Cat’s Eye Hubble Remix October 12, 2008
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Cat's Eye Nebula, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, Hubble Space Telescope, MAST, NASA, Nebula, NGC 6543, OAUV, PTeam, Vicent Peris
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Credit:
NASA, MAST, STScI, AURA and Vicent Peris (OAUV/PTeam)
Description:
Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat’s Eye Nebula lies 3,000 light-years from Earth. The Cat’s Eye (NGC 6543) represents a brief, yet glorious, phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula’s dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood.
Here, Hubble Space Telescope archival image data have been reprocessed to create another look at the cosmic cat’s eye. Compared to well-known Hubble pictures, the alternative processing strives to sharpen and improve the visibility of details in light and dark areas of the nebula and also applies a more complex color palette. Of course, gazing into the Cat’s Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution … in about 5 billion years.
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NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula August 14, 2008
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: APoD, constellation Cygnus, Crescent Nebula, Nebula, NGC 6888, Tony Hallas, Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136)
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Explanation:
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This beautiful telescopic view combines a composite color image with narrow band data that isolates light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula. The oxygen atoms produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the detailed folds and filaments. NGC 6888’s central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun’s mass every 10,000 years. The nebula’s complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.
Gas and Dust of the Lagoon Nebula July 22, 2008
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space.Tags: Fred Vanderhaven, Lagoon Nebula, M8, Messier, Milky Way Galaxy, Nebula, Sagittarius
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Explanation:
This beautiful cosmic cloud is a popular stop on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius. Eighteenth century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged the bright nebula as M8, while modern day astronomers recognize the Lagoon Nebula as an active stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years distant, in the direction of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Striking details can be traced through this remarkable picture, processed to remove stars and hence better reveal the Lagoon’s range of filaments of glowing hydrogen gas, dark dust clouds, and the bright, turbulent hourglass region near the image center. This color composite view was recorded under dark skies near Sydney, Australia. At the Lagoon’s estimated distance, the picture spans about 50 light-years.
M27: Not A Comet June 28, 2008
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space.Tags: Constellation Vulpecula, Dumbbell Nebula, Faulkes Telescope North, M27, Nebula, Nik Szymanek
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Explanation:
Born on June 26th in 1730, astronomer Charles Messier scanned 18th century French skies for comets. To avoid confusion and aid his comet hunting, he diligently recorded this object as number 27 on his list of things which are definitely not comets. In fact, 21st century astronomers would classify it as a Planetary Nebula, but it’s not a planet either, even though it may appear round and planet-like in a small telescope. Messier 27 (M27) is now known to be an excellent example of a gaseous emission nebula created as a sun-like star runs out of nuclear fuel in its core. The nebula forms as the star’s outer layers are expelled into space, with a visible glow generated by atoms excited by the dying star’s intense but invisible ultraviolet light. Known by the popular name of the Dumbbell Nebula, the beautifully symmetric interstellar gas cloud is over 2.5 light-years across and about 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula. This impressive color composite highlights subtle jet features in the nebula. It was recorded with a robotic telescope sited in Hawaii using narrow band filters sensitive to emission from oxygen atoms (shown in green) and hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen emission is seen as red (H-alpha) and fainter bluish hues (H-beta).
Stellar Jewel Box October 9, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, Milky Way Galaxy, NASA, Nebula, NGC 3603
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Credit:
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Description:
Thousands of sparkling young stars are nestled within the giant nebula NGC 3603, one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy.
NGC 3603, a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way about 20,000 light-years away, image reveals stages in the life cycle of stars.
Powerful ultraviolet radiation and fast winds from the bluest and hottest stars have blown a big bubble around the cluster. Moving into the surrounding nebula, this torrent of radiation sculpted the tall, dark stalks of dense gas, which are embedded in the walls of the nebula. These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. The stalks may be incubators for new stars.
On a smaller scale, a cluster of dark clouds called “Bok” globules resides at the top, right corner. These clouds are composed of dense dust and gas and are about 10 to 50 times more massive than the sun. Resembling an insect’s cocoon, a Bok globule may be undergoing a gravitational collapse on its way to forming new stars.
The nebula was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1834.
Eta Carinae: New View of Doomed Star June 21, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Eta Carinae, Goddard Space Flight Center, Hubble Space Telescope, M. Corcoran, NASA, Nebula, SN2006gy, STScI, Supernova
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Credit:
X-ray:NASA/CXC/GSFC/M.Corcoran et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
Description:
Eta Carinae is a mysterious, extremely bright and unstable star located a mere stone’s throw – astronomically speaking – from Earth at a distance of only about 7,500 light years. The star is thought to be consuming its nuclear fuel at an incredible rate, while quickly drawing closer to its ultimate explosive demise. When Eta Carinae does explode, it will be a spectacular fireworks display seen from Earth, perhaps rivaling the moon in brilliance. Its fate has been foreshadowed by the recent discovery of SN2006gy, a supernova in a nearby galaxy that was the brightest stellar explosion ever seen. The erratic behavior of the star that later exploded as SN2006gy suggests that Eta Carinae may explode at any time.
Eta Carinae, a star between 100 and 150 times more massive than the Sun, is near a point of unstable equilibrium where the star’s gravity is almost balanced by the outward pressure of the intense radiation generated in the nuclear furnace. This means that slight perturbations of the star might cause enormous ejections of matter from its surface. In the 1840s, Eta Carinae had a massive eruption by ejecting more than 10 times the mass of the sun, to briefly become the second brightest star in the sky. This explosion would have torn most other stars to pieces but somehow Eta Carinae survived.
The latest composite image shows the remnants of that titanic event with new data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The blue regions show the cool optical emission, detected by Hubble, from the dust and gas thrown off the star. This debris forms a bipolar shell around the star, which lies near the brightest point of the optical emission. This bipolar shell is itself surrounded by a ragged cloud of fainter material. An unusual jet points from the star to the upper left.
Chandra’s data, depicted in orange and yellow, shows the X-ray emission produced as material thrown off Eta Carinae rams into nearby gas and dust, heating gas to temperatures in excess of a million degrees. This hot shroud extends far beyond the cooler, optical nebula and represents the outer edge of the interaction region. The X-ray observations show that the ejected outer material is enriched by complex atoms, especially nitrogen, cooked inside the star’s nuclear furnace and dredged up onto the stellar surface. The Chandra observations also show that the inner optical nebula glows faintly due to X-ray reflection. The X-rays reflected by the optical nebula come from very close to the star itself; these X-rays are generated by the high-speed collision of wind flowing from Eta Carinae’s surface (moving at about 1 million miles per hour) with the wind of the companion star (which is about five times faster).
The companion is not directly visible in these images, but variability in X-rays in the regions close to the star signals the star’s presence. Astronomers don’t know exactly what role the companion has played in the evolution of Eta Carinae, or what role it will play in its future.
Hubble’s view of N90 star-forming region January 9, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, N90, NASA, Nebula, Small Magellanic Cloud
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Credit:
NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Description:
This Hubble image image depicts bright blue newly formed stars that are blowing a cavity in the centre of a fascinating star-forming region known as N90.
The high energy radiation blazing out from the hot young stars in N90 is eroding the outer portions of the nebula from the inside, as the diffuse outer reaches of the nebula prevent the energetic outflows from streaming away from the cluster directly. Because N90 is located far from the central body of the Small Magellanic Cloud, numerous background galaxies in this picture can be seen, delivering a grand backdrop for the stellar newcomers. The dust in the region gives these distant galaxies a reddish-brown tint.
A Cosmic Egg January 9, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, IC 418, NASA, Nebula, R. Sahai, The Electric Universe
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Credit:
R. Sahai et al., Hubble Heritage Team/AURA, NASA
Description:
This cosmic egg (planetary nebula IC 418) is not the uniform spherical shell of gas blown off by a dying star that conventional theories expect.
Both the shell and the inner “yolk” (blue) are stretched along an axis, and both are finely divided into cells that are surrounded by glowing filaments of matter. The central star varies in brightness over several hours, and conventional theorists speculate that it may generate “chaotic winds” that might somehow crisscross to create the cells and filaments.
The Electric Universe sees a different egg. Shell and “yolk” are both composed of plasma, not of gas. The physics of electric currents apply, not the physics of winds. The shell is a plasma sheath, a “double layer” that acts like a capacitor, mediating the different electrical fields inside and outside the shell. Most of the voltage difference between the star and the surrounding galactic field is taken up in that thin, membrane-like double layer. The blue “yolk” is another, secondary, double layer that forms when the electric current feeding the central star reaches a threshold density.
As is typical with sheaths, currents flow along the surface. And as is typical with plasma, the currents pinch into filaments that pull in material from surrounding spaces. The double layers and their current filaments also respond to the electromagnetic forces of the interstellar current filament feeding the system and are thus elongated along the axis of that current. That larger current flows in a circuit that threads through the galaxy. It is invisible because of its lower current density, but the magnetic field it produces is detectable in the squeezing and stretching of the egg that derives from it.
That the power output of the central star varies over a few hours indicates that the power input is oscillating. Some feedback mechanism in the supply circuit has reached a resonant condition. That element of the circuit need not be in the star or nebula but could be far away, just as the circuit elements in a radio that generate the oscillating radio wave may be far removed from the antenna that radiates the energies.
The Trapezium region in M42 January 8, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Anglo-Australian Observatory, David Malin, M42, Nebula, Orion Nebula, Trapezium cluster
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Credit:
Image and text © 1979-2002, Anglo-Australian Observatory, photograph by David Malin.
Description:
The central ‘star’ of the three groups forming the asterism of Orion’s sword is in reality a nebula, and is clearly nebulous to the unaided eye. At the heart of the most luminous nebulosity shimmer a handful of stars known as the Trapezium cluster, visible in binoculars. These are the brightest members of a substantial cluster of stars , most of which are still hidden in the dusty recesses of the Orion nebula against which they are seen. The stars of the Trapezium provide much of the energy which makes the brilliant Orion Nebula visible and are at a distance of about 1500 light years. This image was made with three, 30-second exposures at the prime focus of the the Anglo-Australian Telescope.
Part of M78, NGC 2068 in Orion January 8, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Deep Space, Space Fotos.Tags: Anglo-Australian Observatory, C. Tinney, D. Malin, Herbig-Haro objects, M78, Messier, Nebula, NGC 2068, Orion Nebula, Orion's Belt, reflection neblua, S. Lee
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Credit:
Image and text © 1999-2002, Anglo-Australian Observatory, Photograph by S. Lee, C. Tinney and D. Malin.
Description:
In a modest telescope M78 looks like a faint comet, exactly the kind of object Messier intended to include in his catalog to avoid confusion with the real thing. The same telescope will also reveal two stars of similar apparent brightness (about 10th magnitude) embedded in the nebula. It is light from these stars reflected by dust grains that is responsible for the nebulosity, and a look at our color picture shows that the whole field is shrouded in dust.
M78 is thus a reflection nebula, one of the brightest in the sky. But the conjunction of the two obvious stars and dust is not an accident. They are the brightest members of a small cluster of stars forming inside the dusty cloud. These are mostly invisible at optical wavelengths but some signs of them are evident in the two small, reddish nebulae towards the lower center and extreme lower left (SW) of the frame. These are Herbig-Haro objects, rapidly-moving jets ejected at an early stage in the formation of stars. Where such jets emerge from the dense dust they advertise recent star formation.
Space Photos 
