Suspended in a Sunbeam

ikenbot: NGC 4038 in Corvus by Hubble Legacy Archive (data);...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 03:27:43 -0400

NGC 4038 in Corvus

by Hubble Legacy Archive (data); Danny Lee Russell (processing)

Transit of Saturn by its moons Enceladus, Dione, Titan and...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:22:38 -0400

Transit of Saturn by its moons Enceladus, Dione, Titan and Mimas, as seen by Hubble Space Telescope

Fun Fact: Saturn has nearly 62 moons with confirmed orbits.

These are the 53 that have been named:
Aegaeon
Aegir
Albiorix
Anthe
Atlas
Bebhionn
Bergelmir
Bestla
Calypso
Daphnis
Dione
Enceladus
Epimetheus
Erriapus
Farbauti
Fenrir
Fornjot
Greip
Hati
Helene
Hyperion
Hyrokkin
Iapetus
Ijiraq
Jarnsaxa
Janus
Kari
Kiviuq
Loge
Methone
Mimas
Mundilfari
Narvi
Paaliaq
Pallene
Pan
Pandora
Phoebe
Polydeuces
Prometheus
Rhea
Suttungr
Skathi
Siarnaq
Skoll
Surtur
Tarqeq
Tarvos
Telesto
Tethys
Thrymr
Titan
Ymir

Jupiter….my favorite planet since as long as I can...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:15:44 -0400

Jupiter….my favorite planet since as long as I can remember. And it’s not just because you have the most incredible planet sized moons.

Mariner IV Mars Encounter, circa 1965

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:10:03 -0400

Mariner IV Mars Encounter, circa 1965

victorioussleepwalkers: “Look again at that dot. That’s here....

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:06:33 -0400

victorioussleepwalkers:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” -Carl Sagan

Venus, I’ll see you soon.

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:02:32 -0400

Venus, I’ll see you soon.

Photo

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:59:15 -0400

scienceblogfortheunwanted: The first picture (left) was taken...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:50:36 -0400

scienceblogfortheunwanted:

The first picture (left) was taken by Voyager 2 when it’s path into outer space led it near Neptune. The second one (right) is what Scientists think Neptune is made up of, starting with the outer layer of the atmosphere, and working down into the core.

You can click both pictures for a larger view of them.

ikenbot: Partial Lunar Eclipse Monday Sets Stage for Venus...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:47:27 -0400

ikenbot:

Partial Lunar Eclipse Monday Sets Stage for Venus Transit

The historic transit of Venus across the sun Tuesday is a must-see for skywatchers, but observers shouldn’t overlook another celestial event that comes just one day earlier — a partial lunar eclipse of the June full moon.

On Tuesday (June 5), Venus will trek across the sun’s face from Earth’s perspective, marking the last such transit of Venus until 2117. In a sort of celestial warmup, the full moon will dive through the Earth’s shadow on Monday morning to produce a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible to observers throughout parts of North America, Asia and the Pacific region, weather permitting.

The lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the May 20 annular solar eclipse that enthralled skywatchers around the world, and that’s no accident.

Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either two weeks before or two weeks after. The moon travels halfway in its orbit around the Earth in that time, forming another straight line with our planet and the sun. (In solar eclipses, the moon blots out the sun, while lunar eclipses occur when Earth’s shadow covers all or part of the moon.)

ikenbot: How Did Galaxies Form? Image: M81 Spiral galaxy...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:27:33 -0400

ikenbot:

How Did Galaxies Form?

Image: M81 Spiral galaxy Credit: NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

This is one of the questions we still don’t have a conclusive answer to, but as scientists search the cosmos for clues, the mystery becomes clearer.

Galaxies probably began to form less than a billion years after the Big Bang, which occurred around 13.7 billion years ago. The primordial Universe consisted almost entirely of hydrogen and helium gas, as well as dark matter, and was, for a time, almost completely homogeneous. It is believed that hypothetical dark matter played a major role in the formation of galaxies and the advent of a heterogeneous Universe. Clouds of gas first began clumping together due to the accumulation of primordial fluctuations, which were small changes of the density in certain parts of the early Universe. Through gravity, gas and dark matter were drawn towards the denser regions of the Universe.

There are two main hypotheses on how galaxies began to form, both of which are based on the gravitational effects of collapsing gas. One is called the “bottom-up” theory, in which giant clouds of gas came together in small clumps, which then merged to form larger galaxies. The second theory is the “top-down” one, in which clouds of gas the size of multiple galaxies broke down into individual clumps. This theory would explain why galaxies occur in clusters, and is the most widely accepted model.

Hydrogen and helium gas were then drawn towards the inner part of protogalaxies while dark matter formed a halo surrounding the outer part. The gas within these infant galaxies also began to clump together and heat up, forming the first stars. In the beginning, matter in the Universe was composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium. Nuclear fusion within stars (and during supernovae) would help make the rest of the heavier elements.

Photo

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:24:20 -0400

Planetary Nebula NGC 2438 NGC 2438 is a planetary nebula, the...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:22:41 -0400

Planetary Nebula NGC 2438

NGC 2438 is a planetary nebula, the gaseous shroud cast off by a dying sunlike star billions of years old whose central reservoir of hydrogen fuel has been exhausted. About 3,000 light-years distant it lies within the boundaries of the nautical constellation Puppis. Remarkably, NGC 2438 also seems to lie on the outskirts of bright, relatively young open star cluster M46.

Photo

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:21:07 -0400

Orion Nebula & Running Man Nebula.

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:19:09 -0400

Orion Nebula & Running Man Nebula.

i-love-fender: Vela Supernova Remnant Credit...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:17:39 -0400

i-love-fender:

Vela Supernova Remnant
Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler

Explanation: The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape. At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails) the 16 degree wide, 30 frame mosaic is centered on the glowing filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the supernova explosion that created the Vela remnant reached Earth about 11,000 years ago. In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense, rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar. Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely embedded in a larger and older supernova remnant, the Gum Nebula. The broad mosaic includes other identified emission and reflection nebulae, star clusters, and the remarkable Pencil Nebula.

tegan-leblanc: On 6 June you can see something very rare. No...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:37:58 -0400

tegan-leblanc:

On 6 June you can see something very rare. No one on Earth will live to see it again. It’s called a Transit of Venus.

Don’t miss June’s rare transit of Venus

Venus will cross the Sun’s face June 5/6 for the last time in 105 years.

By Richard Talcott — Published: May 25, 2012

fyeahuniverse: Necklace Nebula in the constellation Sagitta by...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:52:08 -0400

fyeahuniverse:

^{Necklace Nebula in the constellation Sagitta by Hubble Space Telescope}

brianyu: 8 Years Around Saturn

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:37:47 -0400

brianyu:

8 Years Around Saturn

Video

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:35:17 -0400