The star with an orange tint near top center in this dusty telescopic frame is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Next to it (right) is a yellow cosmic cloud historically known as Hind’s Variable Nebula (NGC 1555). About 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and […]
Astronaut Mark Vande Hei peers at the Earth below from inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station’s window to the world. via NASA https://ift.tt/3YG84nq
What’s the most dangerous star near earth? Many believe it’s Eta Carinae, a binary star system about 100 times the mass of the Sun, just 10,000 light years from earth. Eta Carinae is a ticking time bomb, set to explode as a supernova in only a few million years, when it may bathe the earth […]
Mathematician Daniel G. Nichols, who worked in the Real-Time Program Development Branch, Mission Planning and Analysis Division, is photographed in NASA’s Manned Space Center. via NASA https://ift.tt/iv0AgXf
Ths January 2022 image shows the first rays of an orbital sunrise as seen from the International Space Station as it orbited above Venezuela. via NASA https://ift.tt/UwaYGtL
It’s raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 4651, is about the size of our Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend some 100 thousand light-years above this […]
Welcome to planet Earth, the third planet from a star named the Sun. The Earth is shaped like a sphere and composed mostly of rock. Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is water. The planet has a relatively thin atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. The featured picture of Earth, dubbed The Blue […]
Variable star R Aquarii is actually an interacting binary star system, two stars that seem to have a close symbiotic relationship. Centered in this space-based optical/x-ray composite image it lies about 710 light years away. The intriguing system consists of a cool red giant star and hot, dense white dwarf star in mutual orbit around […]
Divers at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston are setting the stage for future moonwalk training by simulating lunar lighting conditions. via NASA https://ift.tt/UOwx8Jd
Even though Jupiter was the only planet visible in the evening sky on February 2, it shared the twilight above the western horizon with the Solar System’s brightest moons. In a single exposure made just after sunset, the Solar System’s ruling gas giant is at the upper right in this telephoto field-of-view from Cancun, Mexico. […]