MegaMikie's Photobucket Space album media

Moving Space

MegaMikie — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:08:52 MDT

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Moving Space - MovingSpace.gif

Star Factory Messier 17

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:04:55 MDT

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Star Factory Messier 17 - StarFactoryMessier17.jpg

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 30 arcminute field of view spans almost 50 light-years. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material producing the cavernous appearance and undulating shapes. Colors in the gorgeous image were picked to emphasize light emitted by specific elements in the nebula excited by the energetic starlight. Red indicates emission from sulfur, green from hydrogen, and blue from oxygen. M17 is also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula.

Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:47:14 MDT

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Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust - TheTrifidNebulainStarsandDust.jpg

Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula. Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula is visible with good binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos. The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas. The dark dust filaments that lace M20 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions. Which bright young stars light up the blue reflection nebula is still being investigated. The light from M20 we see today left perhaps 3000 years ago, although the exact distance remains unknown. Light takes about 50 years to cross M20.

A Scorpius Sky Spectacular

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:40:34 MDT

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A Scorpius Sky Spectacular - AScorpiusSkySpectacular.jpg

If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well known but rarely pointed out zodiacal constellation. To get a spectacular image like this, though, one needs a good camera, color filters, and a digital image processor. To bring out detail, the above image not only involved long duration exposures taken in several colors, but one exposure in a very specific red color emitted by hydrogen that brings out great detail. The resulting image shows many breathtaking features. Vertically across the image left is part of the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Visible there are vast clouds of bright stars and long filaments of dark dust. Jutting out diagonally from the Milky Way in the image center are dark dust bands known as the Dark River. This river connects to several bright stars on the right that are part of Scorpius' head and claws, and include the bright star Antares. Above and right of Antares is an even brighter planet Jupiter. Numerous red emission nebulas and blue reflection nebulas are visible throughout the image. Scorpius appears prominently in southern skies after sunset during the middle of the year.

Rainbows Across Norway

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:39:25 MDT

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Rainbows Across Norway - RainbowsAcrossNorway.jpg

Have you ever seen six rainbows at once? They are not only rare to see -- they are a puzzle to understand. The common rainbow is caused by sunlight internally reflected by the backs of falling raindrops, while also being refracted at the air / water boundary. To see a rainbow, look opposite the Sun towards a rainstorm. This primary rainbow is the brightest color swath in the above image. Multiple internal reflections inside water droplets sometimes make a secondary rainbow to become visible outside the first, with colors reversed. Just such a secondary rainbow is visible of the far left. Harder to explain is the intermediate rainbow, between the two. This rainbow is likely caused by sunlight that has first reflected off the lake before striking the distant raindrops that is reflecting sunlight back toward the observer. Each of these rainbows appears to be reflected by the calm lake, although because the positions of rainbows depend on the location of the observer, a slightly displaced image of each rainbow is actually being imaged.

Saguaro Moon

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:35:21 MDT

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Saguaro Moon - SaguaroMoon.jpg

A Full Moon rising can be a dramatic celestial sight, and Full Moons can have many names. For example, tonight's Full Moon, the one nearest the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere, is popularly called the Harvest Moon. According to lore the name is a fitting one because farmers could work late into the night at the end of the growing season harvesting crops by moonlight. In the same traditions, the Full Moon following the Harvest Moon is the Hunter's Moon. But, recorded on a trip to the American southwest, this contribution to compelling images of moonrise is appropriately titled Saguaro Moon

A Milky Way Band

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:32:36 MDT

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A Milky Way Band - AMilkyWayBand.jpg

Most bright stars in our Milky Way Galaxy reside in a disk. Since our Sun also resides in this disk, these stars appear to us as a diffuse band that circles the sky. The above panorama of a northern band of the Milky Way's disk covers 90 degrees and is a digitally created mosaic of several independent exposures. Scrolling right will display the rest of this spectacular picture. Visible are many bright stars, dark dust lanes, red emission nebulae, blue reflection nebulae, and clusters of stars. In addition to all this matter that we can see, astronomers suspect there exists even more dark matter that we cannot see.

Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:30:54 MDT

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Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603 - StarburstClusterinNGC3603.jpg

A mere 20,000 light-years from the Sun lies NGC 3603, a resident of the nearby Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603 is well known to astronomers as one of the Milky Way's largest star-forming regions. The central open star cluster contains thousands of stars more massive than our Sun, stars that likely formed only one or two million years ago in a single burst of star formation. In fact, nearby NGC 3603 is thought to contain a convenient example of the massive star clusters that populate much more distant starburst galaxies. Surrounding the cluster are natal clouds of glowing interstellar gas and obscuring dust, sculpted by energetic stellar radiation and winds. Recorded by the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the image spans about 17 light-years.

Aurora, Stars, Meteor, Lake, Alaska

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:27:40 MDT

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Aurora, Stars, Meteor, Lake, Alaska - AuroraStarsMeteorLakeAlaska.jpg

Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. In this case, a picturesque lake lies in front of you, beautiful green aurora flap high above you, brilliant stars shine far in the distance, and, for a brief moment, a bright meteor streaks by. This digitally fused breathtaking panorama was captured late last month across one of the Chena Lakes in North Pole, Alaska, USA, and includes the Pleiades open cluster of stars on the image right. The shot is unusual not only for the many wonders it has captured simultaneously, but because lakes this far north tend to freeze and become non-reflecting before a sky this dark can be photographed.

Jupiter's Clouds from New Horizons

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:49:23 MDT

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Jupiter's Clouds from New Horizons - JupitersCloudsfromNewHorizons.jpg

The New Horizons spacecraft took some stunning images of Jupiter earlier this year while on the way out to Pluto. Famous for its Great Red Spot, Jupiter is also known for its regular, equatorial cloud bands, visible through even modest sized telescopes. The above image was taken near Jupiter's terminator, and shows that the Jovian giant possibly has the widest diversity of cloud patterns in our Solar System. On the far left are clouds closest to Jupiter's south pole. Here turbulent whirlpools and swirls are seen in a dark region, dubbed a belt, that rings the planet. Even light colored regions, called zones, show tremendous structure, complete with complex wave patterns. The energy that drives these waves likely comes from below. New Horizons is the fastest space probe ever launched, and is zipping through the Solar System on track to reach Pluto in 2015.

Haute-Provence Star Trails

MegaMikie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:21:14 MDT

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Haute-Provence Star Trails - Haute-ProvenceStarTrails.jpg

Fix your camera to a tripod and you can record the graceful trails traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis. For example, this dramatic 5 hour long exposure was made on February 24 from Haute-Provence Observatory (OHP) in southeastern France. Actually a composite of 300 consecutive 1-minute exposures, the image nicely shows stars near the celestial equator tracing nearly straight lines in projection, while stars north and south of the equator, respectively, appear to circle the north and south celestial poles. Domes at the bottom left and right house the OHP telescopes. Brilliant planet Venus makes the short bright trail at the lower right, while trails of stars in the end near the lower right observatory dome. Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major, traces the bright arc over the dome at the left. Astronomer Alexandre Santerne also briefly illuminated a foreground oak tree during the exposure sequence.

The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:41:36 MDT

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The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396 - TheElephantsTrunkinIC1396.jpg

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, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The false-color view was recorded through narrow band filters that transmit the light from hydrogen (in green), sulfur (in red), and oxygen (in blue) atoms in the region. The resulting composite 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 about 5 degrees. This dramatic close-up covers a 1/2 degree wide field, about the size of the Full Moon.

IC 5067 in the Pelican Nebula

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:40:28 MDT

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IC 5067 in the Pelican Nebula - IC5067inthePelicanNebula.jpg

The prominent ridge of emission featured in this dramatic skyscape is cataloged as IC 5067. Part of a larger emission nebula with a distinctive shape, popularly called The Pelican Nebula, the ridge spans about 10 light-years following the curve of the cosmic pelican's head and neck. This false color view also translates the pervasive glow of narrow emission lines from atoms in the nebula to a color palette made popular in Hubble Space Telescope images of star forming regions. Fantastic, dark shapes inhabiting the 1/2 degree wide field are clouds of cool gas and dust sculpted by the winds and radiation from hot, massive stars. Close-ups of some of the sculpted clouds show clear signs of newly forming stars. The Pelican Nebula, itself cataloged as IC 5070, is about 2,000 light-years away. To find it, look northeast of bright star Deneb in the high flying constellation Cygnus.

The Milky Road

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:38:28 MDT

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The Milky Road - TheMilkyRoad.jpg

Inspired during a visit to Fort Davis, Texas, home of McDonald Observatory and dark night skies, photographer Larry Landolfi created this tantalizing fantasy view. The composited image suggests the Milky Way is a heavenly extension of a deserted country road. Of course, the name for our galaxy, the Milky Way (in Latin, Via Lactea), does refer to its appearance as a milky band or path in the sky. In fact, the word galaxy itself derives from the Greek for milk. Visible on moonless nights from dark sky areas, though not so colorful as in this image, the glowing celestial band is due to the collective light of myriad stars along the plane of our galaxy, too faint to be distinguished individually. The diffuse starlight is cut by dark swaths of obscuring galactic dust clouds. At the beginning of the 17th century, Galileo turned his telescope on the Milky Way and announced it to be composed of innumerable stars.

The Great Carina Nebula

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:36:47 MDT

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The Great Carina Nebula - TheGreatCarinaNebula.jpg

A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula, aka NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. Like the smaller, more northerly Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is easily visible to the naked eye, though at a distance of 7,500 light-years it is some 5 times farther away. This stunning telescopic view reveals remarkable details of the region's glowing filaments of interstellar gas and dark cosmic dust clouds. The Carina Nebula is home to young, extremely massive stars, including the still enigmatic variable Eta Carinae, a star with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. Eta Carinae is the bright star left of the central dark notch in this field and just below the dusty Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324).

Noctilucent Clouds Over Sweden

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:28:33 MDT

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Noctilucent Clouds Over Sweden - NoctilucentCloudsOverSweden.jpg

Sometimes it's night on the ground but day in the air. As the Earth rotates to eclipse the Sun, sunset rises up from the ground. Therefore, at sunset on the ground, sunlight still shines on clouds above. Under usual circumstances, a pretty sunset might be visible, but unusual noctilucent clouds float so high up they can be seen well after dark. Pictured above last month, a network of noctilucent clouds cast a colorful but eerie glow after dusk near Vallentuna, Sweden. Although noctilucent clouds are thought to be composed of small ice-coated particles, much remains unknown about them. Satellites launched to help study these clouds includes Sweden's Odin and NASA's AIM. Recent evidence indicates that at least some noctilucent clouds result from freezing water exhaust from Space Shuttles.

Three Nebulae in Narrow Band

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:22:09 MDT

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Three Nebulae in Narrow Band - ThreeNebulaeinNarrowBand.jpg

Narrow band filters and a false-color palette give these three nebulae a stunning appearance against the cosmic canvas of the central Milky Way. All three are stellar nurseries about 5,000 light-years or so distant, toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. In the 18th century, astronomer Charles Messier cataloged two of them; colorful M8, above and right of center, and compact M20 at the left. The third, NGC 6559, is at bottom right. Over a hundred light-years across, M8 is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. Divided by obscuring dust lanes, M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. In the composite image, narrow emission lines from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms recorded through the filters, are mapped into broader red, green, and blue colors respectively. The color scheme was made popular in Hubble Space Telescope images. But for ground-based telescopes, narrow band filters also make it possible to reject overwhelming light-pollution and capture compelling images of the cosmos from urban skies.

NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:16:22 MDT

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NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula - NGC6888TheCrescentNebula.jpg

What caused the Crescent Nebula? Looking like an emerging space cocoon, the Crescent Nebula, visible in the center of the above image, was created by the brightest star in its center. A leading progenitor hypothesis has the Crescent Nebula beginning to form about 250,000 years ago. At that time, the massive central star had evolved to become a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136), shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of our Sun's mass every 10,000 years. This wind impacted surrounding gas left over from a previous phase, compacting it into a series of complex shells, and lighting it up. The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, lies about 4,700 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Star WR 136 will probably undergo a supernova explosion sometime in the next million years.

Aurora in the Distance

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:14:27 MDT

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Aurora in the Distance - AuroraintheDistance.jpg

Some auroras can only be seen with a camera. They are called sub-visual and are too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. The reason is that the human eye only accumulates light for a fraction of a second at a time, while a camera shutter can be left open indefinitely. When photographing an already picturesque scene above Juneau, Alaska, USA, a camera caught green sub-visual aurora near the horizon. Auroras are sparked by energetic particles from the Sun impacting the magnetic environment around the Earth. Resultant energetic particles such as electrons and protons rain down near the Earth's poles and impact the air. The impacted air molecules temporarily lose electrons, and when oxygen molecules among them reacquire these electrons, they emit green light. Auroras are known to have many shapes and colors.

Pleiades and Stardust

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:11:59 MDT

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Pleiades and Stardust - PleiadesandStardust.jpg

Hurtling through a cosmic dust cloud a mere 400 light-years away, the lovely Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster is well-known for its striking blue reflection nebulae. This remarkable wide-field (3 degree) image of the region shows the famous star cluster at the right, while highlighting lesser known dusty reflection nebulae nearby, across an area that would span over 20 light-years. In this case, the sister stars and cosmic dust clouds are not related, they just happen to be passing through the same region of space. But astronomers using infrared detectors have recently found a dusty disk that really does belong to one young Pleiades star -- HD 23514. Surrounding HD 23514, the disk is estimated to be comparable in size to the terrestrial planet zone in our own solar system and likely represents the debris from the process of rocky planet formation.

M74 The Perfect Spiral

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:41:50 MDT

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M74 The Perfect Spiral - M74ThePerfectSpiral.jpg

If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. Constructed from image data recorded in 2003 and 2005, this sharp composite is from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy's large star-forming regions.

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula

MegaMikie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:30:05 MDT

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The Fairy of Eagle Nebula - TheFairyofEagleNebula.jpg

The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Pictured above is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire. The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. The above image in scientifically re-assigned colors was released as part of the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Universe Nearby

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:50:45 MDT

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The Universe Nearby - TheUniverseNearby.jpg

What does the universe nearby look like? This plot shows over one and a half million of the brightest stars and galaxies in the nearby universe detected by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) in infrared light. The resulting image is an incredible tapestry of stars and galaxies that provides limits on how the universe formed and evolved. Across the center are stars that lie in the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Away from the Galactic plane, vast majority of the dots are galaxies, color coded to indicate distance, with blue dots representing the nearest galaxies in the 2Mass survey, and red dots indicating the most distant survey galaxies that lie at a redshift near 0.1. Named structures are annotated. Many galaxies are gravitationally bound together to form clusters, which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters, which in turn are sometimes seen to align over even larger scale structures.

T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:38:17 MDT

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T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula - TTauriandHindsVariableNebula.jpg

The orange star centered in this remarkable telescopic skyview is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Nearby it is a dusty yellow cosmic cloud historically known as Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555/1554). Over 400 light-years away, at the edge of a molecular cloud, both star and nebula are seen to vary significantly in brightness but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of the intriguing region. T Tauri stars are now generally recognized as young (less than a few million years old), sun-like stars still in the early stages of formation. To further complicate the picture, infrared observations indicate that T Tauri itself is part of a multiple system and suggest that the associated Hind's Nebula may also contain a very young stellar object. The dramatic color image spans about 4 light-years at the estimated distance of T Tauri.

Mountains of Creation

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:34:58 MDT

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Mountains of Creation - MountainsofCreation.jpg

This fantastic skyscape lies at the eastern edge of giant stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. An infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, it features interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive star outside the picture (just above and to the right). Still swaddled within the cosmic clouds, newborn stars are revealed by Spitzer's penetrating gaze, their formation also triggered by the massive star. Fittingly dubbed "Mountains of Creation", these interstellar clouds are about 10 times the size of the analogous Pillars of Creation in M16, made famous in a 1995 Hubble Space Telescope view. W5 is also known as IC 1848 and together with IC 1805 it is part of a complex region popularly dubbed the Heart and Soul Nebulae. The Spitzer image spans about 70 light-years at the distance of W5.

Horizon to Horizon

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:30:53 MDT

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Horizon to Horizon - HorizontoHorizon.jpg

Scroll right and journey from horizon to horizon as your gaze sweeps through the zenith in the night sky over Beg-Meil, France. Recorded on December 13th, the entertaining panorama (image key) covers 210 degrees in 21 separate exposures, beginning on the beach with bright star Sirius rising in the southeast. Look up (pan right) to encounter the nebula rich constellation of Orion and continue on to find the lovely Pleiades star cluster. Farther along, higher in the sky, is the famous Comet Holmes, still gracing the northern hemisphere's night with its remarkable expanding coma. Finally, just before diving into the urban glow from city lights along the northwestern horizon (far right), check out the double star cluster in Perseus and take in the cosmic streak of a bright Geminid Meteor.

Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:28:26 MDT

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Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley - MarsandOrionOverMonumentValley.jpg

Welcome to The World At Night. Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley, USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes. Buttes are composed of hard rock left behind after water eroded away the surrounding soft rock. The two buttes on the image left are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte is on the right. Recorded just last week, planet Mars is at the left of the skyscape, a glowing beacon of orange that is the brightest object in the frame. To the right of Mars lies the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse is the reddish star near the center and the Belt of Orion and the Orion Nebula are farther right. Finally, the bright blue star Rigel appears above Merrick Butte in this stunning view of The World At Night.

Trifid Pillars and Jets

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:26:55 MDT

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Trifid Pillars and Jets - TrifidPillarsandJets.jpg

Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains. They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are being slowly eroded away by a hostile environment. Visible in the above picture is the end of a huge gas and dust pillar in the Trifid Nebula, punctuated by a smaller pillar pointing up and an unusual jet pointing to the left. The pink dots are newly formed low-mass stars. A star near the small pillar's end is slowly being stripped of its accreting gas by radiation from a tremendously brighter star situated off the above picture to the upper right. The jet extends nearly a light-year and would not be visible without external illumination. As gas and dust evaporate from the pillars, the hidden stellar source of this jet will likely be uncovered, possibly over the next 20,000 years.

The Milky Way at 5000 Meters

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:22:00 MDT

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The Milky Way at 5000 Meters - TheMilkyWayat5000Meters.jpg

Climb up to 5000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level, near Cerro Chajnantor in the northern Chilean Andes, and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista. Recorded from that high and dry locale, the spectacular fish-eye image features the myriad stars and sprawling dust clouds of our Milky Way Galaxy. The direction toward the center of the Galaxy is near the zenith and center of the picture, but the Galactic Center itself is hidden from view, located far behind the obscuring dust. Brilliant Jupiter rules this scene just above the Milky Way's central bulge with the noticeably fainter, yellowish, giant star Antares to its right. Small and faint, near the right edge of the picture is one of the Milky Way's many satellite galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

M51 Cosmic Whirlpool

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:20:20 MDT

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M51 Cosmic Whirlpool - M51CosmicWhirlpool.jpg

Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (right), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy in small, earthbound telescopes, this sharpest ever picture of M51 was made in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:03:23 MDT

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Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak - HiddenGalaxyIC342fromKittPeak.jpg

Beautiful nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 could be more famous if it wasn't so hidden. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is almost hidden from view behind the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Similar in size to other large, bright spiral galaxies IC 342 is a mere 7 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation of the Giraffe (Camelopardalis). Even though IC 342's light is dimmed by intervening cosmic clouds, this remarkably sharp telescopic image traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust, blue star clusters, and glowing pink star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 may have undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.

Hurricane Ivan from the Space Station

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:44:12 MDT

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Hurricane Ivan from the Space Station - HurricaneIvanfromtheSpaceStation.jpg

Active Galaxy Centaurus A

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:44:00 MDT

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Active Galaxy Centaurus A - ActiveGalaxyCentaurusA.jpg

The Cocoon Nebula from CFHT

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:39:01 MDT

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The Cocoon Nebula from CFHT - TheCocoonNebulafromCFHT.jpg

What creates the colors of the Cocoon Nebula? The Cocoon Nebula, cataloged as IC 5146, is a strikingly beautiful nebula located about 4,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing open cluster of stars. Like other stellar nurseries, the Cocoon Nebula holds, at the same time, a bright red emission nebula, blue reflection nebulas, and dark absorption nebulas. Given different mixtures, these three processes create a host of colors in this image taken recently by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) in Hawaii, USA. Speculation based on recent measurements holds that the massive star towards the left of the picture opened a hole in an existing molecular cloud through which much of the glowing material flows. The same star, which formed about 100,000 years ago, now provides the energy source for much of the emitted and reflected light from this nebula.

Pleiades star cluster above Mörby Castle

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:39:00 MDT

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Pleiades star cluster above Mörby Castle - PleiadesstarclusteraboveMrbyCastle.jpg

Thor's Helmet

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:39:00 MDT

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Thor's Helmet - ThorsHelmet.jpg

This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. The sharp image captures striking details of the nebula's filamentary structures and also records an almost emerald color from strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas.

Winter Night at Pic du Midi

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:59 MDT

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Winter Night at Pic du Midi - WinterNightatPicduMidi.jpg

Comet McNaught Over Chile

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:58 MDT

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Comet McNaught Over Chile - CometMcNaughtOverChile.jpg

Shelf Cloud Over Saskatchewan

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:58 MDT

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Shelf Cloud Over Saskatchewan - ShelfCloudOverSaskatchewan.jpg

Andromeda

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:57 MDT

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Andromeda - Andromeda.jpg

Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:57 MDT

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Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud - YoungStarsintheRhoOphiuchiCloud.jpg

Light Echoes from V838 Mon

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:56 MDT

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Light Echoes from V838 Mon - LightEchoesfromV838Mon.jpg

The Rosette Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:56 MDT

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The Rosette Nebula - TheRosetteNebula.jpg

The Crab Nebula from Hubble

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:55 MDT

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The Crab Nebula from Hubble - TheCrabNebulafromHubble.jpg

Moon over Byzantium

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:54 MDT

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Moon over Byzantium - MoonoverByzantium.jpg

Vela Supernova Remnant

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:54 MDT

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Vela Supernova Remnant - VelaSupernovaRemnant.jpg

Cat's Eye Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:53 MDT

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Cat's Eye Nebula - CatsEyeNebula.jpg

The Cat's Paw Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:53 MDT

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The Cat's Paw Nebula - TheCatsPawNebula.jpg

Endeavour to Orbi

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:52 MDT

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Endeavour to Orbi - EndeavourtoOrbit.jpg

South of Orion

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:51 MDT

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South of Orion - SouthofOrion.jpg

Wisps Surrounding the Horsehead Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:51 MDT

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Wisps Surrounding the Horsehead Nebula - WispsSurroundingtheHorseheadNebula.jpg

Spiral Galaxies in Collision

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:50 MDT

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Spiral Galaxies in Collision - SpiralGalaxiesinCollision.jpg

IC 2948 The Running Chicken Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:49 MDT

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IC 2948 The Running Chicken Nebula - IC2948TheRunningChickenNebula.jpg

Night Sky Over Flagstaff

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:49 MDT

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Night Sky Over Flagstaff - NightSkyOverFlagstaff.jpg

Running Messier's Marathon

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:48 MDT

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Running Messier's Marathon - RunningMessiersMarathon.jpg

The Fox Fur Nebula from CFHT

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:48 MDT

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The Fox Fur Nebula from CFHT - TheFoxFurNebulafromCFHT.jpg

The Tarantula Zone

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:47 MDT

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The Tarantula Zone - TheTarantulaZone.jpg

pillars-of-creation

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:46 MDT

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pillars-of-creation - pillars-of-creation.jpg

Star Forming Region NGC 3582

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:46 MDT

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Star Forming Region NGC 3582 - StarFormingRegionNGC3582.jpg

Shaping NGC 6188

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:45 MDT

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Shaping NGC 6188 - ShapingNGC6188.jpg

The M81 Galaxy Group Through the Integrated Flux

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:45 MDT

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The M81 Galaxy Group Through the Integrated Flux - TheM81GalaxyGroupThroughtheIntegrat.jpg

Hubble-Spitzer Color Mosaic of the Galactic Center

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:44 MDT

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Hubble-Spitzer Color Mosaic of the Galactic Center - Hubble-SpitzerColorMosaicoftheGalac.jpg

Alborz Mountain Milky Way

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:43 MDT

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Alborz Mountain Milky Way - AlborzMountainMilkyWay.jpg

The Dark Tower in Scorpius

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:43 MDT

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The Dark Tower in Scorpius - TheDarkTowerinScorpius.jpg

Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:42 MDT

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Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula - DarkCloudsoftheCarinaNebula.jpg

Pipe Nebula, Dark River and Antares

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:41 MDT

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Pipe Nebula, Dark River and Antares - PipeNebulaandAntares.jpg

Windblown NGC 3199

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:41 MDT

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Windblown NGC 3199 - WindblownNGC3199.jpg

A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:40 MDT

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A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence - ATwistedSolarEruptiveProminence.gif

Horsehead and Orion Nebulae

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:40 MDT

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Horsehead and Orion Nebulae - HorseheadandOrionNebulae.jpg

M51 Hubble Reprocessed

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:39 MDT

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M51 Hubble Reprocessed - M51HubbleReprocessed.jpg

Solstice Moonrise, Cape Sounion

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:38 MDT

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Solstice Moonrise, Cape Sounion - SolsticeMoonriseCapeSounion.jpg

The Star Streams of NGC 5907

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:38 MDT

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The Star Streams of NGC 5907 - TheStarStreamsofNGC5907.jpg

Eta Carinae and the Homunculus Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:37 MDT

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Eta Carinae and the Homunculus Nebula - EtaCarinaeandtheHomunculusNebula.jpg

In the Center of the Trifid Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:37 MDT

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In the Center of the Trifid Nebula - IntheCenteroftheTrifidNebula.jpg

Pickering's Triangle from Kitt Peak

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:36 MDT

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Pickering's Triangle from Kitt Peak - PickeringsTrianglefromKittPeak.jpg

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:35 MDT

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Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300 - BarredSpiralGalaxyNGC1300.jpg

SN 1006 Supernova Remnant

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:35 MDT

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SN 1006 Supernova Remnant - SN1006SupernovaRemnant.jpg

A Dark Sky Over Death Valley

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:34 MDT

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A Dark Sky Over Death Valley - ADarkSkyOverDeathValley.jpg

Hoodoo Sky

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:34 MDT

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Hoodoo Sky - HoodooSky.jpg

Jupiter over Ephesus

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:33 MDT

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Jupiter over Ephesus - JupiteroverEphesus.jpg

M16 and the Eagle Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:32 MDT

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M16 and the Eagle Nebula - M16andtheEagleNebula.jpg

The Milky Way Over Ontario

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:32 MDT

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The Milky Way Over Ontario - TheMilkyWayOverOntario.jpg

Gas and Dust of the Lagoon Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:31 MDT

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Gas and Dust of the Lagoon Nebula - GasandDustoftheLagoonNebula.jpg

A Seemingly Square Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:30 MDT

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A Seemingly Square Nebula - ASeeminglySquareNebula.jpg

Spitzer's M101

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:30 MDT

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Spitzer's M101 - SpitzersM101.jpg

The Witch's Broom Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:29 MDT

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The Witch's Broom Nebula - TheWitchsBroomNebula.jpg

X-Rays from the Cat's Eye Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:29 MDT

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X-Rays from the Cat's Eye Nebula - X-RaysfromtheCatsEyeNebula.jpg

Matter of the Bullet Cluster

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:28 MDT

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Matter of the Bullet Cluster - MatteroftheBulletCluster.jpg

Grand Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:27 MDT

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Grand Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232 - GrandSpiralGalaxyNGC1232.jpg

The Crescent Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:27 MDT

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The Crescent Nebula - TheCrescentNebula.jpg

Spokes in the Helix Nebula

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:26 MDT

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Spokes in the Helix Nebula - SpokesintheHelixNebula.jpg

Active Galaxy NGC 1275

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:25 MDT

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Active Galaxy NGC 1275 - ActiveGalaxyNGC1275.jpg

A Ruptured Cometary Globule

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:24 MDT

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A Ruptured Cometary Globule - ARupturedCometaryGlobule.jpg

Eclipse over the Great Wall

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:24 MDT

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Eclipse over the Great Wall - EclipseovertheGreatWall.jpg

Milky Way Road Trip

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:23 MDT

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Milky Way Road Trip - MilkyWayRoadTrip.jpg

Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:23 MDT

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Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy - SatelliteoftheAndromedaGalaxy.jpg

Two Giant Galaxy Clusters

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:22 MDT

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Two Giant Galaxy Clusters - TwoGiantGalaxyClusters.jpg

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:21 MDT

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M33 Triangulum Galaxy - M33TriangulumGalaxy.jpg

M83 The Thousand Ruby Galaxy

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:21 MDT

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M83 The Thousand Ruby Galaxy - M83TheThousandRubyGalaxy.jpg

Pillars of Star Creation

MegaMikie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:38:20 MDT

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Pillars of Star Creation - PillarsofStarCreation.jpg