Showing posts with label The Space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Space. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Messier 109

Messier 109: APOD: 2013 May 23 - Messier 109


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2013 May 23


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Beautiful barred spiral galaxy M109, 109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters, is found just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In telescopic views, its striking central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. Of course M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth's sky, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the galaxy's estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is joined by three spiky foreground stars strung out across this frame. The three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies also on the scene, identified left to right as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger M109.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:03 AM 0 comments
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Lunar Corona over Cochem Castle

Lunar Corona over Cochem Castle: APOD: 2013 May 25 - Lunar Corona over Cochem Castle


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2013 May 25


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: This bat-like apparition does not shine on clouds passing over Gotham city. Instead, the cloud bank in silhouette against a colorful lunar corona was spotted on the evening of May 18 over Cochem, Germany from the banks of the river Moselle. The lunar corona is formed as bright moonlight is diffracted by water droplets in thin clouds drifting in front of the lunar disk. Below it lies the region's historic Cochem Castle dating from the 11th century, and not Wayne Manor. Still, regardless of your location on planet Earth it is well worth scanning the evening skies this weekend, as a Full Moon rises and bright planets gather in the west.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:03 AM 0 comments
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PanSTARRS Anti Tail Grows

PanSTARRS Anti Tail Grows: APOD: 2013 May 26 - PanSTARRS Anti Tail Grows


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2013 May 26


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: As planet Earth approached the plane of the Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) orbit on May 23rd, comet watchers were treated to this view of its magnificent anti-tail. The long, narrow anti-tail stretches to the right across this frame for nearly 4 degrees or about 8 times the angular size of the full Moon. Dust forming the anti-tail trails along the comet's orbit as it leaves the inner solar system behind. An almost edge-on perspective from near the outbound comet's orbital plane enhances the view of the anti-tail and makes it seem to point in the sunward direction, only apparently contrary to the behavior of comet dust tails pushed outward by the pressure of sunlight. Sweeping far north in planet Earth's skies, the comet is up all night for most of the northern hemisphere, but now bright moonlight interferes with its visibility. PanSTARRS anti-tail is one of the longest since the appearance of Comet Arend-Roland in 1957.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:02 AM 0 comments
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One Armed Spiral Galaxy NGC 4725

One Armed Spiral Galaxy NGC 4725: APOD: 2013 May 30 - One Armed Spiral Galaxy NGC 4725


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2013 May 30


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have two or more spiral arms, NGC 4725 has only one. In this sharp color composite image, the solo spira mirabilis seems to wind from a prominent ring of bluish, newborn star clusters and red tinted star forming regions. The odd galaxy also sports obscuring dust lanes a yellowish central bar structure composed of an older population of stars. NGC 4725 is over 100 thousand light-years across and lies 41 million light-years away in the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. Computer simulations of the formation of single spiral arms suggest that they can be either leading or trailing arms with respect to a galaxy's overall rotation. Also included in the frame, a more traditional looking spiral appears as a smaller background galaxy.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:01 AM 0 comments
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The Eagle and The Swan

The Eagle and The Swan: APOD: 2013 May 31 - The Eagle and The Swan


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2013 May 31


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: The Eagle Nebula and the Swan Nebula span this broad starscape, a telescopic view of the Sagittarius spiral arm toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The Eagle, also known as M16, is left, above center, and the Swan, or M17 at the lower right. The deep, wide-field image shows the cosmic clouds as brighter regions of active star-formation. They lie along the spiral arm suffused with reddish emission charactistic of atomic hydrogen gas, and dusty dark nebulae. In fact, the center of both nebulae are locations of well-known close-up images of star formation from the Hubble Space Telescope. M17, also called the Omega Nebula, is about 5500 light-years away, while M16 is some 6500 light-years distant. In the frame that covers 3 degrees across the sky, the extended wings of the Eagle Nebula are spread over 120 light-years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:00 AM 0 comments
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Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur

Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur: APOD: 2013 June 4 - Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur


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2013 June 4


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud. Many of the filamentary structures visible in the above image are actually shock waves - fronts where fast moving material encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The above image shows the nebula in three colors specifically emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:52 AM 0 comments
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M57: The Ring Nebula

M57: The Ring Nebula: APOD: 2013 June 5 - M57: The Ring Nebula


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2013 June 5


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Except for the rings of Saturn, the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial band. Its classic appearance is understood to be due to our own perspective, though. The recent mapping of the expanding nebula's 3-D structure, based in part on this clear Hubble image, indicates that the nebula is a relatively dense, donut-like ring wrapped around the middle of a football-shaped cloud of glowing gas. The view from planet Earth looks down the long axis of the football, face-on to the ring. Of course, in this well-studied example of a planetary nebula, the glowing material does not come from planets. Instead, the gaseous shroud represents outer layers expelled from the dying, once sun-like star, now a tiny pinprick of light seen at the nebula's center. Intense ultraviolet light from the hot central star ionizes atoms in the gas. In the picture, the blue color in the center is ionized helium, the cyan color of the inner ring is the glow of hydrogen and oxygen, and the reddish color of the outer ring is from nitrogen and sulfur. The Ring Nebula is about one light-year across and 2,000 light-years away.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:51 AM 0 comments
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NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula

NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula: APOD: 2013 June 7 - NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula


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2013 June 7


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Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects. Though its wingspan covers over 3 light-years, NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the dying central star of this particular planetary nebula has become exceptionally hot, shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. This sharp and colorful close-up of the dying star's nebula was recorded in 2009 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, installed during the final shuttle servicing mission. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:50 AM 0 comments
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Star Forming Region NGC 3582

Star Forming Region NGC 3582: APOD: 2013 June 11 - Star Forming Region NGC 3582


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2013 June 11


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: What's happening in the NGC 3582 nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming. The complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57. Visible in this image are dense knots of dark interstellar dust, bright stars that have formed in the past few million years, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. A detailed study of NGC 3582, also known as NGC 3584 and NGC 3576, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth. The above image was taken at the Desert Hollow Observatory north of Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:49 AM 0 comments
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Four Planet Sunset

Four Planet Sunset: APOD: 2013 June 13 - Four Planet Sunset


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2013 June 13


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: You can see four planets in this serene sunset image, created from a series of stacked digital exposures captured near dusk on May 25. The composite picture follows the trail of three of them, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury (left to right) dropping toward the western horizon, gathered close in last month's remarkable triple planetary conjunction. Similar in brightness to planet Mercury, the star Elnath (Beta Tauri) is also tracked across the scene, leaving its dotted trail still farther to the right. Of course, in the foreground are the still, shallow waters of Alikes salt lake, reflecting the striking colors of sunset over Kos Island, Greece, planet Earth. For now, Jupiter has wandered into the glare of the setting Sun, but Mercury and Venus remain low in the west at twilight.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:49 AM 0 comments
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Sharpless 115

Sharpless 115: APOD: 2013 June 14 - Sharpless 115


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2013 June 14


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Explanation: Sharpless 115 stands just north and west of Deneb, the alpha star of Cygnus the Swan in planet Earth's skies. Noted in the 1959 catalog by astronomer Stewart Sharpless (as Sh2-115) the faint but lovely emission nebula lies along the edge of one of the outer Milky Way's giant molecular clouds, about 7,500 light-years away. Shining with the light of ionized atoms of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen in this Hubble palette color composite image, the nebular glow is powered by hot stars in star cluster Berkeley 90. The cluster stars are likely only 100 million years old or so and are still embedded in Sharpless 115. But the stars' strong winds and radiation have cleared away much of their dusty, natal cloud. At the emission nebula's estimated distance, this cosmic close-up spans just under 100 light-years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:48 AM 0 comments
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Edge on NGC 3628

Edge on NGC 3628: APOD: 2013 June 20 - Edge-on NGC 3628


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2013 June 20


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Explanation: Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this deep galactic portrait puts some astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, The Hamburger Galaxy. The tantalizing island universe is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million light-years away in the northern springtime constellation Leo. NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals M65 and M66 in a grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. Gravitational interactions with its cosmic neighbors are likely responsible for the extended flare and warp of this spiral's disk.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:46 AM 0 comments
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A Solstice Sunset Self Portrait

A Solstice Sunset Self Portrait: APOD: 2013 June 21 - A Solstice Sunset Self Portrait


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2013 June 21


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Today, the solstice is at 05:04 Universal Time, the Sun reaching the northernmost declination in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. A June solstice marks the astronomical beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south. It also brings the north's longest day, the longest period between sunrise and sunset. This composite image follows the Sun's path toward the end of the June solstice day of 2012 as it approaches the western horizon in a colorful, clear sky. The scene looks north and west along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast from Santa Severa, Italy. Appearing in the well-timed sequence, the small figure of the photographer himself is illuminated against the wall of the town's medieval castle.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:45 AM 0 comments
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Perigee's Full Moon

Perigee's Full Moon: APOD: 2013 June 22 - Perigee's Full Moon


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2013 June 22


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: A big, bright, beautiful Full Moon will rise at sunset on Sunday. Its exact full phase (June 23, 11:32 UT) will occur shortly before it reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth in the Moon's orbit, and make it the largest Full Moon of 2013. But such circumstances are not very rare. The full lunar phase falls near the Moon's orbit perigee about every 14 lunar months. That means the following Full Perigee Moon will be on August 10, 2014, the 14th Full Moon after June 23. On May 5, 2012, 14 Full Moons ago, this inspired telescopic night skyscape captured the Full Perigee Moon rising over Cape Sounion, Greece and the ancient Temple of Poseidon.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:45 AM 0 comments
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Venus' Once Molten Surface

Venus' Once Molten Surface: APOD: 2013 June 23 - Venus' Once Molten Surface


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2013 June 23


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: If you could look across Venus with radar eyes, what might you see? This computer reconstruction of the surface of Venus was created from data from the Magellan spacecraft.   Magellan orbited Venus and used radar to map our neighboring planet's surface between 1990 and 1994. Magellan found many interesting surface features, including the large circular domes, typically 25-kilometers across, that are depicted above.   Volcanism is thought to have created the domes, although the precise mechanism remains unknown. Venus' surface is so hot and hostile that no surface probe has lasted more than a few minutes.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:41 AM 0 comments
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The Porpoise Galaxy from Hubble

The Porpoise Galaxy from Hubble: APOD: 2013 June 24 - The Porpoise Galaxy from Hubble


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2013 June 24


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown, was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning, creating stars -- and minding its own business. But then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937 below and took a dive. Dubbed the Porpoise Galaxy for its iconic shape, NGC 2936 is not only being deflected but also being distorted by the close gravitational interaction. A burst of young blue stars forms the nose of the porpoise toward the left of the upper galaxy, while the center of the spiral appears as an eye. Alternatively, the galaxy pair, together known as Arp 142, look to some like a penguin protecting an egg. Either way, intricate dark dust lanes and bright blue star streams trail the troubled galaxy to the lower right. The above recently-released image showing Arp 142 in unprecedented detail was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope last year. Arp 142 lies about 300 million light years away toward the constellation, coincidently, of the Water Snake (Hydra). In a billion years or so the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:40 AM 0 comments
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M31: The Andromeda Galaxy - Nelio Guerson's Galaxy

M31: The Andromeda Galaxy: APOD: 2013 June 26 - M31: The Andromeda Galaxy


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2013 June 26


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light to reach us from there. Although visible without aid, the above image of M31 was taken with a small telescope. Much about M31 remains unknown, including how it acquired its unusual double-peaked center.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:39 AM 0 comments
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A Super Moon's Halo

A Super Moon's Halo: APOD: 2013 June 28 - A Super Moon's Halo


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2013 June 28


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: A Full Perigee Moon rose as the Sun set last Sunday. At its closest to Earth it was, by just a bit, the year's brightest and largest Full Moon also known as a Super Moon. Seen from Punta Piedras, Argentina and the mouth of the Rio de La Plata, near Buenos Aires, the Super Moon's light created this magnificent circular lunar halo. Still, the size of a lunar halo is determined by the geometry of six sided water ice crystals in planet Earth's high, thin clouds. The crystals deflect the rays of moonlight more strongly through a minimum angle of 22 degrees. So this halo has an inner radius of 22 degrees, just like the halos of the less-than-super moons. Even more common than a Super Moon, beautiful 22 degree halos can be spotted at any time of year.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:38 AM 0 comments
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Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters

Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters: APOD: 2013 June 30 - Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters





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Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
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2013 June 30




See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
Image Credit & Copyright:
Cassini Imaging Team,
SSI,
JPL,
ESA,
NASA
Explanation:

What lies at the bottom of
Hyperion's strange craters?

Nobody's sure.

To help find out, the
robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn
swooped past the
sponge-textured moon in 2005 and
2010 and took images of unprecedented detail.

An image from the 2005 pass,
shown above in false color, shows a remarkable world strewn with
strange craters and a
generally odd surface.

The slight differences in color likely show differences in surface composition.

At the bottom of most craters lies some type of
unknown dark material.

Inspection of the image shows bright features indicating that the dark material might be only tens of meters thick in some places.

Hyperion
is about 250 kilometers across,

rotates chaotically,
and has a density so low that it
might house a vast system of
caverns inside.





Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:37 AM 0 comments
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Stars and Lightning Over Greece

Stars and Lightning Over Greece: APOD: 2013 July 3 - Stars and Lightning Over Greece


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2013 July 3


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the lightning, but really it's the Earth. In the foreground of the above picturesque nighttime landscape is the Greek Island of Corfu, with town lights surrounding Lake Korrision. Visible farther in the distance are lights from the town of Preveza on the Greek mainland. In the more distant sky a thunderstorm is threatening, with two lightning strokes caught together during this 45 second wide-angle exposure taken in mid-May. The lightning branch on the left appears to be striking near Preveza, whereas the lightning strike on the right appears to be striking near Mount Ainos on the Greek Island of Cephalonia. Much farther in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the neighborhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Furthest away, arching over the entire panorama, are billions of stars that together compose the central band of our Milky Way.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 9:36 AM 0 comments
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