Tag: Image

Horse Head Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula

As human beings we always find order within chaos. Give someone a random list of numbers and they will find some kind of order or pattern. It is the same reason why when we look out to other moons, planets...

/ December 17, 2015
Paranal Geminids Guisard

When Gemini Sends Stars to Paranal

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on a clear sky tonight somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere then you should forget about work or school tomorrow and head out to watch the peak of activity for he Geminid meteor shower....

/ December 14, 2015
Catalina Comet, the moon and the morning star (Venus)

Comet Meets Moon and Morning Star

  A crescent Moon and brilliant Venus met in predawn skies on December 7, a beautiful conjunction of planet Earth’s two brightest celestial beacons after the Sun. Harder to see but also on the scene was Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10). The...

/ December 13, 2015
Comet Catalina Hemmerich_1821

Comet Catalina Emerges

The Catalina comet is getting closer and closer to us right now and will reach it’s closest point in January. It’s so close at the moment that you can see it in the sky in the morning (from about 5am...

/ December 8, 2015
casimir sphere

A Force from Empty Space: The Casimir Effect

This image denotes a ball that is moving even though there are no visible forces acting upon it in a vacuum (and if the image seems weird it’s because the ball is only around 1/10th of a millimetre). This small...

/ December 7, 2015
Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent

Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent

The clouds of gas and dust that you see are remnants of an exploded star.  The gas and dust spreads out into the Universe and awaits an opportunity to once again clump together and reform into a new star, planet...

/ December 5, 2015
Enceladus Rings

Enceladus: Ringside Water World

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus poses above the gas giant’s icy rings in this Cassini spacecraft image. The dramatic scene was captured on July 29, while Cassini cruised just below the ring plane, its cameras looking back in a nearly sunward...

/ December 4, 2015
Nebulae in Auriga

Nebulae in Aurigae

Rich in star clusters and nebulae, the ancient constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga) rides high in northern winter night skies. Composed from narrow and broadband filter data and spanning nearly 8 Full Moons (4 degrees) on the sky, this deep...

/ December 2, 2015

In the Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3521

This huge swirling mass of stars, gas, and dust occurs near the center of a nearby spiral galaxy. Gorgeous spiral NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years distant, toward the constellation Leo. Spanning some 50,000 light-years, its central region...

/ December 1, 2015

Dark Sand Cascades on Mars

They might look like trees on Mars, but they’re not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April...

/ November 30, 2015