Category: Image of the Day
Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico
What is this person doing? In 2012 an annular eclipse of the Sun was visible over a narrow path that crossed the northern Pacific Ocean and several western US states. In an annular solar eclipse, the Moon is too far...
Young Suns of NGC 7129
Young suns still lie within dusty NGC 7129, some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal constellation Cepheus. While these stars are at a relatively tender age, only a few million years old, it is likely that our own Sun formed...
Abell 370: Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens
What is that strange arc? While imaging the cluster of galaxies Abell 370, astronomers had noted an unusual arc to the right of many cluster galaxies. Although curious, one initial response was to avoid commenting on the arc because nothing...
M63: Sunflower Galaxy Wide Field
The Sunflower Galaxy blooms near the center of this wide field telescopic view. The scene spans about 2 degrees or 4 full moons on the sky toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. More formally known as Messier 63, the majestic...
The Orion Nebula in Infrared from HAWK I
When ever I read about Nebula an Star forming locations I think about the purpose of the Universe. Many people argue that the factors for life were just right, and that if any of the carefully refined settings were changed,...
NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula
I can only imagine what it would have been like 11,000 years ago when this star went Super Nova and sent this amazing amount of matter and energy out across the Milky Way. Moving from top to bottom in the...
Aurorae on Jupiter
Jupiter has aurorae. Like Earth, the magnetic field of the gas giant funnels charged particles released from the Sun onto the poles. As these particles strike the atmosphere, electrons are temporarily knocked away from existing gas molecules. Electric force attracts these electrons...
NGC 6814: Grand Design Spiral Galaxy from Hubble
Although the Galaxy NCG 6814 in this article is touting that a Black Hole is in the middle of it you should not be too surprised… every Galaxy has a super massive black hole at its centre… including our very...
Jupiters Clouds from New Horizons
I’m very excited for the arrival of Juno, the Mission due to reach Jupiter on the 4th July. The New Horizons spacecraft took some stunning images of Jupiter on its way out to Pluto. Famous for its Great Red Spot,...
The Fornax Cluster of Galaxies
Named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found, the Fornax Cluster is one of the closest clusters of galaxies. About 62 million light-years away, it is almost 20 times more distant than our neighboring...