Explanation:
Double,
double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble .... maybe Macbeth
should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula.
A frighteningly shaped
reflection nebula, this
cosmic crone is about 800 light-years away though.
Its malevolent visage seems to glare toward
nearby bright star Rigel in Orion,
just off the right edge of this frame.
More formally known as
IC 2118,
the interstellar cloud of dust and gas is nearly 70 light-years across,
its dust grains reflecting Rigel's starlight.
In this
composite portrait, the nebula's color
is caused not only by the star's intense bluish light but because the
dust grains
scatter blue light more efficiently than red.
The same physical process causes
Earth's daytime sky to appear blue,
although the scatterers in
planet Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.
Explanation:
This
cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula.
The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright
ridges of glowing gas are cataloged as IC 1871.
About 25 light-years across,
the telescopic field of view spans only
a small part of the much larger
Heart and Soul nebulae.
At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years the star-forming
complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm
of the Milky Way, seen in planet
Earth's skies toward the constellation Cassiopeia.
An example of
triggered star formation,
the dense star-forming clouds of IC 1871 are themselves
sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region's
massive young stars.
This color image adopts a
palette made popular in Hubble images
of star-forming regions.
Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star
Illustration Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, CI Lab
Illustration Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, CI Lab
Explanation:
What happens when a star gets too close to a black hole?
Recent observations from Earth-orbiting observatories of an event dubbed
ASASSN-14li,
in a distant galactic center,
appears to be giving one star's harrowing story.
Although angularly unresolved,
variations in high energy light
indicate that some of the star became
shredded and reformed into a
disk swirling
around the dark abyss.
In the hypothesized
scenario
envisioned,
a jet formed on the spin axis of the black hole.
The innermost part of the disk, colored white, glows most strongly in
X-rays
and may drive a periodic
wind, shown in blue.
Future X-ray and ultraviolet observations of stellar disruptions by
black holes -- including those in the
center of our own galaxy --
hold promise of telling us about the
complex dynamics
of some of the hottest and highest-gravity places in the universe.
right from the Heart Nebula
Image Copyright: Simon Addis
Image Copyright: Simon Addis
Explanation:
What's that inside the Heart Nebula?
First, the large emission nebula dubbed
IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart.
The nebula glows brightly in red light
emitted by its most prominent element:
hydrogen.
The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a
small group of stars near the
nebula's center.
In the center of the Heart Nebula are young stars from the open star cluster
Melotte 15 that are eroding away several picturesque
dust pillars with their energetic light and winds.
The open cluster of stars contains a few
bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun,
many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an
absent microquasar
that was expelled millions of years ago.
The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light years away toward the
constellation
of Cassiopeia.
At the top right is the companion
Fishhead Nebula
Jupiter in 2015
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley), Glenn Orton (JPL-Caltech)
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley), Glenn Orton (JPL-Caltech)
Explanation:
Two
remarkable global maps
of Jupiter's banded cloud tops
can be compared by just sliding your cursor
over this sharp projection
(or follow this link) of image data from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Both captured on January 19, during
back-to-back 10 hour rotations of the ruling gas giant, the
all-planet projections represent the first in
a series of planned annual portraits by the
Outer
Planet Atmospheres Legacy program.
Comparing the two highlights cloud movements and
measures wind speeds in the planet's
dynamic atmosphere.
In fact,
the Great Red Spot,
the famous long-lived
swirling storm boasting
300 mile per hour winds, is seen sporting a rotating, twisting filament.
The images confirm that Great Red Spot is
still
shrinking, though still larger than planet Earth.
Posing next to it (lower right)
is Oval BA, also known as
Red Spot Junior.
The Fractured North Pole of Saturn's Enceladus
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Explanation:
The north pole of Saturn's moon
Enceladus
is unexpectedly fascinating and complex.
Previous to the
latest flyby of the
robotic Cassini spacecraft,
the northern region was known mostly for its unusually high
abundance of craters.
Last week's flyby, however, returned images of unprecedented detail, including the
featured image
showing the expected craters coupled with an
unexpected and circuitous pattern of picturesque cracks and fractures.
Broken terrain has been recorded at lower latitudes, with deep canyons dubbed
Tiger Stripes near Enceladus' South Pole.
The fractures may further indicate global interplay between the surface and potential
seas underneath, seas that
future missions might target for
signs of life.
When Black Holes Collide
Video Credit & Copyright: Simulating Extreme Spacetimes Collaboration
Video Credit & Copyright: Simulating Extreme Spacetimes Collaboration
Explanation:
What happens when two black holes collide?
This extreme scenario likely occurs in the centers of some merging galaxies and multiple star systems.
The featured video
shows a computer animation of the final stages of such a merger, while highlighting the
gravitational lensing
effects that would appear on a background
starfield.
The black regions indicate the
event horizons of the
dynamic duo,
while a surrounding ring of shifting background stars indicates the position of their combined
Einstein ring.
All background stars not only have
images visible outside of this
Einstein ring,
but also have one or more companion images visible on the inside.
Eventually the two black holes
coalesce.
The end stages of such a merger may provide a strong and predictable blast of
gravitational radiation,
a much sought after form of radiation
different than light that has never yet been directly observed.
The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396
Image Credit & Copyright: J.C. Canonne, P. Bernhard, D. Chaplain & L. Bourgon
Image Credit & Copyright: J.C. Canonne, P. Bernhard, D. Chaplain & L. Bourgon
Explanation:
Like an illustration in a galactic
Just So Story,
the Elephant's Trunk Nebula
winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster
complex IC 1396, in the high and far off
constellation of Cepheus.
Of course, the cosmic
elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long.
This composite
was recorded through
narrow band filters
that transmit the light from ionized hydrogen, sulfur,
and oxygen
atoms in the region.
The resulting image highlights the bright
swept-back ridges
that outline pockets of cool
interstellar
dust and gas.
Such embedded, dark,
tendril-shaped clouds contain the
raw material for
star formation and hide
protostars within the obscuring cosmic dust.
Nearly 3,000
light-years
distant, the relatively faint
IC
1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees.
In the Center of the Trifid Nebula
Image Credit: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler
Image Credit: Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope, Martin Pugh; Processing: Robert Gendler
Explanation:
Clouds of glowing gas mingle with dust lanes in the
Trifid Nebula, a star forming region toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius).
In the center, the three prominent
dust lanes that give the
Trifid its name all come together.
Mountains of opaque dust
appear on the right, while other dark filaments of
dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula.
A single massive star
visible near the center causes much of the
Trifid's glow.
The Trifid, also known as
M20,
is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest
emission nebulae known.
The nebula
lies about 9,000
light years away and the part
pictured here spans about 10 light years.
The above image is a composite with
luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based
Subaru Telescope,
detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope,
color data provided by
Martin Pugh
and image assembly and processing provided by
Robert Gendler.
Source - NASA