M42: Orion Nebula & M43: De Mairan’s Nebula

Bright Galaxy Centaurus A

Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky — making it an ideal target for amateur astronomers — and is famous for the dust lane across its middle and a giant jet blasting away from the supermassive black hole at its center. Cen A is an active galaxy about 12 million light years from Earth.

This image is part of a “quartet of galaxies” collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers that combines optical data from amateur telescopes with data from the archives of NASA missions. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., controls Chandra’s science and flight operations.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Rolf Olsen; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Friday 25 June 2010, by Ramona Onisor

NGC 4631: Whale Galaxy

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/Orion212_Volskiy_960_annotated.jpg

IC 5070 // Pelican Nebula

Emission Nebula NGC 6357 & Star Cluster Pismis 24 (center)

NASA scientists have reported that they’ve successfully tested an engine called the electromagnetic propulsion drive, or the EM Drive, in a vacuum that replicates space. The EM Drive experimental system could take humans to Mars in just 70 days without the need for rocket fuel, and it’s no exaggeration to say that this could change everything. But before we get too excited it’s important to note that these results haven’t been replicated or verified by peer review, so there’s a chance there’s been some kind of error. But so far, despite a thorough attempt to poke holes in the results, the engine seems to hold up. The engine is controversial because it seems to violate one of the fundamental concepts of physics - the conservation of momentum, which states that for something to be propelled forward, it needs some kind of propellant to be pushed out in the opposite direction. But the EM Drive doesn’t require any propellant in order to create thrust, it simply relies on electromagnetic waves. To put it simply, electricity converts into microwaves within the cavity that push against the inside of the device, causing the thruster to accelerate in the opposite direction.

So what does all this mean? If the results can be replicated and verified in space it would change the way we travel in space, and open up access not only to planets in our own Solar System, but in the systems beyond.

Egg-shape UFO Sighting, April 24 1964. Officer Lonnie Zamora worked as a sergeant at the Socorro Police Department. On friday 24 April 1964 he witnessed the (now famous) Socorro landing in New Mexico. The investigation of the Socorro case was lead by Dr J. Allen Hynek with the FBI. The report on the case ended up in Project Blue Book saying: “There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora’s reliability. He is a serious officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognising airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. Accompanying images are artists impressions of the incident. 

This is still one of the most documented case on record today.

Bizarre planets.