May 17th, 2012 at 11:52AM
(via APOD: 2012 May 16 - Star Formation in the Tarantula Nebula) Holy! A wonderful mosaic composition of Hubble data is assembled here. Even at a small size, it is impressive, but blow it up…and prepare to have trouble containing the awesome. This is the Tarantula Nebula, out in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way. It’s actually the most active star-forming region in the entire Local Group of galaxies (our home cluster). If it was as close as the Orion Nebula, it would cover half the sky! There’s a whole ton of stuff going on here. The pinks and reds are gas from emission nebulae (excited hydrogen de-ionizing and releasing electromagnetic radiation), but there are remnants of supernovae in here (as you might expect, when you birth a lot of stars, some of them die off rather quickly) and dark nebulae (dust that’s in-between you and a light source, creating a dark patch, but which is, in combination with the gas, quite useful for starting more stellar formation). Happy 22nd anniversary of Hubble’s launch, indeed! Image Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, D. Lennon (ESA/STScI) et al., and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

(via APOD: 2012 May 16 - Star Formation in the Tarantula Nebula)

Holy! A wonderful mosaic composition of Hubble data is assembled here. Even at a small size, it is impressive, but blow it up…and prepare to have trouble containing the awesome.

This is the Tarantula Nebula, out in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way. It’s actually the most active star-forming region in the entire Local Group of galaxies (our home cluster). If it was as close as the Orion Nebula, it would cover half the sky!

There’s a whole ton of stuff going on here. The pinks and reds are gas from emission nebulae (excited hydrogen de-ionizing and releasing electromagnetic radiation), but there are remnants of supernovae in here (as you might expect, when you birth a lot of stars, some of them die off rather quickly) and dark nebulae (dust that’s in-between you and a light source, creating a dark patch, but which is, in combination with the gas, quite useful for starting more stellar formation).

Happy 22nd anniversary of Hubble’s launch, indeed!

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO, D. Lennon (ESA/STScI) et al., and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

1 note Source: apod.nasa.gov #APOD#NASA#Hubble#HST#Hubble Space Telescope#astronomy#Large Magellanic Cloud#satellite galaxy#Tarantula Nebula#stellar evolution#stellar formation#cosmology#emission nebula#dark nebula#interstellar gas#interstellar dust
January 13th, 2012 at 12:00PM
(via APOD: 2012 January 11 - Little Planet Lovejoy) Take a 360-degree panoramic from the southern hemisphere. Make sure you get one of the last views of Comet Lovejoy in the sky. Piece it back together in a spherical projection. Voila, a Little Prince-esque view of Earth surrounded by the cosmos. Click through for the roll-over as it points out Lovejoy, the Magellanic clouds (satellite galaxies to the Milky Way) and the Coalsack dark nebula. Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

(via APOD: 2012 January 11 - Little Planet Lovejoy)

Take a 360-degree panoramic from the southern hemisphere. Make sure you get one of the last views of Comet Lovejoy in the sky. Piece it back together in a spherical projection. Voila, a Little Prince-esque view of Earth surrounded by the cosmos. Click through for the roll-over as it points out Lovejoy, the Magellanic clouds (satellite galaxies to the Milky Way) and the Coalsack dark nebula.

Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

2 notes Source: apod.nasa.gov #APOD#NASA#Comet Lovejoy#spherical projection#panoramic#astrophotography#astronomy#Magellanic clouds#nebula#Coalsack Nebula#dark nebula#satellite galaxy
January 11th, 2012 at 12:00PM
(via APOD: 2012 January 10 - Bright Star Regulus near the Leo I Dwarf Galaxy) The Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxy is a satellite to our own Milky Way, and a member of the Local Group galaxy cluster, 800,000 light-years away. It is being outshone by Regulus, in Leo, a star only 75 light-years away. Regulus is no less interesting. Its binary partner is just to the lower-left, a white dwarf, I think. Regulus is a blue star, still on the main sequence. Credit & Copyright: Chris Cook (CookPhoto.com)

(via APOD: 2012 January 10 - Bright Star Regulus near the Leo I Dwarf Galaxy)

The Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxy is a satellite to our own Milky Way, and a member of the Local Group galaxy cluster, 800,000 light-years away.

It is being outshone by Regulus, in Leo, a star only 75 light-years away. Regulus is no less interesting. Its binary partner is just to the lower-left, a white dwarf, I think. Regulus is a blue star, still on the main sequence.

Credit & Copyright: Chris Cook (CookPhoto.com)

2 notes Source: apod.nasa.gov #APOD#NASA#Leo I#dwarf galaxy#satellite galaxy#Regulus#main sequence#binary stars#astronomy#astrophysics#stellar evolution#dwarf spheroidal galaxy