01). Benjamin will also continue his tectonic investigations by studying never-before-seen surface features using the highest resolution image data currently available. His work will provide a holistic view of the global distribution of Mercury’s surface geological units and his tectonics work will help refine age calculations in order to constrain the recentness of Mercury’s tectonism. 👉https://lnkd.in/eZpXFmAc More about ESA’s BepiColombo mission 👉 https://lnkd.in/dUFr63g Stay tuned for Research Fellowships in Space Science 2026 👉https://lnkd.in/dzFyENWc #ESArecruits

🌟 A lonely star, no more! The star MP Mus (PDS 66) was once thought to be planet-free, with a smooth disc of gas and dust around it (seen on the right). But deeper observations with the ALMA Observatory telescope revealed hidden structures – a gap and a ring – in its protoplanetary disc (image on the left). Meanwhile, scientists also used ESA’s Gaia space telescope to study the same star, and noticed that it is wobbling. Together, they point to a possible gas giant exoplanet hiding in the disc. Two telescopes, one beautiful discovery – published today in Nature Astronomy: https://lnkd.in/dJemmVqC European Southern Observatory

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week digs up a galactic time capsule! 🕰️ 🔴 NGC 1786 is a globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The data for the image comes from an observing programme comparing old globular clusters in nearby galaxies to those in our own. 🔴 There are over 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way. These balls of tightly bound stars 🪩 are very old and stable, so they act as galactic time capsules, preserving stars from the earliest stages of a galaxy’s formation. 🔴 Astronomers once thought the stars in a globular cluster formed together, but we now know this is not the case. Examining globular clusters like NGC 1786 can reveal how they formed – and where these stars of different ages came from. Read more: https://ow.ly/O2tC50WoZ0G 📷 ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)

🆕 For its anniversary, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has scratched beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw! 🐈 🔴 To mark Webb’s third year of science, astronomers have imaged the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive star-forming region just 4,000 light-years away. Webb’s #NIRCam focused on a single ‘toe bean’… 🔴 This revealed never-before-seen structural details and features, including massive young stars ⭐ carving away at nearby gas and dust, while their light causes a nebulous glow (represented here in blue). 🔴 Webb’s image is packed with countless other details: the nebula’s intricately tiered ‘Opera House’, young stars surrounded by shells of gas and dust, and fiery red clumps where stars are being birthed! Read more about it here: https://ow.ly/XkcO50WnsjZ #WebbSeesFarther 📷 NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

🗞️The latest edition of the ESA Science Newsletter is out! 🗓️ Join ESA’s science advisory structure 🔝 Learn about the fourth Gaia data release 👩🎓 Apply to one of our vacancies in science & engineering Access the edition & subscribe 👉 https://lnkd.in/d-sWutGN

✨The Research Fellowships in Space Science represent one of the highlights of the ESA Science Programme. While we wait for the 2026 call for applications, let’s take a moment to spotlight this year’s inspiring new Research Fellows! 🚀 Antonio studied physics at the University of Naples and completed his Master’s thesis on dwarf galaxies at the University of Groningen. After a research fellowship in Naples, he began his PhD at Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Groningen, researching galaxy morphology and its link to supermassive black holes using large-scale surveys. Antonio’s research at ESA aims to understand how supermassive black holes grow and what triggers them to become active, transforming into some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe: Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). To investigate this, he will analyse data from ESA’s Euclid mission to study the structural properties of a vast sample of galaxies using advanced machine-learning techniques. By combining Euclid observations with data from ESA’s XMM-Newton and Herschel and NASA/ESA/CSA JWST missions, his work aims to unveil the intricate relationship between galaxies and their central black holes, shedding new light on the evolution of these cosmic giants. 👉https://lnkd.in/eZpXFmAc More about Euclid 👉 https://lnkd.in/eSJuJ5qg Stay tuned for Research Fellowships in Space Science 2026 👉https://lnkd.in/dzFyENWc #ESArecruits

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week is a portrait of a massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies. 🔴 This image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies – but there’s more to this cluster than even the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope can see! This includes hot gas only visible in X-ray wavelengths and dark matter, which does not interact with light. 🔴 Observing galaxy clusters can help demystify dark matter. This requires leveraging the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which bends the fabric of spacetime and creates warped images of background galaxies (gravitational lensing). 🔴 Abell 209 shows signs of lensing in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies. Measuring their distortion makes it possible to map the distribution of mass within the cluster – illuminating the underlying cloud of dark matter! Read more: https://ow.ly/yhiu50Wlrpw 📷 ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

🆕A team of astronomers led by Ekaterina Ilin at ASTRON and Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) used our Cheops mission to catch a planet triggering flares of radiation from the star it orbits. This is the first-ever evidence for a ‘planet with a death wish’. Though it was thought to be possible since the nineties, the flares seen in this research are around 100 times more energetic than expected. The tremendous explosions are blasting away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, causing it to shrink every year. Find out more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eMWiRA8n