NASA, which in together with solar panels has a size of more than 30 meters, made his first picture of the stars.. Thus, scientists checked the ability of the apparatus to navigate in space, writes Space.

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NASA presented the first photo of the stars taken by the Europa Clipper device during a flight to the Jupiter satellite called Europe. This photograph was created from three images that NASA probes, launched into space in October, made in December 2024.

Stars that are visible in the photo are at a distance of 150 to 300 light years from us. These stars are visible as small points of light against the background of the blackness of the cosmos. The four brightest stars in the photograph are in the constellation Raven and are called Alkiba, Algorab, Jenah and Kraz.

Similar photos of stars help the cosmic apparatus correctly navigate in space while it flies into the Jupiter system. There are two small cameras on board the NASA probe, which are called star trackers, and with their help the device makes a starry map.

According to scientists, the space apparatus needs an accurate orientation in space so that it can correctly aim his devices to collect the necessary data after arrival to Europe and in order to correctly send an antenna for communication with the Earth. Star trackers provide a probe navigation, taking pictures of stars, and then comparing images in a computer containing a catalog of stars with well -known positions.

Europa Clipper operates on solar energy and the creation and launch of NASA spent $ 5 billion, but it has a very important mission. The device must find out whether life can exist in Europe. With the help of his devices, Europa Clipper must determine the thickness of the icy bark of Europe, as well as find out how it interacts with the underground ocean consisting of liquid water. The probe must also determine the exact composition of Europe and the geology of the satellite of Jupiter.

In March of this year, Europa Clipper will make a gravitational maneuver around Mars and after that will fly to Europe. After the NASA probe overcomes about 2.

9 billion km, he will arrive at his goal in April 2030.

As Focus already wrote, the astronomers received the best image of the main structure of the universe, that is, the cosmic web. Scientists received a direct image in the highest quality of a cosmic thread 3 million light years.

Focus also wrote that astronomers discovered the strongest volcanic activity on the satellite of Jupiter called IO. On this satellite there is the largest number of volcanoes in the salt system.