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By NASA
Did you know some of the brightest sources of light in the sky come from the regions around black holes in the centers of galaxies? It sounds a little contradictory, but it’s true! They may not look bright to our eyes, but satellites have spotted oodles of them across the universe.
One of those satellites is NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi has found thousands of these kinds of galaxies since it launched in 2008, and there are many more out there!
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Watch a cosmic gamma-ray fireworks show in this animation using just a year of data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Each object’s magenta circle grows as it brightens and shrinks as it dims. The yellow circle represents the Sun following its apparent annual path across the sky. The animation shows a subset of the LAT gamma-ray records available for more than 1,500 objects in a continually updated repository. Over 90% of these sources are a type of galaxy called a blazar, powered by the activity of a supermassive black hole. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center/Daniel Kocevski Black holes are regions of space that have so much gravity that nothing — not light, not particles, nada — can escape. Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers, and these black holes are hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of our Sun. In active galactic nuclei (also called “AGN” for short, or just “active galaxies”) the central region is stuffed with gas and dust that’s constantly falling toward the black hole. As the gas and dust fall, they start to spin and form a disk. Because of the friction and other forces at work, the spinning disk starts to heat up.
This composite view of the active galaxy Markarian 573 combines X-ray data (blue) from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio observations (purple) from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico with a visible light image (gold) from the Hubble Space Telescope. Markarian 573 is an active galaxy that has two cones of emission streaming away from the supermassive black hole at its center. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Paggi et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA The disk’s heat gets emitted as light, but not just wavelengths of it that we can see with our eyes. We detect light from AGN across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the more familiar radio and optical waves through to the more exotic X-rays and gamma rays, which we need special telescopes to spot.
In the heart of an active galaxy, matter falling toward a supermassive black hole creates jets of particles traveling near the speed of light as shown in this artist’s concept. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab About one in 10 AGN beam out jets of energetic particles, which are traveling almost as fast as light. Scientists are studying these jets to try to understand how black holes — which pull everything in with their huge amounts of gravity — somehow provide the energy needed to propel the particles in these jets.
This artist’s concept shows two views of the active galaxy TXS 0128+554, located around 500 million light-years away. Left: The galaxy’s central jets appear as they would if we viewed them both at the same angle. The black hole, embedded in a disk of dust and gas, launches a pair of particle jets traveling at nearly the speed of light. Scientists think gamma rays (magenta) detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope originate from the base of these jets. As the jets collide with material surrounding the galaxy, they form identical lobes seen at radio wavelengths (orange). The jets experienced two distinct bouts of activity, which created the gap between the lobes and the black hole. Right: The galaxy appears in its actual orientation, with its jets tipped out of our line of sight by about 50 degrees. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Many of the ways we tell one type of AGN from another depend on how they’re oriented from our point of view. With radio galaxies, for example, we see the jets from the side as they’re beaming vast amounts of energy into space. Then there’s blazars, which are a type of AGN that have a jet that is pointed almost directly at Earth, which makes the AGN particularly bright.
Blazar 3C 279’s historic gamma-ray flare in 2015 can be seen in this image from the Large Area Telescope on NASA’s Fermi satellite. During the flare, the blazar outshone the Vela pulsar, usually the brightest object in the gamma-ray sky. NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration Fermi has been searching the sky for gamma ray sources since 2008. More than half of the sources it has found have been blazars. Gamma rays are useful because they can tell us a lot about how particles accelerate and how they interact with their environment.
So why do we care about AGN? We know that some AGN formed early in the history of the universe. With their enormous power, they almost certainly affected how the universe changed over time. By discovering how AGN work, we can understand better how the universe came to be the way it is now.
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Last Updated Apr 30, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
This S-3 supported vital flight research by donating parts to its sister plane, another S3-B Viking that was retired in 2021.Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran After supporting the center’s research missions for more than a decade, NASA’s S-3B Viking aircraft is moving on from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to begin a new and honorable assignment.
The aircraft is heading to the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida, where it will be on display, honoring all Prisoners of War (POW), those Missing in Action (MIA), and the families who seek the return of their loved ones. The museum gives visitors a place of solace to reflect, learn, and hear stories about America’s POW and MIA service members through exhibits and events.
A team of volunteers, many of whom are veterans, converged to disassemble an S-3B Viking at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland so it could be transported by truck to the National Pow/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida. Credit: NASA/Lillianne Hammel “We are honored to be part of it,” said JD Demers, chief of Aircraft Operations at NASA Glenn. “Moving the S-3 is a win-win for everybody. The museum gets an aircraft in beautiful shape, and our S-3 gets to continue living a meaningful life.”
Originally designed by Lockheed Martin as an anti-submarine warfare aircraft, NASA’s S-3B Viking will travel south to its new museum home, which is located at the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field where S-3B Vikings once flew. It will be displayed with a plaque recognizing the 54 service members who perished during S-3 flight missions.
NASA’s JD Demers poses with National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum’s Ed Turner in front of NASA’s S-3B Viking aircraft. Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran “It’s really fortunate for us that this S-3 has such a well-kept, beautiful airframe that we can use as part of this plaza,” said Ed Turner, executive director of the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum. “Cecil Field was the East Coast home for the S-3B Vikings, so we are proud to have it for display here as one of Cecil’s legacy aircraft.”
Behind the scenes, this S-3 supported vital NASA flight research by donating parts to its sister plane, another S3-B Viking that was retired in 2021. Through the donation of its parts, the S-3 contributed to communications research in advanced air mobility and monitoring of algal bloom growth in Lake Erie.
“Having this aircraft added an extra 10 years of life to its sister plane,” Demers said. “Those 10 years were vital for research. This plane allowed us to keep flying that aircraft after the Navy retired the S-3B Vikings in 2009. We wouldn’t have been able to find parts.”
NASA prepares its S-3B Viking for its journey to the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Florida.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna The U.S. Navy flew S-3 Vikings primarily out of three locations: North Island Naval Air Station, Naval Air Station Cecil Field, and Naval Air Station Jacksonville. There were S-3B Vikings in all locations except Jacksonville, until now.
“There are three bases in three locations that used to fly S-3s, and now each area has an S-3 as part of its display,” Demers said. “It belongs there. It’s going back to its original home.”
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By USH
UVB-76, widely known by its nickname "The Buzzer," is a mysterious shortwave Russian radio station radio broadcasts in the world. It began broadcasting in the mid-1970s and is still active today, broadcasting cryptic signals at 4625 kHz.
This Russian shortwave station usual broadcast consists of a monotonous buzzing tone that occasionally breaks for cryptic voice messages in Russian. The station is widely believed to be operated by the Russian military, possibly as part of the Strategic Rocket Forces’ communication network.
The use of shortwave radio enables the signal to travel vast distances, potentially covering all of Russia and extending far beyond its borders.
Due to the high transmission power of UVB-76’s antenna, some theorize that the station’s signals could even reach outer space. This possibility opens the door to even more extraordinary speculation: that satellites might receive these signals and relay them to submarines, remote military units, or even unidentified aerial phenomena (UFOs). One theory even posits that UVB-76 could be part of an experimental system designed to scan or communicate with extraterrestrial life.
Under normal circumstances, UVB-76’s broadcasts are infrequent and minimal, just the repetitive buzz and the rare coded message. However, something highly unusual happened just ten hours ago. Within a single day, the station transmitted four coded voice messages, an event considered extremely rare and potentially significant.
These are the messages: NZHTI - 33 702 - NEPTUN - 66-52-20-75 NZHTI - 8002 361 - TIMUS - 56-85 NZHTI - 7000 0 8002 - LISOPLASH - 67-203-0808-0809 NZHTI - 62 505 - NUTOBAKS - 78 15 92 71
While the true meaning of these messages remains classified or unknown, some analysts believe they could be activation codes, operational signals, or test messages for military units. The repeated prefix "NZHTI" could be a call sign or an authentication marker. The names—NEPTUN, TIMUS, LISOPLASH, and NUTOBAKS, might refer to code-named operations, geographic regions, or military assets. The numeric sequences could represent coordinates, timestamps, or identification numbers.
Given the timing and unusual frequency of these messages, some suspect that UVB-76 is ramping up activity in preparation for a significant event. While there's no confirmation of any immediate threat, the sudden uptick in coded communications suggests that something serious could be developing.
Many experts believe UVB-76 is maintained as a wartime contingency channel, ready to relay commands in the event of nuclear war or a catastrophic loss of national communications. Its consistent presence, even during peacetime, supports the theory that it serves as an emergency or fail-safe communication method for defense forces.
The sudden surge of messages within one day suggests that something serious is happening, or about to. But who are they intended for? And more importantly, what comes next?" View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
What are the dangers of going to space?
For human spaceflight, the first thing I think about is the astronauts actually strapping themselves to a rocket. And if that isn’t dangerous enough, once they launch and they’re out into space in deep exploration, we have to worry about radiation.
Radiation is coming at them from all directions. From the Sun, we have solar particles. We have galactic cosmic rays that are all over in the universe. And those cause damage to DNA. On Earth here, we use sunscreen to protect us from DNA damage. Our astronauts are protected from the shielding that’s around them in the space vehicles.
We also have to worry about microgravity. So what happens there? We see a lot of bone and muscle loss in our astronauts. And so to prevent this, we actually have the astronauts exercising for hours every day. And of course we don’t want to run out of food on a space exploration mission. So we want to make sure that we have everything that the astronauts need to take with them to make sure that we can sustain them.
There are many risks associated with human space exploration. NASA has been planning for these missions to make our astronauts return home safely.
[END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]
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