Posts Tagged ‘astronomy’
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 4449: Close-up of a Small Galaxy Credit: Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing - Robert Gendler Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory. Their young, blue star clusters and pink star forming regions along sweeping spiral arms are guaranteed to attract attention. But small irregular galaxies form stars too, likeNGC 4449, about 12 million light-years distant. Less than 20,000 light-years across, the small island ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NGC 281: The Pacman Nebula Credit & Copyright: Steve Cannistra (StarryWonders) Explanation: NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation. Prominent features include a small open cluster of stars, a diffuse red-glowing emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring gas and dust, and dense knots of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming. The open cluster of stars IC 1590 visible around the center has formed only in the last few million years. The brightest member ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
The Heart and Soul Nebulas Credit: Digitized Sky Survey, ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator; Color Composite: Davide De Martin (Skyfactory) Explanation: Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula, officially dubbed IC 1805 and visible in the above zoomable view on the right, has a shape reminiscent of a classical heart symbol. Both ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Astronomy Photo of the Day Opportunity at Santa Maria Crater Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, NASA, JPL, Cornell; Image Processing: Marco Di Lorenzo, Kenneth Kremer Explanation: Celebrating 7 years on the surface of the Red Planet, Mars exploration rover Opportunity now stands near the rim of 90 meter wide Santa Maria crater. Remarkably, Opportunity and its fellow rover Spirit were ... Full Story
Astronomy Photo of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day NanoSail-D Illustration Credit: courtesy NASA Explanation: Featured in this artist's illustration, NASA's NanoSail-D finally unfurled a very thin, 10 square meter reflective sail on January 20th, becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by astronomer Johannes Kepler who observed ... Full Story
Astronomy Photo of the Day
The Whirlpool Galaxy in Infrared Dust Credit: Infrared: NASA, ESA, M. Regan & B. Whitmore (STScI), & R. Chandar (U. Toledo); Explanation: How do spiral galaxies form stars? To help find out, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the nearby photogenic spiral M51 in infrared light to highlight the dust that traces the dense gas that best forms stars. To further isolate the dust, much of the optical light from stars has also been digitally removed. The ... Full Story
Astronomy Photo of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day The Rippled Red Ribbons of SNR 0509 Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: J. Hughes (Rutgers U.) Explanation: What is causing the picturesque ripples of supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5? The ripples, as well as the greater nebula, were imaged in unprecedented detail by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006 and again late last year. The red color was recoded by a Hubble ... Full Story
Astronomy Photo of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Phobos' South Pole from Mars Express Credit & Copyright: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) Explanation: Where on this moon would you land? The moon pictured above is not Earth's moon but Phobos, the closest moon to the planet Mars. Phobos is so close to Mars that it is expected to break up and crash into the red planet within the next 100 million years. Earlier just this year, ... Full Story
Chaco Canyon Echoes With Mysteries
By Jamie Folsom Berthoud Recorder The inhabitants of Chaco Canyon obviously paid attention to the sky. And although it’s not clear anyone actually resided in the 30 central buildings, the structures are all oriented to the patterns and events of the sun and moon –– equinoxes and eclipses, among others. This hundreds-of-years-old village stands as a monument to the human pursuit of information, both to those who once built Chaco, and to those who seek answers about the ... Full Story
