Space
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Halley's Comet, photo taken from Easter Island 1986.
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Have you seen a panorama from another world lately? Assembled from high-resolution scans of the original film frames, this one sweeps across the magnificent desolation of the Apollo 11 landing site on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility. The images were taken by Neil Armstrong looking out his window of the Eagle Lunar Module shortly after the July 20, 1969 landing.
The frame at the far left (AS11-37-5449) is the first picture taken by a person on another world. Toward the south, thruster nozzles can be seen in the foreground on the left, while at the right, the shadow of the Eagle is visible to the west. For scale, the large, shallow crater on the right has a diameter of about 12 meters. Frames taken from the Lunar Module windows about an hour and a half after landing, before walking on the lunar surface, were intended to initially document the landing site in case an early departure was necessary.2 -
Planck Maps the Microwave Background
What is our universe made of? To help find out, ESA launched the Planck satellite from 2009 to 2013 to map, in unprecedented detail, slight temperature differences on the oldest optical surface known -- the background sky when our universe first became transparent to light. Visible in all directions, this cosmic microwave background is a complex tapestry that could only show the hot and cold patterns observed were the universe to be composed of specific types of energy that evolved in specific ways.
The final results, reported last week, confirm again that most of our universe is mostly composed of mysterious and unfamiliar dark energy, and that even most of the remaining matter energy is strangely dark. Additionally, the "final" 2018 Planck data impressively peg the age of the universe at about 13.8 billion years and the local expansion rate -- called the Hubble constant -- at 67.4 (+/- 0.5) km/sec/Mpc. Oddly, this early-universe determined Hubble constant is slightly lower than that determined by other methods in the late-universe, creating a tension that is causing much discussion and speculation.2 -
In July 2018, an iceberg weighing 11 million tons parked just offshore of Innaarsuit, a small island village in northwestern Greenland. Ground-based photographs show its impressive height as it towered over the small village.
“This is absolutely beautiful,” said Kelly Brunt, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The z dimension (height) is pretty extreme.” When viewed from space, however, the iceberg is like a “Where’s Waldo?” puzzle, becoming lost in a sea of similar looking bergs. On July 5, 2018, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this natural-color image of the area.
Large icebergs, in terms of width and length, are common in Baffin Bay. And most of them usually move along a path that keeps them out of the harbor. But it is the height and position of the berg that poses potential trouble for Innaarsuit.
“Bergs pose a threat when they sluff off chunks of ice,” Brunt said. “The waves that are created from this process could be quite large and could inundate the inhabited coast.”
“If the iceberg’s z dimension (height) is large relative to the x and y dimension, the ice could roll,” Brunt added. “The sides of tall icebergs like this often have a series of complex water lines, suggesting that they have experienced a complex history of shifting and rolling slightly as they change shape. A big roll could be pretty scary, and could create a substantial wave.”2 -
If you go high enough, you may find yourself on a picturesque perch between the water clouds of the Earth and the star clouds of the Milky Way. Such was the case last month for one adventurous alpinist astrophotographer. Captured here in the foreground above white clouds are mountain peaks in the Dolomite range in northern Italy.
This multi-exposure image was captured from Lagazuoi, one of the Dolomites. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Dolomites were not mountains but islands an ancient sea that rose through colliding tectonic plates. The Dolomites divergent history accounts for its unusually contrasting features, which include jagged crests and ancient marine fossils.
High above even the Dolomites, and far in the distance, dark dust lanes streak out from the central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. The stars and dust are dotted with bright red clouds of glowing hydrogen gas -- such as the Lagoon Nebula just above and to the left of center.2 -
(May 5, 2018) --- The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station was orbiting above northern Africa. Dragon would be released a few hours later for its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on May 5, 2018 ending the SpaceX CRS-14 mission.2 -
Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force.
A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.
The extraordinary image was captured by the crew of the International Space Station 220 miles above a remote Russian island in the North Pacific.
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Hubble Reveals a Cosmic Distortion
The mind-bending distortions visible in this impressive Hubble image are actually caused by a cosmic phenomenon.3 -
The longest total lunar eclipse of the century arrives Friday night, showcasing a blood moon for most of the Eastern Hemisphere. Coincidentally, Mars is also at its brightest, putting two bright red objects in our sky.
The lunar eclipse happens during daylight hours for those in the Western Hemisphere, so people in North America will miss it.
This full moon in July is also known as the Full Buck Moon and the Thunder Moon, occurring when a male deer's antlers are in full growth and at a time of frequent thunderstorms, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.
The Royal Astronomical Society said Mars and the moon will appear low in the sky for everyone in the UK, so a location with an unobstructed southeastern horizon will afford the best view.
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The Virtual Telescope Project will share a live stream of the lunar eclipse and Mars at its brightest just a few degrees apart above the skyline of Rome. Slooh, a robotic telescope service, will also live stream the eclipse beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time and ending at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.
https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2018/06/01/the-night-of-the-red-moon-and-the-red-planet-the-total-lunar-eclipse-and-planet-mars-color-the-starry-sky-27-july-2018/2 -
Hubble Takes Portrait of Opulent Ring World
Saturn is the solar system’s most photogenic planet, especially in this latest Hubble snapshot with the ring system near its maximum tilt.2 -
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The International Space Station soars into a sunrise every 90 minutes, each and every day.2 -
Hubble Images Milky Way’s Big Sister
This Hubble image shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way albeit larger, measuring more than 200,000 light-years across compared to a 100,000-light-year diameter for our home galaxy.2 -
honeybee__12 wrote: »
If you are interested, Sandage is an amazing study of astrophysics and a true pioneer in the field. For the longest time his workwith Hubble in giving a estimate for the age of the universe put him at odds with the scientific community at large, but the Hubble Constant is now widely accepted as one of closest estiamtes, and very close to Sandage's 1958 work. But he had many other contributions so well worth reading about and everything done at the Mount Wilson Observatory.2 -
Eclipse over the Gulf of Poets
The total phase of the July 27 lunar eclipse lasted for an impressive 103 minutes. That makes it the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. The Moon passed through the center of Earth's shadow while the Moon was near apogee, the most distant point in its elliptical orbit. From start to finish, the entire duration of totality is covered in this composite view. A dreamlike scene, it includes a sequence of digital camera exposures made every three minutes.
The exposures track the totally eclipsed lunar disk, accompanied on that night by bright planet Mars, as it climbs above the seaside village of Tellaro, Italy. In the foreground lies the calm mediteranean Gulf of La Spezia, known to some as the Gulf of Poets. In the 3rd century BCE, heliocentric astronomer Aristarchus also tracked the duration of lunar eclipses, though without the benefit of digital clocks and cameras. Using geometry he devised a way to calculate the Moon's distance from the eclipse duration, in terms of the radius of planet Earth.2 -
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An image of the X8.2 class solar flare emitted by the Sun on 10 September 2017, seen here in a blend of extreme ultraviolet light from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier 4 June 2018
In September 2017, a series of moderate to extreme flares jetted outward from the Sun’s surface. Among them was a monster X8.2 class flare that occurred on 10 September and was one of the largest flares of the current, but nearly completed, 11-year solar cycle. This flare and the other jets generated waves of space weather, auroras, and, at times, communication difficulties here on Earth.2 -
Reddened by scattered sunlight, the Moon in the center is passing through the center of Earth's dark umbral shadow in this July 27 lunar eclipse sequence. Left to right the three images are from the start, maximum, and end to 103 minutes of totality from the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century. The longest path the Moon can follow through Earth's shadow does cross the shadow's center, that's what makes such central lunar eclipses long ones.
But July 27 was also the date of lunar apogee, and at the most distant part of its elliptical orbit the Moon moves slowest. For the previous lunar eclipse, last January 31, the Moon was near its orbital perigee. Passing just south of the Earth shadow central axis, totality lasted only 76 minutes. Coming up on January 21, 2019, a third consecutive total lunar eclipse will also be off center and find the Moon near perigee. Then totality will be a mere 62 minutes long.
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The Latest: Three of the world's largest radio telescopes team up to show a rare double asteroid. 2017 YE5 is only the fourth binary near-Earth asteroid ever observed in which the two bodies are roughly the same size, and not touching.3 -
Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C powers the complex star forming region's entire visible glow.
About three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a recent dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun. The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars.
The Orion Nebula's distance of some 1,500 light-years would make it the closest known black hole to planet Earth.3 -
No, this castle was not built with the Moon attached. To create the spectacular juxtaposition, careful planning and a bit of good weather was needed. Pictured, the last supermoon of 2016 was captured last week rising directly beyond one of the towers of Bellver Castle in Palma de Mallorca on the Balearic Islands of Spain. The supermoon was the last full moon of 2016 and known to some as the Oak Moon.
Bellver Castle was built in the early 1300s and has served as a home -- but occasional as a prison -- to numerous kings and queens. The Moon was built about 4.5 billion years ago, possibly resulting from a great collision with a Mars-sized celestial body and Earth. The next supermoon, defined as when the moon appears slightly larger and brighter than usual, will occur on 2017 December 3 and be visible not only behind castles but all over the Earth.4 -
How far can you see? The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy some two million light-years away. Without a telescope, even this immense spiral galaxy appears as an unremarkable, faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. But a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, gorgeous blue spiral arms and star clusters are recorded in this stunning telescopic digital mosaic of the nearby island universe.
While even casual skygazers are now inspired by the knowledge that there are many distant galaxies like M31, astronomers seriously debated this fundamental concept only 80 years ago. Were these "spiral nebulae" simply outlying components of our own Milky Way Galaxy or were they instead "island universes" -- distant systems of stars comparable to the Milky Way itself?
This question was central to the famous Shapley-Curtis debate of 1920, which was later resolved by observations of M31 in favor of Andromeda, island universe.1 -
Mars might only be half the size of Earth, but its mountains and valleys are perhaps even more stunning.
Let’s start with Olympus Mons – yes, Mars’ Mount Olympus – which would dwarf Mount Everest.
The volcanic mountain stands at 27km high, more than three times taller than our biggest mountain, Everest.
In fact it’s so big, it’s the biggest mountain known in the Solar System. And if it was on Earth, it wouldn’t be able to cope with the gravitational pull and would collapse in on itself.2 -
How far can you see? The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy some two million light-years away. Without a telescope, even this immense spiral galaxy appears as an unremarkable, faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. But a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, gorgeous blue spiral arms and star clusters are recorded in this stunning telescopic digital mosaic of the nearby island universe.
While even casual skygazers are now inspired by the knowledge that there are many distant galaxies like M31, astronomers seriously debated this fundamental concept only 80 years ago. Were these "spiral nebulae" simply outlying components of our own Milky Way Galaxy or were they instead "island universes" -- distant systems of stars comparable to the Milky Way itself?
This question was central to the famous Shapley-Curtis debate of 1920, which was later resolved by observations of M31 in favor of Andromeda, island universe.
I would love to have a powerful telescope... I could gaze for hours. I'm gonna get one
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What has created a large dust ring around Saturn? At over 200 times the radius of Saturn and over 50 times the radius of Saturn's expansive E ring, the newly discovered dust ring is the largest planetary ring yet imaged. The ring was found in infrared light by the Earth-trailing Spitzer Space Telescope. A leading hypothesis for its origin is impact material ejected from Saturn's moon Phoebe, which orbits right through the dust ring's middle.
An additional possibility is that the dust ring supplies the mysterious material that coats part of Saturn's moon Iapetus, which orbits near the dust ring's inner edge. Pictured above in the inset, part of the dust ring appears as false-color orange in front of numerous background stars.
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Bullet_with_Butterfly_Wings wrote: »
How far can you see? The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy some two million light-years away. Without a telescope, even this immense spiral galaxy appears as an unremarkable, faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. But a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, gorgeous blue spiral arms and star clusters are recorded in this stunning telescopic digital mosaic of the nearby island universe.
While even casual skygazers are now inspired by the knowledge that there are many distant galaxies like M31, astronomers seriously debated this fundamental concept only 80 years ago. Were these "spiral nebulae" simply outlying components of our own Milky Way Galaxy or were they instead "island universes" -- distant systems of stars comparable to the Milky Way itself?
This question was central to the famous Shapley-Curtis debate of 1920, which was later resolved by observations of M31 in favor of Andromeda, island universe.
I would love to have a powerful telescope... I could gaze for hours. I'm gonna get one
I am also thinking about getting one. Maybe not a super powerful one but a decent one like my friend has.2
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