Andromeda Galaxy in Ultraviolet

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WocVZ8NbVNC-SRh4k2tVbL0XfQA6-obiTh4O7zichigc_d-ydWavZ5T43Ip1HKgp5YFPGHI6iy5sqFWvb5L28imIjbqyO2dWcqhJ68VuRm3rAt93KVY4j32m6dhNZYuR0o44ZFKyvxcQ/s1600/Andromeda-in-Ultraviolet.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Andromeda Galaxy in Ultraviolet" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9WocVZ8NbVNC-SRh4k2tVbL0XfQA6-obiTh4O7zichigc_d-ydWavZ5T43Ip1HKgp5YFPGHI6iy5sqFWvb5L28imIjbqyO2dWcqhJ68VuRm3rAt93KVY4j32m6dhNZYuR0o44ZFKyvxcQ/s640/Andromeda-in-Ultraviolet.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift satellite acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own. This mosaic of M31 merges 330 individual images taken by Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The image shows a region 200,000 light-years wide and 100,000 light-years high (100 arcminutes by 50 arcminutes).</div><br />Image Credit: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler (GSFC) and Erin Grand (UMCP)<br />Explanation from: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1492.html

Andromeda Galaxy in Ultraviolet

In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift satellite acquired the highest-resolution view o...

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Meteors and Milky Way over Mount Rainier

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNsq7-5FsNDT0T0f334N37k7uT7ahEKqFykS0VOVOIXu7BIa9DIyR6mdfwz6859llm1kEZtyahZN78Q1ixfuQPrrSkAdCxmhrZF6UF_kvkHstqQwE0KQDUid_xlNwgkgkkWyaUGxJDDLee/s1600/Meteors-Milky-Way-over-Mount-Rainier.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Meteors and Milky Way over Mount Rainier" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNsq7-5FsNDT0T0f334N37k7uT7ahEKqFykS0VOVOIXu7BIa9DIyR6mdfwz6859llm1kEZtyahZN78Q1ixfuQPrrSkAdCxmhrZF6UF_kvkHstqQwE0KQDUid_xlNwgkgkkWyaUGxJDDLee/s640/Meteors-Milky-Way-over-Mount-Rainier.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Mount Rainier, Washington, USA</div><div style="text-align: center;">August 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Matthew Dieterich

Meteors and Milky Way over Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier, Washington, USA August 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Matthew Dieterich

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Artist's Impression of the Dwarf Planet Makemake and Its Moon S/2015 (136472) 1

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GVH_hl3dirKIQpIOnVMMIGOPoL7VbwZEJELrno9hxWljCcbBwIw0-T23reWbxskLgvxSnWEMGoXL7PQSc7GTZ3ObEBrxq-QG3eWIGDIw7z7SY4jSWly0xewXtTx-m11BYJ6sYXUki9Zk/s1600/Makemake-and-Its-Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Artist's Impression of the Dwarf Planet Makemake and Its Moon S/2015 (136472) 1" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GVH_hl3dirKIQpIOnVMMIGOPoL7VbwZEJELrno9hxWljCcbBwIw0-T23reWbxskLgvxSnWEMGoXL7PQSc7GTZ3ObEBrxq-QG3eWIGDIw7z7SY4jSWly0xewXtTx-m11BYJ6sYXUki9Zk/s640/Makemake-and-Its-Moon.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This artist's concept shows the distant dwarf planet Makemake and its newly discovered moon. Makemake and its moon, nicknamed MK 2, are more than 50 times farther away than Earth is from the sun. The pair resides in the Kuiper Belt, a vast reservoir of frozen material from the construction of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Makemake is covered in bright, frozen methane that is tinted red by the presence of complex organic material. Its moon is too small to retain ices as volatile as methane, even given the feeble heating by the very distant sun, and likely has a much darker surface. MK 2 is orbiting 13,000 miles from the dwarf planet, and its estimated diameter is roughly 100 miles across. Makemake is 870 miles wide.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Parker (Southwest Research Institute)<br />Explanation from: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/18/image/c/

Artist's Impression of the Dwarf Planet Makemake and Its Moon S/2015 (136472) 1

This artist's concept shows the distant dwarf planet Makemake and its newly discovered moon. Makemake and its moon, nicknamed MK 2, are ...

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Earth seen by DSCOVR Observatory

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-bF0MonoYryjWfqr2TSlk92u-h4WTHdkN1yfHUCh1hdPkNhE6Isb83vVEUNh7DZ9YWN7uSCjo5QS4JPwEzDdTf3e4p52cscX0-RaOQIv1VQ3O_uqxAf_rYit0DYr1ZtW4ge3naIaBNsf/s1600/earth-DSCOVR.png" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Earth seen by DSCOVR Observatory" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-bF0MonoYryjWfqr2TSlk92u-h4WTHdkN1yfHUCh1hdPkNhE6Isb83vVEUNh7DZ9YWN7uSCjo5QS4JPwEzDdTf3e4p52cscX0-RaOQIv1VQ3O_uqxAf_rYit0DYr1ZtW4ge3naIaBNsf/s640/earth-DSCOVR.png" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This color image of Earth was taken by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope. The image was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image. The camera takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The image was taken July 6, 2015, showing North and Central America. The central turquoise areas are shallow seas around the Caribbean islands. This Earth image shows the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the image a characteristic bluish tint. The EPIC team is working to remove this atmospheric effect from subsequent images. Once the instrument begins regular data acquisition, EPIC will provide a daily series of Earth images allowing for the first time study of daily variations over the entire globe. These images, available 12 to 36 hours after they are acquired, will be posted to a dedicated web page by September 2015.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The primary objective of DSCOVR, a partnership between NASA & the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, NOAA<br />Explanation from: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-captures-epic-earth-image

Earth seen by DSCOVR Observatory

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one millio...

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Flame Nebula in the Infrared

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Qd7vj5J2mZ0ABVS8-ofjgOmrkar5mbPDRoEPUuRGVaA8mhUyYFzcbJQJuhHAlHqC0Sc-58TqiZ2EmOs9l4S0sXDNke9lhwjIoZ1w4VqAnpktFyv1N-hOdobFCSpICcUo2YEFQHM6c2NK/s1600/The-Flame-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Flame Nebula in the Infrared" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Qd7vj5J2mZ0ABVS8-ofjgOmrkar5mbPDRoEPUuRGVaA8mhUyYFzcbJQJuhHAlHqC0Sc-58TqiZ2EmOs9l4S0sXDNke9lhwjIoZ1w4VqAnpktFyv1N-hOdobFCSpICcUo2YEFQHM6c2NK/s640/The-Flame-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">At the center of the Flame Nebula is a cluster of newly formed stars, 86% of which have circumstellar disks. X-ray observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory show several hundred young stars, out of an estimated population of 800 stars. X-ray and infrared images indicate that the youngest stars are concentrated near the center of the cluster.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech<br />Explanation from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_Nebula

Flame Nebula in the Infrared

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years...

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Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOSQ_kvSNU9NYyQotbL3MxqZWRnUxDlyP6f8djc3kb1bbrT0YOlcrFHyaMrnc4e9cBwM2Eo0jxT_Ljd9pSX5dxFyfgl-zgVMm4NTSJZ82H_iIrot5FWlJlHvv_bchqhyjGT-tmvDQbGiT/s1600/Dwarf-Planet-Makemake-Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOSQ_kvSNU9NYyQotbL3MxqZWRnUxDlyP6f8djc3kb1bbrT0YOlcrFHyaMrnc4e9cBwM2Eo0jxT_Ljd9pSX5dxFyfgl-zgVMm4NTSJZ82H_iIrot5FWlJlHvv_bchqhyjGT-tmvDQbGiT/s320/Dwarf-Planet-Makemake-Moon.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZv__LYO5wPcWtOYF78HINVSPpEQ11QfFy_2aj0UNXWZPmFO7DLqTyjHBjI3v_gEOm4VWYKUOAeR2SWI2_OnzXcv91cS6n-1ouvSIsphqjjHbq6xxqYbQ_HHsrQoRGUjTBcDXhpxPznJa/s1600/Makemake-Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZv__LYO5wPcWtOYF78HINVSPpEQ11QfFy_2aj0UNXWZPmFO7DLqTyjHBjI3v_gEOm4VWYKUOAeR2SWI2_OnzXcv91cS6n-1ouvSIsphqjjHbq6xxqYbQ_HHsrQoRGUjTBcDXhpxPznJa/s320/Makemake-Moon.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second brightest icy dwarf planet — after Pluto — in the Kuiper Belt.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The moon — provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2 — is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake. MK 2 was seen approximately 13,000 miles from the dwarf planet, and its diameter is estimated to be 100 miles across. Makemake is 870 miles wide. The dwarf planet, discovered in 2005, is named for a creation deity of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Kuiper Belt is a vast reservoir of leftover frozen material from the construction of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago and home to several dwarf planets. Some of these worlds have known satellites, but this is the first discovery of a companion object to Makemake. Makemake is one of five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The observations were made in April 2015 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. Hubble's unique ability to see faint objects near bright ones, together with its sharp resolution, allowed astronomers to pluck out the moon from Makemake's glare. The discovery was announced today in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The observing team used the same Hubble technique to observe the moon as they did for finding the small satellites of Pluto in 2005, 2011, and 2012. Several previous searches around Makemake had turned up empty. <i>"Our preliminary estimates show that the moon's orbit seems to be edge-on, and that means that often when you look at the system you are going to miss the moon because it gets lost in the bright glare of Makemake,"</i> said Alex Parker of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, who led the image analysis for the observations.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A moon's discovery can provide valuable information on the dwarf-planet system. By measuring the moon's orbit, astronomers can calculate a mass for the system and gain insight into its evolution.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Uncovering the moon also reinforces the idea that most dwarf planets have satellites.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"Makemake is in the class of rare Pluto-like objects, so finding a companion is important,"</i> Parker said. <i>"The discovery of this moon has given us an opportunity to study Makemake in far greater detail than we ever would have been able to without the companion."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Finding this moon only increases the parallels between Pluto and Makemake. Both objects are already known to be covered in frozen methane. As was done with Pluto, further study of the satellite will easily reveal the density of Makemake, a key result that will indicate if the bulk compositions of Pluto and Makemake are also similar. <i>"This new discovery opens a new chapter in comparative planetology in the outer solar system,"</i> said team leader Marc Buie of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The researchers will need more Hubble observations to make accurate measurements to determine if the moon's orbit is elliptical or circular. Preliminary estimates indicate that if the moon is in a circular orbit, it completes a circuit around Makemake in 12 days or longer.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Determining the shape of the moon's orbit will help settle the question of its origin. A tight circular orbit means that MK 2 is probably the product of a collision between Makemake and another Kuiper Belt Object. If the moon is in a wide, elongated orbit, it is more likely to be a captured object from the Kuiper Belt. Either event would have likely occurred several billion years ago, when the solar system was young.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The discovery may have solved one mystery about Makemake. Previous infrared studies of the dwarf planet revealed that while Makemake's surface is almost entirely bright and very cold, some areas appear warmer than other areas. Astronomers had suggested that this discrepancy may be due to the sun warming discrete dark patches on Makemake's surface. However, unless Makemake is in a special orientation, these dark patches should make the dwarf planet's brightness vary substantially as it rotates. But this amount of variability has never been observed.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">These previous infrared data did not have sufficient resolution to separate Makemake from MK 2. The team's reanalysis, based on the new Hubble observations, suggests that much of the warmer surface detected previously in infrared light may, in reality, simply have been the dark surface of the companion MK 2.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">There are several possibilities that could explain why the moon would have charcoal-black surface, even though it is orbiting a dwarf planet that is as bright as fresh snow. One idea is that, unlike larger objects such as Makemake, MK 2 is small enough that it cannot gravitationally hold onto a bright, icy crust, which sublimates, changing from solid to gas, under sunlight. This would make the moon similar to comets and other Kuiper Belt Objects, many of which are covered with very dark material.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">When Pluto's moon Charon was discovered in 1978, astronomers quickly calculated the mass of the system. Pluto's mass was hundreds of times smaller than the mass originally estimated when it was found in 1930. With Charon's discovery, astronomers suddenly knew something was fundamentally different about Pluto. <i>"That's the kind of transformative measurement that having a satellite can enable,"</i> Parker said.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA GSFC)<br />Explanation from: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/18/full/

Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake

Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second...

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Proton Arc and Aurora over Lake Superior

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHi2SvmKftPrckzygRF7oiPWCTzbVQlfUnUl1GT5TkzSUzdCA1_9dUubq2JnWoCaYNnOjdc5MTwWT0x9IJk5kofztJPz0zInn55y-ClddAuRtcItFNKVN2Zrj_n11ZR2SJY9FVR6k3HWQE/s1600/Aurora-Proton-Arc-Lake-Superior.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Proton Arc and Aurora over Lake Superior" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHi2SvmKftPrckzygRF7oiPWCTzbVQlfUnUl1GT5TkzSUzdCA1_9dUubq2JnWoCaYNnOjdc5MTwWT0x9IJk5kofztJPz0zInn55y-ClddAuRtcItFNKVN2Zrj_n11ZR2SJY9FVR6k3HWQE/s640/Aurora-Proton-Arc-Lake-Superior.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Lake Superior, Michigan, USA</div><div style="text-align: center;">August 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Williams

Proton Arc and Aurora over Lake Superior

Lake Superior, Michigan, USA August 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Williams

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The NGC 4522 Galaxy

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1K8nwjyrnt3-v1DA2RzDCbDBP2FmFaJX_XxNZTYXm5itGEOizqcqXX2rp7_IzGjUTVs0Y2gbZBWgsiM-gm2_CE-y5nZyN0W1wwuwIbINRFQzUkfHzQGwGGDGHTExmk0TZ7hFM0J_yt1h8/s1600/NGC-4522.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The NGC 4522 Galaxy" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1K8nwjyrnt3-v1DA2RzDCbDBP2FmFaJX_XxNZTYXm5itGEOizqcqXX2rp7_IzGjUTVs0Y2gbZBWgsiM-gm2_CE-y5nZyN0W1wwuwIbINRFQzUkfHzQGwGGDGHTExmk0TZ7hFM0J_yt1h8/s640/NGC-4522.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) allows astronomers to study an interesting and important phenomenon called ram pressure stripping that is so powerful, it is capable of mangling galaxies and even halting their star formation.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">NGC 4522 is a spectacular example of a spiral galaxy that is currently being stripped of its gas content. The galaxy is part of the Virgo galaxy cluster and its rapid motion within the cluster results in strong winds across the galaxy as the gas within is left behind. Scientists estimate that the galaxy is moving at more than 10 million kilometres per hour. A number of newly formed star clusters that developed in the stripped gas can be seen in the Hubble image. The stripped spiral galaxy is located some 60 million light-years away from Earth.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Even though it is a still image, Hubble's view of NGC 4522 practically swirls off the page with apparent movement. It highlights the dramatic state of the galaxy with an especially vivid view of the ghostly gas being forced out of it. Bright blue pockets of new star formation can be seen to the right and left of centre.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA & ESA<br />Explanation from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0911b/

The NGC 4522 Galaxy

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) allows astronomers to study an interesting and important phenomenon called ram pressure strip...

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The Twin Jet Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs_kbcQvbSO4DJiWs-J5upyKe8ktAhPkGNUEsQx9r-I8Xa5xq_Fv6PB29r762zvSI352UZsaRTjbM6sh0iZyEBj90qzJC0cFdAAQOuaV9PmetNBRbBWLV0QZv3AdpQjx2j6TzN4GdNglY/s1600/The-Twin-Jet-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The Twin Jet Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs_kbcQvbSO4DJiWs-J5upyKe8ktAhPkGNUEsQx9r-I8Xa5xq_Fv6PB29r762zvSI352UZsaRTjbM6sh0iZyEBj90qzJC0cFdAAQOuaV9PmetNBRbBWLV0QZv3AdpQjx2j6TzN4GdNglY/s640/The-Twin-Jet-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The shimmering colours visible in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image show off the remarkable complexity of the Twin Jet Nebula. The new image highlights the nebula’s shells and its knots of expanding gas in striking detail. Two iridescent lobes of material stretch outwards from a central star system. Within these lobes two huge jets of gas are streaming from the star system at speeds in excess of one million kilometres per hour.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The cosmic butterfly pictured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image goes by many names. It is called the Twin Jet Nebula as well as answering to the slightly less poetic name of PN M2-9.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The M in this name refers to Rudolph Minkowski, a German-American astronomer who discovered the nebula in 1947. The PN, meanwhile, refers to the fact that M2-9 is a planetary nebula. The glowing and expanding shells of gas clearly visible in this image represent the final stages of life for an old star of low to intermediate mass. The star has not only ejected its outer layers, but the exposed remnant core is now illuminating these layers — resulting in a spectacular light show like the one seen here. However, the Twin Jet Nebula is not just any planetary nebula, it is a bipolar nebula.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Ordinary planetary nebulae have one star at their centre, bipolar nebulae have two, in a binary star system. Astronomers have found that the two stars in this pair each have around the same mass as the Sun, ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 solar masses for the smaller star, and from 1.0 to 1.4 solar masses for its larger companion. The larger star is approaching the end of its days and has already ejected its outer layers of gas into space, whereas its partner is further evolved, and is a small white dwarf.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The characteristic shape of the wings of the Twin Jet Nebula is most likely caused by the motion of the two central stars around each other. It is believed that a white dwarf orbits its partner star and thus the ejected gas from the dying star is pulled into two lobes rather than expanding as a uniform sphere. However, astronomers are still debating whether all bipolar nebulae are created by binary stars. Meanwhile the nebula’s wings are still growing and, by measuring their expansion, astronomers have calculated that the nebula was created only 1200 years ago.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Within the wings, starting from the star system and extending horizontally outwards like veins are two faint blue patches. Although these may seem subtle in comparison to the nebula’s rainbow colours, these are actually violent twin jets streaming out into space, at speeds in excess of one million kilometres per hour. This is a phenomenon that is another consequence of the binary system at the heart of the nebula. These jets slowly change their orientation, precessing across the lobes as they are pulled by the wayward gravity of the binary system.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The two stars at the heart of the nebula circle one another roughly every 100 years. This rotation not only creates the wings of the butterfly and the two jets, it also allows the white dwarf to strip gas from its larger companion, which then forms a large disc of material around the stars, extending out as far as 15 times the orbit of Pluto! Even though this disc is of incredible size, it is much too small to be seen on the image taken by Hubble.</div><br />Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, Judy Schmidt<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1518/

The Twin Jet Nebula

The shimmering colours visible in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image show off the remarkable complexity of the Twin Jet Nebula. The ...

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The NGC 4449 Galaxy

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMFmPdqFcnhyphenhyphenudGxLlB1Jzb4lwOg4Cnl1afmhT_CkhyE2IN1UucdDrjehwUPXjBdjqdOojH7rVXPUjoGWjnLbtS7q6dUxg97uem-Hojo8EuWkcVOS-2jnn_J7Qn_P3SYu0lboBtIEfu8c/s1600/NGC-4449-Galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="NGC 4449" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMFmPdqFcnhyphenhyphenudGxLlB1Jzb4lwOg4Cnl1afmhT_CkhyE2IN1UucdDrjehwUPXjBdjqdOojH7rVXPUjoGWjnLbtS7q6dUxg97uem-Hojo8EuWkcVOS-2jnn_J7Qn_P3SYu0lboBtIEfu8c/s640/NGC-4449-Galaxy.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Nearly 12.5 million light-years away in the dwarf galaxy NGC 4449 a veritable stellar "fireworks" is on display - here shown in exquisite detail through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hundreds of thousands of vibrant blue and red stars are visible in this image of galaxy NGC 4449 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Hot bluish white clusters of massive stars are scattered throughout the galaxy, interspersed with numerous dustier reddish regions of current star formation. Massive dark clouds of gas and dust are silhouetted against the flaming starlight.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">NGC 4449 has been forming stars since several billion years ago, but currently it is experiencing a star formation event at a much higher rate than in the past. This unusual explosive and intense star formation activity qualifies as a starburst. At the current rate, the gas supply that feeds the stellar production would only last for another billion years or so.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Starbursts usually occur in the central regions of galaxies, but NGC 4449 has a more widespread star formation activity, since the very youngest stars are observed both in the nucleus and in streams surrounding the galaxy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A "global" starburst like NGC 4449 resembles primordial star forming galaxies which grew by merging with and accreting smaller stellar systems. Since NGC 4449 is close enough to be observed in great detail, it is the ideal laboratory for the investigation of what may have occurred during galactic formation and evolution in the early Universe.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It's likely that the current widespread starburst was triggered by interaction or merging with a smaller companion. NGC 4449 belongs to a group of galaxies in the constellation Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Astronomers think that NGC 4449's star formation has been influenced by interactions with several of its neighbours.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This image was taken in November 2005 by an international science team led by Alessandra Aloisi of European Space Agency (ESA)/the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore. Other team members include Francesca Annibali (STScI), Claus Leitherer (STScI), Jennifer Mack (STScI), Marco Sirianni (ESA/STScI), Monica Tosi (INAF-OAB), and Roeland van der Marel (STScI).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys observed the NGC 4449 in blue, visible, infrared, and Hydrogen-alpha light.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Aloisi (ESA/STScI) and The Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic0711/

The NGC 4449 Galaxy

Nearly 12.5 million light-years away in the dwarf galaxy NGC 4449 a veritable stellar "fireworks" is on display - here shown in ex...

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Wide-field view of the sky around the Pencil Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVouFflskED9AuqE74m58c8bvz21pOX89VX5PPhPR6r5MOXysMJDLkXuRcrYhi1ewQDlN5z8-oFsOzLT_v7AJB1qf_cL8ycDtkI7fNuXy4oSO_fWE7wlfgmFKI2sb_UFQLIcXPt7jjg4Dd/s1600/The-Pencil-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Pencil Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVouFflskED9AuqE74m58c8bvz21pOX89VX5PPhPR6r5MOXysMJDLkXuRcrYhi1ewQDlN5z8-oFsOzLT_v7AJB1qf_cL8ycDtkI7fNuXy4oSO_fWE7wlfgmFKI2sb_UFQLIcXPt7jjg4Dd/s640/The-Pencil-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This image of the region of sky around the Pencil Nebula shows a spectacular celestial landscape featuring the blue filaments of the Vela supernova remnant, the red glow of clouds of hydrogen and countless stars. It is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2.</div><br />Image Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2, Davide De Martin<br />Explanation from: http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1236c/

Wide-field view of the sky around the Pencil Nebula

This image of the region of sky around the Pencil Nebula shows a spectacular celestial landscape featuring the blue filaments of the Vela su...

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Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRRvOoZtgvPEvYbbUo_-41O-D27sX2l3__ih8xBpLOBn1RSiwdq32vpQxwwro6qyYo7Tyxe_dEoEAenXqeW4dP8UMEHHynz1M82y_m2qqRILGt_R43gzgqOuJNvRHRE2sco16pybmPRBD/s1600/Comet-PanSTARRS-Moon-Venus.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRRvOoZtgvPEvYbbUo_-41O-D27sX2l3__ih8xBpLOBn1RSiwdq32vpQxwwro6qyYo7Tyxe_dEoEAenXqeW4dP8UMEHHynz1M82y_m2qqRILGt_R43gzgqOuJNvRHRE2sco16pybmPRBD/s640/Comet-PanSTARRS-Moon-Venus.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It is the object to the left of the big tree that's generating much recent excitement. If you look closely, there you can see Comet PanSTARRS, complete with two tails. During July 2015, this comet has increased markedly in brightness and has just passed its closest approach to Earth. The statuesque tree in the center is a Norfolk Island Pine, and to either side of this tree are New Zealand Pohutukawa trees. Over the trees, far in the distance, are bright Venus and an even brighter crescent Moon. If you look even more closely, you can find Jupiter hidden in the branches of the pine. The featured image was taken in July 2015 in Fergusson Park, New Zealand, looking over Tauranga Harbour Inlet.</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Amit Kamble<br />Explanation from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150723.html

Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus

It is the object to the left of the big tree that's generating much recent excitement. If you look closely, there you can see Comet PanS...

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The Bubble Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhLfl0_JnKP6KHmsaeuQdg8StBBY2EY0jd5PkyyrMXVA4-0qpCy8F_kB9ePDO9zMlMRVAnkNtL8SBFgvlGZU6MfALiy84FvH9ZKYR0nBgrW_2dfTlfqnY0WB7xU_AAr4hWzKsyiPG72rS/s1600/Bubble-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The Bubble Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhLfl0_JnKP6KHmsaeuQdg8StBBY2EY0jd5PkyyrMXVA4-0qpCy8F_kB9ePDO9zMlMRVAnkNtL8SBFgvlGZU6MfALiy84FvH9ZKYR0nBgrW_2dfTlfqnY0WB7xU_AAr4hWzKsyiPG72rS/s640/Bubble-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, which lies 8 000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This object was first discovered by William Herschel in 1787 and this is not the first time it has caught Hubble’s eye. However, due to its very large size on the sky, previous Hubble images have only shown small sections of the nebula, providing a much less spectacular overall effect. Now, a mosaic of four images from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) allows us to see the whole object in one picture for the first time.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This complete view of the Bubble Nebula allows us to fully appreciate the almost perfectly symmetrical shell which gives the nebula its name. This shell is the result of a powerful flow of gas — known as a stellar wind — from the bright star visible just to the left of centre in this image. The star, SAO 20575, is between ten and twenty times the mass of the Sun and the pressure created by its stellar wind forces the surrounding interstellar materialoutwards into this bubble-like form.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The giant molecular cloud that surrounds the star — glowing in the star’s intense ultraviolet radiation — tries to stop the expansion of the bubble. However, although the sphere already measures around ten light-years in diameter, it is still growing, owing to the constant pressure of the stellar wind — currently at more than 100 000 kilometres per hour!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Aside from the symmetry of the bubble itself, one of the more striking features is that the star is not located at the centre. Astronomers are still discussing why this is the case and how the perfectly round bubble is created nonetheless.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The star causing the spectacular colourful bubble is also notable for something less obvious. It is surrounded by a complex system of cometary knots, which can be seen most clearly in this image just to the right of the star. The individual knots, which are generally larger in size than the Solar System and have masses comparable to Earth’s, consist of crescent shaped globules of dust with large trailing tails illuminated and ionised by the star. Observations of these knots, and of the nebula as a whole, help astronomers to better understand the geometry and dynamics of these very complicated systems.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1608/

The Bubble Nebula

The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, which lies 8 000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This object was first discover...

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Hubble’s wide view of “Mystic Mountain” in the Infrared

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZKcYrxcOGBIaf28ehpZJ0RsVaRz53hDe6CB-SnIOpGj7EO86PKdWnvYjnZqfXCbmNnEdRLnDaiF_m05dSbp-fSfpGbSPszin6U_vnbT5i6ExjXRO1KHrLWv214NIwJBiW7Er0FMeMCpL/s1600/Mystic-Mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Mystic Mountain" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZKcYrxcOGBIaf28ehpZJ0RsVaRz53hDe6CB-SnIOpGj7EO86PKdWnvYjnZqfXCbmNnEdRLnDaiF_m05dSbp-fSfpGbSPszin6U_vnbT5i6ExjXRO1KHrLWv214NIwJBiW7Er0FMeMCpL/s640/Mystic-Mountain.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared image of a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years tall, that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby stars in the tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The image reveals a myriad of stars behind the gaseous veil of the nebula’s wall of hydrogen, laced with dust. The foreground pillar becomes semi-transparent because infrared light from background stars penetrates through much of the dust. A few stars inside the pillar also become visible. The false colours are assigned to three different infrared wavelength ranges.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar in February/March 2010.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio <br />Explanation from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1007f/

Hubble’s wide view of “Mystic Mountain” in the Infrared

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared image of a pillar of gas and dust, three light-years tall, that is being eaten away by t...

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Milky Way over Uluru

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPZQT46JfCjdz5xeG3tjC5Q2p1Djxf4S7oJ8ZqCCUgrkyrdD0Um4fiDHYhNBJ5XM_ppsdV2tmUqdMOEdSKMhk-J0b2HYp6dyWnB1l81yA0dQftT4RQ-NaiRuCldTSFjfr2g5JMcelcUYC/s1600/milky-way-uluru.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Milky Way over Uluru" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxPZQT46JfCjdz5xeG3tjC5Q2p1Djxf4S7oJ8ZqCCUgrkyrdD0Um4fiDHYhNBJ5XM_ppsdV2tmUqdMOEdSKMhk-J0b2HYp6dyWnB1l81yA0dQftT4RQ-NaiRuCldTSFjfr2g5JMcelcUYC/s640/milky-way-uluru.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia</div><div style="text-align: center;">July 13, 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi

Milky Way over Uluru

Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia July 13, 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi

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Optical Image of the Flame Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZLkb4aMJ9afN0upy44WyxovDeLx5FrUXSPDyrd1NSXDIeNfuGgsKPllPMnsSxGhns_1JyePv8jx8ZqGmxelWJAPsotwJQTO5SgOtNDFa25947C7HCzuJiH30fYeSEorH6vHIcfj_SNlY/s1600/Flame-Nebula-Optical.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Optical Image of the Flame Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZLkb4aMJ9afN0upy44WyxovDeLx5FrUXSPDyrd1NSXDIeNfuGgsKPllPMnsSxGhns_1JyePv8jx8ZqGmxelWJAPsotwJQTO5SgOtNDFa25947C7HCzuJiH30fYeSEorH6vHIcfj_SNlY/s640/Flame-Nebula-Optical.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">An optical image, from the Digitized Sky Survey, of a large field centered on the Flame Nebula. A comparison with the composite image from Chandra and Spitzer - shown as an overlay - demonstrates how powerful X-ray and infrared images are for studying star forming regions. The central cluster of stars, NGC 2024, is clearly observed in the X-ray and optical images but is not visible in the optical image. </div><br />Image Credit: DSS<br />Explanation from: http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2014/flame/more.html

Optical Image of the Flame Nebula

An optical image, from the Digitized Sky Survey, of a large field centered on the Flame Nebula. A comparison with the composite image from C...

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Artist's Impression of the Cygnus X-1

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeswud6bCYxRfxnL5fuAEpnznQ9yI_TMiBBMEaBafnKeftBqYpMrrbuOnOCVNHNxz_CAPTdtIGjfMEnlpnct1ahETj7XN6OnEGSg8t7G55-Faw9rNogCfCDpXnJVCxMDHCeGiJBIbqbq_L/s1600/Cygnus-X-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Cygnus X-1" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeswud6bCYxRfxnL5fuAEpnznQ9yI_TMiBBMEaBafnKeftBqYpMrrbuOnOCVNHNxz_CAPTdtIGjfMEnlpnct1ahETj7XN6OnEGSg8t7G55-Faw9rNogCfCDpXnJVCxMDHCeGiJBIbqbq_L/s640/Cygnus-X-1.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way. An artist's illustration depicts what astronomers think is happening within the Cygnus X-1 system. Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. The black hole pulls material from a massive, blue companion star toward it. This material forms a disk (shown in red and orange) that rotates around the black hole before falling into it or being redirected away from the black hole in the form of powerful jets. </div><br />Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss<br />Explanation from: http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2011/cygx1/more.html

Artist's Impression of the Cygnus X-1

Cygnus X-1 is located near large active regions of star formation in the Milky Way. An artist's illustration depicts what astronomers th...

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ALMA’s Most Detailed Image of a Protoplanetary Disc - Evidence for planet formation in Earth-like orbit around young star

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQi0ZDua0io7c49QThTdCbrUkfrJPiWzSLDBHxYvQ1zM4AYowpRyeHovJgjwgCemBYGcRi-whwsDEL1_Rv8aKDQqPcO6MyZ5v2W_haCOVVzMg3PQT5BBqCSfTcox-J_lLa-2pUYDvEfAz/s1600/TW-Hydrae.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="ALMA image of the protoplanetary disc around the young star TW Hydrae" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIQi0ZDua0io7c49QThTdCbrUkfrJPiWzSLDBHxYvQ1zM4AYowpRyeHovJgjwgCemBYGcRi-whwsDEL1_Rv8aKDQqPcO6MyZ5v2W_haCOVVzMg3PQT5BBqCSfTcox-J_lLa-2pUYDvEfAz/s640/TW-Hydrae.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVT6mKozJcL9TA5ssNBbUrMzGM3hJZiV7XiGz2C8rVk9f15Apwq25GohAcOSM1c7juwFkPubGkC0uvTgOsNrFj2KXbbDqvKzfFMB5mfB2uvLWaOUtvofVseDx7MTgBqass6cLY3UYNTk3l/s1600/planet-forming-disc.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="ALMA image of the planet-forming disc around the young, Sun-like star TW Hydrae" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVT6mKozJcL9TA5ssNBbUrMzGM3hJZiV7XiGz2C8rVk9f15Apwq25GohAcOSM1c7juwFkPubGkC0uvTgOsNrFj2KXbbDqvKzfFMB5mfB2uvLWaOUtvofVseDx7MTgBqass6cLY3UYNTk3l/s320/planet-forming-disc.jpg" title="" width="233" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cubvBXA8mFxrigJV3FJf253acaiUu_Ey-Ocou8TixfQn0J6Wej818na86eDN2QCdwvFW0eWaE9en3z9cZaU7kgWxudW4lIdh20Jv68JkdwS3YcKcTnNTkGgVUTKPZwTmopJF30HFKuxO/s1600/TW-Hydrae-protoplanetary-disc.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Inner region of the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disc as imaged by ALMA" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cubvBXA8mFxrigJV3FJf253acaiUu_Ey-Ocou8TixfQn0J6Wej818na86eDN2QCdwvFW0eWaE9en3z9cZaU7kgWxudW4lIdh20Jv68JkdwS3YcKcTnNTkGgVUTKPZwTmopJF30HFKuxO/s320/TW-Hydrae-protoplanetary-disc.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This new image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows the finest detail ever seen in the planet-forming disc around the nearby Sun-like star TW Hydrae. It reveals a tantalising gap at the same distance from the star as the Earth is from the Sun, which may mean that an infant version of our home planet, or possibly a more massive super-Earth, is beginning to form there.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The star TW Hydrae is a popular target of study for astronomers because of its proximity to Earth (only about 175 light-years away) and its status as an infant star (about 10 million years old). It also has a face-on orientation as seen from Earth. This gives astronomers a rare, undistorted view of the complete protoplanetary disc around the star.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"Previous studies with optical and radio telescopes confirm that TW Hydrae hosts a prominent disc with features that strongly suggest planets are beginning to coalesce,"</i> said Sean Andrews with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and lead author on a paper published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. <i>"The new ALMA images show the disc in unprecedented detail, revealing a series of concentric dusty bright rings and dark gaps, including intriguing features that may indicate that a planet with an Earth-like orbit is forming there."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Other pronounced gaps that show up in the new images are located three billion and six billion kilometres from the central star, similar to the average distances from the Sun to Uranus and Pluto in the Solar System. They too are likely to be the results of particles that came together to form planets, which then swept their orbits clear of dust and gas and shepherded the remaining material into well-defined bands.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">For the new TW Hydrae observations, astronomers imaged the faint radio emission from millimetre-sized dust grains in the disc, revealing details on the order of the distance between the Earth and the Sun (about 150 million kilometres). These detailed observations were made possible with ALMA’s high-resolution, long-baseline configuration. When ALMA's dishes are at their maximum separation, up to 15 kilometres apart, the telescope is able to resolve finer details. <i>"This is the highest spatial resolution image ever of a protoplanetary disc from ALMA, and that won't be easily beaten in the future!"</i> said Andrews.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"TW Hydrae is quite special. It is the nearest known protoplanetary disc to Earth and it may closely resemble the Solar System when it was only 10 million years old,"</i> adds co-author David Wilner, also with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Earlier ALMA observations of another system, HL Tauri, show that even younger protoplanetary discs — a mere 1 million years old — can display similar signatures of planet formation. By studying the older TW Hydrae disc, astronomers hope to better understand the evolution of our own planet and the prospects for similar systems throughout the Milky Way.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The astronomers now want to find out how common these kinds of features are in discs around other young stars and how they might change with time or environment.</div><br />Image Credit: S. Andrews (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA); B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)<br />Explanation from: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1611/

ALMA’s Most Detailed Image of a Protoplanetary Disc - Evidence for planet formation in Earth-like orbit around young star

This new image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows the finest detail ever seen in the planet-forming disc aro...

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Messier 106

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyvQJwD3VR4PtASqVbL-NuCgBXwBOlX6GnJSOVnP7wpQQazRaVc9vlVpgO6dYJzfi6XvcTft5CFN2X0ta-D9Lum8t1QvYGfNK5HITNRauaJd3ASi-ABoxR8UcIES10kST2q5TohlWxlgC/s1600/Messier-106.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Messier 106" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyvQJwD3VR4PtASqVbL-NuCgBXwBOlX6GnJSOVnP7wpQQazRaVc9vlVpgO6dYJzfi6XvcTft5CFN2X0ta-D9Lum8t1QvYGfNK5HITNRauaJd3ASi-ABoxR8UcIES10kST2q5TohlWxlgC/s640/Messier-106.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A galaxy about 23 million light years away is the site of impressive, ongoing fireworks. Rather than paper, powder and fire, this galactic light show involves a giant black hole, shock waves and vast reservoirs of gas.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This galactic fireworks display is taking place in NGC 4258, also known as M106, a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. This galaxy is famous, however, for something that our galaxy doesn’t have – two extra spiral arms that glow in X-ray, optical and radio light. These features, or anomalous arms, are not aligned with the plane of the galaxy, but instead intersect with it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The anomalous arms are seen in this new composite image of NGC 4258, where X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory are blue, radio data from the NSF’s Karl Jansky Very Large Array are purple, optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are yellow and infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are red.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A new study made with Spitzer shows that shock waves, similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes, are heating large amounts of gas – equivalent to about 10 million suns. What is generating these shock waves? Researchers think that the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4258 is producing powerful jets of high-energy particles. These jets strike the disk of the galaxy and generate shock waves. These shock waves, in turn, heat the gas – composed mainly of hydrogen molecules – to thousands of degrees.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Chandra X-ray image reveals huge bubbles of hot gas above and below the plane of the galaxy. These bubbles indicate that much of the gas that was originally in the disk of the galaxy has been heated and ejected into the outer regions by the jets from the black hole.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The ejection of gas from the disk by the jets has important implications for the fate of this galaxy. Researchers estimate that all of the remaining gas will be ejected within the next 300 million years – very soon on cosmic time scales – unless it is somehow replenished. Because most of the gas in the disk has already been ejected, less gas is available for new stars to form. Indeed, the researchers used Spitzer data to estimate that stars are forming in the central regions of NGC 4258, at a rate which is about ten times less than in the Milky Way galaxy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory was used to confirm the estimate from Spitzer data of the low star formation rate in the central regions of NGC 4258. Herschel was also used to make an independent estimate of how much gas remains in the center of the galaxy. After allowing for the large boost in infrared emission caused by the shocks, the researchers found that the gas mass is ten times smaller than had been previously estimated.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Because NGC 4258 is relatively close to Earth, astronomers can study how this black hole is affecting its galaxy in great detail. The supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4258 is about ten times larger than the one in the Milky Way and is consuming material at a faster rate, potentially increasing its impact on the evolution of its host galaxy.</div><br />Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/P.Ogle et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA<br />Explanation from: http://www.nasa.gov/chandra/multimedia/galactic-pyrotechnics.html

Messier 106

A galaxy about 23 million light years away is the site of impressive, ongoing fireworks. Rather than paper, powder and fire, this galactic l...

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Dwarf Galaxy Leo A

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgklTajPMiAXXg10M_OhxxD4gWSu3imLuZKo07TZmwLyzOaUIgJM-ALoSLgs-s_U-mEDKhPY9FMPBfOKIi9b11RPUJ1EeScCdU6p8PpERFNeJ_1DzSXEmrF4PQg-RqpAbxAwwkJfGDfOVUK/s1600/Dwarf-Galaxy-Leo-A.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Dwarf Galaxy Leo A" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgklTajPMiAXXg10M_OhxxD4gWSu3imLuZKo07TZmwLyzOaUIgJM-ALoSLgs-s_U-mEDKhPY9FMPBfOKIi9b11RPUJ1EeScCdU6p8PpERFNeJ_1DzSXEmrF4PQg-RqpAbxAwwkJfGDfOVUK/s640/Dwarf-Galaxy-Leo-A.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">At first glance this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars shown here actually forms a single body — a nearby dwarf galaxy known as Leo A. Its few million stars are so sparsely distributed that some distant background galaxies are visible through it. Leo A itself is at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and a member of the Local Group of galaxies; a group that includes the Milky Way and the well-known Andromeda galaxy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Astronomers study dwarf galaxies because they are very numerous and are simpler in structure than their giant cousins. However, their small size makes them difficult to study at great distances. As a result, the dwarf galaxies of the Local Group are of particular interest, as they are close enough to study in detail.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">As it turns out, Leo A is a rather unusual galaxy. It is one of the most isolated galaxies in the Local Group, has no obvious structural features beyond being a roughly spherical mass of stars, and shows no evidence for recent interactions with any of its few neighbours. However, the galaxy’s contents are overwhelmingly dominated by relatively young stars, something that would normally be the result of a recent interaction with another galaxy. Around 90% of the stars in Leo A are less than eight billion years old — young in cosmic terms! This raises a number of intriguing questions about why star formation in Leo A did not take place on the “usual” timescale, but instead waited until it was good and ready.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Judy Schmidt<br />Explanation from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1615a/

Dwarf Galaxy Leo A

At first glance this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars sh...

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The Rosette Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIvD4tA1rZVAKwTRYhfTZRHjKzwGFQm7y_RIQvvuL9b2m7e2IrBU_Ip6mjy7MLGn7XnjjAfAJCBhgZ34pNIb79PVfn9UaveCYifhGDHjFcLVyv7o-WCNorvggakkvc4fiRERe0AUmxwpl/s1600/Rosette-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Rosette Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBIvD4tA1rZVAKwTRYhfTZRHjKzwGFQm7y_RIQvvuL9b2m7e2IrBU_Ip6mjy7MLGn7XnjjAfAJCBhgZ34pNIb79PVfn9UaveCYifhGDHjFcLVyv7o-WCNorvggakkvc4fiRERe0AUmxwpl/s640/Rosette-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Measuring 50 light years in diameter, the large, round Rosette Nebula is found on the edge of a molecular cloud in the constellation of Monoceros the Unicorn. At the core of the nebula the very hot young stars have heated the surrounding gaseous shell to a temperature in the order of 6 million kelvins, resulting in the emission of copious amounts of X-Rays.</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Ignacio Jimenez<br />Explanation by: Royal Observatory Greenwich

The Rosette Nebula

Measuring 50 light years in diameter, the large, round Rosette Nebula is found on the edge of a molecular cloud in the constellation of Mono...

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Total Solar Eclipse over Svalbard

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMR3zldbMlSxqh-i9cMEJFzvK3Ey-Ymrn4nkoubkgzWV3Wk6jrezqfdpRBlIrULlWyIWrN8YKZ09zwPSlguVnpZ4XyG0U_Jz4w94xSviDN6iImQ7kEa-vRKsLoM3kjia4lOBh74QgVpQx/s1600/Total-Solar-Eclipse-over-Svalbard.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Total Solar Eclipse over Svalbard" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMR3zldbMlSxqh-i9cMEJFzvK3Ey-Ymrn4nkoubkgzWV3Wk6jrezqfdpRBlIrULlWyIWrN8YKZ09zwPSlguVnpZ4XyG0U_Jz4w94xSviDN6iImQ7kEa-vRKsLoM3kjia4lOBh74QgVpQx/s640/Total-Solar-Eclipse-over-Svalbard.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Svalbard, Norway</div><div style="text-align: center;">March 20, 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Thanakrit Santikunaporn

Total Solar Eclipse over Svalbard

Svalbard, Norway March 20, 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Thanakrit Santikunaporn

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The NGC 660 Galaxy

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg32dmLfLlLd17s716Oq6cNURITBSfL-AxAKgme-oVIQTkkl6Hoq7PEsBygYgFtbA_mvF1kURLxvb7WSYbgyq3lMx6qD07IsNCD2-CqIOjE-LVINlfuUekU2fmm_cEuYcp4fe0BuSphyKLV/s1600/NGC-660.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="NGC 660" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg32dmLfLlLd17s716Oq6cNURITBSfL-AxAKgme-oVIQTkkl6Hoq7PEsBygYgFtbA_mvF1kURLxvb7WSYbgyq3lMx6qD07IsNCD2-CqIOjE-LVINlfuUekU2fmm_cEuYcp4fe0BuSphyKLV/s640/NGC-660.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This Hubble image shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 660, located around 45 million light-years away from us.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">NGC 660 is classified as a "polar ring galaxy", meaning that it has a belt of gas and stars around its centre that it ripped from a near neighbour during a clash about one billion years ago. The first polar ring galaxy was observed in 1978 and only around a dozen more have been discovered since then, making them something of a cosmic rarity.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Unfortunately, NGC 660’s polar ring cannot be seen in this image, but has plenty of other features that make it of interest to astronomers – its central bulge is strangely off-kilter and, perhaps more intriguingly, it is thought to harbour exceptionally large amounts of dark matter. In addition, in late 2012 astronomers observed a massive outburst emanating from NGC 660 that was around ten times as bright as a supernova explosion. This burst was thought to be caused by a massive jet shooting out of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy.</div><br />Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA<br />Explanation from: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1348a/

The NGC 660 Galaxy

This Hubble image shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 660, located around 45 million light-years away from us. NGC 660 is classified as a ...

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Artist's Impression of the Supermassive Black Hole

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Akx3oAODU6UsKunGjpI6PFogMOCgVN8CesuD0tw4kWPVLyGKSmyi4qyaqBSX_KxYMaLOZDE9vhT9oD8bMRag451uQwh5eofps6mSKk3eOdHpgK1m-5zbxK7s65RK4285Ck_b-qkJvT6Z/s1600/black-hole.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Supermassive Black Hole" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Akx3oAODU6UsKunGjpI6PFogMOCgVN8CesuD0tw4kWPVLyGKSmyi4qyaqBSX_KxYMaLOZDE9vhT9oD8bMRag451uQwh5eofps6mSKk3eOdHpgK1m-5zbxK7s65RK4285Ck_b-qkJvT6Z/s640/black-hole.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This artist's concept illustrates a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. Supermassive black holes are enormously dense objects buried at the hearts of galaxies. (Smaller black holes also exist throughout galaxies.) In this illustration, the supermassive black hole at the center is surrounded by matter flowing onto the black hole in what is termed an accretion disk. This disk forms as the dust and gas in the galaxy falls onto the hole, attracted by its gravity.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Also shown is an outflowing jet of energetic particles, believed to be powered by the black hole's spin. The regions near black holes contain compact sources of high energy X-ray radiation thought, in some scenarios, to originate from the base of these jets. This high energy X-radiation lights up the disk, which reflects it, making the disk a source of X-rays. The reflected light enables astronomers to see how fast matter is swirling in the inner region of the disk, and ultimately to measure the black hole's spin rate.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech<br />Explanation from: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16695

Artist's Impression of the Supermassive Black Hole

This artist's concept illustrates a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. Supermassive black hole...

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Volcán de Colima (Fuego) Eruption

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_bJ00FJYGR7KC2SgOmCAo_4Xve7yM5A52OyFBViZU7nOdIw-PPUE1SfVqKm3M-BtnChoNDV3kvo2ClPgM5c0VdYCH3bECBeXoT6v8uGiYZDNLP9MlYSiCEriMogwwFxYMNYh3PcFaMJbC/s1600/Volcan-de-Colima.gif" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Volcán de Colima (Fuego) Eruption" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_bJ00FJYGR7KC2SgOmCAo_4Xve7yM5A52OyFBViZU7nOdIw-PPUE1SfVqKm3M-BtnChoNDV3kvo2ClPgM5c0VdYCH3bECBeXoT6v8uGiYZDNLP9MlYSiCEriMogwwFxYMNYh3PcFaMJbC/s640/Volcan-de-Colima.gif" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Colima, Mexico</div><div style="text-align: center;">December 13, 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Sergio Tapiro

Volcán de Colima (Fuego) Eruption

Colima, Mexico December 13, 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Sergio Tapiro

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Stellar powerhouses in the Eagle Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMWVp2axwEuWEIM8cn4SEculGaGJQefHt0h1qoKtNCmIpte3XLj0sAHdcNZ34z3ksJzDHthXCuv9vCzZAw0Xgf6UpaJzfiViAvi2TIPdnTGOvg6woKLmERm77UQEe3X-sTytZM8T2dikU/s1600/the-Eagle-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Eagle Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbMWVp2axwEuWEIM8cn4SEculGaGJQefHt0h1qoKtNCmIpte3XLj0sAHdcNZ34z3ksJzDHthXCuv9vCzZAw0Xgf6UpaJzfiViAvi2TIPdnTGOvg6woKLmERm77UQEe3X-sTytZM8T2dikU/s640/the-Eagle-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A spectacular section of the well-known Eagle Nebula has been targeted by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This collection of dazzling stars is called NGC 6611, an open star cluster that formed about 5.5 million years ago and is found approximately 6500 light-years from the Earth. It is a very young cluster, containing many hot, blue stars, whose fierce ultraviolet glow make the surrounding Eagle Nebula glow brightly. The cluster and the associated nebula together are also known as Messier 16.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Astronomers refer to areas like the Eagle Nebula as HII regions. This is the scientific notation for ionised hydrogen from which the region is largely made. Extrapolating far into the future, this HII region will eventually disperse, helped along by shockwaves from supernova explosions as the more massive young stars end their brief but brilliant lives. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">In this image, dark patches can also be spotted, punctuating the stellar landscape. These areas of apparent nothingness are actually very dense regions of gas and dust, which obstruct light from passing through. Many of these may be hiding the sites of the early stages of star formation, before the fledgling stars clear away their surroundings and burst into view. Dark nebulae, large and small, are dotted throughout the Universe. If you look up to the Milky Way with the naked eye from a dark, remote site, you can easily spot some huge dark nebulae blocking the background starlight.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This picture was created from images from Hubble’s Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys through the unusual combination of two near-infrared filters (F775W, coloured blue, and F850LP, coloured red). The image has also been subtly colourised using a ground-based image taken through more conventional filters. The Hubble exposure times were 2000 s in both cases and the field of view is about 3.2 arcminutes across.</div><br />Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1101a/

Stellar powerhouses in the Eagle Nebula

A spectacular section of the well-known Eagle Nebula has been targeted by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This collection of dazzling s...

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Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jlAP0_yA-ESj6GBEzK_G_oWnZf0ktcbE3AA0xuALxjce64JYgNbNaHhckLtpM5HI9GBdWLPYHe5Dzs3yeQcufbL5LjrypAxMhuq5oKuVTpGnahad1fb-goFsFnvIlcaxdVZvDcOTQZ0r/s1600/ALMA.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="ALMA" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jlAP0_yA-ESj6GBEzK_G_oWnZf0ktcbE3AA0xuALxjce64JYgNbNaHhckLtpM5HI9GBdWLPYHe5Dzs3yeQcufbL5LjrypAxMhuq5oKuVTpGnahad1fb-goFsFnvIlcaxdVZvDcOTQZ0r/s640/ALMA.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">An alien green glow illuminates antennas that form part the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), located on Chajnantor Plateau, high up in the Chilean Atacama desert. Above, the recognisable glow of the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds is seen amongst a sea of stars in the night sky.</div><br />Image Credit: A. Duro/ESO<br />Explanation from: http://www.eso.org/public/images/duro_8130-cc/

Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

An alien green glow illuminates antennas that form part the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), located on Chajnantor Plate...

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The Milky Way Galaxy above trees in Salamanca

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRi01duGDL_9rsY1pKtX5EVX3KlT13yfQjD4gXmaExLqClmXiIzPfEqov6OE4DsZT3WRuCX224NCN_0Tw-EgK9uObSkCkqgmbX8iqtoIwoM26zLkiHyZkJ3ajHdO7F9O3rK3IxjMCWEMI/s1600/milky-way.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The Milky Way Galaxy" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRi01duGDL_9rsY1pKtX5EVX3KlT13yfQjD4gXmaExLqClmXiIzPfEqov6OE4DsZT3WRuCX224NCN_0Tw-EgK9uObSkCkqgmbX8iqtoIwoM26zLkiHyZkJ3ajHdO7F9O3rK3IxjMCWEMI/s640/milky-way.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Salamanca, Spain</div><div style="text-align: center;">March 20, 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: César Vega Toledano

The Milky Way Galaxy above trees in Salamanca

Salamanca, Spain March 20, 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: César Vega Toledano

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Hubble snaps close-up of the Tarantula Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5KBppfoPnUOyPt5-Ku2zx4h56TzII4RbcSkCLNo0FpXvpsG1mWEa0vtRIEu8v_AUDJe69dtZTa07mr26iKHYX5_rTVCCFC9ORiLdwQV1aK4Q1IoERhQTNj9w9k8fCFmxixNRLhR8eSly/s1600/Tarantula-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Tarantula Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5KBppfoPnUOyPt5-Ku2zx4h56TzII4RbcSkCLNo0FpXvpsG1mWEa0vtRIEu8v_AUDJe69dtZTa07mr26iKHYX5_rTVCCFC9ORiLdwQV1aK4Q1IoERhQTNj9w9k8fCFmxixNRLhR8eSly/s640/Tarantula-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hubble has taken this stunning close-up shot of part of the Tarantula Nebula. This star-forming region of ionised hydrogen gas is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy which neighbours the Milky Way. It is home to many extreme conditions including supernova remnants and the heaviest star ever found. The Tarantula Nebula is the most luminous nebula of its type in the local Universe.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA<br />Explanation from: http://spacetelescope.org/images/heic1105a/<br /><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.5714px; margin: 0px 0px 9px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.5714px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"></strong>

Hubble snaps close-up of the Tarantula Nebula

Hubble has taken this stunning close-up shot of part of the Tarantula Nebula. This star-forming region of ionised hydrogen gas is in the Lar...

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Hubble image of galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTs4-LgOaD68xYVQl6eQNiA8orLLBtL4AidjsWE7ZXIm1Gs0RgWIZLQbtXAYUUSllUXsSTwuiUH9CKkTtNNYtScYE7eAEOCEAt-42U1_pWMGe6DjxxeYS_MUowWXwXBhgptdHYLMZByV2/s1600/MACS-J0717-galaxy-cluster.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Hubble image of galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTs4-LgOaD68xYVQl6eQNiA8orLLBtL4AidjsWE7ZXIm1Gs0RgWIZLQbtXAYUUSllUXsSTwuiUH9CKkTtNNYtScYE7eAEOCEAt-42U1_pWMGe6DjxxeYS_MUowWXwXBhgptdHYLMZByV2/s640/MACS-J0717-galaxy-cluster.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This enormous image shows Hubble’s view of massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The large field of view is a combination of 18 separate Hubble images.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Studying the distorting effects of gravity on light from background galaxies, a team of astronomers has uncovered the presence of a filament of dark matter extending from the core of the cluster. This is one of the first positive detections of a filament, and the most precise to date.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Using additional observations from ground-based telescopes, the team were able to map the filament’s structure in three dimensions, the first time this has ever been done.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Harald Ebeling, Jean-Paul Kneib (LAM)<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1215b/

Hubble image of galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745

This enormous image shows Hubble’s view of massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The large field of view is a combination of 18 separate...

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Hubble view of the huge star formation region N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjsO3Rw8DHzLpKy76p_7dUnD2ViOxZ4nwbmCw34ehII1CEh2x5kSQa33FkBw8VcCLk4YWW7jMqcSGZMmzY1c6jCTXpdcVbxZA29IsuDrAR3eUkRkGmncUC6y10xM__oX4t5oS6EUkFj5W/s1600/star-formation-region-N11.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Star Formation Region N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjsO3Rw8DHzLpKy76p_7dUnD2ViOxZ4nwbmCw34ehII1CEh2x5kSQa33FkBw8VcCLk4YWW7jMqcSGZMmzY1c6jCTXpdcVbxZA29IsuDrAR3eUkRkGmncUC6y10xM__oX4t5oS6EUkFj5W/s640/star-formation-region-N11.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This broad vista of young stars and gas clouds in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). This region is named LHA 120-N 11, informally known as N11, and is one of the most active star formation regions in the nearby Universe. This picture is a mosaic of ACS data from five different positions and covers a region about six arcminutes across.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1011a/

Hubble view of the huge star formation region N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

This broad vista of young stars and gas clouds in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble S...

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Karymsky Volcano Eruption

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjcami90h2h2MC-63MtlmWA_YIjTELV0oiZ9fJT7WmHipTQiIuvcM6BYva4WT49WRNpQ1pWLS4VDkNcOtmdJBTJX9Gq7NBDgYl_9UOGhNVoICqPGM3S80VSYKyZYoEn-Jc6Njp0S-_twe/s1600/Karymsky-Volcano-Eruption.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Karymsky Volcano Eruption" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjcami90h2h2MC-63MtlmWA_YIjTELV0oiZ9fJT7WmHipTQiIuvcM6BYva4WT49WRNpQ1pWLS4VDkNcOtmdJBTJX9Gq7NBDgYl_9UOGhNVoICqPGM3S80VSYKyZYoEn-Jc6Njp0S-_twe/s640/Karymsky-Volcano-Eruption.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia</div><div style="text-align: center;">July 13, 2004</div><br />Image Credit: Alexander Belousov

Karymsky Volcano Eruption

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia July 13, 2004 Image Credit: Alexander Belousov

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Supercell over Wyoming

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Cc8aptZpnhgcXiMXNCd0LV1BJygxDdgBrbox-xqBEcGogElqeyNF-H8NaaZ5EVftMQWnMOWMTDnFqB0XOfxvSUDSTR6xHbOC-dsEwWnbPi8j8NsD8zlYxJdhA0lVeqWhf7mfoRiw0ZnQ/s1600/supercell-wyoming.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Supercell over Wyoming" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Cc8aptZpnhgcXiMXNCd0LV1BJygxDdgBrbox-xqBEcGogElqeyNF-H8NaaZ5EVftMQWnMOWMTDnFqB0XOfxvSUDSTR6xHbOC-dsEwWnbPi8j8NsD8zlYxJdhA0lVeqWhf7mfoRiw0ZnQ/s640/supercell-wyoming.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Wright-Newcastle, Wyoming, USA</div><div style="text-align: center;">May 18, 2014</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Basehunters Chasing

Supercell over Wyoming

Wright-Newcastle, Wyoming, USA May 18, 2014 Image Credit & Copyright: Basehunters Chasing

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NASA's SDO Captures Images of a Mid-Level Solar Flare

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7brpupDdOIVF9KTSx22l-n9F3f_W_PXz1yZdvt2Wa_WL22gRy3fJSKdgUfNaQJWnrQ5w4MSx5-1Tn0bnvj6ucBSuPRnIqUmctNAfUJSp6GpYt5uQDMBjyqECoX7IOh8YFLjY1NqA6Kzb/s1600/solar-flare.gif" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Solar Flare" border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7brpupDdOIVF9KTSx22l-n9F3f_W_PXz1yZdvt2Wa_WL22gRy3fJSKdgUfNaQJWnrQ5w4MSx5-1Tn0bnvj6ucBSuPRnIqUmctNAfUJSp6GpYt5uQDMBjyqECoX7IOh8YFLjY1NqA6Kzb/s640/solar-flare.gif" title="" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:29 pm EDT on April 17, 2016. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center states that "moderate radio blackouts were observed" during the peak of the flare. Such radio blackouts are only ongoing during the course of a flare, and so they have since subsided. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings and alerts.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This flare is classified as an M6.7 class flare. M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense, etc.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aX4uV7rL11TJg-uR5DieNHS5g0QRTPRWAaGPB4zvAYEFUOIOkPnkEr7U-rd4o0TPY6cljkEb_QJclTY3eccDujtSnrGDvlYVEVjug_Lb77UjhS3kw8zm8Pi4eFjsCzC5iMOSI2eloSd3/s1600/Solar-Flare-black-spot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: start;"><img alt="solar flare black spot" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aX4uV7rL11TJg-uR5DieNHS5g0QRTPRWAaGPB4zvAYEFUOIOkPnkEr7U-rd4o0TPY6cljkEb_QJclTY3eccDujtSnrGDvlYVEVjug_Lb77UjhS3kw8zm8Pi4eFjsCzC5iMOSI2eloSd3/s640/Solar-Flare-black-spot.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A black spot on the Sun is visible in the upper right of this image captured by NASA's SDO. Such spots are evidence that this is an area of complex magnetic activity on the Sun, which can sometimes lead to solar eruptions sending light and radiation out into space. This region produced a solar flare at 8:29 p.m. EDT on April 17, 2016.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;">This flare came from an area of complex magnetic activity on the Sun – known as an active region, and in this case labeled Active Region 2529 – which has sported a large dark spot, called a sunspot, over the past several days. This sunspot has changed shape and size as it slowly made its way across the Sun’s face over the past week and half. For much of that time, it was big enough to be visible from the ground without magnification and is currently large enough that almost five Earths could fit inside. This sunspot will rotate out of our view over the right side of the Sun by April 20, 2016. Scientists study such sunspots in order to better understand what causes them to sometimes erupt with solar flares</div><br />Image & Video Credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard<br />Explanation from: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasas-sdo-captures-images-of-a-mid-level-solar-flare

NASA's SDO Captures Images of a Mid-Level Solar Flare

The Sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:29 pm EDT on April 17, 2016. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun ...

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Comparison of the Sun to VY Canis Majoris

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOVplcBkgXRKmbACOOK7eM80E3iBovUfS9z4kqdY6w7TYzc0dSxiiKw0QKyUi1byJToZdnmOX2N7PJ7oH_jGBq4ULQBJkOiW2CXtHyPx2qSX6kad6FumJZiYniGtibXDMut2bGnTXcsyO/s1600/vy-canis-majoris-and-sun.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Comparison of the Sun to VY Canis Majoris" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSOVplcBkgXRKmbACOOK7eM80E3iBovUfS9z4kqdY6w7TYzc0dSxiiKw0QKyUi1byJToZdnmOX2N7PJ7oH_jGBq4ULQBJkOiW2CXtHyPx2qSX6kad6FumJZiYniGtibXDMut2bGnTXcsyO/s640/vy-canis-majoris-and-sun.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">The Sun </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System and is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. It is a nearly perfect spherical ball of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and it has a mass about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen; the rest is mostly helium, with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on spectral class and it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and dense, eventually initiating nuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by this process.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Sun is roughly middle aged and has not changed dramatically for over four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for more than another five billion years. However, after hydrogen fusion in its core has stopped, the Sun will undergo severe changes and become a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity. Earth's movement around the Sun is the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">VY Canis Majoris</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. It is one of the largest stars (at one time it was the largest known) and also one of the most luminous of its type, and has a radius of approximately 1,420 ± 120 solar radii (equal to a diameter of 13.2 astronomical units, or about 1,976,640,000 km), and is located about 1.2 kiloparsecs (3,900 light-years) from Earth.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">VY Canis Majoris is a single star categorized as a semiregular variable with an estimated period of 2,000 days. It has an average density of 5 to 10 mg/m3. If placed at the center of the Solar System, VY Canis Majoris's surface would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter, although there is still considerable variation in estimates of the radius.</div><br />Explanation from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris

Comparison of the Sun to VY Canis Majoris

The Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System and is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. It is a n...

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Volcán de Colima Eruption

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDri7xpMXupFWw4m-xxCU8OlChmY-KZu1h6r53usGtbVhYkc5qNaLYPRMC30pTwSjsw65fEd-Gp9lvV6XScNKTc8k13Oou2Ra0JEstucnFrl6-IAI7FsRie635oBpzKPsryE8hWQkWPrli/s1600/volcan-de-colima-erupcion.gif" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Volcán de Colima Eruption" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDri7xpMXupFWw4m-xxCU8OlChmY-KZu1h6r53usGtbVhYkc5qNaLYPRMC30pTwSjsw65fEd-Gp9lvV6XScNKTc8k13Oou2Ra0JEstucnFrl6-IAI7FsRie635oBpzKPsryE8hWQkWPrli/s640/volcan-de-colima-erupcion.gif" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Colima, Mexico</div><div style="text-align: center;">January 21, 2015</div><br />Image Credit & Copyright: Webcams de México

Volcán de Colima Eruption

Colima, Mexico January 21, 2015 Image Credit & Copyright: Webcams de México

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Comet 252P/LINEAR, Galactic Center and Auxiliary Telescope

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_lMEHZN5Vk3ej0bgV_zfK91yWkwyZl0EdefvWQyiS3_3U-dOXiKUOSKqyvezah1rhaygGRd7MwZYdEhqRiFxAuIB-tC04u_AtevUXvr_JA8IOy3EMjrgPI5H8I49vWLRxlvklVaZMzrg/s1600/Auxiliary-Telescope-milky-way-galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Galactic Center and Auxiliary Telescope" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_lMEHZN5Vk3ej0bgV_zfK91yWkwyZl0EdefvWQyiS3_3U-dOXiKUOSKqyvezah1rhaygGRd7MwZYdEhqRiFxAuIB-tC04u_AtevUXvr_JA8IOy3EMjrgPI5H8I49vWLRxlvklVaZMzrg/s640/Auxiliary-Telescope-milky-way-galaxy.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This Auxiliary Telescope at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, looks to be pointing at the greenish emerald glow of the comet 252P/LINEAR high above it. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Discovered in April 2000, 252P/LINEAR is a relative newcomer to the inner Solar System, traveling between the orbit of Jupiter and the orbit of Earth. A couple of days ago, in March 2016, it passed particularly close to the Earth, at a distance of only 5.2 millions kilometers, ranking as the fifth closest recorded passage of a comet. It can still be admired in the southern hemisphere. The green colour arises from fluorescing carbon-based gas surrounding the comet. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This gem of a picture was taken by the ESO Photo Ambassador Babak A. Tafreshi. He has just started out on ESO’s Fulldome Expedition, during which he will be taking more spectacular pictures from ESO’s observatories and of the southern hemisphere night sky.</div><br />Image Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi<br />Explanation from: http://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/images/potw1615a/

Comet 252P/LINEAR, Galactic Center and Auxiliary Telescope

This Auxiliary Telescope at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, looks to be pointing at the greenis...

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Part of the Coalsack Nebula

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIsWGohE-sMlahJwwCeENUbr09AmOII7tNOUCeEYPuODOD3buhM-nu0SZXUgqdCsStZ-dzPiEm3147yUZBTt8B41MF8Mn_c_TN25zU2E32SLRn0u6Gje1YWZaIy-bhDEUFo7ZLUHLjXlca/s1600/Coalsack-Nebula.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Coalsack Nebula" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIsWGohE-sMlahJwwCeENUbr09AmOII7tNOUCeEYPuODOD3buhM-nu0SZXUgqdCsStZ-dzPiEm3147yUZBTt8B41MF8Mn_c_TN25zU2E32SLRn0u6Gje1YWZaIy-bhDEUFo7ZLUHLjXlca/s640/Coalsack-Nebula.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows part of the huge cloud of dust and gas known as the Coalsack Nebula. The dust in this nebula absorbs and scatters the light from background stars.</div><br />Image Credit: ESO

Part of the Coalsack Nebula

This image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows part of the huge cloud of dust and gas known as the Coalsack ...

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The MACS J0416.1-2403 Galaxy Cluster

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3e87XkDhYLJDyWuyjPN4_kPe1KKz4y6lqQ1DRe6MDq-3E-sK6dncyHxSIg9qPyqAYDjFHk_bQX05G5DM9ayrhmw6YfjWHTJAu05W6BkYGdiiwuIVPRKqrO8HqjhQuwTXyG-bpOhj6hl0/s1600/MACS-J0416.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="MACS J0416" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3e87XkDhYLJDyWuyjPN4_kPe1KKz4y6lqQ1DRe6MDq-3E-sK6dncyHxSIg9qPyqAYDjFHk_bQX05G5DM9ayrhmw6YfjWHTJAu05W6BkYGdiiwuIVPRKqrO8HqjhQuwTXyG-bpOhj6hl0/s640/MACS-J0416.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">At first glance, this cosmic kaleidoscope of purple, blue and pink offers a strikingly beautiful — and serene — snapshot of the cosmos. However, this multi-coloured haze actually marks the site of two colliding galaxy clusters, forming a single object known as MACS J0416.1-2403 (or MACS J0416 for short).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">MACS J0416 is located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Eridanus. This new image of the cluster combines data from three different telescopes: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (showing the galaxies and stars), the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory (diffuse emission in blue), and the NRAO Jansky Very Large Array (diffuse emission in pink). Each telescope shows a different element of the cluster, allowing astronomers to study MACS J0416 in detail.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">As with all galaxy clusters, MACS J0416 contains a significant amount of dark matter, which leaves a detectable imprint in visible light by distorting the images of background galaxies. In this image, this dark matter appears to align well with the blue-hued hot gas, suggesting that the two clusters have not yet collided; if the clusters had already smashed into one another, the dark matter and gas would have separated. MACS J0416 also contains other features — such as a compact core of hot gas — that would likely have been disrupted had a collision already occurred.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Together with five other galaxy clusters, MACS J0416 is playing a leading role in the Hubble Frontier Fields programme, for which this data was obtained. Owing to its huge mass, the cluster is in fact bending the light of background objects, acting as a magnifying lens. Astronomers can use this phenomenon to find galaxies that existed only hundreds of million years after the big bang.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, NRAO/AUI/NSF, STScI, and G. Ogrean<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1612a/

The MACS J0416.1-2403 Galaxy Cluster

At first glance, this cosmic kaleidoscope of purple, blue and pink offers a strikingly beautiful — and serene — snapshot of the cosmos. Howe...

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The star cluster IC 4651

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCxzvCIpWdfNdfSmbd8OG2W9Q-bYkQ78LJdjy3vVKqRSJcIg6yIANdDo5pQB3CvRrU-gmGGoA3R0z9d-TzEbWqbzOoPO3M3pLOMxPG47-y8xyOKJx18HV6d0OwEUY2LnCdpKHLfxVVweI/s1600/IC-4651.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The star cluster IC 4651" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCxzvCIpWdfNdfSmbd8OG2W9Q-bYkQ78LJdjy3vVKqRSJcIg6yIANdDo5pQB3CvRrU-gmGGoA3R0z9d-TzEbWqbzOoPO3M3pLOMxPG47-y8xyOKJx18HV6d0OwEUY2LnCdpKHLfxVVweI/s640/IC-4651.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This rich view of a tapestry of colourful stars was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It shows a open cluster of stars known as IC 4651, a stellar grouping that lies at in the constellation of Ara (The Altar).</div><br />Image Credit: ESO

The star cluster IC 4651

This rich view of a tapestry of colourful stars was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ES...

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The UGC 4459 Galaxy

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5IKtVZA-MHUdL4B983V-1X5vHeHxHz9OZfGF10VCiqT1RGeh7vt1C-HHdc30499PYzvER7U7UKwwwai2jC6sJhJ0Zs5QEBBF-eO7gHdY6it4xE81GRnWrQdfZTWqovZEGojKoQ_j0f1g/s1600/UGC-4459.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The UGC 4459 Galaxy" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5IKtVZA-MHUdL4B983V-1X5vHeHxHz9OZfGF10VCiqT1RGeh7vt1C-HHdc30499PYzvER7U7UKwwwai2jC6sJhJ0Zs5QEBBF-eO7gHdY6it4xE81GRnWrQdfZTWqovZEGojKoQ_j0f1g/s640/UGC-4459.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Despite being less famous than their elliptical and spiral galactic cousins, irregular dwarf galaxies, such as the one captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, are actually one of the most common types of galaxy in the universe. Known as UGC 4459, this dwarf galaxy is located approximately 11 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear), a constellation that is also home to the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), the Owl Nebula (M97), Messier 81, Messier 82 and several other galaxies all part of the M81 group.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">UGC 4459’s diffused and disorganized appearance is characteristic of an irregular dwarf galaxy. Lacking a distinctive structure or shape, irregular dwarf galaxies are often chaotic in appearance, with neither a nuclear bulge — a huge, tightly packed central group of stars — nor any trace of spiral arms — regions of stars extending from the center of the galaxy. Astronomers suspect that some irregular dwarf galaxies were once spiral or elliptical galaxies, but were later deformed by the gravitational pull of nearby objects.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Rich with young blue stars and older red stars, UGC 4459 has a stellar population of several billion. Though seemingly impressive, this is small when compared to the 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Observations with Hubble have shown that because of their low masses of dwarf galaxies like UGC 4459, star formation is very low compared to larger galaxies. Only very little of their original gas has been turned into stars. Thus, these small galaxies are interesting to study to better understand primordial environments and the star formation process.</div><br />Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, Judy Schmidt<br />Explanation from: http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-peers-at-a-distinctly-disorganized-dwarf-galaxy

The UGC 4459 Galaxy

Despite being less famous than their elliptical and spiral galactic cousins, irregular dwarf galaxies, such as the one captured in this NASA...

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Hubble Frontier Fields view of Abell 2744

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIHYMt6QHqeUwpRqtgvWzOxvWg0G_Alj9yv1Hh1Mqk75xP0vu4gySA6u_roDFJLJXB_vviFhWyUBWEtEUWE9gkX2VThkOCe-SaEjdvR00g2ROdXe9DsAKx6RalLUniCS0ayM0MHneUdj0/s1600/Abell-2744.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Abell 2744" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIHYMt6QHqeUwpRqtgvWzOxvWg0G_Alj9yv1Hh1Mqk75xP0vu4gySA6u_roDFJLJXB_vviFhWyUBWEtEUWE9gkX2VThkOCe-SaEjdvR00g2ROdXe9DsAKx6RalLUniCS0ayM0MHneUdj0/s640/Abell-2744.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster, was the first of six targets within the Frontier Fields programme, which together have produced the deepest images of gravitational lensing ever made. The cluster is thought to have a very violent history, having formed from a cosmic pile-up of multiple galaxy clusters.</div><br />Image Credit: NASA, ESA and the HST Frontier Fields team (STScI)

Hubble Frontier Fields view of Abell 2744

Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster, was the first of six targets within the Frontier Fields programme, which together have produced the...

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A Cosmic Searchlight

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KL0try4VYdT4MCdDt_K-n36GX4f3J19SouCpxU7Gs1LA75rJhhsdfjPK3L2rzenwKFG0VJA_DeWPBwRZIdVWKDrYugNZ9_7Gk-vNllqX6JZCL8_R0P3Ch6HT4XaplWTZsdjgGQps7JQN/s1600/M87-jet.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="M87 jet" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KL0try4VYdT4MCdDt_K-n36GX4f3J19SouCpxU7Gs1LA75rJhhsdfjPK3L2rzenwKFG0VJA_DeWPBwRZIdVWKDrYugNZ9_7Gk-vNllqX6JZCL8_R0P3Ch6HT4XaplWTZsdjgGQps7JQN/s640/M87-jet.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Streaming out from the centre of the galaxy M87 like a cosmic searchlight is one of nature's most amazing phenomena, a black-hole-powered jet of electrons and other sub-atomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. In this Hubble telescope image, the blue jet contrasts with the yellow glow from the combined light of billions of unseen stars and the yellow, point-like clusters of stars that make up this galaxy. Lying at the centre of M87, the monstrous black hole has swallowed up matter equal to 2 billion times our Sun's mass. M87 is 50 million light-years from Earth.</div><br />Image Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) and NASA/ESA<br />Explanation from: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0020a/

A Cosmic Searchlight

Streaming out from the centre of the galaxy M87 like a cosmic searchlight is one of nature's most amazing phenomena, a black-hole-powere...

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The Rho Ophiuchi star formation region

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9c5cu2Nkah89J7W_tpMrkOanIRorCTwLM9RIpFxhrJWunrYBF5VrbNarZKpP1yyE4fvAtpTpQ-LOHEJX_DOBYDlbb88Q8K4iGkjBNUyYZbTwRfhSdbd1O9zGCbB55NWTKJ1w_Lcrljzc/s1600/Rho-Ophiuchi-star-formation-region.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="The Rho Ophiuchi star formation region" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9c5cu2Nkah89J7W_tpMrkOanIRorCTwLM9RIpFxhrJWunrYBF5VrbNarZKpP1yyE4fvAtpTpQ-LOHEJX_DOBYDlbb88Q8K4iGkjBNUyYZbTwRfhSdbd1O9zGCbB55NWTKJ1w_Lcrljzc/s640/Rho-Ophiuchi-star-formation-region.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This wide-field view shows a spectacular region of dark and bright clouds, forming part of a region of star formation in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer). This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.</div><br />Image Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2, Davide De Martin

The Rho Ophiuchi star formation region

This wide-field view shows a spectacular region of dark and bright clouds, forming part of a region of star formation in the constellation o...

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Milky Way Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy and Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy above La Silla Observatory in Chile

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtS7gsniVvAom9An-mexkU3w6VMFEAA6yMc9agdnpNR2Ks110QxMNWSjWTXH0wGcFbOT7WOQP98JPBdtzNIvzNU79qb7BM1B0YZEYAZymx9u5ty8AiMnRLKBcGPG4OXQ0Vz4dI_ajpW9I/s1600/milky-way-galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Milky Way Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy and Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy above La Silla Observatory in Chile" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtS7gsniVvAom9An-mexkU3w6VMFEAA6yMc9agdnpNR2Ks110QxMNWSjWTXH0wGcFbOT7WOQP98JPBdtzNIvzNU79qb7BM1B0YZEYAZymx9u5ty8AiMnRLKBcGPG4OXQ0Vz4dI_ajpW9I/s640/milky-way-galaxy.jpg" title="" /></a></div><br />Image Credit: P. Horálek/ESO

Milky Way Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy and Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy above La Silla Observatory in Chile

Image Credit: P. Horálek/ESO

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Popocatépetl Volcano Eruption

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOBSPw1ifo3GtThsQ9Cphoq3M1pLeOsz1Qs4972Tqjg2o3IzhIDKuT0zC9XxEBtt6ZVu2STalcGNiZuLyK3Z8C0l-TOjHBUt8cEAzdaxh9h6pS45lwZXhiHGS1aOEFUEc6ADxfmgbME3i/s1600/Popocatepetl-Volcano-Eruption.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Popocatépetl Volcano Eruption" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisOBSPw1ifo3GtThsQ9Cphoq3M1pLeOsz1Qs4972Tqjg2o3IzhIDKuT0zC9XxEBtt6ZVu2STalcGNiZuLyK3Z8C0l-TOjHBUt8cEAzdaxh9h6pS45lwZXhiHGS1aOEFUEc6ADxfmgbME3i/s640/Popocatepetl-Volcano-Eruption.jpg" title="" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Mexico-Puebla-Morelos, Mexico</div><div style="text-align: center;">July 4, 2013</div><br />Image Credit: Pablo Spencer

Popocatépetl Volcano Eruption

Mexico-Puebla-Morelos, Mexico July 4, 2013 Image Credit: Pablo Spencer

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