Space Pics v.3

[nada233]

yes captain you have brought some old memories to me as well with some of the wonderful pictures,and the whys.Continue with this wonderful job .

[Kimbo]

Keep it up we only seen a tiny part of the universe and the part we have seen its amazing!!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/NGC7497_Coles_960.jpg

Galaxy, Stars, and Dust

Is this galaxy trapped in a web of dust? No -- it is far in the background. However, spiky stars and spooky shapes are abound in this deep cosmic skyscape. Its well-composed field of view covers about a Full Moon on the sky toward the constellation Pegasus. Of course the brighter stars show diffraction spikes, the commonly seen effect of internal supports in reflecting telescopes, and lie well within our own Milky Way galaxy. The faint but pervasive clouds of interstellar dust ride above the galactic plane and dimly reflect the Milky Way's combined starlight. Known as high latitude cirrus or integrated flux nebulae they are associated with molecular clouds. In this case, the diffuse cloud cataloged as MBM 54, less than a thousand light-years distant, fills the scene. The galaxy seemingly tangled in the dust is the striking spiral galaxy NGC 7497 some 60 million light-years away. Seen almost edge-on near the center of the field, NGC 7497's own spiral arms and dust lanes echo the colors of the Milky Way's stars and dust.

Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles and Mel Helm

[Farmer1]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/PerseusCloud_hilborn1024.jpg

Stardust in Perseus

This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 6 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus. At upper left in the gorgeous skyscape is the intriguing young star cluster IC 348 and neighboring Flying Ghost Nebula. At right, another active star forming region NGC 1333 is connected by dark and dusty tendrils on the outskirts of the giant Perseus Molecular Cloud, about 850 light-years away. Other dusty nebulae are scattered around the field of view, along with the faint reddish glow of hydrogen gas. In fact, the cosmic dust tends to hide the newly formed stars and young stellar objects or protostars from prying optical telescopes. Collapsing due to self-gravity, the protostars form from the dense cores embedded in the dusty molecular cloud. At the molecular cloud's estimated distance, this field of view would span almost 90 light-years.

Image Credit & Copyright: Lynn Hilborn

I have to say the face in this one is kind of spooky

[nada233]

1101

The Final Exit
Pin It Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Serge Meunie
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015: This planetary nebula PK 329-02.2 (AKA Menzel 2, or Mz 2) lies in the constellation of Norma in the southern sky. Planetary nebulas arise when sun-like stars reach the ends of their lives, and blow their outer layers of gas into space before the final stage of becoming a white dwarf. Menzel 2 shows a winding blue cloud with two stars at its exact center. Astronomers determined that the star at upper right is the central star of the nebula, and the other star to the lower left is probably the central star’s true physical companion. Image released Oct. 5, 2015.

— Tom Chao

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/ElephantTrunk_Canonne_960.jpg

The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396

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.


Image Credit & Copyright: J.C. Canonne, P. Bernhard, D. Chaplain & L. Bourgon

[Marley]

just wait a few more yrs for new pictures coming

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/NGC7497_Coles_960.jpg


Galaxy, Stars, and Dust

Is this galaxy trapped in a web of dust? No -- it is far in the background. However, spiky stars and spooky shapes are abound in this deep cosmic skyscape. Its well-composed field of view covers about a Full Moon on the sky toward the constellation Pegasus. Of course the brighter stars show diffraction spikes, the commonly seen effect of internal supports in reflecting telescopes, and lie well within our own Milky Way galaxy. The faint but pervasive clouds of interstellar dust ride above the galactic plane and dimly reflect the Milky Way's combined starlight. Known as high latitude cirrus or integrated flux nebulae they are associated with molecular clouds. In this case, the diffuse cloud cataloged as MBM 54, less than a thousand light-years distant, fills the scene. The galaxy seemingly tangled in the dust is the striking spiral galaxy NGC 7497 some 60 million light-years away. Seen almost edge-on near the center of the field, NGC 7497's own spiral arms and dust lanes echo the colors of the Milky Way's stars and dust.

Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Coles and Mel Helm

[K00lKatT]

looks like the big guy has given his cosmic Frisbee a toss...

[Kimbo]

NASA shows off new 4K views of Jupiter

New images of Jupiter captured by the Hubble Space Telescope reveal details never seen before, including a newly identifiable filament in the "Great Red Spot" — a hurricane bigger than the size of three Earths that has raged for hundreds of years on the massive planet. The images were released on the website for NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center.

NASA scientists also used the images to create a 4K video of the planet's rotation. It's part of the agency's ongoing effort to release more UHD footage on both YouTube and its new dedicated 4K television channel, which was announced last month.


https://youtu.be/3afEX8a2jPg

[Marley]

cool now wish i had a 4k tv

[Marley]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/nasas-latest-hd-footage-of-water-droplets-will-blow-your-mind/vi-AAfotma can i say wow

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/potw1541a.jpg

Elegant spiral hides a hungry monster

NGC 4639 is a beautiful example of a type of galaxy known as a barred spiral. It lies over 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo and is one of about 1500 galaxies that make up the Virgo Cluster.

In this image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, one can clearly see the bar running through the bright, round core of the galaxy. Bars are found in around two thirds of spiral galaxies, and are thought to be a natural phase in their evolution.

The galaxy’s spiral arms are sprinkled with bright regions of active star formation. Each of these tiny jewels is actually several hundred light-years across and contains hundreds or thousands of newly formed stars. But NGC 4639 also conceals a dark secret in its core — a massive black hole that is consuming the surrounding gas.

This is known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and is revealed by characteristic features in the spectrum of light from the galaxy and by X-rays produced close to the black hole as the hot gas plunges towards it.

Most galaxies are thought to contain a black hole at the centre. NGC 4639 is in fact a very weak example of an AGN, demonstrating that AGNs exist over a large range of activity, from galaxies like NGC 4639 to distant quasars, where the parent galaxy is almost completely dominated by the emissions from the AGN.

Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA

[K00lKatT]

another winner, Capn....thks..

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/M16HubbleV4-X3walker1024.jpg

M16 and the Eagle Nebula

A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by natal clouds of dust and glowing gas, M16 is also known as The Eagle Nebula. This beautifully detailed image of the region includes cosmic sculptures made famous in Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or Pillars of Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting to form stars. Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the ridge of bright emission left of center is another dusty starforming column known as the Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 and the Eagle Nebula lie about 7,000 light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).


Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Walker

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/M81crawford1024_fh.jpg

Bright Spiral Galaxy M81

One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful M81. The grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major). This superbly detailed image reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, tell tale pinkish star forming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to the Milky Way. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable dust lane actually runs straight through the disk, to the left of the galactic center, contrary to M81's other prominent spiral features. The errant dust lane may be the lingering result of a close encounter between between M81 and its smaller companion galaxy, M82. Scrutiny of variable stars in M81 has yielded one of the best determined distances for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years. M81's dwarf companion galaxy Holmberg IX can be seen just above the large spiral.

Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)

[Marley]

here are 9 pic

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150918-galaxy-pluto-ceres-wildfires-mars-best-space-pictures-science/#/1space367.ngsversion.1442419111525.jpg

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Nice bro, thanks

[nada233]

thank you asft,interesting post.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/mammatus_lindsay_960.jpg

Mammatus Clouds Over Saskatchewan

Why is this cloud so bubbly? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat. The flatness is caused by moist warm air that rises and cools and so condenses into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. As water droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate. Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm. Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side. These mammatus clouds were photographed over Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada during the summer of 2012.



Image Credit & Licence: Craig Lindsay, Wikipedia

[Farmer1]

that's sweet and right in my province

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/SouthernCrossSky_Fairbairn_960.jpg

The Southern Cross in a Southern Sky

Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the four bright stars that mark the Southern Cross are visible just above the horizon in the featured image. On the left of this constellation, also known as The Crux, is the orange star Gamma Crucis. The band of stars, dust, and gas rising through the middle of the image mosaic is part our Milky Way Galaxy. Just to the right of the Southern Cross is the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and the bright nebula at the top of the image is the Carina Nebula. The Southern Cross is such a famous constellation that it is depicted on the national flag of Australia.




Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Fairbairn

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/M94_hst1542a.jpg

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94

Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years or so across M94's central region. The sharp close-up examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust lanes, surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars. The massive stars in the ring are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small, bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, M94 is also known as a starburst galaxy. Because M94 is relatively nearby, astronomers can explore in detail reasons for the galaxy's burst of star formation.




Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA

[K00lKatT]

that one's a stunner!!

[Farmer1]

amazing just amazing

[big dady]

Very nice as usual

[nada233]

nice one like always captain,and yeah farmer I remember that picture also lol,we took lots of them from that big storm,a couple of years or so ago.

[nada233]

1149
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015: A pair of jets shoot outwards with near-perfect symmetry from Herbig-Haro object (HH) 212. The object lies in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) not far from the Horsehead Nebula. A young star only a few thousand years old lies at the center of the object, surrounded by an accretion disk of leftover material from the star’s formation, seen here edge-on. The star’s jets shoot out in a symmetric fashion, with several knots appearing at relatively stable intervals. This stability suggests that the jet pulses vary quite regularly, and over a timescale that may be as short as 30 years. The image was taken by ESO’s decommissioned Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC), released Oct. 12, 2015.

— Tom Chao

[nada233]

1150
Monday, Oct. 19, 2015: Greg Redfern, the "Sky Guy in VA" caught the Andromeda Galaxy, AKA M31, as his first photo of the fall. Andromeda Galaxy is the closest large galaxy to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. M31 lies off the northeast corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Two companion galaxies also appear in the photo: M-110 to the left of Andromeda Galaxy, and M-32 to the right. Light from M31 takes 2.5 million years to arrive at Earth, so Redfern suggests that you "[g]et out when the sky is clear and go back in time by looking at the Andromeda Galaxy." Image submitted Oct. 8, 2015.

— Tom Chao

[Capt.Kangaroo]

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/t31.0-8/12030318_10153724796657139_6091263137336526873_o.j pg

Hurricane Patricia from Space



About an hour ago, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted this image of Hurricane Patricia approaching Mexico from his vantage point on the International Space Station. "It's massive. Be careful!" he said. The storm's record-breaking winds, low central pressure, and unusually rapid intensification has meteorologists using words like "stunning, historic, mind-boggling, and catastrophic" to describe the storm.

NASA's Earth Observatory

[nada233]

biggest Hurricane in history wow ,nice picture and scary at the same time.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/jupiterpersonvenus_nikodem_960.jpg

Jupiter and Venus from Earth

It was visible around the world. The sunset conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in 2012 was visible almost no matter where you lived on Earth. Anyone on the planet with a clear western horizon at sunset could see them. Pictured above in 2012, a creative photographer traveled away from the town lights of Szubin, Poland to image a near closest approach of the two planets. The bright planets were separated only by three degrees and his daughter striking a humorous pose. A faint red sunset still glowed in the background. Jupiter and Venus will be at it again this week before sunrise, passing under two degree from each other -- and even with bonus planet Mars nearby.

Image Copyright: Marek Nikodem (PPSAE)

[nada233]

1162
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015: Two stars appear to shine through a ring of cascading dust. The star system, named DI Cha, actually consists two sets of binary stars forming a quadruple system. Dust surrounds the relatively young star system. The young stars mold the dust into a wispy wrap. This interaction between dust and star takes place in the Chamaeleon I dark cloud, one of three similar clouds that comprise a large star-forming region known as the Chamaeleon Complex.

— Tom Chao

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/Heart_Addis_960.jpg

Bright from the Heart Nebula

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.



Image Copyright: Simon Addis

[K00lKatT]

wow!! looks like a cosmic warrior with sabre raised...or I'm under the influence..lol

[Farmer1]

WOW awesome

[Capt.Kangaroo]

wow!! looks like a cosmic warrior with sabre raised...or I'm under the influence..lol
Both.......lol:p

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/IC1871_HSTwager1024.jpg

IC 1871: Inside the Soul Nebula

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.

Image Credit & Copyright: Sara Wager

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/IC2118_A_full900.jpg

The Witch Head Nebula

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble .... maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. A suggestively shaped reflection nebula, this cosmic crone is about 800 light-years away though. Its frightening 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.

Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Signorelli

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/20151022GhostStartrails1024.jpg

Ghosts and Star Trails


Don't be scared. Stars won't fall from the sky and ghosts won't really haunt your neighborhood tonight. But it looks like they might be doing just that in this eerie picture of an eccentric old abandoned house in moonlight. A treat for the eye the image is a trick of stacked multiple exposures, 60 frames exposed for 25 seconds each. While the digital frames were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod stars traced concentric arcs about the north celestial pole, only a reflection of planet Earth's rotation on its axis. Conveniently marked by bright star Polaris, the pole could be positioned above the peaks of the deserted dwelling. Wrapped in a blanket to stay warm, the photographer's own movements during the exposures were blended into the ghostly apparitions. Of course, the grinning Jack-o-Lantern is there to wish you a safe and Happy Halloween!




Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/VenusArch_Horalek_1500.jpg

Seeking Venus under the Spitzkoppe Arch

What's that in the sky? Although there was much to see in this spectacular panorama taken during the early morning hours of a day in late September, the brightest object in the sky was clearly the planet Venus. In the featured image, Venus was captured actually through a natural rock bridge, itself picturesque, in Spitzkoppe, Namibia. The planet, on the left of the opening, was complemented by a silhouette of the astrophotographer on the right. Above and beyond the rock bridge were many famous icons of a dark night sky, including, from left to right, the Pleiades star cluster, the Orion Nebula, the bright star Sirius, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This week, Venus remains visible to the east in the pre-dawn sky, being complemented by Mars, which is angularly quite close.



Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/asteroid/20151030/skull2015-TB145.jpg

Halloween Comet Resembles Skull


This image of asteroid 2015 TB145, a dead comet, was generated using radar data collected by the National Science Foundation's 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar image was taken on Oct. 30, 2015, and the image resolution is 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel.

Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF

[Farmer1]

post 323 is awesome

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/OrionNebula_Hancock_960.jpg

The Great Orion Nebula M42

The Great Nebula in Orion, also known as M42, is one of the most famous nebulas in the sky. The star forming region's glowing gas clouds and hot young stars are on the right in this sharp and colorful image that includes the bluish reflection nebulae NGC 1977 and friends on the left. Located at the edge of an otherwise invisible giant molecular cloud complex, these eye-catching nebulas represent only a small fraction of this galactic neighborhood's wealth of interstellar material. Within the well-studied stellar nursery, astronomers have also identified what appear to be numerous infant planetary systems. The gorgeous skyscape spans nearly two degrees or about 45 light-years at the Orion Nebula's estimated distance of 1,500 light-years.



Image Credit & Copyright: Terry Hancock (Down Under Observatory)

[dcbig]

You got some nice pictures here great looking

[Capt.Kangaroo]

You got some nice pictures here great looking

Thanks, I appreciate it.
I only find them and post them.
Glad you like them...:)

[dcbig]

Keep on posting them please

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Keep on posting them please

You can count on that...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1510/M17_colombari_1024.jpg

Star Factory Messier 17

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.

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

[Marley]

oh yea i like space pictures keep them coming

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/NGC1333_aae1024.jpg

NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus



NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This striking close-up spans about two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

Image Credit & Copyright: Agrupació Astronòmica d'Eivissa/Ibiza (AAE), Alberto Prats RodrÃ*guez

[K00lKatT]

looks like a bearded cosmic warrior running with his head thrown back giving his war cry!!!....but then could be my meds, too...:cool:

[Capt.Kangaroo]

looks like a bearded cosmic warrior running with his head thrown back giving his war cry!!!....but then could be my meds, too...:cool:
Whatever your reason, you always have great insight to these pics...
thanks KK...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/n3169n3166_orig.jpg

Unraveling NGC 3169

Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 appears to be unraveling in this cosmic scene, played out some 70 million light-years away just below bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Its beautiful spiral arms are distorted into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (top) and neighboring NGC 3166 interact gravitationally, a common fate even for bright galaxies in the local universe. In fact, drawn out stellar arcs and plumes, indications of gravitational interactions, seem rampant in the deep and colorful galaxy group photo. The picture spans 20 arc minutes, or about 400,000 light-years at the group's estimated distance, and includes smaller, dimmer NGC 3165 at bottom right. NGC 3169 is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays, harboring an active galactic nucleus that is likely the site of a supermassive black hole.




Image Credit & Copyright: Warren Keller, Steve Mazlin, Jack Harvey, Steve Menaker (SSRO/ UNC/PROMPT/ CTIO)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/iss044e045565a.jpg

Earth and Milky Way from Space

Since November 2000, people have been living continuously on the International Space Station. To celebrate humanity's 15th anniversary off planet Earth, consider this snapshot from space of our galaxy and our home world posing together beyond the orbital outpost. The Milky Way stretches below the curve of Earth's limb in the scene that also records a faint red, extended airglow. The galaxy's central bulge appears with starfields cut by dark rifts of obscuring interstellar dust. The picture was taken by Astronaut Scott Kelly on August 9, 2015, the 135th day of his one-year mission in space.



Image Credit: NASA, Scott Kelly

[Farmer1]

This meteor, part of the Taurids Meteor Shower was seen across a wide area of Saskatchewan.

1232

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/FlamingStar_Vargas_960.jpg

AE Aurigae and the Flaming Star Nebula

Is star AE Aurigae on fire? No. Even though AE Aurigae is named the flaming star, the surrounding nebula IC 405 is named the Flaming Star Nebula, and the region appears to have the color of fire, there is no fire. Fire, typically defined as the rapid molecular acquisition of oxygen, happens only when sufficient oxygen is present and is not important in such high-energy, low-oxygen environments such as stars. The material that appears as smoke is mostly interstellar hydrogen, but does contain smoke-like dark filaments of carbon-rich dust grains. The bright star AE Aurigae, visible toward the right near the nebula's center, is so hot it is blue, emitting light so energetic it knocks electrons away from surrounding gas. When a proton recaptures an electron, light is emitted, as seen in the surrounding emission nebula. Pictured above, the Flaming Star nebula lies about 1,500 light years distant, spans about 5 light years, and is visible with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga).

Image Credit & Copyright: Jesús Vargas (Sky-Astrophotography) & Maritxu Poyal (Maritxu)

[K00lKatT]

thanks, Capn....beautiful pic..

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/UnexpectedPlume_Blair_960.jpg

An Unexpected Rocket Plume over San Francisco

What is that unusual light in the sky? A common question, this particular light was not only bright but moving and expanding. It appeared just as the astrophotographer and his friend were photographing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California against a more predictable night sky. They were not alone in seeing this unusual display -- at least hundreds of people in California reported a similar sight. The consensus of experienced sky observers was that the plume resulted from a rocket launch -- an explanation that was soon confirmed as an unpublicized test of a submarine-launched, unarmed, Trident II D5 nuclear missile. Such tests are not uncommon but do not usually occur just after sunset near a major metropolitan area -- when they are particularly noticeable to many people. Were plume images not posted to the Internet and quickly identified, such a sky spectacle might have been understood by some to be associated with more grandiose -- but incorrect -- explanations.



Image Credit & Copyright: Abe Blair (Abe Blair Gallery)

[K00lKatT]

great pic, shows the beginning of the super sonic shock wave...awesome!!

[nada233]

1239
The Final Exit
Pin It Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Serge Meunie
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015: This planetary nebula PK 329-02.2 (AKA Menzel 2, or Mz 2) lies in the constellation of Norma in the southern sky. Planetary nebulas arise when sun-like stars reach the ends of their lives, and blow their outer layers of gas into space before the final stage of becoming a white dwarf. Menzel 2 shows a winding blue cloud with two stars at its exact center. Astronomers determined that the star at upper right is the central star of the nebula, and the other star to the lower left is probably the central star’s true physical companion. Image released Oct. 5, 2015.

— Tom Chao

[Capt.Kangaroo]

:cool:


https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/521367_10151147338677687_1093039343_n.jpg?oh=cf41b 06ee96d2ffeeb4f5b79acbf60ee&oe=56BDD6B9

[Kimbo]

The Mars' gravity is currently pulling..............

[big dady]

I want to go to mars now

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/ic410tadpoles_coates1024.jpg

The Tadpoles of IC 410

This telescopic close-up shows off the otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410. It also features two remarkable inhabitants of the cosmic pond of gas and dust below and right of center, the tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing gas. Composed of denser cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and are likely sites of ongoing star formation. Sculpted by winds and radiation from the cluster stars, their heads are outlined by bright ridges of ionized gas while their tails trail away from the cluster's central region. IC 410 lies some 10,000 light-years away, toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga.



Image Credit & Copyright: Steven Coates

[Capt.Kangaroo]

1251

M57_ring_nebula


M57, the Ring Nebula, created from filtered RGB greyscale images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and downloaded from the Hubble Archive.

Phil Moyer

[Kimbo]

Now that's a picture of Space!!!:o literally!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/Pelican_Colombari_960.jpg

The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars

The Pelican Nebula is slowly being transformed. IC 5070, the official designation, is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican, however, receives much study because it is a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The featured picture was produced in three specific colors -- light emitted by sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen -- that can help us to better understand these interactions. The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming the cold gas to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known as an ionization front, visible in bright orange on the right. Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from now this nebula might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will surely leave something that appears completely different.

Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Colombari

[Farmer1]

outstanding pic love it

[Capt.Kangaroo]

1267

A Sudden Jet on Comet 67P

There she blows! A dramatic demonstration of how short-lived some comet jets can be was documented in late July by the robotic Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. As comets near the Sun, they can produce long and beautiful tails that stream across the inner Solar System. How comet jets produce these tails is a topic of research -- helped by images like this. Another recent Rosetta measurement indicates that the water on Earth could not have come from comets like 67P because of significant differences in impurities. Comet 67P spans about four kilometers, orbits the Sun between Earth and Jupiter, and has been the home for ESA's Rosetta spaceship since 2014 August. Rosetta is currently scheduled to make a slow crash onto Comet 67P's surface in late 2016.



Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/ParkMeteors11_16_17p1024.jpg

Leonids and Friends

Leonid meteors rained down on planet Earth this week, the annual shower of dusty debris from the orbit of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Leonids streak through this composite night skyview from a backyard observatory in southern Ontario. Recorded with camera fixed to a tripod, the individual frames capture the bright meteor activity throughout the night of November 16/17, about a day before the shower's very modest peak. The frames are registered to the fixed field of view, so the meteor trails are not all aligned to the background star field recorded that evening when Orion stood above the southern horizon. As a result, the trails don't appear to point back to the shower's radiant in Leo, situated off the left edge of the star field frame. In fact, some trails could be of Taurid meteors, a shower also active in November, or even sporadic meteors, including a bright fireball with its reflection near the horizon.



Image Credit & Copyright: Malcolm Park (North York Astronomical Association)

[Farmer1]

that's cool

[K00lKatT]

yep, great pic...

[Marley]

few more yrs and will see picture in a new light and i really think they will find life soon

[Kimbo]

Makes me want to go out camping!!Nice pic!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/NGC5291_c80aSchedler1024.jpg

Recycling NGC 5291

Following an ancient galaxy-galaxy collision 200 million light-years from Earth, debris from a gas-rich galaxy, NGC 5291, was flung far into intergalactic space. NGC 5291 and the likely interloper, also known as the "Seashell" galaxy, are captured near the center of this spectacular scene. The sharp, ground-based telescopic image looks toward the galaxy cluster Abell 3574 in the southern constellation Centaurus. Stretched along the 100,000 light-year long tidal tails, are clumps resembling dwarf galaxies, but lacking old stars, apparently dominated by young stars and active star forming regions. Found to be unusually rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, the dwarf galaxies were likely born in intergalactic space, recycling the enriched debris from NGC 5291 itself.



Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler

[nada233]

that is a excellent picture captain,with lots of details ,great.

[Kimbo]

Last night was a great night for sky gazing!!!Clear skies and endless wonder!!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/planet_zodiac_beletsky_labels.jpg

Planets of the Morning

Planet Earth's horizon stretches across this recent Solar System group portrait, seen from the southern hemisphere's Las Campanas Observatory. Taken before dawn it traces the ecliptic with a line-up familiar to November's early morning risers. Toward the east are bright planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter as well as Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo. Of course the planets are immersed in the faint glow of zodiacal light, visible from the dark site rising at an angle from the horizon. Sometimes known as the false dawn, it's no accident the zodiacal light and planets both lie along the ecliptic. Formed in the flattened protoplanetary disk, the Solar System's planet's all orbit near the ecliptic plane, while dust near the plane scatters sunlight, the source of the faint zodiacal glow.



Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)

[K00lKatT]

great pic, Capn.....almost surreal...

[Capt.Kangaroo]

great pic, Capn.....almost surreal...
I enjoyed it also. Thanks KK...:)

[nada233]

nice picture,think that is on the north part of chile by atacama desert ,or region.Been there is nice on summer clear view of the stars.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xla1/v/t1.0-9/11990627_509474539234433_1447932703975859057_n.jpg ?oh=a19438b93b4d740b3440e952ff047cb8&oe=56F5045D
Makes you wonder. Is the universe just a big brain of a great entity? Awesome stuff.:cool:

[Kimbo]

yes, mine has a black hole in the middle :D

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/cheshirecat_chandra_comp1024c.jpg

Gravity's Grin

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published 100 years ago this month, predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. And that's what gives these distant galaxies such a whimsical appearance, seen through the looking glass of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Nicknamed the Cheshire Cat galaxy group, the group's two large elliptical galaxies are suggestively framed by arcs. The arcs are optical images of distant background galaxies lensed by the foreground group's total distribution of gravitational mass dominated by dark matter. In fact the two large elliptical "eye" galaxies represent the brightest members of their own galaxy groups which are merging. Their relative collisional speed of nearly 1,350 kilometers/second heats gas to millions of degrees producing the X-ray glow shown in purple hues. Curiouser about galaxy group mergers? The Cheshire Cat group grins in the constellation Ursa Major, some 4.6 billion light-years away.

Image Credit: X-ray - NASA / CXC / J. Irwin et al. ; Optical - NASA/STScI

[Marley]

like always great pics

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/almosttrees_mro_960.jpg

Dark Sand Cascades on Mars

They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even while the image was being taken.



Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

[Farmer1]

Keep them coming captain awesome to look at and read

[K00lKatT]

whatever they are, look like there're up to no good to me...:eek:

[Farmer1]

kind of makes a person wonder doesn't it

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Keep them coming captain awesome to look at and read
Will do. Thanks Farmer...:)

[Marley]

the funny part what we see is sky there not there anymore been gone thousands of yrs ago

[Kimbo]

yep, we are looking at the past!!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/ngc3521_hstGendler_960.jpg


In the Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3521


This huge swirling mass of stars, gas, and dust occurs near the center of a nearby spiral galaxy. Gorgeous spiral NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years distant, toward the constellation Leo. Spanning some 50,000 light-years, its central region is shown in this dramatic image, constructed from data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The close-up view highlights this galaxy's characteristic multiple, patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust and clusters of young, blue stars. In contrast, many other spirals exhibit grand, sweeping arms. A relatively bright galaxy in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes, but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M65 and M66.


Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast); Acknowledgement: Robert Gendler

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/AEaurigae_Hemmerich_960.jpg


Nebulae in Aurigae

Rich in star clusters and nebulae, the ancient constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga) rides high in northern winter night skies. Composed from narrow and broadband filter data and spanning nearly 8 Full Moons (4 degrees) on the sky, this deep telescopic view shows off some of Auriga's celestial bounty. The field includes emission region IC 405 (top left) about 1,500 light-years distant. Also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, its red, convoluted clouds of glowing hydrogen gas are energized by hot O-type star AE Aurigae. IC 410 (top right) is significantly more distant, some 12,000 light-years away. The star forming region is famous for its embedded young star cluster, NGC 1893, and tadpole-shaped clouds of dust and gas. IC 417 and NGC 1931 at the lower right, the Spider and the Fly, are also young star clusters embedded in natal clouds that lie far beyond IC 405. Star cluster NGC 1907 is near the bottom edge of the frame, just right of center. The crowded field of view looks along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, near the direction of the galactic anticenter.



Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

[K00lKatT]

another winner, Capn K...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Thanks bro.....:)

[Farmer1]

awesome color and fireball look

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/EnceladusRingsPIA18343.jpg

Enceladus: Ringside Water World

Saturn's icy moon Enceladus poses above the gas giant's icy rings in this Cassini spacecraft image. The dramatic scene was captured on July 29, while Cassini cruised just below the ring plane, its cameras looking back in a nearly sunward direction about 1 million kilometers from the moon's bright crescent. At 500 kilometers in diameter, Enceladus is a surprisingly active moon though, its remarkable south polar geysers are visible venting beyond a dark southern limb. In fact, data collected during Cassini's flybys and years of images have recently revealed the presence of a global ocean of liquid water beneath this moon's icy crust. Demonstrating the tantalizing liquid layer's global extent, the careful analysis indicates surface and core are not rigidly connected, with Enceladus rocking slightly back and forth in its orbit.

Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

[K00lKatT]

stunning pic, very nice Capn....:)

[K00lKatT]

guess you could call this a "rock & roll" moon....:p

[Capt.Kangaroo]

guess you could call this a "rock & roll" moon....:p
yes. the geysers are cool.:)

[Kimbo]

Love the quality of the pics!!

[nada233]

great picture and reminds me of Alliens the movie.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/ngc6888_soap_eder_m1024.jpg

Cygnus: Bubble and Crescent


These clouds of gas and dust drift through rich star fields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the high flying constellation Cygnus. Caught within the telescopic field of view are the Soap Bubble (lower left) and the Crescent Nebula (upper right). Both were formed at a final phase in the life of a star. Also known as NGC 6888, the Crescent was shaped as its bright, central massive Wolf-Rayet star, WR 136, shed its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind. Burning through fuel at a prodigious rate, WR 136 is near the end of a short life that should finish in a spectacular supernova explosion. recently discovered Soap Bubble Nebula is likely a planetary nebula, the final shroud of a lower mass, long-lived, sun-like star destined to become a slowly cooling white dwarf. While both are some 5,000 light-years or so distant, the larger Crescent Nebula is around 25 light-years across.




Image Credit & Copyright: Ivan Eder

[Farmer1]

another great pic and read thanks Captain

[Capt.Kangaroo]

another great pic and read thanks Captain
Thanks bro, wish I could claim it. Just the messenger...:)

[Farmer1]

I now you cant claim them but they are awesome, kind of opens my eyes up to a new world

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/67p_sepnov_dp_600h.jpg

Rosetta and Comet Outbound


Not a bright comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko now sweeps slowly through planet Earth's predawn skies near the line-up of planets along the ecliptic. Still, this composite of telescopic images follows the comet's progress as it moves away from the Sun beyond the orbit of Mars, from late September (left) through late November (far right). Its faint but extensive coma and tails are viewed against the colorful background of stars near the eastern edge of the constellation Leo. A year ago, before its perihelion passage, the comet was less active, though. Then the Rosetta mission's lander Philae made its historic landing, touching down on the surface of the comet's nucleus.



Image Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach/SEN

[Farmer1]

Nice ....................

[Kimbo]

I need a better telescope!!!

[nada233]

very nice pictures,Captain.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/Arp87_Gardner_1080.jpg

Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble


This dance is to the death. Along the way, as these two large galaxies duel, a cosmic bridge of stars, gas, and dust currently stretches over 75,000 light-years and joins them. The bridge itself is strong evidence that these two immense star systems have passed close to each other and experienced violent tides induced by mutual gravity. As further evidence, the face-on spiral galaxy on the right, also known as NGC 3808A, exhibits many young blue star clusters produced in a burst of star formation. The twisted edge-on spiral on the left (NGC 3808B) seems to be wrapped in the material bridging the galaxies and surrounded by a curious polar ring. Together, the system is known as Arp 87 and morphologically classified, technically, as peculiar. While such interactions are drawn out over billions of years, repeated close passages should ultimately result in the death of one galaxy in the sense that only one galaxy will eventually result. Although this scenario does look peculiar, galactic mergers are thought to be common, with Arp 87 representing a stage in this inevitable process. The Arp 87 pair are about 300 million light-years distant toward the constellation Leo. The prominent edge-on spiral at the far left appears to be a more distant background galaxy and not involved in the on-going merger.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope; Processing: Douglas Gardner

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/MoonVenus_Occultation2_1024.jpg

Daytime Moon Meets Morning Star

Venus now appears as Earth's brilliant morning star, standing in a line-up of planets above the southeastern horizon before dawn. For most, the silvery celestial beacon rose predawn in a close pairing with an old crescent Moon on Monday, December 7. But also widely seen from locations in North and Central America, the lunar crescent actually occulted or passed in front of Venus during Monday's daylight hours. This time series follows the daytime approach of Moon and morning star in clear blue skies from Phoenix, Arizona. The progression of nine sharp telescopic snapshots, made between 9:30am and 9:35am local time, runs from lower left to upper right, when Venus winked out behind the bright lunar limb.



Image Credit & Copyright: Phillip A Cruden

[Farmer1]

that's cool

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/PIA20180CeresOccator1024.jpg

The Brightest Spot on Ceres


Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the Solar System's main asteroid belt with a diameter of about 950 kilometers. Exploring Ceres from orbit since March, the Dawn spacecraft's camera has revealed about 130 or so mysterious bright spots, mostly associated with impact craters scattered around the small world's otherwise dark surface. The brightest one is near the center of the 90 kilometer wide Occator Crater, seen in this dramatic false color view combining near-infrared and visible light image data. A study now finds the bright spot's reflected light properties are probably most consistent with a type of magnesium sulfate called hexahydrite. Of course, magnesium sulfate is also known to Earth dwellers as epsom salt. Haze reported inside Occator also suggests the salty material could be left over as a mix of salt and water-ice sublimates on the surface. Since impacts would have exposed the material, Ceres' numerous and widely scattered bright spots may indicate the presence of a subsurface shell of ice-salt mix. In mid-December, Dawn will begin taking observations from its closest Ceres mapping orbit.

Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, UCLA, MPS/DLR/IDA

[nada233]

great picture ,and ineresting at the same time.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/FINAL_CATALINA_SM_WM1024.jpg

Comet Meets Moon and Morning Star


A crescent Moon and brilliant Venus met in predawn skies on December 7, a beautiful conjunction of planet Earth's two brightest celestial beacons after the Sun. Harder to see but also on the scene was Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10). The fainter comet clearly sporting two tails, lunar night side, bright sunlit lunar crescent, and brilliant morning star, are all recorded here by combining short and long exposures of the same field of view. Pointing down and right, Catalina's dust tail tends to trail behind the comet's orbit. Its ion tail, angled toward the top left of the frame, is blowing away from the Sun. Discovered in 2013, the new visitor from the Oort cloud was closest to the Sun on November 15 and is now outbound, headed for its closest approach to Earth in mid-January.



Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Hogan

[K00lKatT]

very cool, Capn K...:)

[nada233]

looks like a star wars picture ,nice picture captain.

[Kimbo]

Looks like a scene from Star Wars!!!very nice!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Ha...:D

1332

[Farmer1]

that's funny

[Capt.Kangaroo]

that's funny
I thought it was...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/HorseFlame_Priego_960.jpg

The Horsehead Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the dark indentation to the red emission nebula in the center of the above photograph. The horse-head feature is dark because it is really an opaque dust cloud that lies in front of the bright red emission nebula. Like clouds in Earth's atmosphere, this cosmic cloud has assumed a recognizable shape by chance. After many thousands of years, the internal motions of the cloud will surely alter its appearance. The emission nebula's red color is caused by electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. On the image left is the Flame Nebula, an orange-tinged nebula that also contains filaments of dark dust. Just to the lower left of the Horsehead nebula featured picture is a blueish reflection nebulae that preferentially reflects the blue light from nearby stars.




Image Credit & Copyright: José Jiménez Priego

[K00lKatT]

awesome pic and aptly named...

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/hs-2015-42-a-largeHH241024.jpg

Herbig-Haro 24


This might look like a double-bladed lightsaber, but these two cosmic jets actually beam outward from a newborn star in a galaxy near you. Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the stunning scene spans about half a light-year across Herbig-Haro 24 (HH 24), some 1,300 light-years or 400 parsecs away in the stellar nurseries of the Orion B molecular cloud complex. Hidden from direct view, HH 24's central protostar is surrounded by cold dust and gas flattened into a rotating accretion disk. As material from the disk falls toward the young stellar object it heats up. Opposing jets are blasted out along the system's rotation axis. Cutting through the region's interstellar matter, the narrow, energetic jets produce a series of glowing shock fronts along their path.



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI / AURA) / Hubble-Europe Collaboration
Acknowledgment: D. Padgett (GSFC), T. Megeath (University of Toledo), B. Reipurth (University of Hawaii)

[K00lKatT]

wow!!...beautiful pic, another big winner!!...Capn K...keep em coming...:)

[Farmer1]

I agree with kk Another winner

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Thanks guys...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/thumbnails/image/earth_and_limb_m1199291564l_color_2stretch_mask_0. jpg?itok=8ZH2PpMJ


NASA Releases New High-Resolution Earthrise Image

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the moon.


"The image is simply stunning," said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The image of the Earth evokes the famous 'Blue Marble' image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture."


In this composite image we see Earth appear to rise over the lunar horizon from the viewpoint of the spacecraft, with the center of the Earth just off the coast of Liberia (at 4.04 degrees North, 12.44 degrees West). The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara Desert, and just beyond is Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. On the moon, we get a glimpse of the crater Compton, which is located just beyond the eastern limb of the moon, on the lunar farside.


LRO was launched on June 18, 2009, and has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the moon. LRO experiences 12 earthrises every day; however the spacecraft is almost always busy imaging the lunar surface so only rarely does an opportunity arise such that its camera instrument can capture a view of Earth. Occasionally LRO points off into space to acquire observations of the extremely thin lunar atmosphere and perform instrument calibration measurements. During these movements sometimes Earth (and other planets) pass through the camera's field of view and dramatic images such as the one shown here are acquired.


This image was composed from a series of images taken Oct. 12, when LRO was about 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the moon's farside crater Compton. Capturing an image of the Earth and moon with LRO's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument is a complicated task. First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC's Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!


The high-resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on LRO takes black-and-white images, while the lower resolution Wide Angle Camera (WAC) takes color images, so you might wonder how we got a high-resolution picture of the Earth in color. Since the spacecraft, Earth, and moon are all in motion, we had to do some special processing to create an image that represents the view of the Earth and moon at one particular time. The final Earth image contains both WAC and NAC information. WAC provides the color, and the NAC provides high-resolution detail.


"From the Earth, the daily moonrise and moonset are always inspiring moments," said Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe, principal investigator for LROC. "However, lunar astronauts will see something very different: viewed from the lunar surface, the Earth never rises or sets. Since the moon is tidally locked, Earth is always in the same spot above the horizon, varying only a small amount with the slight wobble of the moon. The Earth may not move across the 'sky', but the view is not static. Future astronauts will see the continents rotate in and out of view and the ever-changing pattern of clouds will always catch one's eye, at least on the nearside. The Earth is never visible from the farside; imagine a sky with no Earth or moon - what will farside explorers think with no Earth overhead?"


NASA's first Earthrise image was taken with the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft in 1966. Perhaps NASA's most iconic Earthrise photo was taken by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission as the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts -- Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders -- held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."


Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

[Farmer1]

wow that's awesome

[Farmer1]

1369

A group watches the northern lights during a bonfire on Burma Road in Whitehorse on Sunday night.
JOEL KRAHN/YUKON NEWS

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/GemindsXinglong_Steed_960.jpg

Geminid Meteors over Xinglong Observatory

Where do Geminid meteors come from? In terms of location on the sky, as the featured image composite beautifully demonstrates, the sand-sized bits of rock that create the streaks of the Geminid Meteor Shower appear to flow out from the constellation of Gemini. In terms of parent body, Solar System trajectories point to the asteroid 3200 Phaethon -- but this results in a bit of a mystery since that unusual object appears mostly dormant. Perhaps, 3200 Phaethon undergoes greater dust-liberating events than we know, but even if so, exactly what happens and why remains a riddle. Peaking last week, over 50 meteors including a bright fireball were captured streaking above Xinglong Observatory in China. Since the Geminids of December are one of the most predictable and active meteor showers, investigations into details of its origin are likely to continue.



Image Credit & Copyright: Steed Yu and NightChina.net

[Kimbo]

I would love to work in an observatory, that would be one awesome job!!

[Marley]

Watch 58 years of space debris appear in 1 minute

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/watch-58-years-of-space-debris-appear-in-1-minute/ar-BBnQeCn?li=BBnb4R7
can i say wow

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Hard to believe anything can stay in orbit without getting hit.

[K00lKatT]

time to get to work on a large shop vac that operates in no atmosphere...LOL

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Merry Christmas!!!

1375

[Farmer1]

Merry Christmas back at you Captain

[nada233]

Yes captain back at you as well.

[Kimbo]

Completely enjoyed the full moon last 2 nights!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/OrionDust_Fraile_960.jpg

Dust of the Orion Nebula


What surrounds a hotbed of star formation? In the case of the Orion Nebula -- dust. The entire Orion field, located about 1600 light years away, is inundated with intricate and picturesque filaments of dust. Opaque to visible light, dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool stars and expelled by a strong outer wind of particles. The Trapezium and other forming star clusters are embedded in the nebula. The intricate filaments of dust surrounding M42 and M43 appear brown in the featured image, while central glowing gas is highlighted in red. Over the next few million years much of Orion's dust will be slowly destroyed by the very stars now being formed, or dispersed into the Galaxy.



Image Credit & Copyright: Raul Villaverde Fraile

[big dady]

Nice one...

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1512/Foxfur_Vermette_1080.jpg

The Fox Fur Nebula

This interstellar canine is formed of cosmic dust and gas interacting with the energetic light and winds from hot young stars. The shape, visual texture, and color, combine to give the region the popular name Fox Fur Nebula. The characteristic blue glow on the left is dust reflecting light from the bright star S Mon, the bright star just below the top edge of the featured image. Textured red and black areas are a combination of the cosmic dust and reddish emission from ionized hydrogen gas. S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars, NGC 2264, located about 2,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

Image Credit & Copyright: John Vermette

[Farmer1]

that's stunning

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/LagoonHSO_Nemcik_960.jpg

The Lagoon Nebula in Hydrogen, Sulfur, and Oxygen


The majestic Lagoon Nebula is filled with hot gas and the home for many young stars. Spanning 100 light years across while lying only about 5000 light years distant, the Lagoon Nebula is so big and bright that it can be seen without a telescope toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). Many bright stars are visible from NGC 6530, an open cluster that formed in the nebula only several million years ago. The greater nebula, also known as M8 and NGC 6523, is named "Lagoon" for the band of dust seen to the right of the open cluster's center. The featured image was taken in the light emitted by Hydrogen (shown in brown), Sulfur (red), and Oxygen (blue) and displayed in enhanced color. The featured picture is a newly processed panorama of M8, capturing twice the diameter of the Full Moon. Star formation continues in the Lagoon Nebula as witnessed by the many globules that exist there.



Image Credit & Copyright: John Nemcik

[Farmer1]

Another winner thanks Captain

[anon2599]

Amazing picture`s Guy`s...Many thanks indeed.

[nada233]

another beautiful picture captain,to go along with the explanations great.

[Kimbo]

Nice pic!!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/California_Antonis_960.jpg

The California Nebula

What's California doing in space? Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on the west coast of the United States. Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from the California Nebula. Also known as NGC 1499, the classic emission nebula is around 100 light-years long. On the featured image, the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons, stripped away (ionized) by energetic starlight. The star most likely providing the energetic starlight that ionizes much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei just to the right of the nebula. A regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula can be spotted with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the constellation of Perseus, not far from the Pleiades.

Image Credit & Copyright: Farmakopoulos Antonis

[crazed 9.6]

what's California doing in space?
:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/RunningN1977Block.jpg

Reflections on the 1970s

The 1970s are sometimes ignored by astronomers, like this beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae in Orion - NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 - usually overlooked in favor of the substantial glow from the nearby stellar nursery better known as the Orion Nebula. Found along Orion's sword just north of the bright Orion Nebula complex, these reflection nebulae are also associated with Orion's giant molecular cloud about 1,500 light-years away, but are dominated by the characteristic blue color of interstellar dust reflecting light from hot young stars. In this sharp color image a portion of the Orion Nebula appears along the bottom border with the cluster of reflection nebulae at picture center. NGC 1977 stretches across the field just below center, separated from NGC 1973 (above right) and NGC 1975 (above left) by dark regions laced with faint red emission from hydrogen atoms. Taken together, the dark regions suggest to many the shape of a running man.



Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, Univ. Arizona

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/PIA15254_LMC900c.jpg

Infrared Portrait of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Cosmic dust clouds ripple across this infrared portrait of our Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. In fact, the remarkable composite image from the Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope show that dust clouds fill this neighboring dwarf galaxy, much like dust along the plane of the Milky Way itself. The dust temperatures tend to trace star forming activity. Spitzer data in blue hues indicate warm dust heated by young stars. Herschel's instruments contributed the image data shown in red and green, revealing dust emission from cooler and intermediate regions where star formation is just beginning or has stopped. Dominated by dust emission, the Large Magellanic Cloud's infrared appearance is different from views in optical images. But this galaxy's well-known Tarantula Nebula still stands out, easily seen here as the brightest region to the left of center. A mere 160,000 light-years distant, the Large Cloud of Magellan is about 30,000 light-years across.



Image Credit: ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/m106_neyer1024.jpg

The View Toward M106

A big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106 is at the center of this galaxy filled cosmic vista. The two degree wide telescopic field of view looks toward the well-trained constellation Canes Venatici, near the handle of the Big Dipper. Also known as NGC 4258, M106 is about 80,000 light-years across and 23.5 million light-years away, the largest member of the Canes II galaxy group. For a far away galaxy, the distance to M106 is well-known in part because it can be directly measured by tracking this galaxy's remarkable maser, or microwave laser emission. Very rare but naturally occuring, the maser emission is produced by water molecules in molecular clouds orbiting its active galactic nucleus. Another prominent spiral galaxy on the scene, viewed nearly edge-on, is NGC 4217 below and right of M106. The distance to NGC 4217 is much less well-known, estimated to be about 60 million light-years.



Image Credit & Copyright: Fabian Neyer

[K00lKatT]

good one, Capn...

[Kimbo]

Only 60 Million light years, a skip and hop away!!!We need warp speed :cool:

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/gcenter_2mass_960.jpg

The Galactic Center in Infrared



The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light, much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust. In infrared light, however, dust glows more and obscures less, allowing nearly one million stars to be recorded in the featured photograph. The Galactic Center itself appears on the left and is located about 30,000 light years away towards the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The Galactic Plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, the plane in which the Sun orbits, is identifiable by the dark diagonal dust lane. The absorbing dust grains are created in the atmospheres of cool red-giant stars and grow in molecular clouds. The region directly surrounding the Galactic Center glows brightly in radio and high-energy radiation, and is thought to house a large black hole.



Image Credit: 2MASS Project, UMass, IPAC/Caltech, NSF, NASA

[Farmer1]

Cool.........

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/IC2944_Pugh_960.jpg

Stars and Globules in the Running Chicken Nebula

The eggs from this gigantic chicken may form into stars. The featured emission nebula, shown in scientifically assigned colors, is cataloged as IC 2944 but known as the Running Chicken Nebula for the shape of its greater appearance. Seen toward the top of the image are small, dark molecular clouds rich in obscuring cosmic dust. Called Thackeray's Globules for their discoverer, these "eggs" are potential sites for the gravitational condensation of new stars, although their fates are uncertain as they are also being rapidly eroded away by the intense radiation from nearby young stars. Together with patchy glowing gas and complex regions of reflecting dust, these massive and energetic stars form the open cluster Collinder 249. This gorgeous skyscape spans about 60 light-years at the nebula's estimated 6,000 light-year distance.


Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/C2013US10-2016-01-17Hemmerich1150.jpg

The View Toward M101

Sweeping through northern skies, Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) made its closest approach on January 17, passing about 6 light-minutes from our fair planet. Dust and ion tails clearly separated in this Earth-based view, the comet is also posed for a Messier moment, near the line-of-sight to M101, grand spiral galaxy in Ursa Major. A cosmic pinwheel at the lower left, M101 is nearly twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy, but some 270 thousand light-centuries away. Both galaxy and comet are relatively bright, easy targets for binocular-equipped skygazers. But Comet Catalina is now outbound from the inner Solar System and will slowly fade in coming months. This telescopic two panel mosaic spans about 5 degrees (10 Full Moons) on the sky.



Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

[Kimbo]

Is it just me but all these pictures make you want to watch a Space (Sci-Fi) movie, such as Gravity, the Martian, Interstellar, hell even Prometheus? It does for me!!!

[ilan]

Yep, gorgeous stuff. Fun to see movies based what's really out there and for all intents and purposes remains a mystery. I've loved sci-fi since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. :)

[Kimbo]

I guess watching a movie is the closes I will get to travel in space...unless ofcourse i get abducted by aliens.....:rolleyes:

[ilan]

I keep thinking it would be nice to have real contact before I expire, as long as they aren't the Kanamits. Somehow I think I'd make a lousy hors d'oeuvres anyway.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734684/

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/30dor_hubble_960.jpg

Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out

In the center of star-forming region 30 Doradus lies a huge cluster containing some of the largest, hottest, and most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136, were captured in the featured image in visible light by the Wide Field Camera 3 in 2009 peering through the Hubble Space Telescope. Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, have been sculpted into elongated shapes by powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these hot cluster stars. The 30 Doradus Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and is located a mere 170,000 light-years away.



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, & F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O'Connell (U. Virginia), & the HST WFC3 Science Oversight Committee

[Farmer1]

another winner awesome

[ilan]

Yep, gorgeous image. It's amazing what occurs naturally, of its own accord!

[ilan]

Storms on Saturn


Saturn Storm
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Saturn Storm

In 2011, astronomers noticed a storm on Saturn that wrapped around the entire planet.

Storms here on Earth might be devastating events that can last for days and bring cities to their knees, but that's nothing compared to Saturn's storms. Massive thunderstorms complete with lightning and high winds can cover an area roughly the same size as our planet and can last for months, circumnavigating the gas giant in the process.

Now, scientists think they've figured out why these super huge storms emerge. In a new study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers from the California Institute of Technology found that the storms formed due to the convection of water in Saturn's atmosphere.

Convection also plays a huge role in how thunderstorms form on Earth. A thunderstorm develops when warm, moist air rises and cools in the upper atmosphere, with the water condensing and falling as rain. On Earth, about 16 million thunderstorms happen every year. On Saturn, they don't happen all that often--only six have been observed in the past 140 years, but when they do occur, they are spectacular.

Researchers now think that the composition of Saturn's atmosphere (mostly hydrogen and helium) makes the storms so infrequent. Warm air, heavy with water droplets, tries to rise but is hampered by the fact that water is so much heavier than the other elements present in the Saturnian atmosphere, so the warm-cold mixing process takes much longer.

The infrequent nature of the storms is tied to their enormous size. On Saturn, the heavy water molecules just sit there in the atmosphere, warming up, but not enough to rise above the lighter molecules. It takes the upper atmosphere cooling enough to sink to cause the storms. Because so much of the atmosphere cools off and sinks below the warm, watery layer, the process begets a huge storm that lasts for months.

“The upper atmosphere is so cold and so massive that it takes 20 to 30 years for this cooling to trigger another storm,” author of the paper Andrew Ingersoll said in a press release.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/M60HST_c3.jpg

Elliptical M60, Spiral NGC 4647


Giant elliptical galaxy M60 and spiral galaxy NGC 4647 do look like an odd couple in this sharp cosmic portrait from the Hubble Space Telescope. But they are found in a region of space where galaxies tend to gather, on the eastern side of the nearby Virgo Galaxy Cluster. About 54 million light-years distant, bright M60's simpler egg-like shape is created by its randomly swarming older stars, while NGC 4647's young blue stars, gas and dust are organized into winding arms rotating in a flattened disk. Spiral NGC 4647 is estimated to be more distant than M60, some 63 million light-years away. Also known as Arp 116, the pair of galaxies may be on the verge of a significant gravitational encounter, though. M60 (aka NGC 4649) is about 120,000 light-years across. The smaller NGC 4647 spans around 90,000 light-years, about the size of our own Milky Way.



Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

[Marley]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/BrightBoom_JinMa_960.jpg

A Candidate for the Biggest Boom Yet Seen
Illustration Credit: Jin Ma (Beijing Planetarium)
Explanation: It is a candidate for the brightest and most powerful explosion ever seen -- what is it? The flaring spot of light was found by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASASSN) in June of last year and labelled ASASSN-15lh. Located about three billion light years distant, the source appears tremendously bright for anything so far away: roughly 200 times brighter than an average supernova, and temporarily 20 times brighter than all of the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy combined. Were light emitted by ASASSN-15lh at this rate in all directions at once, it would be the most powerful explosion yet recorded. No known stellar object was thought to create an explosion this powerful, although pushing the theoretical limits for the spin-down of highly-magnetized neutron star -- a magnetar -- gets close. Assuming the flare fades as expected later this year, astronomers are planning to use telescopes including Hubble to zoom in on the region to gain more clues. The above-featured artist's illustration depicts a hypothetical night sky of a planet located across the host galaxy from the outburst.

[Marley]

now i got it

[Marley]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/news/2016/01/22/wis385/09-wis385.ngsversion.1453420357854.adapt.676.1.jpg
Pluto’s Possible Ice Volcano

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/RedSquare_Tuthill_960.jpg

MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula

What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be embedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The featured image combines infrared exposures from the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in California, and the Keck-2 Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage. For MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova.



Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Tuthill (Sydney U.) & James Lloyd (Cornell)

[K00lKatT]

thanks, Capn...another keeper...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Thanks buddy...:)

[Marley]

http://www.space.com/images/i/000/051/998/original/ceres-bright-spots-false-color.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400
The mysterious bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres may be composed of the same basic stuff that makes a foot bath feel so good, a new study reports.

[Marley]

http://www.space.com/images/i/000/052/707/original/zinnia-sk-twitter.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400
A Garden Grows in Space: First Zinnias Bloom, to Astronaut's Delight

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/Comet67P_Rosetta_960.jpg

Comet 67P from Spacecraft Rosetta


Spacecraft Rosetta continues to circle and map Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Crossing the inner Solar System for ten years to reach the vicinity of the comet in 2014, the robotic spacecraft continues to image the unusual double-lobed comet nucleus. The featured image, taken one year ago, shows dust and gas escaping from the comet's nucleus. Although appearing bright here, the comet's surface reflects only about four percent of impinging visible light, making it as dark as coal. Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko spans about four kilometers in length and has a surface gravity so low that an astronaut could jump off of it. With Rosetta in tow, Comet 67P passed its closest to the Sun last year and is now headed back to the furthest point -- just past the orbit of Jupiter.



Image Credit & Licence: ESA, Rosetta, NAVCAM

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/M81vM82_AvdHoevenEtAl_960.jpg
Galaxy Wars: M81 versus M82


In the lower left corner, surrounded by blue spiral arms, is spiral galaxy M81. In the upper right corner, 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. This big battle is seen from Earth through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy. In a few billion years only one galaxy will remain.




Image Credit & Copyright: André van der Hoeven, Neil Fleming & Michael Van Doorn

[nada233]

thank you captain lots of nice pictures love the square nebula,and all the rest of pictures as always great staff.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

thank you captain lots of nice pictures love the square nebula,and all the rest of pictures as always great staff.
Thanks buddy, glad you liked them...

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/20151022_ceres_rc3_haulani_cowartC.jpg

Dwarf Planet Ceres


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.




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

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/NGC6357schedler_S2HaO3_25.jpg

Massive Stars in NGC 6357

Massive stars lie within NGC 6357, an expansive emission nebula complex some 6,500 light-years away toward the tail of the constellation Scorpius. In fact, positioned near center in this ground-based close-up of NGC 6357, star cluster Pismis 24 includes some of the most massive stars known in the galaxy, stars with nearly 100 times the mass of the Sun. The nebula's bright central region also contains dusty pillars of molecular gas, likely hiding massive protostars from the prying eyes of optical instruments. Intricate shapes in the nebula are carved as interstellar winds and energetic radiation from the young and newly forming massive stars clear out the natal gas and dust and power the nebular glow. Enhancing the nebula's cavernous appearance, narrowband image data was included in this composite color image in a Hubble palette scheme. Emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is shown in red green and blue hues. The alluring telescopic view spans about 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6357.



Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler

[Farmer1]

Awesome pic

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/LightPillars_Libby_960.jpg

Light Pillars over Alaska

What's happening behind those houses? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. The featured image was taken in Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks in central Alaska.



Image Credit & Copyright: Allisha Libby

[ilan]

Cool... Never ran across that phenomenon before :)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/N1532_LRGB_50_finishCedic1024.jpg

Galaxies in the River

Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy practices galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that get too close and are captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus, The River. Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531 (right of center), a struggle the smaller galaxy will eventually lose. Seen edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years. Nicely detailed in this sharp image, the NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51.




Image Credit & Copyright: CEDIC Team - Processing: Markus Blauensteiner

[Marley]

This region of Orion is oft overlooked by astronomers who are attracted to the contrasting brilliant and bright colors of the Orion Nebula's stellar nursery. Yet in this image of NGC 1977, NGC 1975 and NGC 1973 — which are reminiscent of a running man — the gentle blues, grays and purples of these reflection nebulae demand respect for their own, unique beauty
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/053/155/original/runningman-1977-1600.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&downsize=660

[Marley]

China's Change'e 5-T1 brought home a rarely seen view of home — our blue marble is small as seen from the other side of the Moon.
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/053/055/original/moon-earth-Change-5T1.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400

[Capt.Kangaroo]

A spectacular new image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL).
http://cdn.eso.org/images/newsfeature/eso1606a.jpg

more images...

http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1606/

[crazed 9.6]

love this forum section:)
fantastic stuff !

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Thanks buddy...:)

[ilan]

The moon's butt side isn't quite as good looking as its front side, at least in my opinion.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1602/Soul_Colombari_960.jpg

IC 1848: The Soul Nebula

Stars are forming in the Soul of the Queen of Aethopia. More specifically, a large star forming region called the Soul Nebula can be found in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia, who Greek mythology credits as the vain wife of a King who long ago ruled lands surrounding the upper Nile river. The Soul Nebula houses several open clusters of stars, a large radio source known as W5, and huge evacuated bubbles formed by the winds of young massive stars. Located about 6,500 light years away, the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years and is usually imaged next to its celestial neighbor the Heart Nebula (IC 1805). The featured image appears mostly red due to the emission of a specific color of light emitted by excited hydrogen gas.



Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Colombari

[Marley]

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an image of a Wolf-Rayet star encircled by a massive blue "bubble" of cosmic gases.




http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/a-beautiful-blue-bubble-of-cosmic-gases-as-seen-by-hubble/vi-BBq4Lzl

[Capt.Kangaroo]

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an image of a Wolf-Rayet star encircled by a massive blue "bubble" of cosmic gases.


Nice.......:)

[Marley]

Astronaut Sees Aurora Glow Over the Pacific Northwest
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/052/795/original/aurora-pacific-northwest.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400

[Marley]

here is picture
The distinctive blue bubble appearing to encircle WR 31a in this Hubble Space Telescope image released on Feb. 26 is a Wolf-Rayet nebula — an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other gases. Created when speedy stellar winds interact with the outer layers of hydrogen ejected by Wolf-Rayet stars, these nebulae are frequently ring-shaped or spherical. The bubble — estimated to have formed around 20,000 years ago — is expanding at a rate of around 136,700 miles per hour!
http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2016_08/1437446/ss-160228-misp-mn-16_1c7047e78cb149c1d001b60daa5d2c4e.nbcnews-ux-1024-900.jpg

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/WANINGGIBBOUSMOON_JUPITER_2Cruden1024.jpg

Moons and Jupiter

Explanation: Some of the Solar System's largest moons rose together on February 23. On that night, a twilight pairing of a waning gibbous Moon and Jupiter was captured in this sharp telescopic field of view. The composite of short and long exposures reveals the familiar face of our fair planet's own large natural satellite, along with a line up of the ruling gas giant's four Galilean moons. Left to right, the tiny pinpricks of light are Callisto, Io, Ganymede, [Jupiter], and Europa. Closer and brighter, our own natural satellite appears to loom large. But Callisto, Io, and Ganymede are actually larger than Earth's Moon, while water world Europa is only slightly smaller. In fact, of the Solar System's six largest planetary satellites, only Saturn's moon Titan is missing from the scene.



Image Credit & Copyright: Phillip A Cruden

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Wow, think about that one for a minute....

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-0/q87/s480x480/12049500_607014302794228_555880748298751252_n.jpg? oh=03e92130429cc8f1b199890500f4c216&oe=5792CED5

[ilan]

Yep, the immensity of the universe is certainly unfathomable by my puny grey matter, but I'm ok with that. It's still cool and inspiring...

Thanks for the Sagan quote. He was a cool dude and from one of my alma maters

[Marley]

A new image of Pluto's icy north pole from the New Horizons spacecraft shows many geological features pointing to historical events on the dwarf planet, according to NASA
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/053/608/original/nh-northpolerotatedcontrast.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400

[ilan]

Amazing to get that good a look at Pluto. Nice image find. It certainly looks barren.

[Kimbo]

Nice pic ASFT

[Capt.Kangaroo]

;)

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12801106_1089578017731939_8379191995107533074_n.jp g?oh=752621d289d255f876a6c3809168a203&oe=5757F9F9

[Marley]

nope wont see it tonight clouds

[crazed 9.6]

lol...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00BPGH1AvRM

[Marley]

Approaching Neptune
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune in 1989, and two hours before the robot spacecraft gathered the first images of the soft, elongated cirrus-type clouds
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/053/690/original/neptune-approach.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400

[Marley]

http://icdn7.digitaltrends.com/image/blackholeedits-970x640.jpg
A Massive Black Hole in a Tiny Galaxy

At the heart of a densely star-packed dwarf galaxy, M60-UCD1, floats this super massive black hole holding it all together. NASA discovered the peculiar galaxy with the help of Hubble, which took the above photo on September 10, 2014. The discovery of this galaxy has lead NASA scientists to believe that there are likely many, many other dwarf galaxies with super massive black holes at their centers.

[Marley]

http://icdn1.digitaltrends.com/image/jupiteredits-970x640.jpg
Jupiter’s Storm

The largest object in our solar system, Jupiter is a behemoth of a planet. Over 1,321 Earths could fit into Jupiter, and the planet is orbited by 16 moons (that we know of). But perhaps the most iconic feature of the gas giant is its massive storm, seen as a red dot circulating across its surface. This image gives us a glimpse of the vibrant and beautiful swirling gas clouds of Jupiter’s storm.
Storms Over Indonesia

[Marley]

Galactic Variety

Galaxies are curious things: They contain billions – often trillions – of stars, massive clouds of gas, and innumerable planets, all of them potentially light years apart. But taken in from a vast distance, they become glimmering clusters of multicolored starlight. This photo, again taken by Hubble, shows the beauty of NGC 7715 (and the arm of its companion NGC 7714). The light captured in this photo is over 100 million years old.

http://icdn1.digitaltrends.com/image/galaxyedits-970x640.jpg

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/Barnard18Taurus_POSS2_960.jpg

Dark Nebulas across Taurus

Sometimes even the dark dust of interstellar space has a serene beauty. One such place occurs toward the constellation of Taurus. The filaments featured here can be found on the sky between the Pleiades star cluster and the California Nebula. This dust is not known not for its bright glow but for its absorption and opaqueness. Several bright stars are visible with their blue light seen reflecting off the brown dust. Other stars appear unusually red as their light barely peaks through a column of dark dust, with red the color that remains after the blue is scattered away. Yet other stars are behind dust pillars so thick they are not visible here. Although appearing serene, the scene is actually an ongoing loop of tumult and rebirth. This is because massive enough knots of gas and dust will gravitationally collapse to form new stars -- stars that both create new dust in their atmospheres and destroy old dust with their energetic light and winds.

Image Processing & Copyright: Oliver Czernetz - Data: Digitized Sky Survey (POSS-II)

[Marley]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/PhoenixAurora_Helgason_960_annotated.jpg

A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland
Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet night last September, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly though, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, unexpectedly, pareidoliacally, they created an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavik. Seasoned skywatchers will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible just above the frame center. The new aurora lasted only a minute and would be gone forever -- possibly dismissed as an embellished aberration -- were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/LMC252P_160316Tilbrook1024.jpg

Close Comet and Large Magellanic Cloud

Sporting a surprisingly bright, lovely green coma Comet 252P/Linear poses next to the Large Magellanic Cloud in this southern skyscape. The stack of telephoto exposures was captured on March 16 from Penwortham, South Australia. Recognized as a Jupiter family periodic comet, 252P/Linear will come close to our fair planet on March 21, passing a mere 5.3 million kilometers away. That's about 14 times the Earth-Moon distance. In fact, it is one of two comets that will make remarkably close approaches in the next few days as a much fainter Comet Pan-STARRS (P/2016 BA14) comes within 3.5 million kilometers (9 times the Earth-Moon distance) on March 22. The two have extremely similar orbits, suggesting they may have originally been part of the same comet. Sweeping quickly across the sky because of their proximity to Earth, both comets will soon move into northern skies.







Image Credit & Copyright: Justin Tilbrook (Astronomical Society of South Australia)

[Marley]

The icy blue wings of Hen 2-437
http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/potw1606a.jpg
In this cosmic snapshot, the spectacularly symmetrical wings of Hen 2-437 show up in a magnificent icy blue hue. Hen 2-437 is a planetary nebula, one of around 3000 such objects known to reside within the Milky Way.

Located within the faint northern constellation of Vulpecula (The Fox), Hen 2-437 was first identified in 1946 by Rudolph Minkowski, who later also discovered the famous and equally beautiful M2-9 (otherwise known as the Twin Jet Nebula). Hen 2-437 was added to a catalogue of planetary nebula over two decades later by astronomer and NASA astronaut Karl Gordon Henize.

Planetary nebulae such as Hen 2-437 form when an aging low-mass star — such as the Sun — reaches the final stages of life. The star swells to become a red giant, before casting off its gaseous outer layers into space. The star itself then slowly shrinks to form a white dwarf, while the expelled gas is slowly compressed and pushed outwards by stellar winds. As shown by its remarkably beautiful appearance, Hen 2-437 is a bipolar nebula — the material ejected by the dying star has streamed out into space to create the two icy blue lobes pictured here.

[ilan]

Amazing images.

I need a constellation map. I always have a hard time "putting things together."

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/Carina_Peach_960.jpg

The Great Nebula in Carina

Explanation: In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just above the image center, houses several of these massive stars and has itself changed its appearance. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Eta Carinae is the brightest star near the image center, just left of the Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.
Image Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach/SEN

[ilan]

Damn, what an image! It looks angry.

[ilan]

Go here (http://iptvtalk.net/showthread.php?2583-Tools-Software-etc)and install the program I've posted. You can turn on constellation lines and change the time to anytime in the past or future.
Enjoy

Cool... Thanx, Cap!

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Cool... Thanx, Cap!

You're Welcome...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/NGC7214_70_1024c.jpg

Hickson 91 in Piscis Austrinus

Explanation: Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs). This sharp telescopic image captures one such galaxy group, HCG 91, in beautiful detail. The group's three colorful spiral galaxies at the center of the field of view are locked in a gravitational tug of war, their interactions producing faint but visible tidal tails over 100,000 light-years long. Their close encounters trigger furious star formation. On a cosmic timescale the result will be a merger into a large single galaxy, a process now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. HCG 91 lies about 320 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. But the impressively deep image also catches evidence of fainter tidal tails and galaxy interactions close to 2 billion light-years distant.


Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler

[ilan]

http://www.space.com/images/i/000/054/310/original/northeast-usa-1600.jpg

New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond and Norfolk make up this glittering image of the Northeast Corridor. The image taken from the ISS, shows a megalopolis that is home to nearly 20 percent of the United States' population. Two Russian cargo ships on the International Space Station can be seen.
NASA, International Space Station

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/NGC6357_hubble_960.jpg

NGC 6357: Cathedral to Massive Stars



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.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA and Jesús MaÃ*z Apellániz (IAA, Spain); Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

[ilan]

Awesome! Thanks...

[Farmer1]

thanks for the pic Captain awesome as always

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/OrionTeide_Tejedor_960.jpg

Orion's Belt and Sword over Teide's Peak

The southern part of Orion, the famous constellation and mythical hunter, appears quite picturesque posing here over a famous volcano. Located in the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, the snow-peaked Teide is one of the largest volcanoes on Earth. Lights from a group planning to summit Teide before dawn are visible below the volcano's peak. In this composite of exposures taken from the same location one night last month, the three iconic belt stars of Orion are seen just above the peak, while the famous Orion Nebula and the rest of Orion's sword are visible beyond the volcano's left slope. Also visible in the long duration sky image are the Horsehead Nebula, seen as a dark indentation on the red emission nebula to the belt's left, and the Flame Nebula, evident just above and to the right of the Horsehead.

Image Credit & Copyright: Cesar & Carlos Tejedor

[Marley]

Fireworks of a Spiral Galaxy
Spiral galaxy NGC 4258 is home to an impressive fireworks show, generated by the massive black hole at the center of the galaxy


http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/images/2014/11/pia18461_ip.jpg?itok=RxLlGEfF

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Nice one asft...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/NGC6188_Pugh_960.jpg

NGC 6188 and NGC 6164

Fantastic shapes lurk in clouds of glowing gas in the giant star forming region NGC 6188. The emission nebula is found about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern constellation Ara. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed in that region only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas, visible toward the lower right, is rare emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region's massive O-type stars. Similar in appearance to many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164's striking, symmetric gaseous shroud and faint halo surround its bright central star near the bottom edge. The impressively wide field of view spans over 3 degrees (six full Moons), corresponding to over 200 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 6188. Three image sets have been included in the featured composite.





Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh & Rick Stevenson

[ilan]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1211/rigelwitch_andreo_big.jpg


Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula

Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. The suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years and is composed of interstellar dust grains reflecting Rigel's starlight. In this cosmic portrait, the blue color of the Witch Head Nebula and of the dust surrounding Rigel is caused not only by Rigel's intense blue starlight 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 Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. Rigel, the Witch Head Nebula, and gas and dust that surrounds them lie about 800 light-years away.


Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

[nada233]

great pictures guys and I am glad to be back.

[ilan]

Welcome back, nada... :)

[ilan]

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2001-05-a-large_web.jpg


ABOUT THIS IMAGE:
From ground-based telescopes, the so-called "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. This dramatic NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, showing 10 times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as a pair of fiery lobes protruding from a dying, Sun-like star.

The Hubble images directly challenge old ideas about the last stages in the lives of stars. By observing Sun-like stars as they approach their deaths, the Hubble Heritage image of Mz 3 — along with pictures of other planetary nebulae — shows that our Sun's fate probably will be more interesting, complex, and striking than astronomers imagined just a few years ago.

Though approaching the violence of an explosion, the ejection of gas from the dying star at the center of Mz 3 has intriguing symmetrical patterns unlike the chaotic patterns expected from an ordinary explosion. Scientists using Hubble would like to understand how a spherical star can produce such prominent, non-spherical symmetries in the gas that it ejects.


Information courtesy of the Hubell Newscenter
Image Credit: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

==========

To me, this also looks like two jellyfish having a head on collision, but I do see the ant as well.

[Marley]

Dots
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope catches nearby spiral galaxy Messier 98, existing 44.4 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Coma Berenices. A satellite dwarf galaxy lies near the edge of Messier 98. Two more distant galaxies appear face-on to us, along with a large and even more remote cluster of galaxies, seen as the foggy area of tiny dots. Image released February 2016.
http://www.space.com/images/i/000/053/579/original/messier-98-spiral-galaxy-cfht-coelum.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside|1600:1400

[ilan]

Nice pic, asft. Looks a little like a table saw blade ripping its way through the galaxy. Thanks...

[Farmer1]

awesome picks and great reads everyone Thanks so much

[Marley]

I see many very nice pic from all thank you :o

[Capt.Kangaroo]

I agree. nice pics from all. thanks...:)

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1604/SaturnApproach_Cassini_960.jpg

Cassini Approaches Saturn

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. When arriving 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.



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

[Capt.Kangaroo]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1604/OrionRedBlue_Lindemann_960.jpg

Orion in Red and Blue

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.



Image Credit & Copyright: David Lindemann

[ilan]

Both awesome... Thanks, Cap!

[big dady]

Great pics guys thanks all

[nada233]

great ones they are all great pictures nice work .

[ilan]

Spectacular astronomy photos featured in new book


These are some of the most eye catching examples of astronomical photography.


http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1112261.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/The%20New%20Astronomy%20Guide,%20by%20Pete%20Lawre nce%20&%20Sir%20Patrick%20Moore,%20Carlton
Jelly fish? Planetary nebulae seen by the Hubble Space Telescope


This spectacular display in the heavens looks like giant intergalactic jelly fish.

Instead they are some of the most eye catching examples of astronomical photography.

The two pictures show planetary nebulae as seen through the Hubble Space Telescope, a snap of the elephant’s trunk nebula taken by amateur astronomer Ian Sharp.


http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1112262.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/The%20New%20Astronomy%20Guide,%20by%20Pete%20Lawre nce%20&%20Sir%20Patrick%20Moore,%20Carlton


Red alert: The elephant's trunk nebula photographed by Ian Sharp


The images are from a new book The New Astronomy Guide, by Pete Lawrence and legendary stargazer Sir Patrick Moore.

They show some examples of photography and also the methods behind the pictures.

[big dady]

Nice ones Ilan

[ilan]

I'm not sure why they call it (just) the elephant's trunk nebula. I see the whole elephant...trunk, head, front legs, body and a hint of rear legs.

[Capt.Kangaroo]

Very nice ilan...:)

[Marley]

The Spider Nebula
http://images.ipac.caltech.edu/spitzer/sig16-008/spitzer_sig16-008_1280.jpg
The spider part of "The Spider and the Fly" nebulae, IC 417 abounds in star formation, as seen in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).

Located in the constellation Auriga, IC 417 lies about 10,000 light-years away. It is in the outer part of the Milky Way, almost exactly in the opposite direction from the galactic center. This region was chosen as the subject of a research project by a group of students, teachers and scientists as part of the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) in 2015.

A cluster of young stars called "Stock 8" can be seen at center right. The light from this cluster carves out a bowl in the nearby dust clouds, seen here as green fluff. Along the sinuous tail in the center and to the left, groupings of red point sources are also young stars.

In this image, infrared wavelengths, which are invisible to the unaided eye, have been assigned visible colors. Light with a wavelength of 1.2 microns, detected by 2MASS, is shown in blue. The Spitzer wavelengths of 3.6 and 4.5 microns are green and red, respectively.