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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This view of tracks trailing NASA’s Curiosity was captured July 26, 2025, as the rover simultaneously relayed data to a Mars orbiter. Combining tasks like this more efficiently uses energy generated by Curiosity’s nuclear power source, seen here lined with rows of white fins at the back of the rover.NASA/JPL-Caltech This is the same view of Curiosity’s July 25 mosaic, with labels indicating some key parts of the rover involved in recent efficiency improvements, plus a few prominent locations in the distance.NASA/JPL-Caltech New capabilities allow the rover to do science with less energy from its batteries.
Thirteen years since Curiosity landed on Mars, engineers are finding ways to make the NASA rover even more productive. The six-wheeled robot has been given more autonomy and the ability to multitask — improvements designed to make the most of Curiosity’s energy source, a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). Increased efficiency means the rover has ample power as it continues to decipher how the ancient Martian climate changed, transforming a world of lakes and rivers into the chilly desert it is today.
Curiosity recently rolled into a region filled with boxwork formations. These hardened ridges are believed to have been created by underground water billions of years ago. Stretching for miles on this part of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, the formations might reveal whether microbial life could have survived in the Martian subsurface eons ago, extending the period of habitability farther into when the planet was drying out.
NASA’s Curiosity viewed this rock shaped like a piece of coral on July 24, 2025, the 4,608th Martian day of the mission. The rover has found many rocks that — like this one — were formed by minerals deposited by ancient water flows combined with billions of years of sandblasting by wind.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Carrying out this detective work involves a lot of energy. Besides driving and extending a robotic arm to study rocks and cliffsides, Curiosity has a radio, cameras, and 10 science instruments that all need power. So do the multiple heaters that keep electronics, mechanical parts, and instruments operating at their best. Past missions like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the InSight lander relied on solar panels to recharge their batteries, but that technology always runs the risk of not receiving enough sunlight to provide power.
Instead, Curiosity and its younger sibling Perseverance each use their MMRTG nuclear power source, which relies on decaying plutonium pellets to create energy and recharge the rover’s batteries. Providing ample power for the rovers’ many science instruments, MMRTGs are known for their longevity (the twin Voyager spacecraft have relied on RTGs since 1977). But as the plutonium decays over time, it takes longer to recharge Curiosity’s batteries, leaving less energy for science each day.
The team carefully manages the rover’s daily power budget, factoring in every device that draws on the batteries. While these components were all tested extensively before launch, they are part of complex systems that reveal their quirks only after years in the extreme Martian environment. Dust, radiation, and sharp temperature swings bring out edge cases that engineers couldn’t have expected.
“We were more like cautious parents earlier in the mission,” said Reidar Larsen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which built and operates the rover. Larsen led a group of engineers who developed the new capabilities. “It’s as if our teenage rover is maturing, and we’re trusting it to take on more responsibility. As a kid, you might do one thing at a time, but as you become an adult, you learn to multitask.”
More Efficient Science
Generally, JPL engineers send Curiosity a list of tasks to complete one by one before the rover ends its day with a nap to recharge. In 2021, the team began studying whether two or three rover tasks could be safely combined, reducing the amount of time Curiosity is active.
For example, Curiosity’s radio regularly sends data and images to a passing orbiter, which relays them to Earth. Could the rover talk to an orbiter while driving, moving its robotic arm, or snapping images? Consolidating tasks could shorten each day’s plan, requiring less time with heaters on and instruments in a ready-to-use state, reducing the energy used. Testing showed Curiosity safely could, and all of these have now been successfully demonstrated on Mars.
Another trick involves letting Curiosity decide to nap if it finishes its tasks early. Engineers always pad their estimates for how long a day’s activity will take just in case hiccups arise. Now, if Curiosity completes those activities ahead of the time allotted, it will go to sleep early.
By letting the rover manage when it naps, there is less recharging to do before the next day’s plan. Even actions that trim just 10 or 20 minutes from a single activity add up over the long haul, maximizing the life of the MMRTG for more science and exploration down the road.
Miles to Go
In fact, the team has been implementing other new capabilities on Curiosity for years. Several mechanical issues required a rework of how the robotic arm’s rock-pulverizing drill collects samples, and driving capabilities have been enhanced with software updates. When a color filter wheel stopped turning on one of the two cameras mounted on Mastcam, Curiosity’s swiveling “head,” the team developed a workaround allowing them to capture the same beautiful panoramas.
JPL also developed an algorithm to reduce wear on Curiosity’s rock-battered wheels. And while engineers closely monitor any new damage, they aren’t worried: After 22 miles (35 kilometers) and extensive research, it’s clear that, despite some punctures, the wheels have years’ worth of travel in them. (And in a worst-case scenario, Curiosity could remove the damaged part of the wheel’s “tread” and still drive on the remaining part.)
Together, these measures are doing their job to keep Curiosity as busy as ever.
More About Curiosity
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.
For more about Curiosity, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
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Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
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Last Updated Aug 04, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Explore This Section Science For Educators NUBE: New Card Game Helps… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 4 min read
NUBE: New Card Game Helps Learners Identify Cloud Types Through Play
Different clouds types can have different effects on our weather and climate, which makes identifying cloud types important – but learning to identify cloud types can be tricky! Educational games make the learning process easier and more enjoyable for learners of all ages and create an opportunity for families and friends to spend quality time together.
The NASA Science Activation Program’s NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC) and the Queens Public Library co-developed a new Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) card game called NUBE (pronounced noo-beh) – the Spanish word for cloud. During this fun, interactive game, players match cards by cloud type or sky color – with 11 cloud types and 5 shades of blue (in real life, sky color can be an indication of how many aerosols are in the atmosphere). There are also special cards in the deck, such as Rainmakers, which change the order of play; Obscurations, which require the next player to draw two cards; and Mystery cards, which require players to give hints while other players guess the cloud type. By playing the game, participants practice learning the names of clouds while they begin to appreciate the differences in cloud type and sky color.
NESEC is collaborating with another NASA Science Activation project team – NASA@ My Library (NAML, led by the Space Science Institute, SSI – to get the game into library programs. NAML recruited and is distributing sets of two or four card decks to 292 U.S. libraries. Participating libraries are located in 45 states, with a large number (>50%) serving rural communities. SSI also promoted the opportunity to its network of libraries and co-presented a webinar with NESEC for interested libraries. Library applications described how they plan to use the game with their patrons, including programs for audiences ranging from kids to seniors related to weather and safety programs, citizen science clubs, home school groups, summer reading, game nights, circulating kits and more. Libraries that receive NUBE commit to use the game in at least one program and complete a short evaluation survey.
NUBE evolved through several iterations as staff from several Queens Public Library branches tested the game with different age groups, from young kids to teens and adults. The game was also tested at the Challenger Center and the Center for Science, Technology, Education, & Mathematics (STEM) Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University. Alex Hernandez Bonifacio, an early Learning Educator at Queens Public Library reported, “It was amazing to see what kids reflected on as they were playing NUBE. For example, there was this third grader who was surprised to realize something could obscure our view of the clouds. She used to think clouds were too high in the sky for anything to block our view of them. While playing NUBE, she became very intrigued about the obscuration cards, and she realized that things closer to the ground like heavy snow could in fact block our view of the clouds!” After incorporating feedback from testers and counting the votes for different graphic design options, NUBE is now ready to be downloaded and enjoyed by all!
If you’re excited to play this awesome GLOBE Clouds card game and want to learn even more about clouds, you can download the GLOBE Observer app on your smartphone to participate in hands-on NASA scientific research – sharing observations of your environment as a citizen scientist (no citizenship required)! Learn more and discover additional resources for engaging in clouds activities with the GLOBE Observer Clouds Toolkit.
NESEC, led by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE28A, is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA has released a new proposal opportunity for industry to tap into agency know-how, resources, and expertise. The Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO), managed by the Space Technology Mission Directorate, enables valuable collaboration without financial exchanges between NASA and industry partners. Instead, companies leverage NASA subject matter experts, facilities, software, and hardware to accelerate their technologies and prepare them for future commercial and government use.
On Wednesday, NASA issued a standing ACO announcement for partnership proposals which will be available for five years and will serve as the umbrella opportunity for topic-specific appendix releases. NASA intends to issue appendices every six to 12 months to address evolving space technology needs. The 2025 ACO appendix is open for proposals until Sept. 24.
NASA will host an informational webinar about the opportunity and appendix at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 6. Interested proposers are encouraged to submit questions which will be answered during the webinar and will be available online after the webinar.
NASA teaming with industry isn’t new – decades of partnerships have resulted in ambitious missions that benefit all of humanity. But in recent years, NASA has also played a key role as a technology enabler, providing one-of-a-kind tools, resources, and infrastructure to help commercial aerospace companies achieve their goals.
Since 2015, NASA has collaborated with industry on approximately 80 ACO projects. Here are some ways the collaborations have advanced space technology:
Lunar lander systems
Blue Origin and NASA worked together on several ACOs to mature the company’s lunar lander design. NASA provided technical reports and assessments and conducted tests at multiple centers to help Blue Origin advance a stacked fuel cell system for a lander’s primary power source. Other Blue Origin ACO projects evaluated high-temperature engine materials and advanced a landing navigation and guidance system.
Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lander is delivering NASA science and technology to the Moon through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. In 2023, NASA selected Blue Origin as a Human Landing System provider to develop its Blue Moon MK2 lander for future crewed lunar exploration.
Artist concept of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lander.Blue Origin Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lander is delivering NASA science and technology to the Moon through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. In 2023, NASA selected Blue Origin as a Human Landing System provider to develop its Blue Moon MK2 lander for future crewed lunar exploration.
Cryogenic fluid transfer
Throughout a year-long ACO, NASA and SpaceX engineers worked together to perform in-depth computational fluid analysis of proposed propellant transfer methods between two SpaceX Starship spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. The SpaceX-specific analysis utilized Starship flight data and data from previous NASA research and development to identify potential risks and help mitigate them during the early stages of commercial development. NASA also provided inputs as SpaceX developed an initial concept of operations for its orbital propellant transfer missions.
Artist’s concept of Starship propellant transfer in space.SpaceX SpaceX used the ACO analyses to inform the design of its Starship Human Landing System, which NASA selected in 2021 to put the first Artemis astronauts on the Moon.
Autonomous spacecraft navigation solution
Advanced Space and NASA partnered to advance the company’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System – software that allows lunar spacecraft to determine their location without relying exclusively on tracking from Earth.
Dylan Schmidt, CAPSTONE assembly integration and test lead, installs solar panels onto the CAPSTONE spacecraft at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., in Irvine, California.NASA/Dominic Hart The CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) spacecraft launched to the Moon in 2022 and continues to operate and collect critical data to refine the software. Under the ACO, Advanced Space was able to use NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to conduct crosslink experiments with CAPSTONE, helping mature the navigation solution for future missions. The mission’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System technology was initially supported through the NASA Small Business Innovation Research program.
Multi-purpose laser sensing system
Sensuron and NASA matured a miniature, rugged fiber optic sensing system capable of taking thermal and shape measurements for multiple applications. Throughout the ACO, Sensuron benefitted from NASA’s expertise in fiber optics and electrical, mechanical, and system testing engineering to design, fabricate, and “shake and bake” its prototype laser.
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s FOSS, Fiber Optic Sensing System, recently supported tests of a system designed to turn oxygen into liquid oxygen, a component of rocket fuel. Patrick Chan, electronics engineer, and NASA Armstrong’s FOSS portfolio project manager, shows fiber like that used in the testing.NASA/Genaro Vavuris Space missions could use the technology to monitor cryogenic propellant levels and determine a fuel tank’s structural integrity throughout an extended mission. The laser technology also has medical applications on Earth, which ultimately resulted in the Sensuron spinoff company, The Shape Sensing Company.
Flexible lunar tires
In 2023, Venturi Astrolab began work with NASA under an ACO to test its flexible lunar tire design. The company tapped into testing capabilities unique to NASA, including heat transfer to cold lunar soil, traction, and life testing. The data validated the performance of tire prototypes, helping ready the design to support future NASA missions.
In 2024, NASA selected three companies, including Venturi Astrolab, to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle that astronauts could use to travel around the lunar surface, conducting scientific research on the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars.
Venturi Lab designed and developed a durable, robust, and hyper-deformable lunar wheel.Venturi Lab The Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) is one of many ways NASA enables commercial industry to develop, build, own, and eventually operate space systems. To learn more about these technology projects and more, visit: https://techport.nasa.gov/.
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Last Updated Jul 30, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
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By NASA
This artist’s concept of Blue Ghost Mission 4 shows Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander and NASA payloads in the lunar South Pole Region, through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.Credit: Firefly Aerospace NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to explore more of the Moon than ever before.
This delivery is the first time NASA will use multiple rovers and a variety of stationary instruments, in a collaborative effort with the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the University of Bern, to help us understand the chemical composition of the lunar South Pole region and discover the potential for using resources available in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.
“Through CLPS, NASA is embracing a new era of lunar exploration, with commercial companies leading the way,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These investigations will produce critical knowledge required for long-term sustainability and contribute to a deeper understanding of the lunar surface, allowing us to meet our scientific and exploration goals for the South Pole region of the Moon for the benefit of all.”
Under the new CLPS task order, Firefly is tasked with delivering end-to-end payload services to the lunar surface, with a period of performance from Tuesday to March 29, 2030. The company’s lunar lander is targeted to land at the Moon’s South Pole region in 2029.
This is Firefly’s fifth task order award and fourth lunar mission through CLPS. Firefly’s first delivery successfully landed on the Moon’s near side in March 2025 with 10 NASA payloads. The company’s second mission, targeting a launch in 2026, includes a lunar orbit drop-off of a satellite combined with a delivery to the lunar surface on the far side. Firefly’s third lunar mission will target landing in the Gruithuisen Domes on the near side of the Moon in 2028, delivering six experiments to study that enigmatic lunar volcanic terrain.
“As NASA sends both humans and robots to further explore the Moon, CLPS deliveries to the lunar South Pole region will provide a better understanding of the exploration environment, accelerating progress toward establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon, as well as eventual human missions to Mars,” said Adam Schlesinger, manager of the CLPS initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The rovers and instruments that are part of this newly awarded flight include:
MoonRanger is an autonomous microrover that will explore the lunar surface. MoonRanger will collect images and telemetry data while demonstrating autonomous capabilities for lunar polar exploration. Its onboard Neutron Spectrometer System instrument will study hydrogen-bearing volatiles and the composition of lunar regolith, or soil.
Lead development organizations: NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and Carnegie Mellon University and Astrobotic, both in Pittsburgh. Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies will use enhanced stereo imaging photogrammetry, active illumination, and ejecta impact detection sensors to capture the impact of the rocket exhaust plume on lunar regolith as the lander descends on the Moon’s surface. The high-resolution stereo images will help predict lunar regolith erosion and ejecta characteristics, as bigger, heavier spacecraft and hardware are delivered to the Moon near each other in the future.
Lead development organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Laser Retroreflector Array is an array of eight retroreflectors on an aluminum support structure that enables precision laser ranging, a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The array is a passive optical instrument, which functions without power, and will serve as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come.
Lead development organization: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. A CSA Rover is designed to access and explore remote South Pole areas of interest, including permanently shadowed regions, and to survive at least one lunar night. The CSA rover has stereo cameras, a neutron spectrometer, two imagers (visible to near-infrared), a radiation micro-dosimeter, and a NASA-contributed thermal imaging radiometer developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory. These instruments will advance our understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface, the geological history of the Moon, and potential resources such as water ice. It will also improve our understanding of the environmental challenges that await future astronauts and their life support systems.
Lead development organization: CSA. Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometer is a mass spectrometer that will analyze the element and isotope composition of lunar regolith. The instrument will utilize a Firefly-built robotic arm and Titanium shovel that will deploy to the lunar surface and support regolith excavation. The system will then funnel the sample into its collection unit and use a pulsed laser beam to identify differences in chemistry compared to samples studied in the past, like those collected during the Apollo program. Grain-by-grain analyses will provide a better understanding of the chemical complexity of the landing site and the surrounding area, offering insights into the evolution of the Moon.
Lead development organization: University of Bern in Switzerland. Through the CLPS initiative, NASA purchases lunar landing and surface operations services from American companies. The agency uses CLPS to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to advance capabilities for science, exploration, or commercial development of the Moon, and to support human exploration beyond to Mars. By supporting a robust cadence of lunar deliveries, NASA will continue to enable a growing lunar economy while leveraging the entrepreneurial innovation of the commercial space industry.
To learn more about CLPS and Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 29, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By NASA
Explore Hubble Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Hubble and Artificial Intelligence Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts e-Books Online Activities 3D Hubble Models Lithographs Fact Sheets Posters Hubble on the NASA App Glossary News Hubble News Social Media Media Resources More 35th Anniversary Online Activities 6 Min Read NASA’s Hubble, Chandra Spot Rare Type of Black Hole Eating a Star
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory team up to identify a possible intermediate-mass black hole. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CXC, Yi-Chi Chang (National Tsing Hua University); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have teamed up to identify a new possible example of a rare class of black holes. Called NGC 6099 HLX-1, this bright X-ray source seems to reside in a compact star cluster in a giant elliptical galaxy.
Just a few years after its 1990 launch, Hubble discovered that galaxies throughout the universe can contain supermassive black holes at their centers weighing millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun. In addition, galaxies also contain as many as millions of small black holes weighing less than 100 times the mass of the Sun. These form when massive stars reach the end of their lives.
Far more elusive are intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), weighing between a few hundred to a few 100,000 times the mass of our Sun. This not-too-big, not-too-small category of black holes is often invisible to us because IMBHs don’t gobble as much gas and stars as the supermassive ones, which would emit powerful radiation. They have to be caught in the act of foraging in order to be found. When they occasionally devour a hapless bypassing star — in what astronomers call a tidal disruption event— they pour out a gusher of radiation.
The newest probable IMBH, caught snacking in telescope data, is located on the galaxy NGC 6099’s outskirts at approximately 40,000 light-years from the galaxy’s center, as described in a new study in the Astrophysical Journal. The galaxy is located about 450 million light-years away in the constellation Hercules.
A Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of galaxies: NGC 6099 (lower left) and NGC 6098 (upper right). The purple blob depicts X-ray emission from a compact star cluster. The X-rays are produced by an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a star. Science: NASA, ESA, CXC, Yi-Chi Chang (National Tsing Hua University); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Astronomers first saw an unusual source of X-rays in an image taken by Chandra in 2009. They then followed its evolution with ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory.
“X-ray sources with such extreme luminosity are rare outside galaxy nuclei and can serve as a key probe for identifying elusive IMBHs. They represent a crucial missing link in black hole evolution between stellar mass and supermassive black holes,” said lead author Yi-Chi Chang of the National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
X-ray emission coming from NGC 6099 HLX-1 has a temperature of 3 million degrees, consistent with a tidal disruption event. Hubble found evidence for a small cluster of stars around the black hole. This cluster would give the black hole a lot to feast on, because the stars are so closely crammed together that they are just a few light-months apart (about 500 billion miles).
The suspected IMBH reached maximum brightness in 2012 and then continued declining to 2023. The optical and X-ray observations over the period do not overlap, so this complicates the interpretation. The black hole may have ripped apart a captured star, creating a plasma disk that displays variability, or it may have formed a disk that flickers as gas plummets toward the black hole.
“If the IMBH is eating a star, how long does it take to swallow the star’s gas? In 2009, HLX-1 was fairly bright. Then in 2012, it was about 100 times brighter. And then it went down again,” said study co-author Roberto Soria of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). “So now we need to wait and see if it’s flaring multiple times, or there was a beginning, there was peak, and now it’s just going to go down all the way until it disappears.”
The IMBH is on the outskirts of the host galaxy, NGC 6099, about 40,000 light-years from the galaxy’s center. There is presumably a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core, which is currently quiescent and not devouring a star.
Black Hole Building Blocks
The team emphasizes that doing a survey of IMBHs can reveal how the larger supermassive black holes form in the first place. There are two alternative theories. One is that IMBHs are the seeds for building up even larger black holes by coalescing together, since big galaxies grow by taking in smaller galaxies. The black hole in the middle of a galaxy grows as well during these mergers. Hubble observations uncovered a proportional relationship: the more massive the galaxy, the bigger the black hole. The emerging picture with this new discovery is that galaxies could have “satellite IMBHs” that orbit in a galaxy’s halo but don’t always fall to the center.
Another theory is that the gas clouds in the middle of dark-matter halos in the early universe don’t make stars first, but just collapse directly into a supermassive black hole. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s discovery of very distant black holes being disproportionately more massive relative to their host galaxy tends to support this idea.
However, there could be an observational bias toward the detection of extremely massive black holes in the distant universe, because those of smaller size are too faint to be seen. In reality, there could be more variety out there in how our dynamic universe constructs black holes. Supermassive black holes collapsing inside dark-matter halos might simply grow in a different way from those living in dwarf galaxies where black-hole accretion might be the favored growth mechanism.
“So if we are lucky, we’re going to find more free-floating black holes suddenly becoming X-ray bright because of a tidal disruption event. If we can do a statistical study, this will tell us how many of these IMBHs there are, how often they disrupt a star, how bigger galaxies have grown by assembling smaller galaxies.” said Soria.
The challenge is that Chandra and XMM-Newton only look at a small fraction of the sky, so they don’t often find new tidal disruption events, in which black holes are consuming stars. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, an all-sky survey telescope from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, could detect these events in optical light as far as hundreds of millions of light-years away. Follow-up observations with Hubble and Webb can reveal the star cluster around the black hole.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
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NGC 6099 (Hubble + Chandra)
A Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of galaxies: NGC 6099 (lower left) and NGC 6098 (upper right). The purple blob depicts X-ray emission from a compact star cluster. The X-rays are produced by an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a star.
NGC 6099 (Hubble)
A Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of galaxies: NGC 6099 (lower left) and NGC 6098 (upper right). The white dot labeled HLX-1 is the visible-light component of the location of a compact star cluster where an intermediate-mass black hole is tearing apart a star.
NGC 6099 Compass Image
This compass image shows two elliptical galaxies, NGC 6098 at upper right and NGC 6099 at lower left. The fuzzy purple blob at bottom center shows X-ray emission produced by an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a star.
HLX-1 Illustration
This sequence of artistic illustrations, from upper left to bottom right, shows how a black hole in the core of a star cluster captures a bypassing star and gravitationally shreds it until there is an explosion, seen in the outskirts of the host galaxy.
HLX-1 Animation
This video is an illustration of an intermediate-mass black hole capturing and gravitationally shredding a star. It begins by zooming into a pair of galaxies. The galaxy at lower left, NGC 6099, contain a dense star cluster at center. The video then zooms into the heart of the cl…
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Last Updated Jul 24, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact Media Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
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Chinese translation of release Science Paper: Multiwavelength Study of a Hyperluminous X-Ray Source near NGC6099: A Strong IMBH Candidate, PDF (1.81 MB)
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