Space

The Double Cluster



A lovely starfield in the heroic northern constellation Perseus holds this famous pair of open or galactic star clusters, h and Chi Persei. Also cataloged as NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884, both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away and contain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun.

Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters' ages based on their individual stars are similar - evidence that they were likely a product of the same star-forming region. Always a rewarding sight in binoculars, the Double Cluster is even visible to the unaided eye from dark locations. Star colors (and spikes) are enhanced in this beautiful, wide field, telescopic image.

Enhanced: The Dolphin Cloud on Jupiter



Do you see the dolphin-shaped cloud on Jupiter? The cloud was visible last year during perijove 16, the sixteenth time that NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno passed near Jupiter since it arrived in mid-2016. During each perijove, Juno passes near a slightly different part of Jupiter's cloud tops.

The dolphin shape may be surprising but is not scientifically significant -- clouds on Jupiter and Earth are constantly shifting and can temporarily mimic many familiar shapes. The cloud appears in Jupiter's South Temperate Belt (STB), a band of dark and dropping clouds that rings the planet and also contains Oval BA, dubbed Red Spot Jr.

The featured image was digitally processed to enhance color and contrast. Juno's next swoop near Jupiter -- perijove 20 -- will occur on late May.

In the Vicinity of the Cone Nebula



Strange shapes and textures can be found in neighborhood of the Cone Nebula. The unusual shapes originate from fine interstellar dust reacting in complex ways with the energetic light and hot gas being expelled by the young stars. The brightest star on the right of the featured picture is S Mon, while the region just below it has been nicknamed the Fox Fur Nebula for its color and structure.

The blue glow directly surrounding S Mon results from reflection, where neighboring dust reflects light from the bright star. The red glow that encompasses the whole region results not only from dust reflection but also emission from hydrogen gas ionized by starlight. S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars named NGC 2264, located about 2500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

Even though it points right at S Mon, details of the origin of the mysterious geometric Cone Nebula, visible on the far left, remain a mystery.

JustReadTheInstructions wrote: »

The center core of Falcon heavy did not make it home
The octograbber not designed for center cores and rough seas caused it to fall off the droneship.

Until they can figure out how to land rockets on land I'm not sure it will work out. The ocean can be a cold harsh mistress. But I am happy they are having success which seems to happen more than failure. I haven't kept score. Luckily Space X has a nice website for all its rockets info. Some people, around here, I'm sure already know this, even if they kept it to themselves....

SpaceX Stats and next rocket launch. The CRS-17 launches in less than 8 days, FYI for anyone who wants to watch rockets, one of the wonders of the world.

https://www.spacexstats.xyz/




In case any of you wonder why the Ocean.


So. Why Did SpaceX Land a Rocket on a Barge?

Using the floating barge in Florida as an example, all launches from Florida head East over the Atlantic Ocean; a barge in the sea reduces the travel distance back to Earth to perform a landing, as the rocket doesn’t have to travel as far.

So for more ambitious launches, SpaceX can’t return its first stage of the rocket to land. “For half our missions, we will need to land out to sea,” said Musk in a press conference after the launch. “Anything beyond Earth is likely to need to land on the ship.”

SpaceX eventually hopes to have all rockets land on solid ground after launch, which would be similar to what they have accomplished with the Grasshopper rocket. However, according to American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aerospace Engineer Paul Huter, “landing something that was moving at thousands of miles an hour pretty much straight up is a far cry from what Grasshopper does with its small ‘jumps’ into the air.”

https://futurism.com/spacex-land-rocket-barge

The Leo Trio



This group is popular in the northern spring. Famous as the Leo Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies gather in one field of view. Crowd pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, they can be introduced individually as NGC 3628 (left), M66 (bottom right), and M65 (top).

All three are large spiral galaxies but they tend to look dissimilar because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy, is temptingly seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting across its puffy galactic plane. The disks of M66 and M65 are both inclined enough to show off their spiral structure.

Gravitational interactions between galaxies in the group have left telltale signs, including the tidal tails and warped, inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the drawn out spiral arms of M66. This gorgeous view of the region spans almost two degrees (four full moons) on the sky.

The field covers about a million light-years at the trio's estimated distance of 30 million light-years. Of course the spiky foreground stars lie within our own Milky Way.