Message boards :
SETI@home Science :
ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY
Message board moderation
Previous · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 . . . 14 · Next
Author | Message |
---|---|
Cragg Send message Joined: 12 Nov 99 Posts: 36 Credit: 3,369,450 RAC: 0 |
The Holographic Principal. FANTASTIC! Once you see it you can't get rid of it. A teapot planet. I assume that old bags live inside it! |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree me@rescam.org |
Steven Pomeroy Send message Joined: 26 Feb 02 Posts: 25 Credit: 220,023 RAC: 0 |
|
Vincent 528 Send message Joined: 27 Dec 08 Posts: 2 Credit: 203,052 RAC: 0 |
WOW!!! Truly an excellent find. Thankyou. Ray, If Someone Asks You If You're A God, YOU SAY YES!!! Ghostbusters http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=6u3vwajQ-FY&feature=related |
suki quin Send message Joined: 12 Oct 08 Posts: 81 Credit: 1,053,392 RAC: 0 |
Eye of God Nebula MAGNIFICENT! THANK YOU, Vincent and, Misfit, we love you for this link to begin with. I have kept it in my bookmarks toolbar since finding it in one of your messages... Thank you keep telescopic listening devices aimed at the Zenith of the Horizon |
Sknowolf Send message Joined: 8 Mar 03 Posts: 1 Credit: 6,360,202 RAC: 10 |
You're Right. If you stick your nose almost on the monitor, you Will see a teapot. Thanks |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
'Cosmic Eye' Photographed Staring Across Space A spectacular "cosmic eye" has been photographed in space by a telescope in Chile, showing a distant nebula in which sunlike stars are burning themselves out. The image of the Helix nebula, which lies 700 light years away in the constellation Aquarius, was captured with the Wide Field Imager instrument at the La Silla Observatory high above the Atacama Desert. The Helix is a planetary nebula  a kind of stellar old people's home, in which stars at the end of their lives shed clouds of gas, often creating intricate patterns that shine with great beauty. The Helix nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth, but it is hard to see visually because its light is spread thinly over a large area of sky, a quarter of the size of the full Moon. The main ring of the Helix nebula is about two light-years across, or half the distance between the Sun and the nearest star. Around the inside of the ring, it is possible to see small blobs that resemble droplets of water, known as "cometary knots," which have faint tails that extend away from the central star. |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Strange 'hand' in space photographed Strange 'hand' in space photographed A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures, including one that resembles a large cosmic hand. In this image, the lowest energy X-rays that Chandra detects are red, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. Astronomers think that B1509 is about 1,700 years old and is located about 17,000 light years away. Neutron stars are created when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse. B1509 is spinning completely around almost 7 times every second and is releasing energy into its environment at a prodigious rate -- presumably because it has an intense magnetic field at its surface, estimated to be 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field. The combination of rapid rotation and ultra-strong magnetic field makes B1509 one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the Galaxy. This generator drives an energetic wind of electrons and ions away from the neutron star. As the electrons move through the magnetized nebula, they radiate away their energy and create the elaborate nebula seen by Chandra. In the innermost regions, a faint circle surrounds the pulsar, and marks the spot where the wind is rapidly decelerated by the slowly expanding nebula. In this way, B1509 shares some striking similarities to the famous Crab Nebula. However B1509's nebula is 15 times wider than the Crab's diameter of 10 light years. Finger-like structures extend to the north, apparently energizing knots of material in a neighboring gas cloud known as RCW 89. The transfer of energy from the wind to these knots makes them glow brightly in X-rays (orange and red features to the upper right). The temperature in this region appears to vary in a circular pattern around this ring of emission, suggesting that the pulsar may be precessing like a spinning top and sweeping an energizing beam around the gas in RCW 89. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/photo09-025.html |
suki quin Send message Joined: 12 Oct 08 Posts: 81 Credit: 1,053,392 RAC: 0 |
there is a page of Chandra photos here just for 2009: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/chronological.html and other years too, 2008: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/chronological08.html ...some really amazing things |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
Atlantis and Hubble solar transit me@rescam.org |
Steven Pomeroy Send message Joined: 26 Feb 02 Posts: 25 Credit: 220,023 RAC: 0 |
Shedding Light on Dark Gamma Ray Bursts Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's biggest explosions, capable of producing so much light that ground-based telescopes easily detect it billions of light-years away. Yet, for more than a decade, astronomers have puzzled over the nature of so-called dark bursts, which produce gamma rays and X-rays but little or no visible light. They make up roughly half of the bursts detected by NASA's Swift satellite since its 2004 launch. Steve Pomeroy Master of math magic and math tricks. |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
|
Vilmer Send message Joined: 7 Dec 00 Posts: 10 Credit: 49,620 RAC: 0 |
Wow! Some fantastic pictures in this thread! |
John McCallum Send message Joined: 5 Dec 04 Posts: 877 Credit: 599,458 RAC: 8 |
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/visualisingsupernova six pictures of a simulated Type 1a supernova Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care |
Steven Pomeroy Send message Joined: 26 Feb 02 Posts: 25 Credit: 220,023 RAC: 0 |
Love the Mt. Rushmore pic. I need to get a camera with a time exposure option... Steve Pomeroy Master of math magic and math tricks. |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
Our Local Group me@rescam.org |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
|
Boomer Send message Joined: 1 Jun 09 Posts: 43 Credit: 21,892,319 RAC: 10 |
That monument valley pic is awesome. Is that an actual photo or a photoshop job? |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
That monument valley pic is awesome. Is that an actual photo or a photoshop job? Most likely 2 images combined. One at sunset and one at night. Although if that's the sun over the horizon, given the shadows, there may be a third pic in there too. me@rescam.org |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
Yukon Aurora with Star Trails me@rescam.org |
©2024 University of California
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.