Mysterious Hand and Eerie Face Captured by NASA Missions in the Cosmos
NASA's latest missions capture unearthly phenomena: a mysterious face haunting Jupiter's atmosphere and a mesmerizing nebula resembling a skeletal hand emitting enchanting X-rays Discover the cosmic wonders unveiled by mapping the magnetic field of this celestial ghostly apparition
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A haunting "face" on Jupiter and a ghostly, skeletal hand-shaped nebula are just a couple of creepy celestial features recently spotted by NASA missions.
Jupiters eerie face
The 54th close flyby of Jupiter by the Juno mission took place on September 7, 2016. The JunoCam instrument recorded images of swirling clouds and storms in the northern regions of the planet along the terminator line, which separates the day side from the night side.
Jupiter's swirling atmosphere appears to include a face in this image taken by JunoCam.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Vladimir Tarasov
In a phenomenon known as pareidolia, viewers can perceive a Picasso-like face emerging from the chaotic atmosphere. The raw data, accessible to the public on the JunoCam website, was skillfully processed by citizen scientist Vladimir Tarasov. Juno flew at a close distance of approximately 4,800 miles (7,700 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops, where the oblique angle of sunlight enhanced the captivating quality of the image.
In 1895, physicist Wilhelm Röntgen utilized X-rays to visualize the bones in his wife's hand. Fast forward to the present, where two X-ray telescopes have unveiled the "bones" of a luminous cloud resembling a hand, which materialized following the collapse of a star.
The birth of MSH 15-52, a nebula made up of gas and dust, dates back 1,500 years to the dramatic demise of a colossal star that exhausted its nuclear fuel and underwent gravitational collapse. Positioned approximately 16,000 light-years away from our planet, this celestial cloud is aptly named MSH 15-52.
Chandra's original image of the nebula shows captured the pulsar, the bright white spot within the "palm," while the orange cloud are the remnants of a supernova explosion.
NASA/MSFC
The collapse of a star resulted in the formation of a dense remnant called a neutron star. Neutron stars that rotate rapidly and possess strong magnetic fields are referred to as pulsars. This particular nebula was created by the pulsar's powerful winds and the emission of energized material in the form of jets.
In 2001, NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory made its initial observation of the pulsar, which is known as PSR B1509-58. The luminous pulsar was located at the central area of the nebula, resembling the base of a hand-shaped structure. A jet originating from the pulsar can be followed down to the area resembling the wrist.
A nebulas magnetic field depicted in a map.
NASAs Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) recently conducted a 17-day observation of the nebula, marking its longest observing campaign since its launch in December 2021. The findings of the space observatory's latest operations have been published in The Astrophysical Journal on Monday.
Lead author of the study, Roger Romani, a physics professor at Stanford University in California, stated that the IXPE data provides the initial magnetic field map of the hand. He further explained that the X-rays emitted by charged particles travel along the magnetic field, similar to how bones shape a person's hand. The unique observational capabilities of the telescope enable scientists to identify the locations where particles within the nebula are accelerated by turbulent areas within the magnetic field.
