Neighbors: The relatively close Fornax galaxy cluster

Neighbors: The relatively close Fornax galaxy cluster

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION /  Marco Lorenzi] How do clusters of galaxies form and evolve? To help find out, astronomers continue to study the second closest cluster of galaxies to Earth: the Fornax cluster, named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found. Although almost 20 times more […]

Merry Yosemite Christmas!

Merry Yosemite Christmas!

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION / Wally Pacholka / AstroPics.com, TWAN A starry band of the Milky Way climbs over Yosemite Valley, Sierra Nevada Range, planet Earth. Jupiter is the brightest celestial beacon on the wintry scene, though. Standing nearly opposite the Sun in the constellation Taurus, the wandering planet joins yellowish Aldebaran and […]

Zooming in on the earliest galaxies

Zooming in on the earliest galaxies

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] An international team of astronomers has used the Hubble Space Telescope to take a census of some of the universe’s earliest galaxies. The results, reported in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, confirm that galaxies formed gradually in the early universe and not in a dramatic spurt. […]

Hubble captures galaxy, in sea of galaxies, with a tale from a galaxy that got too close

Hubble captures galaxy, in sea of galaxies, with a tale from a galaxy that got too close

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] In this stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. [A] mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation Draco, … its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long […]

Stardust memories

Stardust memories

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] Cosmic dust clouds sprawl across a rich field of stars in this sweeping telescopic vista near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Probably less than 500 light-years away and effectively blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the […]