Latest Posts by astronomyandgalaxies - Page 6

Visible vs Infrared These are the "Pillars of Creation" seen by Hubble, in visible light (on the left) and in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope, on the right!

Beautiful super Moon from earlier in the year!

The James Webb Telescope has some new pictures of Jupiter! 

Cosmic Keyhole" (NGC 1999) Scientists first believed that the conspicuous hole in the center of this nebula was a Bok globule - a dense, cold cloud of gas and dust that blocks out background light. But later observations suggest that the dark patch is actually an empty void in space

Butterfly Nebula

The Butterfly Nebula, also known as NGC 6302, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Scorpius.

It is named for its striking appearance, which resembles the wings of a butterfly when viewed in certain images.

The nebula is approximately 3,800 light-years away from Earth.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

The Ghost Nebula

The Ghost Nebula, also known as LBN 762, is a dark nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia.

It is named for its ghostly appearance in images taken in infrared light, where it appears as a dark silhouette against the backdrop of brighter stars and gas.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and STScI; Acknowledgment: H. Arab (University of Strasbourg)

Supernova 1987A

The remnant of Supernova 1987A, located in a neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, appears at the center of this image. The red, gaseous clouds that surround it fuel a firestorm of new star formation.

Globular Cluster

NGC 1850 is a fascinating globular cluster located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

It is situated approximately 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado.

NGC 1850 is notable for its rich population of stars and its complex structure, which includes multiple stellar populations.

Credits: NASA, ESA and P. Goudfrooij (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Planetary Nebula NGC 2440

Planetary nebula NGC 2440 is a relic of a star once like our Sun that has cast off its outer layers of gas, forming a colorful cocoon around the star's remaining core.

Clearest Image ever taken of Mars’ North Pole. Yes that’s water ice.

Stunning New Images of Jupiter From NASA’s Juno Spacecraft (read article here)

"I don't see any god up here. But from here the Earth is beautiful, without borders or divisions."

The first words of a human in space.

Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, April 12, 1961.

Thanks to Clara Statello

To be fair, a lot of goofy-sounding rocketry/aerospace terminology has a legitimate nomenclatural role beyond just being silly euphemisms.

"Unplanned rapid disassembly", for example, exists as the necessary counterpart to planned rapid disassembly: sometimes a rocket is legitimately supposed to fall apart or blow up, so you need a specific term to emphasise that it wasn't supposed to do that.

Similarly, "lithobraking" was coined by analogy with aerobraking (shedding velocity via atmospheric friction) and hydrobraking (shedding velocity by landing in water), and it does have some intentional applications; the Mars Pathfinder probe, for example, was deliberately crashed into the Martian surface while surrounded by giant airbags, and reportedly bounced at least 15 times before coming to rest.

(That said, aerospace engineers absolutely do use these terms humorously as well, because engineers are just Like That.)

Alpha Centauri: The Closest Star System Image Credit & Copyright: Telescope Live, Heaven's Mirror Observatory; Processing: Chris Cantrell

Young Stars, Dark Nebulae Image Credit & Copyright: Long Xin

The North American Nebulae