Monday, October 17, 2011

AAS Poster: Tweeting Astronomy

AAS Poster: Tweeting Astronomy:
Twitter Bird

Twitter Bird


Back in October when AAS abstracts were due, I decided to submit something that would force me to think, program, and do something just for fun and not for grants. My original idea was to (utilizing Many Eyes and Processing) do a data visualization of how all the followers of many different astronomy tweeting groups are connected.


Why? Two reasons: I wanted to know how much we are just talking to ourselves (if all of my followers follow Phil Plait, why RT?), and I wanted to know what side interests draw people together (Do people systematically follow all things Moon related?). My goal was to start with a group of selected users – NASA related folks, Zooniverse related folks, and people involved in Astrosphere’s projects (365 Days of Astronomy, Astronomy Cast, etc). I only used people active in twitter (sorry Fraser and your @fcain account, you don’t tweet), and my plan was to download all their basics (when they joined, number of updates, number of followers, etc) and then get the same for all their followers, and then get just the IDs of the followers-followers so I could build a 3d network.


For fun. ‘Cause I can. But curiosity than killed the CPU.


After I sat down, sorted out how to use the twitter API (and how to get authorized to use some of the more interesting functions), after I built in the needed ‘now pause until the beginning of the next hour because you can only make n API calls an hour, where n varies with function.’ After all of this, I set my code running.


And I waited 2 days while it ran.


Then I sat down and asked it look for how often different combinations appear – how often do people follow me and @orbitingfrog or @galaxyzoo and @chrislintott?


And I waited over night and over breakfast (sad hot little laptop) for it to run on the first level of who follows which of my initially selected hubs.


And I then I decided over lunch, for a poster this is enough. This is fun, and I’ll abuse a bigger server later.


So I started visualizing. If you are a data manipulating kind of person and you’ve never played with Many Eyes, go play. It is an awesome site with the ability to map data in lots of different ways. After uploading my data, I asked it to map my data in a way that would show all the connections and map them in a way that the more connections two people have, the closer their circles appear, and the more followers a person had, the larger their circle would be.


And it said please w…a….i….t (please). And I did. And it tried really hard, but produced something that couldn’t be explored on my sad little laptop.


So I did something a bit easier you can interact with here and see below: a map of what fraction of a users followers are shared with 1 or more other hubs. This simple (and no real wait required) visualization shows that all of us have ~20 to ~85% of our followers in common. The below tile plot visualizes the size of each Hubs following via area and relates what percentage of those followers are also connected to other Hubs via the tiles color. Lighter tiles have a higher proportion of their followers linked to non-Hubs, and are thus more often reaching non-astronomy centric audiences. Darker tiles have a higher proportion of their followers also following other astronomy hubs. While this may be seen as “speaking to the choir” it can also be seen as being more effective at pipe lining audiences to other projects (e.g. NASA_Lunar) or as having an audience that results from successful pipe lining from other projects (e.g. moonzoo). NB For this graph, @starstryder & @orbitingfrog were grouped into Astrosphere and Zooniverse respectively based on the recent focus of their online identities. I interpret the overall degree of connection observed as a sign of our RT ability through RT to send people to one another and the connectedness of our community in general. All of the hubs were connected by no more than 1 degree of separation!


Tweep Followers (Area) and Connections (Color)

Tweep Followers (Area) and Connections (Color)


While I was unable to generate the explorable 3-D mapping I desired, I did the best I could by first placing all of us on a circle (figure below) and using size, color, lines to map what I could. This diagram shows the connections between users, where the color of the connections is a blending of the colors of the Hubs (NASA: Blue, Zooniverse: Red, Astrosphere: Green. and people who are both Astrosphere and Zooniverse in Brown). (click to embiggify)


All Selected Tweeps connected

All Selected Tweeps connected


This diagram makes it hard to see exactly how each of the communities are connected to one another. I pulled our Hubs out into the same groups with the same colors, and the thickness of vertices still indicates number of connections and area of the circles indicates number of followers. It can be seen that the NASA tweeters are both very well internally connected and also share more connections in common with other Hubs than the members of the other Hubs share within their own groups’ Hubs. The degree to which programs are con-

nected to NASA is in part due to NASA Hubs simply having more followers and thus a higher opportunity to

share followers. This isn’t the entire answer however, as BadAstronomer is one of the largest Hubs and not as connected (a function of his often skeptism focused tweeting).


Networked Astronomy Tweeps

Networked Astronomy Tweeps


NASA Tweeps

NASA Tweeps


Astrosphere Tweeps

Astrosphere Tweeps


Zooniverse Tweeps

Zooniverse Tweeps


For now, I’m going to let you explore these images on your own, checking out who is connected to whom. I’m going to do more work on this, and I’ve set as a goal (that may get destroyed by travel) to work on this a few hours each week, adding more graphs as I go. I’d hoped for today to have a form that allow you to add in your screen name and some meta data, but while traveling my server is resisting code uploads (translation, I changed my password after the last hack, and the password is on my home computer). My next post should be a “Here’s how you can be part of our map.”


Until then, my sad little CPU will be allowed to cool off.






NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Lunar phase visualization contest

Lunar phase visualization contest:

Right now I’m sitting in the main ‘ballroom’* of the NASA Ames conference center. I’m here for the NASA Lunar Forums, which are hosted by the NASA Lunar Science Institute, which is housed at NASA Ames. (As one might guess, there are NASA meatballs everywhere). It is a good meeting, filled with good content, and all the latest good news from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The multi-hat wearing Nancy Atkinson is here writing stories for Universe Today and recording podcasts for 365 days of Astronomy. I’ll leave it to her to talk science. While she’s busy doing the fun stuff, I’ve been in and out of meetings, and working to plan great (I hope!) things for the future.


Coming up on October 8, 2011 (and on TBD dates in future years) is the International Observe the Moon Night. This special event invites the world to look up and learn about the moon. This may seem like a “Yada yada yada, whatever…” kind of event, but it’s surprising how many new discoveries about the moon don’t make it into the heads of Joe six-pack and his kids. Since the 1990s, so many spacecraft have visited the moon from so many nations that I have given up keeping track of them! Yet, despite the wealth of new info, researcher Emily CoBabe-Ammann found that no available public school book contains lunar science results that come from modern exploration – everything is based on Apollo! Well, Apollo was before I was born and it’s time to change what people know about the moon.


Lunar Phase Calendar by Dimitre Lima

Lunar Phase Calendar by Dimitre Lima


I personally can’t change the US school system, but, with your help, I might be able to get some curiosity arousing materials into school teachers’ hands and onto cubical and household walls. Here is where you come in: Inspired by the amazing Lunar phase data visualization shown at right, we’ve decided at Astrosphere (parent non-profit of Astronomy Cast, 365 Days of Astronomy, and several other projects) that we are going to hold a lunar phase visualization contest. (And if Dimitri opted to enter, I’d love to see what he does with 2012!)


Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create a calendar for 2012 that communicates the phases of the moon in a way that is interesting, beautiful, and true. Our intention is that we will print the winning poster for distribution. (We are assuming we’ll get awesome submissions, but failing that, we reserve the right to only post the winning entry online.) on the back of each material will be a fact sheet on the moon that uses modern data and images.


Complete contest rules and guidelines here: Visualize-the-Moon Poster Contest


Now, we know some of you aren’t exactly artistic, but may want to help support getting awesomeness into the hands of teacher. That’s cool, there are ways for you to help to! 1. The big thing you can do today is help get the word out. Let people know via twitter, Facebook, your blog, you sig, write it on your classroom chalkboard, and, heck, write it on your forehead (ok, maybe not that). Whatever you do, anything you can do to help get the creative people in your life engaged would be awesome. 2. Donate to Astrosphere to help pay for teaching materials to get mailed to teaches. 100% of proceeds will go to printing, postage, and admittedly paying the poor person who will stuff the audience (but he works quickly and effectively). Using your funding we will send teaches requested posters and other educational materials from Astrogear.org. And finally, 3. Start thinking about planning or attend an Intenational Observe the Moon Night event on October 8.


So… Get engaged in the moon.


This donation link is specifically to donate to buy materials for teachers:







*For reasons I’ll never understand, in conference center speak, ballrooms are the large rooms that can contain the most chairs. While there may very occasionally be an actually ball in said ballrooms, their primary function is numbing butts while brains get filled.







NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Universal Education

Universal Education:

Here in the USA (or I should say there, since I’m currently in France), education tends to be somewhat nationalistic. It has to be. Teachers are tied to state and federal learning standards and if students don’t learn what is specifically listed in those standards, and specifically tested along those standards, schools are considered to have failed. While the national standards were written with the best of intentions to create a more literate population, they have had a stifling effect on creative teachers and creative learning environments. People like me do what we can to get the “fun stuff” (I’m biased toward thinking Astronomy goes in that fun category) into kids outside of school and I think we’re creating some pretty good things. What is amazing to me though is what I’m seeing coming out of Europe & Africa. And what is more amazing is what happens when you combine all the best there is in and out of school from around the world into one afternoon of talks.


Currently I’m in Nantes, France attending the joint Division of Planetary Sciences meeting ( DPS is a part of the American Astronomical Society) and the European Planetary Science Conference. As part of this week-long science extravaganza, there was a session on educational programs that make a global impact. I talked about citizen science (1, 2), and otherwise got to sit back and hear about other projects, many of which are children of the International Year of Astronomy that were able to grow and continue to thrive.


Starry Sky of an Alien Lake by Wally Pacholka

From TWAN: Starry Sky of an Alien Lake by Wally Pacholka


The session started with Mike Simmons of Astronomers without Borders. While Mike and his network date back to before IYA, they really came into their own during IYA with the coordination of 100 Hours of Astronomy. During a few brief spring (North) or fall (South) days, his team succeeded in brining together the world’s population in one global star party. IYA taught all of us that trying to engage the entire planet in one 100-hour span is hard work, and some people are guaranteed to be busy, so in recent years the program has transformed into the Global Astronomy Month, which invites everyone to look up during April. Different weeks and weekends have different themes. Beyond this amazing project, Astronomers without Borders also maintains The World at Night (photo project) and is planning global events for this June’s Transit of Venus. Poor Mike did all he could to pack it all into his 10-minute time slot, but it was to no avail. He was chased off the podium 3-minutes over. Honestly, his programs needed 55 minutes to do them any justice at all.


From Mike it passed to Roger Ferlet and Hand on Universe – EU. This project takes many of the best online / digital astronomy ideas of the past 15 years and does them using real NASA data processed using an interface called SalsaJ. Imagine, instead of using a simulator like CLEA to study the motion of Jupiter’s moons or the pulsations of a star you just looked at Jupiter’s moons and an actual pulsating star. SalsaJ is now on my list of things to learn sooner rather than later, and I’m hoping that if any of you are classroom teachers using SalsaJ, you’ll leave a comment about how you like it.

I went third and then passed the stage off to Connie Walker of the Dark Skies Awareness initiative (They do regular 365 Days of Astronomy shows!). These are the folks that every year bring you Globe at Night, a global data gathering project to measure how light pollution is impacting our ability to see the stars (and galaxies, etc) in the sky above us. In the past, this has been a once a year event involving getting everyone around the globe to look at the equator riding constellation Orion. Students and members of the public turn in information on how many of his stars they could see compared to a series of images, and we get a global reading of the sky. The thing is, lots of weird things can effect light pollution. Snow for instance. If you have a lot of street lights politely pointed down onto grass in parks, that isn’t too horribly bad, but if those same lights point onto snow… Well, that’s a nice mirror of light reflected into the sky. This year, to look at variations, and to see who can participate when, they’re introducing 4 different Globe at Nights events: January 14-23, February 12-21, March 13-22, and April 11-20 (that’s 2012).


With a line up of special events defined for us, the podium (or lack of podium) was handed over to Rosa Doren, a woman who is a force of nature bent on improving teacher preparation on a global level. Working on a budget of sofa change and sidewalk dimes, she has shown us what it means to leverage existing resources. As head of the IYA’s Galileo Teacher Training Program (which is still going strong!), she has brought together a global collaboration of people who are doing teacher training and providing teachers astronomy certification (at a variety of levels) by engaging them in a collections of activities in different content areas. The thing that consistently impresses me about this project is it realizes that schools aren’t all the same in terms of resources, but the same concepts of wanting to engage people rather then lecture at people apply. Don’t have a computer? That’s ok – they have a plan. Have a telescope and the most modern of technologies? That’s fine too. The sets of possible things teachers can do is varied enough to recognize the vast diversity of classroom needs, allowing teachers to learn concepts through tasks matched to their resources. Are you a teacher? Want to get the leg up on your astronomy content in a way that is relevant to the classroom you have instead of the classroom you wish you had? Check out the global listing of teacher workshops on their website.


Algol, the Demon of the Sky by EU-UNAWE Spain

Algol, the Demon of the Sky by EU-UNAWE Spain


The final talk I listened to well was on a classroom project I know I’ve mentioned before: Universal Awareness (UNAWE). Lead by Pedro Russo (formerly lead by Carolina Odman who’s no doing different awesomeness), and presented by a nice younger fellow whose name I didn’t catch, this program is designed to get little kids to love and learn space science through story telling. On their resources page they have a myriad of activities (including signing activities and telescope activities!), artwork from stories telling sky-lore from many different cultures, and all the teacher resources you might want (as a non-teacher, I like to download and print the art). Editions are available in multiple languages. The story that I heard (not told today, sadly) that most made me love this project was actually a story on it’s cultural impact. Through one set of activities, they get the kids telling their stories to a visiting outer space alien (a doll sewn by one of the community parents), and the alien in turn tells the kids stories about space through this curriculum. One teacher reported that after doing UNAWE in her class, an transfer student from a foreign country was seen as an interesting new thing – a source of potential stories and friendship. This was in contrast to how her kids normally treated transfer kids, as well, aliens in the not so warm and fuzzy story telling sense.


So the reason I said “listen well” is today I also learned I’m not really all that compatible with French food. I’m fine, but for a while, sitting a bit dehydrated (beverages are primarily expresso and wine here), and way overheated (no or limited AC and in the 80s), I just decided that rather than listening closely, I’d turn a color that caused a worried friend to ask if I was ok. After the session, I grabbed a couple cans of soda (failing to find hot tea, which I now have), and got to feeling better slowly but surely. I’m now fine, but during a few of the talks I wasn’t listening as much as I was doing a mental inventory of things like water bottles and tea bags I will hence forth always a) bring, and b) not leave on the plane (as I did with my water bottle on Saturday).


Unfortunately, this means the best I can do is offer you a link to the program for the rest of the session. No fear though, Thursday is another education session, and next week I’ll be at an astronomy communications meeting in Beijing (where I am compatible with the food). I’ll report what I hear. And tomorrow (room space willing) I’ll try and get you some science. So far, I fear to say, I’ve been thwarted by rooms with more people than space. Ah well, Emily Lakdawalla is early to arrive and easy to fit into small spaces and keeps managing to fit nicely into all the coolest sessions. Follow her on twitter and the Planetary Society Blog for all the best science this meeting has to offer.






Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fall Foliage Leaves

Fall Foliage Leaves:

Fall Foliage Leaves

Various fall foliage leaves in an arrangement of autumn colors and shapes. The colors and shapes of autumn leaves is an endless array of diversity. This display of fallen leaves would make a beautiful autumn decoration.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 30 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Fall Tree Branch Leaves Along River

Fall Tree Branch Leaves Along River:

Fall Tree Branch Leaves Along River

Along the blackwater river in West Virginia a colorful maple tree shows the fall colors early in the morning. Autumn colors from the forest trees line the river side in the Canaan Wildlife Refuge. Since this area is 3000 feet above sea level the autumn colors have changed earlier here.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/4 | Image Exposure Time: 1/500 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Film Speed ISO: 100 | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Focus Mode: One-Shot | Lens Model: EF24mm f/1.4L II USM | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Image Saturation Level: High | Photo White Balance: Auto | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Autumn Forest Creek Foliage

Autumn Forest Creek Foliage:

The cool autumn water rushes through this creek in the middle of a West Virginia forest. This water is leading to the blackwater river and creates a spectacular scene as it passes through the colorful autumn foliage. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 15/10 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: -1 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Autumn Forest Creek Foliage
The cool autumn water rushes through this creek in the middle of a West Virginia forest. This water is leading to the blackwater river and creates a spectacular scene as it passes through the colorful autumn foliage.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 15/10 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: -1 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Autumn Flower Field Yellow Flower

Autumn Flower Field Yellow Flower:

Even in October beautiful autumn flowers are showing in areas of West Virginia. This field of autumn flowers gives a wonderful autumn floral surprise. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/8 | Image Exposure Time: 1/20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Film Speed ISO: 100 | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Focus Mode: One-Shot | Lens Model: EF24mm f/1.4L II USM | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Image Saturation Level: High | Photo White Balance: Auto | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander:
Autumn Flower Field Yellow Flower
Even in October beautiful autumn flowers are showing in areas of West Virginia. This field of autumn flowers gives a wonderful autumn floral surprise.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/8 | Image Exposure Time: 1/20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Film Speed ISO: 100 | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Focus Mode: One-Shot | Lens Model: EF24mm f/1.4L II USM | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Image Saturation Level: High | Photo White Balance: Auto | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Waterfalls Rocks Landscape

Waterfalls Rocks Landscape:

Waterfalls Rocks Landscape
Waterfalls Rocks Landscape
Waterfalls cascade across the rocks in this landscape picture on a rainy summer day. Standing below these beautiful waterfalls in such a scenic location, I cannot help but weather the rain and try to get the best photo of these waterfalls possible.
    Camera Model: andscape | ForestWander Nature Photography: :08:01 20:40:41 | ForestWander: ure Photography |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Autumn Foliage Collage

Autumn Foliage Collage:

Amazing what you can do by gathering leaves and flowers from around your neighborhood. This is a collage of fall foliage leaves and various bushes that grow in the autumn season, combined with flowers that are blooming in late summer. If you look there is beauty all around we just need to simply look for the beautiful things of autumn. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 30 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Autumn Foliage Collage
Amazing what you can do by gathering leaves and flowers from around your neighborhood. This is a collage of fall foliage leaves and various bushes that grow in the autumn season, combined with flowers that are blooming in late summer. If you look there is beauty all around we just need to simply look for the beautiful things of autumn.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 30 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Autumn Wildflowers

Autumn Wildflowers:

Autumn Wildflowers

Although fall foliage is near peak in the mountains of West Virginia we have had a very mild fall without harsh freezing temperatures. This has allowed beautiful wildflowers to show their early autumn colors.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/1.4 | Image Exposure Time: 1/125 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Could There Be Life On Messier 13?

Could There Be Life On Messier 13?:






The Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules



Messier 13 ( M13, NGC 6205) is a globular cluster of approximately 300,000 stars in the Hercules Constellation. It is also recalled as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster.


Having a magnitude of 5.8 and a diameter of about 23 arc minutes, Messier 13 can be easily seen with small telescopes and even with the naked eye when the sky is very clear. The brightest star of the globular cluster is the variable star V11, that has an apparent magnitude of 11.95. Close to Messier 13 is NGC 6207, a twice as big edge-on galaxy. Midway between them lies IC 4617, a small galaxy situated north-northeast of the globular cluster’s center.


In 1974 Messier 13 was the subject of a research. Scientists believed that due to a very high number of stars, the Hercules Globular Cluster could have an environment that sustains intelligent life forms. The Arecibo message was sent towards the globular cluster in order to establish communication with these hypothetical life forms. This experiment was meant to demonstrate more the evolution of technology than to establish communication with other life forms, because at the time of the message’s arrival M13 would have changed it’s location. Could there be life on Messier 13? Still remains an open question.


Distance from Earth: ~ 25000 light years.



Click below for full resolution picture of M13′s Nucleus


Messier 13 | The Great Globular Star Cluster In Hercules










Monday, October 3, 2011

How Common are Terrestrial, Habitable Planets Around Sun-Like Stars?

How Common are Terrestrial, Habitable Planets Around Sun-Like Stars?:


Artist concept of the Kepler telescope in orbit. Image Credit: NASA


Once again news from the Kepler mission is making the rounds, this time with a research paper outlining a theory that Earth-like planets may be more common around class F, G and K stars than originally expected.

In the standard stellar classification scheme, these type of stars are similar or somewhat similar to our own Sun (which is a Class G star); Class F stars are hotter and brighter and Class K stars are cooler and dimmer. Given this range of stars, the habitable zones vary with different stars. Some habitable planets could orbit their host star at twice the distance Earth orbits our Sun or in the case of a dim star, less than Mercury’s orbit.

How does this recent research show that small, rocky, worlds may be more common that originally thought?

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Read the rest of How Common are Terrestrial, Habitable Planets Around Sun-Like Stars? (412 words)




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Sunny Side Up: New Image of the Fried Egg Nebula Reveals a Rare Yellow Hypergiant Star

Sunny Side Up: New Image of the Fried Egg Nebula Reveals a Rare Yellow Hypergiant Star:


An image from the Very Large Telescope of IRAS 17163-3907, which has a huge dusty double shell surrounding a rare hypergiant star. The star and its shells resemble an egg white around a yolky center, leading astronomers to nickname the object the Fried Egg Nebula. Credit: ESO/E. Lagadec


A new look at the Fried Egg Nebula has revealed one of the rarest classes of stars in the Universe, a yellow hypergiant. This “sunny-side-up” view shows for the first time a huge dusty double shell surrounding this huge star.

“This object was known to glow brightly in the infrared but, surprisingly, nobody had identified it as a yellow hypergiant before,” said Eric Lagadec from the European Southern Observatory, who led the team that produced the new images.

And there’s good reason to keep an eye on this star: it will likely soon die an explosive death, and will be one of the next supernova explosions in our galaxy.

(...)
Read the rest of Sunny Side Up: New Image of the Fried Egg Nebula Reveals a Rare Yellow Hypergiant Star (285 words)




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

What’s That Very Bright Star – Is it the Planet Jupiter?

What’s That Very Bright Star – Is it the Planet Jupiter?:


Jupiter Credit: John Talbot


Have you seen a very bright star rising in the East every night the past few months? If you’re a night owl, you may have noticed it moves across they sky from the East into the West, shining brightly throughout the night. However this object is not a star! It’s the planet Jupiter and it is the brightest object in the night sky at the moment, apart from the Moon.

At the end of October Jupiter will be at opposition. This means the mighty planet (the largest in our solar system) will be directly opposite the sun as seen from Earth and it will also be at its closest point to Earth in the two planets’ orbits around the Sun. This makes Jupiter or any other object at opposition appear brighter and larger. The opposition of Jupiter occurs on October 29, 2011.

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Read the rest of What’s That Very Bright Star – Is it the Planet Jupiter? (457 words)




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

ALMA Opens Her Eyes — With Stunning Results

ALMA Opens Her Eyes — With Stunning Results:


ALMA's first light: a view of the Antennae Galaxies. Credit: ESO


There’s a new telescope in town that just opened up for business. It’s the long awaited ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Although it is still under construction, the science teams have released the first “early science” image, showing a pair of interacting galaxies called the Antenna Galaxies. ALMA’s view reveals a part of the Universe that just can’t be seen by visible-light and infrared telescopes. “From the formation of the first galaxies, stars, and planets to the merging of the first complex molecules, the science of ALMA is a vast spectrum of investigation,” said Tania Burchell, the ALMA Public Information Officer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, on today’s 365 Days of Astronomy podcast.

(...)
Read the rest of ALMA Opens Her Eyes — With Stunning Results (490 words)




Arguel XIII

Arguel XIII:

Arguel XIII Picture (3d, sci-fi, spaceship, picture, image, digital art)
3d, sci-fi, spaceship, picture, image, digital art


Fall Flowers Field

Fall Flowers Field:

Fall Flowers Field

Who says that fall is for leaves only? I found this beautiful field of fall wild flowers growing in early October at the beginning of the fall foliage season. This was taken on a rainy day which gives perfect lighting.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/4 | Image Exposure Time: 1/10 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |


Astrophoto: The Great Orion Nebula by Arturo Montesinos

Astrophoto: The Great Orion Nebula by Arturo Montesinos:

Astrophoto: The Great Orion Nebula by Arturo Montesinos
The Great Orion Nebula. Credit: Arturo Montesinos



Arturo Montesinos captured this photo of the Great Orion Nebula using 100 30-second exposures shot under computer control with a Nikon D40 camera at the prime focus of a Celestron NexStar 102 SLT 4-inch refractor.

“I used the astrometry.net software to solve each of the 100 photos, then the Swarp program to reproject and co-add the 100 red images, 100 green images, and 100 blue images in “SUM” mode.

The resulting three 32-bit FITS files (one per channel) were converted to a single 16-bit RGB TIFF file using ImageMagick convert, and then loaded into qtpfsgui to tone map as an HDR, using the Mantiuk algorithm with contrast 0.01, saturation 1.5, detail 4.0, and gamma 0.8. Some minor post-processing with The Gimp.”

Check out Arturo’s Flickr page for more interesting astrophotos.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.


NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Astrophoto: Trifid Nebula by Jeanette Dunphy

Astrophoto: Trifid Nebula by Jeanette Dunphy:

Astrophoto: Trifid Nebula by Jeanette Dunphy
Trifid Nebula. Credit: Jeanette Dunphy



Jeanette Dunphy of Queensland, Australia captured this photo of Trifid Nebula on June 9, 2011.

Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is an H II region approximately 7,600 light years away in Sagittarius. The nebula is where you’ll find a combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula, a reflection nebula and a dark nebula.

Jeanette also provided us with the camera specs she used in taking the photo:

2hr 5min of 5 min subs

Canon 550D @ ISO400

ED 80 , HEQ5Pro mount

Guided QHY5

Check out more photo at Jeanette’s Flickr page.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Red Alert! Space Station Aurora

Red Alert! Space Station Aurora:


Astronauts had this view of the aurora on September 26, 2011. Credit: NASA


We’ve had some great views of the aurora submitted by readers this week, but this one taken from the International Space Station especially highlights the red color seen by many Earth-bound skywatchers, too. Karen Fox from the Goddard Space Flight Center says the colors of the aurora depend on which atoms are being excited by the solar storm. In most cases, the light comes when a charged particle sweeps in from the solar wind and collides with an oxygen atom in Earth’s atmosphere. This produces a green photon, so most aurora appear green. However, lower-energy oxygen collisions as well as collisions with nitrogen atoms can produce red photons — so sometimes aurora also show a red band as seen here.

Source: Goddard Space Flight Center Flickr




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Bending The Rules – Exploring Gravitational Redshift

Bending The Rules – Exploring Gravitational Redshift:


Researchers have analyzed measurements of the light from galaxies in approximately 8,000 galaxy clusters. Galaxy clusters are accumulations of thousands of galaxies (every light in the image is a galaxy), which are held together by their own gravity. This gravity affects the light that is sent out into space from the galaxies. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope


Hey. We’re all aware of Einstein’s theories and how gravity affects light. We know it was proved during a total solar eclipse, but what we’ve never realized in observational astronomy is that light just might get bent by other gravitational influences. If it can happen from something as small as a star, then what might occur if you had a huge group of stars? Like a galaxy… Or a group of galaxies! (...)
Read the rest of Bending The Rules – Exploring Gravitational Redshift (572 words)




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

New Research Finds Venus’ Winds, They Are A-Changin’

New Research Finds Venus’ Winds, They Are A-Changin’:



Image of Venus in ultraviolet light by ESA's Venus Express. (ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA)


Venus, Earth’s hotheaded neighbor, may have more variability in its weather patterns than previously believed. Using infrared data obtained by ground-based telescopes in Hawaii and Arizona researchers have found that Venus’ mesosphere and thermosphere are less consistent in temperature than layers closer to its surface.(...)
Read the rest of New Research Finds Venus’ Winds, They Are A-Changin’ (726 words)




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

Where In The Universe Challenge #152

Where In The Universe Challenge #152:


Here’s a new image for the Where In The Universe Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. You know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft/telescope responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until later. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

The answer for the previous WITU challenge can be found here.




NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE