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aamukherjee A Slice of Entropie -
alchymista Alchymista -
crownedrose Fading Like A Dead Star -
expose-the-light Quarks to Quasars -
ikenbot CWL -
abluegirl A Blue Girl -
perscientiamlibertas A Matter of the Most Pleasant Fraternal Confidence
Summer is slowly coming to Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The north pole, which was in the midst of a 7-year-long winter when Cassini arrived in 2004, is now seen basking in the sunlight of mid-spring. Cassini is taking full advantage of the sunlight to capture these amazing views of the north polar hexagon and the myriad of storms, large and small, that comprise the weather systems in the polar region.
This view is centered on terrain at 75 degrees north latitude, 322 degrees west longitude. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 26, 2013 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 383,000 miles (616,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 48 degrees. Image scale is 21 miles (33 kilometers) per pixel.
ikenbot
Messier 106 (NGC 4258): Spiral Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Distance: 24 million light years
Constellation: Venatici
M106 has the distinction of harboring the nearest extragalactic astrophysical jet.
The proximity of M106 and its incline of about 72 degrees expose the central region of the galaxy’s barred core to earthbound telescopes giving astronomers the opportunity to learn about “jet” phenomenon in great detail. Jets are highly collimated beams of matter and energy associated with the cores of active galaxies. They are best observed at radio wavelengths and usually come in pairs aimed in opposite directions. M106 is a type of active galaxy classified as a seyfert galaxy by virtue of its active nucleus and characteristic emission spectra.
Like other seyfert galaxies it shows evidence of a massive black hole (about 36 million solar masses) within its nucleus. Surrounding the black hole is a disk of spiraling matter called an accretion disk. The physics of the accretion disk is such that material falling into the black hole releases copious amounts of energy sometimes in the form of powerful jets. The two sided radiojet of M106 exits the core traveling in opposite directions and extends through the galactic disk for about 16,000 light years before it deflects into the halo of the galaxy. — Robert Gendler
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Image Catalogue (IC) 239
At a distance of 30-40 million light years IC 239 is not terribly distant. However, its low (surface) brightness may indicate that this galaxy isn’t as massive as many others of the same type (M101 for example).
Image Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
The bright foreground stars of our own galaxy make detecting the delicate structure of this face-on spiral a difficult venture. There are hints of bluish spiral arms with a myriad of pink nebulae (star forming regions). If we lived in this galaxy, our sun would orbit the galactic center at a speed of 280km/s. This is a bit faster than our speed in the Milky Way at around 220km/s. [**]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/671097233d2cc38cc45df58b9cf52096/tumblr_mf8gkqNWOv1qbn5m1o1_500.jpg)
At a distance of 30-40 million light years IC 239 is not terribly distant. However, its low (surface) brightness may indicate that this galaxy isn’t as massive as many others of the same type (M101 for example).
Image Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
The bright foreground stars of our own galaxy make detecting the delicate structure of this face-on spiral a difficult venture. There are hints of bluish spiral arms with a myriad of pink nebulae (star forming regions). If we lived in this galaxy, our sun would orbit the galactic center at a speed of 280km/s. This is a bit faster than our speed in the Milky Way at around 220km/s. [**]
Here is the Hubble image of M57 combined with data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. The data was kindly provided by Robert Gendler.
Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and obtained from the Hubble Legacy Archive, which is a collaboration between the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI/NASA), the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF/ESA) and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC/NRC/CSA) and data from the Subaru 8.2 m telescope (NAOJ).
— Processing: André van der Hoeven/Robert Gendler
IC2220 is the result of the reflection of gas and star material coming ejected from the red giant HD 65750.
The dust emitted from the red star is not displaced equally in all directions. It is thought that the material is distributed via magnetic fields, electric fields or the rotation of the central star giving an irregular shape. Astro photographer David Malin called this object the Toby Jug Nebula after the english drinking vessel. For some others the shape resembles a similarity with a flying butterfly. — Sergio Eguivar
NGC 4755: The Jewel Box Cluster
Distance: 6,440 light years
The Jewel Box is an open star cluster visible as a faint smudge with the naked eye under dark skies.
It is located 6,440 light years away towards the constellation Crux, The Southern Cross. The first person to recognise it as a cluster of individual stars was Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his visit to Cape Town in 1752. The name of the cluster originates from John Herschel’s later observations in the 1830’s, also from Cape Town, and his resulting description of it:
“A most vivid and beautiful cluster, though neither a large nor a rich one, is yet an extremely brilliant and beautiful object when viewed through an instrument of sufficient aperture to show distinctly the very different colour of its constituent stars, which give it the effect of a superb piece of fancy jewellery”
The bright orange star in the centre of the cluster is known as Kappa Crucis. It provides a striking contrast with the rest of the hot blue cluster members. Although the cluster is a mere 14 million years young this star has already reached the red giant phase of its life and will most likely explode in a brilliant sumpernova within the next few million years.
The cluster has been photographed by a wide array of professional telescopes, including ESO’s VLT and La Silla observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope. Click on the following link to view a beautiful composite image that provides a zoom into the heart of the cluster: Putting the Jewel Box in Perspective
“This is a composite of all the Geminid meteors captured over Pendleton, Oregon on the evening of December 13, 2012. I took these from Emigrant Hill. In the valley below, you can see the light “footprint” of Pendleton, Mission, the Wildhorse Casino, and several other smaller towns. Fog has enveloped most of the cities below.” — Thomas W. Earle
Geminid Meteor Shower 2012 from Mt. Hehuan, Taiwan by 星天日和
“Spiral galaxy NGC2403 imaged earlier this week. Data combined from two telescopes: Luminance and H-Alpha from Hyperion 12.5” f/8 and RGB data from a HyperStar-equipped C11 at f/2. Total combined exposure time from the two scopes is 17.5 hours—all taken on one night!” — Scott Tucker & Gil Esquerdo
Messier 7 and Barnard 287 taken in Réunion island with an Epsilon Takahashi 8” f/d=3 and EOS 7D baader at 800 iso. — Jérôme ASTREOUD
Image by Oscar Martin Mesonero
Or better known as Baily’s Beads; The Baily’s beads effect is a feature of total solar eclipses.
As the moon “grazes” by the Sun during a solar eclipse, the rugged lunar limb topography allows beads of sunlight to shine through in some places, and not in others. The name is in honor of Francis Baily who first provided an exact explanation of the phenomenon in 1836. The diamond ring effect is seen when only one bead is left; a shining diamond set in a bright ring around the lunar silhouette.
