Posts Tagged ‘spiral’
September 7, 2011
by tte-77
Well there’s no mention or images of the new Supernova spotted in a nearby galaxy in this weeks post or indeed any in any relating to this series. Nonetheless we resume the countdown with the (latest) positions 50-46*.
# 50 - Really Hot Stars - Credit: ESO
# 49 - N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud - Credit: ESO
# 48 - Spiral Galaxy NGC 253 - Credit: ESO
# 47 - Artist’s impression of Corot-7b - Credit: ESO/L. Calcada
# 46 - Trailing stars above Paranal - Credit: ESO/Stéphane Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)
To view the previous images from the countdown visit the links below.
55-51 | 60-56 | 65-61 | 70-66 | 75-71 | 80-76 | 85-81 | 90-86 | 95-91 | 100-96
Subscribe via the WordPress tab (side panel) or follow on Twitter for weekly updates to this dedicated series of stunning shots.
* ESO Top 100 Images series positions correct at time of post.
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Posted in Astronomy, ESO, Image gallery, tte-77 | Tagged 100, AB7, best, best 100, chile, cloud, corot-7b, ESO, ESO Top 100 Images, exoplanet, galaxy, hot stars, images, Large Magellanic Cloud, latest, milky way, n44, new, NGC 253, paranal, postaweek2011, series, skywatching, spiral, Stars, supernova, top, top 100, VLT | Leave a Comment »
June 20, 2011
by yaska77
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 7479 (released today) has been created from observations of both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The tightly wound arms of the spiral galaxy create an inverted ‘S’, as they spin in an anticlockwise direction.
NGC 7479 (click to enlarge in new tab) - Credit: ESA/Hubble/NASA
At radio wavelengths however, this galaxy (nicknamed the Propeller Galaxy) spins the other way, with a jet of radiation that bends in the opposite direction to the stars and dust in the arms of the galaxy.
Astronomers believe the radio jet in NGC 7479 was put into its strange backwards spin following a merger with another galaxy.
Star formation is reignited by such galactic collisions, and NGC 7479 is undergoing starburst activity, with many bright, young stars visible in the spiral arms and disc. The three brightest stars in the image are larger because they lie between NGC 7479 and Hubble.
Read the full article here
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Posted in Astronomy, ESA, Galaxy, Hubble, Image gallery, NASA, yaska77 | Tagged 7479, anticlockwise, Astronomers, Astronomy, clockwise, ESA, galactic collision, galaxy, hubble, image, infrared, light, NASA, NGC, NGC 7479, postaweek2011, propeller, radio, S, space, spin, spiral, Stars, telescope, visible | Leave a Comment »
April 8, 2011
by yaska77
On Wednesday 6th April the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) completed its first flight using the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) scientific instrument. GREAT is a high-resolution far-infrared spectrometer that finely divides and sorts light into component colours for detailed analysis.
While that in itself is more than clever enough, what’s equally impressive is the location of this observatory. SOFIA (which is the only operational airborne observatory) is a joint program between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The observatory is a heavily modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 100 inches.
Flying at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet, above the water vapor in Earth’s lower atmosphere that blocks most infrared radiation from celestial sources, SOFIA conducts astronomy research not possible with ground-based telescopes.
Credit: NASA/DLR
Two of their targets on this flight were IC 342 (a spiral galaxy 11 million light years from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis or “The Giraffe”), and the Omega Nebula (known as M17, 5,000 light-years away in Sagittarius).
The team captured and analyzed radiation from ionized carbon atoms and carbon monoxide molecules to probe the chemical reactions, motions of matter and flows of energy occurring in interstellar clouds. Astronomers have evidence such clouds in both IC 342 and M17 are forming numerous massive stars.
More detail (and images) on the NASA website
Source: NASA
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Posted in NASA, Nebula, Night sky, yaska77 | Tagged 747SP, Aerospace, Astronomy, Boeing, Center, clouds, DLR, galaxy, German, GREAT, IC 342, interstellar, M17, NASA, Nebula, SOFIA, spiral | Leave a Comment »
April 4, 2011
by yaska77
In 2007 Dutch High School teacher Hanny van Arkel spotted this ghostly cosmic blob while participating in the online Galaxy Zoo project. Named Hanny’s Voorwerp (Hanny’s Object in Dutch), it appears as a solitary green island near to a normal-looking spiral galaxy (IC 2497).
Source: Hubblesite.org
Astronomers have since found that Hanny’s Voorwerp is the only visible part of a 300-light-year-long gaseous streamer stretching around the galaxy. The green section is only visible because a beam of light (powered by a black hole driven quasar) orginating from the nearby galaxy’s core illuminated it.
Using Hubble astronomers have uncovered a group of young star clusters (coloured orange-yellow above) at the tip of Hanny’s object. Hubble also shows that gas flowing from IC 2497 (pictured above) may have instigated the star birth by compressing the gas in the green cloud.
Larger images can be viewed here.
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Posted in Black hole, Galaxy, Hubble, Image gallery, NASA, Nebula, yaska77 | Tagged cluster, galaxy, Hanny's, hubble, IC 2497, NASA, postaweek2011, spiral, star, Voorwerp | Leave a Comment »
April 4, 2011
by yaska77
Another great image from Hubble, this time it’s spiral galaxy NGC 2841, a majestic disk of stars and dust lanes. Found in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear) about 46 million light years from Earth, it is approximately 34,000 light years across. The image below was taken in 2010 through 4 different filters on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.
Source: Hubblesite.org
Larger images are available by clicking on Hubblesite.org
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Posted in ESA, Galaxy, Hubble, Image gallery, NASA, yaska77 | Tagged 2841, ESA, galaxy, hubble, Major, NASA, NGC, postaweek2011, spiral, Ursa | Leave a Comment »
