APOD

[EveryNerveAware]

This isn't an APOD picture or link, but was referred to in an APOD post.

 

Very cool video... worth watching to give you some perspective.

 

Star Size Comparison

 

[summer_sky]

cool, I hadn't seen this discussion thread here before.

APOD has been on my favorite bookmarked list for years.

Glad to see this topic bumped

[Babycat]

QUOTE (EveryNerveAware @ Sep 10 2010, 04:24 PM)

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1009/vela_lorenzi_c0.jpg Explanation: The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape. At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails) the four frame mosaic is over 10 degrees wide, centered on the glowing filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the supernova explosion that created the Vela remnant reached Earth about 11,000 years ago. In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense,rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar. Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely embedded in a larger and older supernova remnant, the Gum Nebula.

Just found this thread. Cool.

 

What a beautiful image...

[Babycat]

QUOTE (EveryNerveAware @ Aug 21 2010, 02:19 AM)

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1008/NGC1365_pugh900c.jpg Explanation: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax galaxy cluster. This impressively sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, and details of dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole.

This image is also beautiful...

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1103/IC405FlamingstarDetail_geissinger900.jpg

 

Explanation: AE Aurigae is the bright star below and left of center in this evocative portrait of IC 405, also known as the Flaming Star Nebula.

Embedded in the cosmic cloud, the hot, variable O-type star energizes the glow of hydrogen along convoluted filaments of atomic gas, its blue

starlight scattered by interstellar dust. But AE Aurigae wasn't formed in the nebula it illuminates. Retracing the star's motion through space,

astronomers conclude that AE Aurigae was probably born in the Orion Nebula. Close gravitational encounters with other stars ejected it from

the region, along with another O star, Mu Columbae, over two million years ago. The runaway stars have drifted in opposite directions ever since,

separating at about 200 kilometers per second. This sharp, detailed image of IC 405 spans over 5 light-years at the nebula's estimated distance

of 1,500 light-years in the northern constellation Auriga, the Charioteer.

[EveryNerveAware]

Not from APOD but very cool nonetheless... gives you some perspective.

 

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1103/NGC6914_peris_600h.jpg

 

Explanation: A dramatic study in contrasts, this colorful skyscape features stars, dust, and glowing gas in NGC 6914. The complex of nebulae lies some 6,000 light-years

away, toward the high-flying northern constellation Cygnus and the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. With foreground dust clouds in silhouette, both reddish hydrogen emission

nebulae and dusty blue reflection nebulae fill the 1/2 degree wide field. The view spans nearly 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914. Ultraviolet radiation from

the massive, hot, young stars of the extensive Cygnus OB2 association ionize the region's atomic hydrogen gas, producing the characteristic red glow as protons and

electrons recombine. Embedded Cygnus OB2 stars also provide the blue starlight strongly reflected by the dusty clouds. Constructed as a two-panel mosaic, the image was

processed to bring out both bright and dim colors and detailed structures.

[Maverick]

I always like this thread. Thanks for reviving it, ENA!!!

 

[EveryNerveAware]

QUOTE (-Ender- @ Mar 17 2011, 08:32 AM)

I always like this thread. Thanks for reviving it, ENA!!!

My pleasure.

 

Did you check out the video link I posted about the star sizes?

[-Jane-]

QUOTE (EveryNerveAware @ Mar 17 2011, 10:00 AM)

QUOTE (-Ender- @ Mar 17 2011, 08:32 AM) I always like this thread.  Thanks for reviving it, ENA!!! My pleasure.   Did you check out the video link I posted about the star sizes? honestly that video makes me a little dizzy.

[EveryNerveAware]

[skalamander2112]

QUOTE (EveryNerveAware @ Mar 17 2011, 07:30 AM)

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1103/NGC6914_peris_600h.jpg Explanation: A dramatic study in contrasts, this colorful skyscape features stars, dust, and glowing gas in NGC 6914. The complex of nebulae lies some 6,000 light-years away, toward the high-flying northern constellation Cygnus and the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. With foreground dust clouds in silhouette, both reddish hydrogen emission nebulae and dusty blue reflection nebulae fill the 1/2 degree wide field. The view spans nearly 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914. Ultraviolet radiation from the massive, hot, young stars of the extensive Cygnus OB2 association ionize the region's atomic hydrogen gas, producing the characteristic red glow as protons and electrons recombine. Embedded Cygnus OB2 stars also provide the blue starlight strongly reflected by the dusty clouds. Constructed as a two-panel mosaic, the image was processed to bring out both bright and dim colors and detailed structures.

yeaaaaaaaaahhhhh

[FoxxiStarr]

Fantastic pictures! Glad to have found this thread. I had to post this picture - the last roll out of Discovery.

 

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt227/DeathGlamIndustries/NASA/shuttlerollout.jpg

[Good,bad,andrush]

Bumping this beauty.

[missionman]

QUOTE (Lerxster @ May 27 2009, 04:27 AM)

<img width='740' src='http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii282/Lerxster/atlantisun2.jpg' border='0' alt='User posted image' /> In this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida. This image was made before Atlantis and the crew of STS-125 had grappled the Hubble Space Telescope. The phtographer made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera. Image Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault

That's a REALLY cool pic!

[missionman]

These are ALL REALLY cool pix!

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1105/redspot_voyager1_900.jpg

 

Explanation: It is a hurricane twice the size of the Earth. It has been raging at least as long as telescopes could see it, and shows no signs of

slowing. It is Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the largest swirling storm system in the Solar System. Like most astronomical phenomena, the Great Red

Spot was neither predicted nor immediately understood after its discovery. Still today, details of how and why the Great Red Spot changes its

shape, size, and color remain mysterious. A better understanding of the weather on Jupiter may help contribute to the better understanding

of weather here on Earth. The above image is a recently completed digital enhancement of an image of Jupiter taken in 1979 by the Voyager 1

spacecraft as it zoomed by the Solar System's largest planet. At about 117 AU from Earth, Voyager 1 is currently the most distant human made

object in the universe and expected to leave the entire solar heliosheath any time now.

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1105/ngc6514_gabany_crop900.jpg

 

Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in colorful contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward

the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid illustrates three different types of astronomical

nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light emitted by hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and

dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. The bright red emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring,

dark dust lanes, lends the Trifid its popular name. In this well met scene, the red emission is also juxtaposed with the telltale blue haze of

reflection nebulae. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula's center, appear in Hubble Space Telescope

close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across.

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1106/NGC5139_mandell900.jpg

 

Explanation: Featured in this sharp telescopic image, globular star cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is some 15,000 light-years away.

Some 150 light-years in diameter, the cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun. Omega Cen is the largest of 200

or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and

composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances.

In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way.

[EveryNerveAware]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1108/fairypillar_hst_900.jpg

 

Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the

statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula

that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire.

The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular

stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was released in 2005 as part of

the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

[Inthend]

Simply Gorgeous, ENA! Thx.

[EveryNerveAware]

A beautiful rose for the ladies on Valentine's Day...

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1202/ngc2237_davis_960.jpg

 

Explanation: The Rosette Nebula is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers -- but it is the most famous. At the edge of

a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this rose are actually a stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is

sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars. The stars in the energetic cluster, cataloged as NGC 2244, are only a few

million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula, cataloged as NGC 2237, is about 50 light-years in diameter. The nebula can be seen first-

hand with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

[Tommy Sawyer]

Wow, that's amazing!

[1 of the 7]

Thanks EveryNerveAware!

[EveryNerveAware]

http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/Astro/Mauna_kea_11/2011_04_02-03_360deg/2011_04_02-03_360deg.png

 

Explanation: Sweeping from the eastern to western horizon, this 360 degree panorama follows the band of zodiacal light along the solar system's ecliptic plane.

Dust scattering sunlight produces the faint zodiacal glow that spans this fundamental coordinate plane of the celestial sphere, corresponding to the apparent

yearly path of the Sun through the sky and the plane of Earth's orbit. The fascinating panorama is a mosaic of images taken from dusk to dawn over the course

of a single night at two different locations on Mauna Kea. The lights of Hilo, Hawaii are on the eastern (left) horizon, with the Subaru and twin Keck telescope

structures near the western horizon. On that well chosen moonless night, Venus was shining as the morning star just above the eastern horizon, and Saturn

was close to opposition. In fact, Saturn is seen immersed in a brightening of the zodiacal band known as the gegenschein. The gegenschein also lies near 180

degrees in elongation or angular distance from the Sun along the ecliptic. In the mosaic projection, the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs at an angle, crossing

the horizontal band of zodiacal light above the two horizons. Nebulae, stars, and dust clouds of the bulging galactic center are rising in the east.