Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Voyager's Neptune

Voyager's Neptune: APOD: 2014 May 15 - Voyager's Neptune


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2014 May 15


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Explanation: Cruising through the outer solar system, the Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune on August 25, 1989, the only spacecraft to visit the most distant ice giant planet. Based on the images recorded during its close encounter and in the following days, this inspired composited scene covers the dim outer planet, largest moon Triton, and faint system of rings. From just beyond Neptune's orbit, the interplanetary perspective looks back toward the Sun, capturing the planet and Triton as thin sunlit crescents. Cirrus clouds and a dark band circle Neptune's south polar region, with a cloudy vortex above the pole itself. Parts of the very faint ring system along with the three bright ring arcs were first imaged by Voyager during the fly-by, though the faintest segments are modeled in this composited picture. Spanning 7.5 degrees, the background starfield is composed from sky survey data centered on the constellation Camelopardalis, corresponding to the outbound Voyager's view of the magnificent Neptunian system.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:39 AM 0 comments
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Hubble s Jupiter and Shrinking Great Red Spot

Hubble s Jupiter and Shrinking Great Red Spot: APOD: 2014 May 17 - Hubble's Jupiter and Shrinking Great Red Spot


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2014 May 17


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Explanation: Gas giant Jupiter is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass of planet Earth. It's also known for a giant swirling storm system, the Great Red Spot, featured in this sharp Hubble image from April 21. Nestled between Jupiter-girdling cloud bands, the Great Red Spot itself could still easily swallow Earth, but lately it has been shrinking. The most recent Hubble observations measure the spot to be about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) across. That's the smallest ever measured by Hubble and particularly dramatic when compared to 14,500 miles measured by the Voyager 1 and 2 flybys in 1979, and historic telescopic observations from the 1800s indicating a width of about 25,500 miles on its long axis. Current indications are that the rate of shrinking is increasing for the long-lived Great Red Spot.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:39 AM 0 comments
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Meteors, Planes, and a Galaxy over Bryce Canyon

Meteors, Planes, and a Galaxy over Bryce Canyon: APOD: 2014 May 19 - Meteors, Planes, and a Galaxy over Bryce Canyon


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2014 May 19


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Meteors, Planes, and a Galaxy over Bryce Canyon

Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Lane
Explanation: Sometimes land and sky are both busy and beautiful. The landscape pictured in the foreground encompasses Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA, famous for its many interesting rock structures eroded over millions of years. The skyscape above, photogenic in its own right, encompasses the arching central disk of our Milky Way Galaxy, streaks that include three passing airplanes and at least four Eta Aquariid meteors, and bright stars that include the Summer Triangle. The above image is a digital panorama created from 12 smaller images earlier this month on the night May 6. If you missed the recent Eta Aquariids meteor shower though, don't fret -- you may get an unexpected reprieve. Sky enthusiasts are waiting to see if a new meteor shower develops in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 24, when the Earth moves through a possibly dense cloud of dust and debris ejected by Comet 209P/LINEAR.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:38 AM 0 comments
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A Halo for NGC 6164

A Halo for NGC 6164: APOD: 2014 May 22 - A Halo for NGC 6164


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2014 May 22


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Explanation: Beautiful emission nebula NGC 6164 was created by a rare, hot, luminous O-type star, some 40 times as massive as the Sun. Seen at the center of the cosmic cloud, the star is a mere 3 to 4 million years old. In another three to four million years the massive star will end its life in a supernova explosion. Spanning around 4 light-years, the nebula itself has a bipolar symmetry. That makes it similar in appearance to more common and familiar planetary nebulae - the gaseous shrouds surrounding dying sun-like stars. Also like many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164 has been found to have an extensive, faint halo, revealed in this deep telescopic image of the region. Expanding into the surrounding interstellar medium, the material in the halo is likely from an earlier active phase of the O star. The gorgeous skyscape is a composite of extensive narrow-band image data, highlighting glowing atomic hydrogen gas in red and oxygen in blue hues, with broad-band data for the surrounding starfield. NGC 6164 is 4,200 light-years away in the right-angled southern constellation of Norma.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:37 AM 0 comments
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A Circumhorizontal Arc Over Ohio

A Circumhorizontal Arc Over Ohio: APOD: 2014 May 24 - A Circumhorizontal Arc Over Ohio


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2014 May 24


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A Circumhorizontal Arc Over Ohio

Image Credit & Copyright: Todd Sladoje
Explanation: Why would clouds appear to be different colors? The reason here is that ice crystals in distant cirrus clouds are acting like little floating prisms. Sometimes known as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc lies parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds are present. Furthermore, the numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontal arcs are quite unusual to see. This circumhorizon display was photographed through a polarized lens above Dublin, Ohio in 2009.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:36 AM 0 comments
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Camelopardalids and ISS

Camelopardalids and ISS: APOD: 2014 May 25 - Camelopardalids and ISS


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2014 May 25
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Explanation: From a camp on the northern shores of the Great Lake Erie, three short bright meteor streaks were captured in this composited night skyscape. Recorded over the early morning hours of May 24, the meteors are elusive Camelopardalids. Their trails point back to the meteor shower's radiant near Polaris, in the large but faint constellation Camelopardalis the camel leopard, or in modern terms the Giraffe. While a few meteors did appear, the shower was not an active one as the Earth crossed through the predicted debris trail of periodic comet 209P/LINEAR. Of course, the long bright streak in the image did appear as predicted. Early on May 24, the International Space Station made a bright passage through northern skies.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:36 AM 0 comments
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Star Factory Messier 17

Star Factory Messier 17: APOD: 2014 May 27 - Star Factory Messier 17


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2014 May 27


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Explanation: What's happening at the center of this nebula? Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this degree wide field of view spans almost 100 light-years. The sharp, composite, color image utilizing data from space and ground based telescopes, follows faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material producing the cavernous appearance and undulating shapes. M17 is also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:35 AM 0 comments
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Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri

Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri: APOD: 2014 May 29 - Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri


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2014 May 29
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Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri

Image Credit & Copyright: CEDIC Team, Processing - Christoph Kaltseis
Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is some 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter, the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. This astronomically sharp color image of the classic globular cluster was recorded in March under Chilean skies from Hacienda Los Andes.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:34 AM 0 comments
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Planetary Nebula Abell 36

Planetary Nebula Abell 36: APOD: 2014 May 30 - Planetary Nebula Abell 36


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2014 May 30


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Explanation: The gorgeous, gaseous shroud of a dying sunlike star, planetary nebula Abell 36 lies a mere 800 light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. At that distance it spans over 1.5 light-years in this sharp telescopic view. Shrugging off its outer layers, the nebula's central star is contracting and becoming hotter, evolving towards a final white dwarf phase. In fact, in Abell 36, the central star is estimated to have a surface temperature of over 73,000 K, compared to the Sun's present 6,000 K temperature. As a result, the intensely hot star is much brighter in ultraviolet light, compared to its visual appearance here. The invisible ultraviolet light ionizes hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the nebula and ultimately powers the beautiful visible light glow.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:33 AM 0 comments
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Satellite Station and Southern Skies

Satellite Station and Southern Skies: APOD: 2014 May 31 - Satellite Station and Southern Skies


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2014 May 31
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Explanation: This clear night skyscape captures the colorful glow of aurora australis, the southern lights, just outside the port city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, planet Earth. As if staring into the dreamlike scene, the Tasmanian Earth Resources Satellite Station poses in the center, illuminated by nearby city lights. Used to receive data from spacebased Earth observing instruments, including NASA's MODIS and SeaWiFS, the station was decommissioned in 2011 and dismantled only recently, shortly after the picture was taken on April 30. Still shining in southern skies though, the central bulge of our Milky Way galaxy and two bright satellite galaxies the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds appear in the frame. The Small Magellanic Cloud shines through the fainter red auroral band.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:33 AM 0 comments
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The Space Station Captures a Dragon Capsule

The Space Station Captures a Dragon Capsule: APOD: 2014 June 2 - The Space Station Captures a Dragon Capsule


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2014 June 2


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Explanation: The space station has caught a dragon. Specifically, in mid-April, the International Space Station captured the unmanned SpaceX Dragon capsule sent to resupply the orbiting outpost. Pictured above, the station's Canadarm2 had just grabbed the commercial spaceship. The Dragon capsule was filled with over 5000 lbs (2260 kilos) of supplies and experiments to be used by the current band of six ISS astronauts who compose Expedition 39, as well as the six astronauts who compose Expedition 40. After docking with the ISS, the Dragon capsule was unloaded and eventually released, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on May 18. The current Expedition 40 crew, now complete, will apply themselves to many tasks including the deployment of the Napor-mini RSA experiment which will use phased array radar and a small optical telescope to monitor possible emergency situations on the Earth below.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:32 AM 0 comments
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UFO or A Green Flash from the Sun ?

A Green Flash from the Sun: APOD: 2014 June 4 - A Green Flash from the Sun


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2014 June 4


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Explanation: Many think it is just a myth. Others think it is true but its cause isn't known. Adventurers pride themselves on having seen it. It's a green flash from the Sun. The truth is the green flash does exist and its cause is well understood. Just as the setting Sun disappears completely from view, a last glimmer appears startlingly green. The effect is typically visible only from locations with a low, distant horizon, and lasts just a few seconds. A green flash is also visible for a rising Sun, but takes better timing to spot. A dramatic green flash, as well as an even more rare red flash, was caught in the above photograph recently observed during a sunset visible from the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos in the Canary Islands, Spain. The Sun itself does not turn partly green or red -- the effect is caused by layers of the Earth's atmosphere acting like a prism.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:31 AM 0 comments
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Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014

Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014: APOD: 2014 June 5 - Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014


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2014 June 5


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Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H.Teplitz and M.Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech),

A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst(ASU), Z. Levay (STScI)
Explanation: Galaxies like colorful pieces of candy fill the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014. The dimmest galaxies are more than 10 billion times fainter than stars visible to the unaided eye and represent the Universe in the extreme past, a few 100 million years after the Big Bang. The image itself was made with the significant addition of ultraviolet data to the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, an update of Hubble's famous most distant gaze toward the southern constellation of Fornax. It now covers the entire range of wavelengths available to Hubble's cameras, from ultraviolet through visible to near-infrared. Ultraviolet data adds the crucial capability of studying star formation in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field galaxies between 5 and 10 billion light-years distant.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:31 AM 0 comments
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Comet PanSTARRS with Galaxy

Comet PanSTARRS with Galaxy: APOD: 2014 June 6 - Comet PanSTARRS with Galaxy


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2014 June 6


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Explanation: Sweeping slowly through northern skies, the comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1 posed for this telescopic portrait on June 2nd in the constellation Ursa Major. Now within the inner solar system, the icy body from the Oort cloud sports two tails, a lighter broad dust tail and crooked ion tail extending below and right. The comet's condensed greenish coma makes a nice contrast with the spiky yellowish background star above. NGC 3319 appears at the upper left of the frame that spans almost twice the apparent diameter of the full Moon. The spiral galaxy is about 47 million light-years away, far beyond the stars in our own Milky Way. In comparison, the comet was a mere 14 light-minutes from our fair planet. This comet PanSTARRS will slowly grow brighter in the coming months remaining a good target for telescopic comet watchers and reaching perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, while just beyond Earth's orbit in late August.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:30 AM 0 comments
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M16 and the Eagle Nebula

M16 and the Eagle Nebula: APOD: 2014 June 7 - M16 and the Eagle Nebula


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2014 June 7


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Explanation: A star cluster around 2 million years young, M16 is surrounded by natal clouds of dust and glowing gas also known as The Eagle Nebula. This beautifully detailed image of the region includes cosmic sculptures made famous in Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or Pillars of Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting to form stars. Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the left edge of the frame is another dusty starforming column known as the Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 and the Eagle Nebula lie about 7,000 light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:29 AM 0 comments
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Open Cluster NGC 290: A Stellar Jewel Box

Open Cluster NGC 290: A Stellar Jewel Box: APOD: 2014 June 8 - Open Cluster NGC 290: A Stellar Jewel Box


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2014 June 8


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Explanation: Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. Like gems in a jewel box, though, the stars of open cluster NGC 290 glitter in a beautiful display of brightness and color. The photogenic cluster, pictured above, was captured recently by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Open clusters of stars are younger, contain few stars, and contain a much higher fraction of blue stars than do globular clusters of stars. NGC 290 lies about 200,000 light-years distant in a neighboring galaxy called the Small Cloud of Magellan (SMC). The open cluster contains hundreds of stars and spans about 65 light years across. NGC 290 and other open clusters are good laboratories for studying how stars of different masses evolve, since all the open cluster's stars were born at about the same time.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:29 AM 0 comments
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The Tarantula Zone

The Tarantula Zone: APOD: 2014 June 12 - The Tarantula Zone


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2014 June 12
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Explanation: The Tarantula Nebula is more than 1,000 light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). That cosmic arachnid lies toward the upper left in this deep and colorful telescopic view made through broad-band and narrow-band filters. The image spans nearly 2 degrees (4 full moons) on the sky and covers a part of the LMC over 8,000 light-years across. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other violent star-forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and bubble-shaped clouds In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, just above center. The rich field of view is located in the southern constellation Dorado.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:14 AM 0 comments
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A Strawberry Moon

A Strawberry Moon: APOD: 2014 June 13 - A Strawberry Moon


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2014 June 13


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Explanation: June's Full Moon (full phase on June 13, 0411 UT) is traditionally known as the Strawberry Moon or Rose Moon. Of course those names might also describe the appearance of this Full Moon, rising last month over the small Swedish village of Marieby. The Moon looks large in the image because the scene was captured with a long focal length lens from a place about 8 kilometers from the foreground houses. But just by eye a Full Moon rising, even on Friday the 13th, will appear to loom impossibly large near the horizon. That effect has long been recognized as the Moon Illusion. Unlike the magnification provided by a telescope or telephoto lens, the cause of the Moon illusion is still poorly understood and not explained by atmospheric optical effects, such as scattering and refraction. Those effects do produce the Moon's blushing color and ragged edge also seen in the photograph.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:14 AM 0 comments
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New York to London Milky Way

New York to London Milky Way: APOD: 2014 June 14 - New York to London Milky Way


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2014 June 14


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Explanation: Bright stars of Sagittarius and the center of our Milky Way Galaxy lie just off the wing of a Boeing 747 in this astronomical travel photo. The stratospheric scene was captured earlier this month during a flight from New York to London, 11,000 meters above the Atlantic Ocean. Of course the sky was clear and dark at that altitude, ideal conditions for astronomical imaging. But there were challenges to overcome while looking out a passenger window of the aircraft moving at nearly 1,000 kilometers per hour (600 mph). Over 90 exposures of 30 seconds or less were attempted with a fast lens and sensitive camera setting, using a small, flexible tripod and a blanket to block reflections of interior lighting. In the end, one 10 second long exposure resulted in this steady and colorful example of airborne astronomy.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:13 AM 0 comments
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NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula

NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula: APOD: 2014 June 18 - NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula


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2014 June 18


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Explanation: Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's Paw is an emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there in only the past few million years. Pictured above is a deep field image of the Cat's Paw nebula.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:12 AM 0 comments
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COSMOS Over the Top

Over the Top: APOD: 2014 June 19 - Over the Top


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2014 June 19
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Explanation: The central bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy rises above a sea of clouds in this ethereal scene. An echo of the Milky Way's dark dust lanes, the volcanic peak in foreground silhouette is on France's Réunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Taken in February, the photograph was voted the winner of the 2014 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest's Beauty of the Night Sky Category. This and other winning and notable images from the contest were selected from over a thousand entries from 55 countries around planet Earth. Also featured in the contest compilation video (vimeo), the moving images are a testament to the importance and beauty of our world at night.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:11 AM 0 comments
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Rio at Night

Rio at Night: APOD: 2014 June 20 - Rio at Night


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2014 June 20


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Explanation: In this night skyscape setting stars trail above the western horizon over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a venue for the 2014 World Cup. Gentle arcs from the bright, colorful stars of Orion are near the center of the frame, while the starfield itself straddles planet Earth's celestial equator during the long exposure. Of course, trails from more local lights seem to create the strident paths through the scene. Air traffic smears an intense glow over an airport at the far right, while helicopters fly above the city and boats cruise near the coast. Striping the waterfront are tantalizing reflections of bright lights along Rio's central beaches, Botafogo and Flamengo. Near the horizon, the brightest fixed light is the famous Cristo statue overlooking Rio at night.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:10 AM 0 comments
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Lisbon Honey Moon

Lisbon Honey Moon: APOD: 2014 June 21 - Lisbon Honey Moon


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2014 June 21


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Explanation: The Sun set on Friday the 13th as a full Honey Moon rose, captured in this well-planned time-lapse sequence. Lisbon, Portugal's Christ the King monument is in the foreground, about 6 kilometers distant from camera and telephoto lens. During the days surrounding today's solstice (June 21, 10:51 UT) the Sun follows its highest arc through northern hemisphere skies as it travels along the ecliptic plane. At night the ecliptic plane is low, and the Full Moon's path close to the ecliptic was also low, the rising Moon separating more slowly from the distant horizon. Northern moon watchers were likely to experience the mysterious Moon Illusion, the lunar orb appearing impossibly large while near the horizon. But the photo sequence shows the Moon's apparent size did not not change at all. Its light was initially scattered by the long line-of-sight through the atmosphere though, and a deeper reddened color gave way to a paler gold as the Full Moon rose into the night.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:10 AM 0 comments
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Persistent Saturnian Auroras

Persistent Saturnian Auroras: APOD: 2014 June 22 - Persistent Saturnian Auroras





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Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
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2014 June 22




See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Persistent Saturnian Auroras
Image Credit:
J. Clarke
(Boston U.) &
Z. Levay
(STScI),
ESA,
NASA
Explanation:
Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's?

To help answer this question, the
Hubble Space Telescope and the
Cassini spacecraft monitored Saturn's South Pole
simultaneously as
Cassini closed in
on the gas giant in January 2004.

Hubble snapped images in
ultraviolet light, while Cassini recorded
radio emissions and monitored the
solar wind.

Like on Earth, Saturn's auroras
make total or partial rings around
magnetic poles.

Unlike on Earth, however,
Saturn's auroras persist for days, as opposed to only minutes on
Earth.

Although surely created by
charged particles entering the atmosphere,
Saturn's auroras also appear to be
more closely modulated by the
solar wind than either Earth's or
Jupiter's auroras.

The above sequence shows three Hubble images of
Saturn
each taken two days apart.




Tomorrow's picture: lasing space

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Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:09 AM 0 comments
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Galaxy and Cluster Create Four Images of Distant Supernova

Galaxy and Cluster Create Four Images of Distant Supernova: APOD: 2015 March 9 - Galaxy and Cluster Create Four Images of Distant Supernova


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2015 March 9


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: What are the unusual spots surrounding that galaxy? They are all images of the same supernova. For the first time, a single supernova explosion has been seen split into multiple images by the gravitational lens deflections of intervening masses. In this case the masses are a large galaxy and its home galaxy cluster. The featured image was captured last November by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The yellow-hued quadruply-imaged Supernova Refsdal occurred in the early universe far behind the cluster. Measuring the locations and time-delays between the supernova images should allow astrophysicists to recover the amount of dark matter in the galaxy and cluster. With patience and luck, a fifth image of the supernova will also be recovered nearby in the next few years.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:06 AM 0 comments
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