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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/contrails_nasa_big.jpg

 

Explanation: Artificial clouds made by humans may become so common they change the Earth's climate. The long thin cloud streaks that dominate the above satellite photograph of Georgia are contrails, cirrus clouds created by airplanes. The exhaust of an airplane engine can create a contrail by saturating the surrounding air with extra moisture. The wings of a plane can similarly create contrails by dropping the temperature and causing small ice-crystals to form. Contrails have become more than an oddity - they may be significantly increasing the cloudiness of Earth, reflecting sunlight back into space by day, and heat radiation back to Earth even at night. The effect on climate is a topic of much research. You can help NASA measure the actual abundance of contrails by participating in a contrail counting exercise that runs over the next two days.

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/glimpse_spitzer_c2.jpg

 

Explanation: Not a glimpse of this cluster of stars can be seen in the inset visible light image (lower right). Still, the infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveals a massive globular star cluster of about 300,000 suns in an apparently empty region of sky in the constellation Aquila. When astronomers used Spitzer's infrared cameras to peer through obscuring dust in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, they were rewarded with the surprise discovery of the star cluster, likely one of the last such star clusters to be found. Globular star clusters normally roam the halo of the Milky Way, ancient relics of our galaxy's formative years. Yet the Spitzer image shows this otherwise hidden cluster crossing through the middle of the galactic plane some 10,000 light-years away. At that distance, the picture spans only about 20 light-years. In the false color infrared image, the red streak is a dust cloud which seems to lie behind the cluster core.

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/ngc3079_hst_comp.jpg

 

Explanation: Edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3079 is a mere 50 million light-years away toward the constellation Ursa Major. Shown in this stunning false-color Hubble Space Telescope image, the galaxy's disk - composed of spectacular star clusters in winding spiral arms and dramatic dark lanes of dust - spans some 70,000 light-years. Still, NGC 3079's most eye-catching features are the pillars of gas which tower above a swirling cosmic cauldron of activity at the galaxy's center. Seen in the close-up inset at lower right, the pillars rise to a height of about 2,000 light-years and seem to lie on the surface of an immense bubble rising from the galactic core. Measurements indicate that the gaseous pillars are streaming away from the core at 6 million kilometers per hour. What makes this galaxy's cauldron bubble? Astronomers are exploring the possibility that the superbubble is formed by winds from massive stars. If so, these massive stars were likely born all at once as the galactic center underwent a sudden burst of star formation.

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There will be a Blood Moon/lunar eclipse on the 27th!

 

 

Check it out!

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That's cool, Jack!

 

I like this part:

 

Suppose you had a personal spaceship. Here's your mission: Tonight, at midnight, blast off and fly down the middle of Earth's shadow. Keep going until you're about 200,000 miles above Earth, almost to the moon. Now turn around and look down. The view from your cockpit window is Earth's nightside, the dark half of our planet opposite the sun. But it's not completely dark! All around Earth's limb, the atmosphere glows red.

 

What you're seeing is every sunrise and sunset on Earth--all at once. This ring of light shines into Earth's shadow, breaking the utter darkness you might expect to find there. Turn off the cockpit lights. There's a lovely red glow.

 

Cool!!!! 653.gif

 

 

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/planetring_spitzer.jpg

 

Explanation: Why are some older stars surrounded by dust? Observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope by a team led by George Rieke (U. Arizona) were expected to show that young stars, on the order of one million years old, have large dust disks, while relatively older stars, between 10 and 100 million years old, have none. The conventional wisdom was that the dust disks surrounding young stars were still forming planets, while in older systems these disks had dissipated after planets had already formed. Unexpectedly, they found some older stars with the infrared glow of impressive rings or disks of dust. A possible explanation is that the old disks are remnant debris from violent collisions between many forming planets of rock. Resultant dust rings from such a scenario are depicted by an artist's illustration above.

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QUOTE (Alsgalpal @ Oct 20 2004, 03:47 AM)
Those pictures are breathtaking...Is this a hobby of yours RR?

Dude, these are NOT my pictures. They are from APOD site - Astronomy Picture of the Day... I can only wish I could capture things like this... The only ones that are minea re the moon pics I have posted (Others of Staurn, etc to come this winter!).

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0410/ngc281_sauer.jpg

 

Explanation: NGC 281 is a busy workshop of star formation. Prominent features include a small open cluster of stars, a diffuse red-glowing emission nebula, large lanes of obscuring gas and dust, and dense knots of dust and gas in which stars may still be forming. The open cluster of stars IC 1590 visible around the center has formed only in the last few million years. The brightest member of this cluster is actually a multiple-star system shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas, causing the red glow visible throughout. The lanes of dust visible left of center are likely homes of future star formation. Particularly striking in the above photograph are the dark Bok globules visible against the bright nebula. The entire NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant.

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QUOTE (LakesideMaiden @ Oct 20 2004, 09:18 AM)
Dude, I'd totally SO be there for that!!!! laugh.gif chickendance.gif chickendance.gif

For what?

Watching the stars with RR smile.gif , or me in the US watching the stars with RR biggrin.gif .

Or the three of us watching the stars and drink Mallacan? new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

 

 

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QUOTE (Phoenix @ Oct 20 2004, 10:31 AM)
QUOTE (LakesideMaiden @ Oct 20 2004, 09:18 AM)
Dude, I'd totally SO be there for that!!!!  laugh.gif  chickendance.gif  chickendance.gif

For what?

Watching the stars with RR smile.gif , or me in the US watching the stars with RR biggrin.gif .

Or the three of us watching the stars and drink Mallacan? new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

yes.gif trink39.gif

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