Tag: Image
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...
The Supernova and Cepheids of Spiral Galaxy UGC 9391
Before we look at the Supernova (the cross) and the Cepheids (the red circles) in the Spiral Galaxy of UGC 9391 it’s worth describing what a Cepheid actually is and why it’s important. A Cepheid variable is a type of...
Comet PanSTARRS and the Helix Nebula
It’s rare that such different objects are imaged so close together. Such an occasion is occurring now, though, and was captured two days ago in combined parallel exposures from the Canary Islands of Spain. On the lower right, surrounded by a...
The Shadow of Surveyor 1
It’s scary to think that more than fifty years ago we sent a giant piece of metal full of explosive fuel up into the sky so high that it broke free of the Earths gravity and headed towards the moon....
NGC 4631: The Whale Galaxy
NGC 4631 is a big beautiful spiral galaxy. Seen edge-on, it lies only 25 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy’s slightly distorted wedge shape suggests to some a cosmic herring and to others its...
Three Planets from Pic du Midi
Seen any planets lately? All three planets now shining brightly in the night sky are imaged in these panels, captured last week with the 1 meter telescope at Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. Near opposition and closest...