ESA

This is the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), the glowing remains of a star’s final breaths. Located in the constellation Draco, it has captivated astronomers for decades with its intricate, layered structure. In 1995, Hubble revealed stunning details that helped us understand how planetary nebulae form. Now, Hubble has teamed up with our Euclid space telescope to reveal it in an entirely new way. 📸 ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Q1-2025, J.-C. Cuillandre & E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay), Z. Tsvetanov, CC BY 3.0 #ESA #Space #SpaceTok #Hubble

The world turns. Il mondo gira 🌎 🌍 🌏 [EN] It never stopped. Not for a moment. From orbit, our astronauts watch night chase day - again and again. [IT] Non si è fermato mai un momento. Dallo spazio i nostri astronauti vedono la notte inseguire il giorno - ancora e ancora. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) 🎶 ‘Il mondo’ - @Maria Antonietta , @Colombre and @Brunori Sas #ESA #Space #Sanremo2026

Did you know Betelgeuse might not be alone? 🌟 Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers detected the wake of a hidden companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. Instead of spotting the star directly, they traced the swirling material shaped by its gravity - like following ripples on water to reveal what moved beneath the surface. This breakthrough offers scientists a new way to study how massive stars change over time… and how they eventually explode as supernovae. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Space #Hubble #Spacetok

Our Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) has captured a stunning view of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it streamed dust and gas through the Solar System. Taken by the JANUS camera on 6 November 2025, just days after the comet’s closest approach to the Sun. The image reveals a glowing coma, a sweeping tail, and intricate jets and filaments. Over November, five Juice instruments (JANUS, MAJIS, SWI, PEP and UVS) observed the visitor to study its behaviour and composition. Because the spacecraft was on the far side of the Sun and transmitting data at a lower rate, teams only recently received the full dataset and are now digging in to discover what they reveal. Stay tuned for more updates! 🗞 📸 ESA/Juice/JANUS, CC BY 3.0 #ESA #3iatlas #Space

Sophie's first workout on the ISS 🚲 Our astronaut Sophie Adenot shared an image of her exercising with the caption: One of my very first trainings on CEVIS, the International Space Station’s bike — and in microgravity, you don’t need a handlebar or a saddle! I love cycling, and exercising on board feels surprisingly grounding. It also gives me a real boost of energy! CEVIS has been on the Station for more than 15 years and it is one of the three exercise devices we rely on to counter the effects of microgravity on our bodies. The other two are the treadmill and ARED, the equivalent of a weight-lifting machine. We train for about two hours every day following a personalised programme that keeps us fit and ready for every part of the mission. Remember the E4D next‑generation device I trained on in January at the European Astronaut Centre? This European technology demonstration is scheduled to arrive at the Station in April! French: Photo de l’un de mes premiers entraînements sur CEVIS, le vélo de la Station spatiale internationale — en micropesanteur, pas besoin de guidon ni de selle ! Le vélo m’a toujours beaucoup plu, et je retrouve mes repères en faisant du sport. En pleine forme ! CEVIS est à bord de la Station depuis plus de quinze ans. C'est l'un des trois appareils d’exercice qui nous permettent de compenser les effets de la micropesanteur sur notre corps. Les deux autres sont T2, un tapis roulant, et ARED, qui s’apparente à un appareil de musculation. Nous nous entraînons une à deux heures par jour en suivant un programme personnalisé qui nous aide à rester en forme et prêts pour toutes les phases de la mission. Vous vous souvenez de l’E4D ? C’est l’équipement de nouvelle génération sur lequel je me suis entraînée en janvier au Centre européen des astronautes. Cette démonstration technologique européenne doit arriver à bord de la Station en avril ! 📹 ESA/NASA 🎶 David Guetta & Bebe Rexha - I'm Good (Blue) #ESA #Space #Astronaut #ISS

The nebula PMR 1 is a cloud of gas and dust created as an aging star expels its outer layers – and it bears an uncanny resemblance to a brain in a transparent skull! PMR 1 appears to have distinct regions that capture different phases of its evolution: an outer shell of gas (mostly hydrogen) that was blown off first, and an inner cloud (a mix of gases) with more structure. Both the NIRCam and MIRI images show a dark lane running vertically through the middle of the nebula, giving it its brain-like appearance of left and right hemispheres. This lane could be related to an outburst or outflow from the central star. 📸 NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) #ESA #Space #JWST

Why did methane spike during Covid? 🤔 When lockdowns slowed traffic, flights and industry, many air pollutants dropped. But methane did the opposite. Between 2020 and 2022, methane concentrations rose at the fastest rate ever recorded before slowing again in 2023. New research using satellite data shows the atmosphere briefly became less efficient at removing methane. Levels of hydroxyl radicals — the chemicals that normally break it down — declined, while wetter-than-average conditions boosted emissions from wetlands. Were you surprised that methane rose during lockdowns? 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Climate #Methane #Space

Using the NIRSpec on the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers collected data on the ionosphere – the upper atmosphere of Uranus, where it becomes ionised and interacts strongly with the planet’s magnetic field. This provides the first ‘vertical’ view of the ionosphere. It revealed where Uranus’s auroras form, how they are shaped by its unusually tilted magnetic field 🧲 and how the atmosphere has cooled over the past three decades. The results help us understand the energy balance of ice giants. 📸 ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), CC BY 4.0 #ESA #JWST #Webb #Space

On 17 February, there was an annular solar eclipse visible only from Antarctica… and from space! 🌞 ESA’s Proba-2 satellite recorded the same eclipse no less than four times as it whizzed round Earth! 📹 ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium #ESA #Sun #SolarEclipse #Space

AI has revealed 800 never-seen-before cosmic anomalies. Our researchers developed an AI tool that allows them to inspect millions of astronomical images in a fraction of the time it would take a human. They developed what’s called a neural network, an AI tool that uses computers to process data and search for patterns in a way that is inspired by the human brain. Their neural network, is trained to search for and recognise rare objects like jellyfish galaxies and gravitational arcs. The team trained their tool and demonstrated its capabilities using the Hubble Legacy Archive. They sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts in just two and a half days, uncovering nearly 1400 anomalous objects, more than 800 of which had never been documented before. Most of the anomalies were galaxies in the process of merging or interacting, taking on unusual shapes or trailing long tails of stars and gas. Many others were gravitational lenses, in which the gravity of a foreground galaxy bends spacetime and warps the light from a distant background galaxy into a circle or arc. The team also discovered examples of several other rare objects such as galaxies with huge clumps of stars, jellyfish galaxies with gaseous ‘tentacles’, and planet-forming disks seen edge-on, giving them a hamburger-like or butterfly-like appearance. Perhaps most intriguing of all, there were several dozen objects that defied classification altogether. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Space #Hubble #Spacetok

Here are 3 images that show the impact of the heavy rainfall from space: 1. Accumulated rainfall (9–18 February 2026)  2. Copernicus Sentinel‑1 radar image (highlighting flooded areas in red)  3. Sentinel‑2 true-colour view of the same region  To support national and regional authorities, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service has been activated (EMSR866), delivering rapid satellite-based flood mapping for Bordeaux region and surrounding areas. Our thoughts are with the communities affected as the region continues to face challenging conditions. 📸 Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA - ESA (data source: GPM)  #ESA #earthobservation #france #satellite

Two of the James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful instruments worked together to capture this stunning portrait of the spiral galaxy NGC 5134, located 65 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Although the distance sounds immense, NGC 5134 is relatively nearby in cosmic terms – close enough for Webb to reveal intricate detail in its tightly wound spiral arms. By combining data from two instruments, Webb creates a richly layered view of the galaxy. MIRI highlights the mid‑infrared glow of warm dust woven through NGC 5134’s interstellar clouds. NIRCam captures near‑infrared light from the galaxy’s stars and star clusters, tracing the structure of its spiral arms. 📸 ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy #ESA #Space #JWST #Spacetok

What if the internet didn’t stop at Earth? 🛰️ As we return to the Moon and prepare to explore deeper into the Solar System, space missions will need more than delayed signals and one-way links. That’s why we’re working on an Internet for space: a network designed to cope with long distances, moving spacecraft and interrupted connections. Data are stored, carried and forwarded until they reach their destination - reliably. From laser communications to future navigation systems beyond Earth, this space internet will help missions around the Moon, Mars and beyond stay connected. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Space #Internet

All smiles and pure joy 😁🥹 Our astronaut Sophie Adenot is the first of her class, the Hoppers, to fly. Sophie has chosen the name εpsilon for her mission, which may last up to nine months. On board the Station, she will conduct a wide range of tasks, including European-led scientific experiments and medical research, support Earth observation activities, and contribute to operations and maintenance on the Station. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Astronaut #Space #ISS

The moment Sophie and Crew-12 arrive at the ISS 👩‍🚀✨ Watch the docking operations of Crew-12 to the International Space Station (ISS), which took place on 14 February 2026 at 21:15 CET. The docking is followed by the hatch opening and the welcome remarks by the astronauts already present in the ISS. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot flies as mission specialist. The other Crew-12 members are NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, respectively commander and pilot of the mission, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev, mission specialist. The French ESA astronaut is the first of her class, the Hoppers, to fly. Sophie has chosen the name εpsilon for her mission, which may last up to nine months. On board the Station, she will conduct a wide range of tasks, including European-led scientific experiments and medical research, support Earth observation activities, and contribute to operations and maintenance on the Station. 📹 European Space Agency (ESA) #ESA #Astronaut #ISS #Crew12