The Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep exposure – a collaborative effort combining data from three different large telescopes – explores the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from the nebula’s central […]
In this image, a NASA Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket was launched to study a very fundamental problem in space plasmas. via NASA https://ift.tt/3sp1sPb
Except for the rings of Saturn, the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial circle. Its classic appearance is understood to be due to our own perspective, though. The recent mapping of the expanding nebula’s 3-D structure, based in part on this clear Hubble image,indicates that the nebula is a relatively dense, donut-like […]
Nestled among the vast clouds of star-forming regions like this one lie potential clues about the formation of our own solar system. via NASA https://ift.tt/37LZnU1
This was an unusual sky. It wasn’t unusual because of the central band the Milky Way Galaxy, visible along the image left. Most dark skies show part of the Milky Way. It wasn’t unusual because of the bright meteor visible on the upper right. Many images taken during last week’s Perseid Meteor Shower show meteors, […]
Comet dust rained down on planet Earth last week, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. The featured picture is a composite of many images taken from the same location over the peak night of the Perseids. The umbrella was not needed as a shield from meteors, since they almost entirely evaporate […]
Stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy are scattered through this eye-catching field of view. From the early hours after midnight on August 13, the 30 second exposure of the night sky over Busko-Zdroj, Poland records the colorful and bright trail of a Perseid meteor. Seen near the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower […]
This image, taken from aboard the International Space Station, shows the aurora australis as it streams across the Earth’s atmosphere. via NASA https://ift.tt/3CGGmkl
If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74’s graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue […]
Known as NGC 6523 or the Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 is a giant cloud of gas and dust where stars are born. via NASA https://ift.tt/3yD0wZU