Sam's Astrophtography Thread

[YosemiteSam]

Star Factory Messier 17
Image Credit & Copyright: Data - ESO / MPIA / OAC, Assembly - R.Colombari

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this 1/3 degree wide field of view spans over 30 light-years. The sharp composite, color image, highlights faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17 stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material producing the cavernous appearance and undulating shapes. M17 is also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Galaxy Wars: M81 versus M82
Credit: Rainer Zmaritsch & Alexander Gross

Explanation: On the left, surrounded by blue spiral arms, is spiral galaxy M81. On the right marked by red gas and dust clouds, is irregular galaxy M82. This stunning vista shows these two mammoth galaxies locked in gravitational combat, as they have been for the past billion years. The gravity from each galaxy dramatically affects the other during each hundred million-year pass. Last go-round, M82's gravity likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. But M81 left M82 with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays. In a few billion years only one galaxy will remain.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Close-up of the Bubble Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible to the right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way. The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, featured here in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).

 

[YosemiteSam]

NGC 6357: Cathedral to Massive Stars
Image Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (IAA, Spain); Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

Explanation: How massive can a normal star be? Estimates made from distance, brightness and standard solar models had given one star in the open cluster Pismis 24 over 200 times the mass of our Sun, making it one of the most massive stars known. This star is the brightest object located just above the gas front in the featured image. Close inspection of images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, however, have shown that Pismis 24-1 derives its brilliant luminosity not from a single star but from three at least. Component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses, making them among the more massive stars currently on record. Toward the bottom of the image, stars are still forming in the associated emission nebula NGC 6357. Appearing perhaps like a Gothic cathedral, energetic stars near the center appear to be breaking out and illuminating a spectacular cocoon.

 

[YosemiteSam]

NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis
Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles and Mel Helm

Explanation: Magnificent island universe NGC 2403 stands within the boundaries of the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star forming HII regions, marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic hydrogen gas. The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot, massive stars that explode as bright supernovae at the end of their short and furious lives. A member of the M81 group of galaxies, NGC 2403 closely resembles another galaxy with an abundance of star forming regions that lies within our own local galaxy group, M33 the Triangulum Galaxy. Spiky in appearance, bright stars in this colorful galaxy portrait of NGC 2403 are in the foreground, within our own Milky Way.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Spiral Galaxy M96 from Hubble
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and the LEGUS Team; Acknowledgement: R. Gendler

Explanation: Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful, detailed portrait of the center of a beautiful island universe. Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy, and counting the faint arms extending beyond the brighter central region, it spans 100 thousand light-years or so, making it about the size of our own Milky Way. M96, also known as NGC 3368, is known to be about 35 million light-years distant and a dominant member of the Leo I galaxy group. Thefeatured image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The reason for M96's asymmetry is unclear -- it could have arisen from gravitational interactions with other Leo I group galaxies, but the lack of an intra-group diffuse glow seems to indicate few recent interactions. Galaxies far in the background can be found by examining the edges of the picture.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Pluto in Enhanced Color
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Inst.

Explanation: Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and images of our Solar System's most famous dwarf planet, taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in July, have been digitally combined to give an enhanced view of this ancient world sporting an unexpectedly young surface. The featured enhanced color image is not only esthetically pretty but scientifically useful, making surface regions of differing chemical composition visually distinct. For example, the light-colored heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio on the lower right is clearly shown here to be divisible into two regions that are geologically different, with the leftmost lobe Sputnik Planum also appearing unusually smooth. New Horizons now continues on beyond Pluto, will continue to beam back more images and data, and will soon be directed to change course so that it can fly past asteroid 2014 MU69 in 2019 January.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Cassini Approaches Saturn
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SWRI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: Cassini, a robot spacecraft launched in 1997 by NASA, became close enough in 2002 to resolve many rings and moons of its destination planet: Saturn. At that time, Cassini snapped several images during an engineering test. Several of those images were combined into the contrast-enhanced color composite featured here. Saturn's rings and cloud-tops are visible toward the image bottom, while Titan, its largest moon, is visible as the speck toward the top. Whenarriving at Saturn in July 2004, the Cassini orbiter began to circle and study the Saturnian system. A highlight was when Cassini launched the Huygens probe that made an unprecedented landing on Titan in 2005, sending back detailed pictures. Now nearing the end of its mission, Cassini is scheduled to embark on a Grand Finale phase in late 2016 where it will repeatedly dive between the giant planet and its innermost rings.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Comet and the Star Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: José J. Chambó (Cometografia)

Explanation: Comet Linear has become unexpectedly bright. The comet, discovered in 2000, underwent a 100-fold outburst just a week before it passed a mere 14 lunar distances from Earth late last month. The comet was captured here last week at about magnitude 6 -- just bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye -- passing in front of the distant globular star cluster M14. Comet 252/P LINEAR is one of a rare group of comets that vacillate between the Earth and Jupiter every 5 years. How the comet will evolve from here is unknown, but hopes run high that it will remain a good object for binoculars in northern skies for the next week or two.

 

[Shunpike]

Cassini Approaches Saturn
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SWRI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Explanation: Cassini, a robot spacecraft launched in 1997 by NASA, became close enough in 2002 to resolve many rings and moons of its destination planet: Saturn. At that time, Cassini snapped several images during an engineering test. Several of those images were combined into the contrast-enhanced color composite featured here. Saturn's rings and cloud-tops are visible toward the image bottom, while Titan, its largest moon, is visible as the speck toward the top. Whenarriving at Saturn in July 2004, the Cassini orbiter began to circle and study the Saturnian system. A highlight was when Cassini launched the Huygens probe that made an unprecedented landing on Titan in 2005, sending back detailed pictures. Now nearing the end of its mission, Cassini is scheduled to embark on a Grand Finale phase in late 2016 where it will repeatedly dive between the giant planet and its innermost rings.

This might sound pretty sick but I have to write it. If one day, I became sick and doctors told me I only have 3 months to leave, I would prefer to go on my terms. My dream scenario would be to travel to Saturn and be released from a spacecraft towards Saturn with my oxygen mask and space suit. I would prefer Saturn pull me in and I would see the Saturn and its rings as my last views of life.

No I am not psycho. I just love Saturn. A good Cowboys friend of mine will hopefully take me to an observatory so I can see Saturn.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This might sound pretty sick but I have to write it. If one day, I became sick and doctors told me I only have 3 months to leave, I would prefer to go on my terms. My dream scenario would be to travel to Saturn and be released from a spacecraft towards Saturn with my oxygen mask and space suit. I would prefer Saturn pull me in and I would see the Saturn and its rings as my last views of life.

No I am not psycho. I just love Saturn. A good Cowboys friend of mine will hopefully take me to an observatory so I can see Saturn.

It would be serene until you started falling into Saturn's atmosphere. Then it would start to suck BIG TIME.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Orion in Red and Blue
Image Credit & Copyright: David Lindemann

Explanation: When did Orion become so flashy? This colorful rendition of part of the constellation of Orion comes from red light emitted by hydrogen and sulfur (SII), and blue-green light emitted by oxygen (OIII). Hues on the featured image were then digitally reassigned to be indicative of their elemental origins -- but also striking to the human eye. The breathtaking composite was painstakingly composed from hundreds of images which took nearly 200 hours to collect. Pictured,Barnard's Loop, across the image bottom, appears to cradle interstellar constructs including the intricate Orion Nebula seen just right of center. The Flame Nebula can also be quickly located, but it takes a careful eye to identify the slight indentation of the dark Horsehead Nebula. As to Orion's flashiness -- a leading explanation for the origin of Barnard's Loop is a supernova blast that occurred about two million years ago.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Dwarf Planet Ceres
Image Credit & License: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS,DLR,IDA - Composition: Justin Cowart

Explanation: Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the Solar System's main asteroid belt, with a diameter of about 950 kilometers (590 miles). Ceres is seen here in approximately true color, based on image data from the Dawn spacecraft recorded on May 4, 2015. On that date, Dawn's orbit stood 13,642 kilometers above the surface of the small world. Two of Ceres' famous mysterious bright spots at Oxo crater and Haulani crater are near center and center right of this view. Casting a telltale shadow at the bottom is Ceres' cone-shaped, lonely mountain Ahuna Mons. Presently some 385 kilometers above the Cerean surface, the ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft is now returning images from its closest mapping orbit.

 

[Seven]

This might sound pretty sick but I have to write it. If one day, I became sick and doctors told me I only have 3 months to leave, I would prefer to go on my terms. My dream scenario would be to travel to Saturn and be released from a spacecraft towards Saturn with my oxygen mask and space suit. I would prefer Saturn pull me in and I would see the Saturn and its rings as my last views of life.

No I am not psycho. I just love Saturn. A good Cowboys friend of mine will hopefully take me to an observatory so I can see Saturn.

Nice.

I was just about to post when I read this :"Cassini is scheduled to embark on a Grand Finale phase in late 2016 where it will repeatedly dive between the giant planet and its innermost rings" I thought, that's gonna be very interesting. I can't wait for that.

Also........These photos are amazing. We have us a regular, good 'ol fashioned learning center rigt here. For me, anyway.

 

[Shunpike]

Sam

Does this deserve its own thread? Wow!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/s...tarshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html?_r=1

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sam

Does this deserve its own thread? Wow!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/s...tarshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html?_r=1

Most certainly. I was watching the press conference earlier, but work prevented me from finishing it. I would definitely create it's own thread.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Fornax Galaxy Cluster is one of the closest of such groupings beyond our Local Group of galaxies. This new VLT Survey Telescope image shows the central part of the cluster in great detail. At the lower-right is the elegant barred-spiral galaxy NGC 1365 and to the left the big elliptical NGC 1399.

Credit: ESO. Acknowledgement: Aniello Grado and Luca Limatola

 

[YosemiteSam]

Saturn with the Sun starting to peek out from behind. The circle of color you see on Saturn's south pole is basically the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) we see near the north pole.

Image Credits: NASA/ESA/JAXA

https://lh3.***BROKEN***/-ffMX-Px2l24/Vw4eS339AXI/AAAAAAAAKj4/BO--PuV0ktgx9FNPi6b28MUrnXINMt35QCL0B/w505-h898-no/2016%2B-%2B1

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sisters of the Dusty Sky
Credit & Copyright: John Davis
Explanation: Hurtling through a cosmic dust cloud some 400 light-years away, the lovely Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster is well-known for its striking blue reflection nebulae. In the dusty sky toward the constellation Taurus and the Orion Arm of our Milky Way Galaxy, this remarkable image shows the famous star cluster at the upper left. But lesser known dusty nebulae lie along the region's fertile molecular cloud, within the 10 degree wide field, including the bird-like visage of LBN 777 near center. Small bluish reflection nebula VdB 27 at the lower right is associated with the young, variable star RY Tau. At the distance of the Pleiades, the 5 panel mosaic spans nearly 70 light-years.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Orion Nebula & Running Man Nebula (smaller purple and bluish nebula on the left side)

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features.The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.