[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 […]
Frederick Meiwald’s obituary in the Las Vegas Journal-Review last August was brief but distinguished. During a 28-year military career that included posts with Strategic Air Command and Space Command, he earned the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. What it didn’t include, not […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] Is this what will become of our Sun? Quite possibly. The bubble of expanding gas pictured above is the planetary nebula PK 164 +31.1, the remnants of the atmosphere of a Sun-like star expelled as its supply of fusion-able core hydrogen became depleted. Visible near the center of the […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION.] This lovely blue cosmic cloud begins the van den Bergh Catalog (vdB) of stars surrounded by reflection nebulae. Interstellar dust clouds reflecting the light of the nearby stars, the nebulae usually appear blue because scattering by the dust grains is more effective at shorter (bluer) wavelengths. The same type […]
One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion, is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud. Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s. The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the […]
[CLICK TO SEE INFOGRAPHIC] Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner set a new world record Sunday when he leapt from a capsule suspended 128,100 feet–about 24 miles–above Earth’s surface. Watching the livefeed as he opened the capsule door and prepared to jump, we thought he looked very much like a man perched on the edge of space. […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] What did the first galaxies look like? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope has just finished taking the eXtreme Deep Field (XDF), the deepest image of the universe ever taken in visible light. Pictured above, the XDF shows a sampling of some of the oldest galaxies […]
It’s easy to get lost following the intricate filaments in this detailed mosaic image of faint supernova remnant Simeis 147 (S147). Also cataloged as Sh2-240, it covers nearly 3 degrees or 6 full moons on the sky. That’s about 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud’s estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. … This sharp composite […]
Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from the brightest […]
A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius, a sun-like star is dying. Its last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a well studied and nearby example of a Planetary Nebula, typical of this final phase of stellar evolution. A total of 58 hours of exposure time […]
