This image was part of a previous newsletter.

Step on Board SSL is a unique place in this corner of the web, a growing archive dedicated to extracting space science from Martian missions, JWST research, and findings in deep space spanning light-years. Our space science content is modeled after lab notes, the concise, informative summaries typ

Mars Gallery Kevin Gill | Flickr Raw Mars Images Andrea Luck | Flickr Aster Cowart | Flickr Mars Express | Flickr UAHiRISE (NASA) | Flickr HiRISE Wallpaper | Flickr Perseverance Rover | Flickr HRSC on MarsExpress supplementary site Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - NASA Science Raw Images | Multimedia –

This image was part of a previous newsletter regarding a galaxy that existed during a young phase of our universe. It's not a phase, dad!

Concise Overview We provide a summary and discussion of the paper titled "Dark Matter and Gravity Waves from a Dark Big Bang" from arXiv. Our aim is to make the complex and fascinating ideas presented in this paper more accessible. Paper Summary This paper explores a unique cosmological scenario

Fast Facts of Lo Volcanic Activity: The Solar System's most volcanically active body, Io, is revealing its scarred and sulfurous surface in stunning from Jupiter probe Juno. Juno came as close as just 11,680 kilometres from Io's hellish surface, capturing breathtaking views of its north polar reg

This photograph features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020. They are part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located approximately 163,000 light years away. Among the various named regions of the Large Magellanic C

VY Canis Majoris is surrounded by an extensive and dense asymmetric red reflection nebula, formed from the material lost from the star. The nebula has an estimated mass of 0.2-0.4 solar masses and a complex structure that includes filaments and arcs caused by past eruptions. The star's massive e

This image includes ultraviolet and visible data from Hubble & Infrared data from Webb. Hubble and Webb have different strengths and capabilities that complement each other. Hubble observes mainly in visible and ultraviolet light, while Webb observes primarily in infrared. This image of galaxy pair

Fast Facts Webb used the NIRCam instrument to study globular cluster NGC 6440 orbits within the bulge of the galaxy 28,000 light years away. Globular clusters include thousands to millions of older stars tightly bound together by gravity. Main Sequence Bi-modality: Webb discovered a split in the m

This image was part of a previous newsletter.

Straight to the point So, Webb used the NIRCam instrument to study globular cluster NGC 6440 orbits within the bulge of the galaxy 28,000 light years away. Globular clusters include thousands to millions of older stars tightly bound together by gravity. Main Sequence Bi-modality: Webb discovered

This image was part of a previous newsletter regarding the life cycle of a sun-like star.

This image was part of a previous newsletter regarding a very interesting spewing of water from Saturn's wee moon, Enceladus.

Fast Facts Martian Landscape: The left side of the image captures Mars's rugged terrain, showcasing layered rock formations. This striking geology provides insights into the planet’s ancient history and the processes that have shaped its surface over billions of years. Shale: The rock layers in t

Hot stars fade, and cooler gas and dust glow. Points of light indicate embedded protostars that are still gaining mass within these stellar nursery clouds. Unlike shorter wavelengths of light that are absorbed or scattered by dust grains in the nebula, longer mid-infrared wavelengths penetrate t

9.5 Light Years Long At 90 trillion kilometres high, about twice the distance from our sun to the nearest star, stars in the Eagle Nebula are born A great tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula, the soaring tower is nine and a half light-years long. This is

Fast Facts Spiral Arms: The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, recalls the pattern at the sunflower's centre. So the nickname for this cosmic object — the Sunflower Galaxy — is no coincidence. Discovery: Discove

Terzan 12 Globular Cluster This image from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the globular cluster Terzan 12 in stunning detail. The image, which was taken using the Wide Field Camera 3, shows thousands of stars packed together in a tight cluster. The stars are arranged in a roughly spherical s

In this wee update, we've traveled 5 light years to bring you some important enhancements and fixes. Although our progress may seem like a small step in the vast cosmos, it’s packed with essential improvements to improve this space website. Alien Bug Fixing: Our dedicated team of intergalactic ex

Update Progress in Light Years Welcome to our unique update tracking system, where progress is measured in light years! 1-20 Light Years: These updates may include minor feature additions, bug fixes, and overall refinements that enhance the site's user experience. The specific light year value

You might recall the SMACS deepfield image from the first set of images released by JWST, where it showcased gravitational lensing in stunning detail. Relatively recently, an additional deep-field image has been released, accompanied by a scientific paper. Let's take a fast overview of this new im

This image was part of a previous newsletter regarding the insane speed of starship.

You might recall the SMACS deepfield image from the first set of images released by JWST, where it showcased gravitational lensing in stunning detail. Recently, a new deep-field image has been released, accompanied by a scientific paper. Let's take a fast overview of this new image and paper to po

[update-log-recorded-17-july- 2024-uploaded-24-july-2024] This time, only a couple light years were covered. Minor updates and bug fixes were made. Code Changes HTML: Implemented lazy loading for images to improve page load speed on mobile devices <img src="image.jpg" loading="lazy"> JS: Int

Fast Facts The Hubble Space Telescope has captured this image of the spiral galaxy NGC 105, situated about 215 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. NGC 105 appears to be on a collision course with a neighbouring galaxy, but this is merely an illusion created by their alignment i

Galaxies dance over millions of years, producing exquisite grand designs. One such example is the galactic duel known as NGC 5394 and 5, nicknamed the Heron Galaxy. The existence of our universe is dependent upon interactions, from subatomic particles to clusters of galaxies. Interactions can t

Throwback to July 11, 2022, when we first marveled at the infrared data provided by the technological marvel, the James Webb Space Telescope. The spectra data from Webb revealed the chemical composition of galaxies in the very early universe. This incredible achievement was made possible by th

An unusual-shaped object in today's space photo is the result of gravitational lensing, a process where gravity bends and pulls light from distant sources. In this case, the light from the background galaxy has been distorted by the gravity of the galaxy cluster sitting in front of it. Gravitation

Fast Facts The magnificent central bar of NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271) shines brightly in the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog) in this new image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Many stars are concentrated in its central region, forming the luminous bar surroun