Showing posts with label images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label images. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Exploded Star Blooms Like a Cosmic Flower

Exploded Star Blooms Like a Cosmic Flower:

G299.2-2.9*

Because the debris fields of exploded stars, known as supernova remnants, are very hot, energetic, and glow brightly in X-ray light, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has proven to be a valuable tool in studying them. The supernova remnant called G299.2-2.9 (or G299 for short) is located within our Milky Way galaxy, but Chandra's new image of it is reminiscent of a beautiful flower here on Earth.

G299 was left over by a particular class of supernovas called Type Ia. Astronomers think that a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear explosion - involving the fusion of elements and release of vast amounts of energy - of a white dwarf star in a tight orbit with a companion star. If the white dwarf's partner is a typical, Sun-like star, the white dwarf can become unstable and explode as it draws material from its companion. Alternatively, the white dwarf is in orbit with another white dwarf, the two may merge and can trigger an explosion.

Regardless of their triggering mechanism, Type Ia supernovas have long been known to be uniform in their extreme brightness, usually outshining the entire galaxy where they are found. This is important because scientists use these objects as cosmic mileposts, allowing them to accurately measure the distances of galaxies billions of light years away, and to determine the rate of expansion of the Universe.

Traditional theoretical models of Type Ia supernovas generally predict that these explosions would be symmetric, creating a near perfect sphere as they expand. These models have been supported by results showing that remnants of Type Ia supernovas are more symmetric than remnants of supernovas involving the collapse of massive stars.

More information at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/g299/index.html

-Megan Watzke, CXC

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 7:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy

M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy: APOD: 2015 February 11 - M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 February 11


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately known as a grand design spiral galaxy. It is a large galaxy of over 100 billion stars with well-defined spiral arms that is similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, M100 (alias NGC 4321) is 56 million light-years distant toward the constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices). This Hubble Space Telescope image of M100 was made in 2009 and reveals bright blue star clusters and intricate winding dust lanes which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies. Studies of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the size and age of the Universe. If you know exactly where to look, you can find a small spot that is a light echo from a bright supernova that was recorded a few years before the image was taken.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 5:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Halloween Solar Storm of 2003





Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:58 PM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn

Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn: APOD: 2015 January 4 - Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 4


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn and its moon Rhea in color a few years ago. As striking as the above image is, it is but a single frame from a 60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world. Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a thin line across the image center.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:35 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree

A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree: APOD: 2015 January 5 - A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 5


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros). Pictured as a star forming region and cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The image spans about the diameter of a full moon, covering about 30 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies on the lower right, bright variable star S Mon visible just above the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula on the image left. Given their distribution, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears here with its apex at the Cone Nebula on the left with its broader base near S Mon on the right.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:34 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Hubble 25th Anniversary: Pillars of Creation

Hubble 25th Anniversary: Pillars of Creation: APOD: 2015 January 7 - Hubble 25th Anniversary: Pillars of Creation


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 7


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: To celebrate 25 years (1990-2015) of exploring the Universe from low Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope's cameras were used to revisit its most iconic image. The result is this sharper, wider view of the region dubbed the Pillars of Creation, first imaged by Hubble in 1995. Stars are forming deep inside the towering structures. The light-years long columns of cold gas and dust are some 6,500 light-years distant in M16, the Eagle Nebula, toward the constellation Serpens. Sculpted and eroded by the energetic ultraviolet light and powerful winds from M16's cluster of young, massive stars, the cosmic pillars themselves are destined for destruction. But the turbulent environment of star formation within M16, whose spectacular details are captured in this Hubble visible-light snapshot, is likely similar to the environment that formed our own Sun.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:23 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Stars and Dust in Corona Australis

Stars and Dust in Corona Australis: APOD: 2015 January 8 - Stars and Dust in Corona Australis


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 8


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. The dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way. But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light from the region's young hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The dust also obscures from view stars still in the process of formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star R Coronae Australis. Just below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:20 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

In the Arms of NGC 1097

In the Arms of NGC 1097: APOD: 2015 January 9 - In the Arms of NGC 1097


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 9


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 1097 shines in southern skies, about 45 million light-years away in the chemical constellation Fornax. Its blue spiral arms are mottled with pinkish star forming regions in this colorful galaxy portrait. They seem to have wrapped around a small companion galaxy below and left of center, about 40,000 light-years from the spiral's luminous core. That's not NGC 1097's only peculiar feature, though. The very deep exposure hints of faint, mysterious jets, most easily seen to extend well beyond the bluish arms toward the left. In fact, four faint jets are ultimately recognized in optical images of NGC 1097. The jets trace an X centered on the galaxy's nucleus, but probably don't originate there. Instead, they could be fossil star streams, trails left over from the capture and disruption of a much smaller galaxy in the large spiral's ancient past. A Seyfert galaxy, NGC 1097's nucleus also harbors a supermassive black hole.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:09 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Cataclysmic Dawn

Cataclysmic Dawn: APOD: 2015 January 11 - Cataclysmic Dawn


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 11


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Will this dawn bring another nova? Such dilemmas might be pondered one day by future humans living on a planet orbiting a cataclysmic variable binary star system. Cataclysmic variables involve gas falling from a large star onto an accretion disk surrounding a massive but compact white dwarf star. Explosive cataclysmic events such as a dwarf nova can occur when a clump of gas in the interior of the accretion disk heats up past a certain temperature. At that point, the clump will fall more quickly onto the white dwarf and land with a bright flash. Such dwarf novas will not destroy either star, and may occur irregularly on time scales from a few days to tens of years. Although a nova is much less energetic than a supernova, if recurrent novas are not violent enough to expel more gas than is falling in, mass will accumulate onto the white dwarf star until it passes its Chandrasekhar limit. At that point, a foreground cave may provide little protection, as the entire white dwarf star will explode in a tremendous supernova.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:05 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

The Soap Bubble Nebula

The Soap Bubble Nebula: APOD: 2015 January 13 - The Soap Bubble Nebula





Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.


2015 January 13




See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
The Soap Bubble Nebula
Credit &
Copyright:
T. Rector
(U. Alaska Anchorage),
H. Schweiker
(WIYN),
NOAO,
AURA,
NSF

Explanation:
Adrift in the
rich star fields
of the constellation Cygnus, this
lovely, symmetric nebula was only recognized a few years ago and
does not yet appear in some astronomical catalogs.

In fact, amateur astronomer
Dave Jurasevich identified
it as a nebula on 2008 July 6 in
his
images of the complex
Cygnus region that included the
Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888).

He subsequently notified the
International Astronomical Union.

Only eleven days later the same object was independently identified by
Mel Helm at Sierra Remote
Observatories,
imaged by Keith Quattrocchi and Helm, and also submitted to the IAU
as a potentially unknown nebula.

The nebula, appearing on the left of the
featured image,
is now known as the
Soap Bubble Nebula.

What is the
newly recognized nebula?

Most
probably it is a
planetary nebula, a final phase in the
life of a sun-like star.





Tomorrow's picture: shot from Orion

<
| Archive
| Index
| Search
| Calendar
| RSS
| Education
| About APOD
| Discuss
| >

Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
Specific rights apply.
NASA Web
Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of:
ASD at
NASA /
GSFC

& Michigan Tech. U.
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:04 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

The Hunter, the Bull, and Lovejoy

The Hunter, the Bull, and Lovejoy: APOD: 2015 January 14 - The Hunter, the Bull, and Lovejoy


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 14


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Heading north, Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is putting on its best show for comet watchers now, with moonlight absent from mid-January's early evening skies. An easy binocular target and just visible to the unaided eye from dark sites, the comet sweeps across the constellation Taurus the Bull in this deep night skyscape. The starry scene was captured just two days ago on January 12, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, planet Earth. In fact, the head of Taurus formed by the V-shaped Hyades star cluster points toward Lovejoy at the right. The comet's greenish coma and tail streaming in the anti-sunward direction also seem to have been shot from Orion's bow. You can spot the familiar stars of the nebula rich constellation of the Hunter on the left, and follow this link to highlight Comet Lovejoy in the wide field of view.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Huygens Lands on Titan

Huygens Lands on Titan: APOD: 2015 January 16 - Huygens Lands on Titan


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 16


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Delivered by Saturn-bound Cassini, ESA's Huygens probe touched down on the ringed planet's largest moon Titan, ten years ago on January 14, 2005. These panels show fisheye images made during its slow descent by parachute through Titan's dense atmosphere. Taken by the probe's descent imager/spectral radiometer instrument they range in altitude from 6 kilometers (upper left) to 0.2 kilometers (lower right) above the moon's surprisingly Earth-like surface of dark channels, floodplains, and bright ridges. But at temperatures near -290 degrees F (-180 degrees C), the liquids flowing across Titan's surface are methane and ethane, hydrocarbons rather than water. After making the most distant landing for a spacecraft from Earth, Huygens transmitted data for more than an hour. The Huygens data and a decade of exploration by Cassini have shown Titan to be a tantalizing world hosting a complex chemistry of organic compounds, dynamic landforms, lakes, seas, and a possible subsurface ocean of liquid water.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:03 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Comet Lovejoy's Tail

Comet Lovejoy's Tail: APOD: 2015 January 17 - Comet Lovejoy's Tail


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 17


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Sweeping north in planet Earth's sky, Comet Lovejoy's greenish coma and blue tinted ion tail stretched across this field of stars in the constellation Taurus on January 13. The inset at the upper left shows the 1/2 degree angular size of the full moon for scale. So Lovejoy's coma appears only a little smaller (but much fainter) than a full moon on the sky, and its tail is visible for over 4 degrees across the frame. That corresponds to over 5 million kilometers at the comet's estimated distance of 75 million kilometers from Earth. Blown by the solar wind, the comet's tenuous, structured ion tail streams away from the Sun, growing as this Comet Lovejoy heads toward perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on January 30. While diatomic carbon (C2) gas fluorescing in sunlight produces the coma's green color, the fainter bluish tail is tinted by emission from ionized carbon monoxide (CO+).

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:02 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Infrared Orion from WISE

Infrared Orion from WISE: APOD: 2015 January 19 - Infrared Orion from WISE


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 19


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion is an intriguing place. Visible to the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation of Orion. But this image, an illusory-color four-panel mosaic taken in different bands of infrared light with the Earth orbiting WISE observatory, shows the Orion Nebula to be a bustling neighborhood of recently formed stars, hot gas, and dark dust. The power behind much of the Orion Nebula (M42) is the stars of the Trapezium star cluster, seen near the center of the above wide field image. The orange glow surrounding the bright stars pictured here is their own starlight reflected by intricate dust filaments that cover much of the region. The current Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

The Complex Ion Tail of Comet Lovejoy

The Complex Ion Tail of Comet Lovejoy: APOD: 2015 January 21 - The Complex Ion Tail of Comet Lovejoy


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 21


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: What causes the structure in Comet Lovejoy's tail? Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), which is currently at naked-eye brightness and near its brightest, has been showing an exquisitely detailed ion tail. As the name implies, the ion tail is made of ionized gas -- gas energized by ultraviolet light from the Sun and pushed outward by the solar wind. The solar wind is quite structured and sculpted by the Sun's complex and ever changing magnetic field. The effect of the variable solar wind combined with different gas jets venting from the comet's nucleus accounts for the tail's complex structure. Following the wind, structure in Comet Lovejoy's tail can be seen to move outward from the Sun even alter its wavy appearance over time. The blue color of the ion tail is dominated by recombining carbon monoxide molecules, while the green color of the coma surrounding the head of the comet is created mostly by a slight amount of recombining diatomic carbon molecules. The featured three-panel mosaic image was taken nine days ago from the IRIDA Observatory in Bulgaria. Comet Lovejoy made it closest pass to the Earth two weeks ago and will be at its closest to the Sun in about ten days. After that, the comet will fade as it heads back into the outer Solar System, to return only in about 8,000 years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Launch to Lovejoy

Launch to Lovejoy: APOD: 2015 January 22 - Launch to Lovejoy


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 22


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Blasting skyward an Atlas V rocket carrying a U.S. Navy satellite pierces a cloud bank in this starry night scene captured on January 20. On its way to orbit from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, planet Earth, the rocket streaks past brightest star Sirius, as seen from a dark beach at Canaveral National Seashore. Above the alpha star of Canis Major, Orion the Hunter strikes a pose familiar to northern winter skygazers. Above Orion is the V-shaped Hyades star cluster, head of Taurus the Bull, and farther still above Taurus it's easy to spot the compact Pleiades star cluster. Of course near the top of the frame you'll find the greenish coma and long tail of Comet Lovejoy, astronomical darling of these January nights.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:48 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Light from Cygnus A

Light from Cygnus A: APOD: 2015 January 24 - Light from Cygnus A


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 24


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Celebrating astronomy in this International Year of Light, the detailed image reveals spectacular active galaxy Cygnus A in light across the electromagnetic spectrum. Incorporating X-ray data (blue) from the orbiting Chandra Observatory, Cygnus A is seen to be a prodigious source of high energy x-rays. But it is actually more famous at the low energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. One of the brightest celestial sources visible to radio telescopes, at 600 million light-years distant Cygnus A is the closest powerful radio galaxy. Radio emission (red) extends to either side along the same axis for nearly 300,000 light-years powered by jets of relativistic particles emanating from the galaxy's central supermassive black hole. Hot spots likely mark the ends of the jets impacting surrounding cool, dense material. Confined to yellow hues, optical wavelength data of the galaxy from Hubble and the surrounding field in the Digital Sky Survey complete a remarkable multiwavelength view.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:48 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence

A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence: APOD: 2015 January 25 - A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 25


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Ten Earths could easily fit in the "claw" of this seemingly solar monster. The monster, actually a huge eruptive prominence, is seen moving out from our Sun in this condensed half-hour time-lapse sequence. This large prominence, though, is significant not only for its size, but its shape. The twisted figure eight shape indicates that a complex magnetic field threads through the emerging solar particles. Differential rotation of gas just inside the surface of the Sun might help account for the surface explosion. The five frame sequence was taken in early 2000 by the Sun-orbiting SOHO satellite. Although large prominences and energetic Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are relatively rare, they are again occurring more frequently now that we are near the Solar Maximum, a time of peak sunspot and solar activity in the eleven-year solar cycle.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

The Milky Way over the Seven Strong Men Rock Formations

The Milky Way over the Seven Strong Men Rock Formations: APOD: 2015 January 26 - The Milky Way over the Seven Strong Men Rock Formations


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 January 26


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
The Milky Way over the Seven Strong Men Rock Formations

Image Credit & Copyright: Sergei Makurin
Explanation: You may have heard of the Seven Sisters in the sky, but have you heard about the Seven Strong Men on the ground? Located just west of the Ural Mountains, the unusual Manpupuner rock formations are one of the Seven Wonders of Russia. How these ancient 40-meter high pillars formed is yet unknown. The persistent photographer of this featured image battled rough terrain and uncooperative weather to capture these rugged stone towers in winter at night, being finally successful in February of last year. Utilizing the camera's time delay feature, the photographer holds a flashlight in the foreground near one of the snow-covered pillars. High above, millions of stars shine down, while the band of our Milky Way Galaxy crosses diagonally down from the upper left.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: , ,

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: October 29 – November 4, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: October 29 – November 4, 2012:
Across The Universe
The Andromeda Galaxy Courtesy of Bob Kocar
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for some spooky targets this week? Then follow along as we take a look at the “Little Eyes”, the “Skull Nebula” and a star that’s as red as a drop of blood! If the weather permits, we’ll also be enjoying the Taruid Meteor Shower! Time to dust off those optics and meet me in the backyard… (...)
Read the rest of Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: October 29 – November 4, 2012 (2,186 words)
© tammy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: , , , ,

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:41 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)