Search results

Whirlpool Galaxy Deep Field Credit & Copyright: Jon Christensen Explanation: Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning...

Ethics programs in robot killers.. how sweet.. takes a real man to kill by remote control.. just like a video game.. wonderful. Robot warriors will get a guide to ethics When and what to fire will be part of hardware and software 'package' Smart missiles, rolling robots, and flying...

Galaxies of the Perseus Cluster Credit & Copyright: R. Jay Gabany Explanation: This colorful telescopic skyscape is filled with galaxies that lie nearly 250 million light-years away, the galaxies of the Perseus cluster. Their extended and sometimes surprising shapes are seen beyond a...

A Halo for NGC 6164 Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman Explanation: Beautiful emission nebula NGC 6164 was created by a rare, hot, luminous O-type star, some 40 times as massive as the Sun. Seen at the center of the cosmic cloud, the star is a mere 3 to 4 million years old. In...

The Whale Galaxy Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, U. Arizona Guest Astronomers: Tom Bash and Craig Gates Explanation: NGC 4631 is a big beautiful spiral galaxy. Seen edge-on, it lies only 25 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation...

Lyrid Meteor and Milky Way Credit & Copyright: Tony Rowell / Astrophotostore.com Explanation: On April 22nd, the Lyrid Meteor Shower visited planet Earth's sky, an annual shower produced as the Earth plows through dust from the tail of comet Thatcher. Usually Lyrid meteor watchers...

Framed by Clouds Credit & Copyright: Pete Lawrence (Digital-Astronomy) Explanation: Last Sunday's fading evening twilight featured a young crescent Moon along the western horizon. The young Moon also shared the sky with the lovely Pleiades star cluster and wandering planet...

GRB 090423: The Farthest Explosion Yet Measured Credit: Gemini Observatory / NSF / AURA, D. Fox & A. Cucchiara (Penn State U.), and E. Berger (Harvard Univ.) Explanation: An explosion so powerful it was seen clear across the visible universe was recorded in gamma-radiation last...

NGC 4565: Galaxy on the Edge Credit & Copyright: Roth Ritter (Dark Atmospheres) Explanation: Is our Galaxy this thin? We believe so. Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is likely similar to our own spiral galaxy, but viewed edge-on from far away. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for...

NGC 4676: When Mice Collide Credit: ACS Science & Engineering Team, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA Explanation: These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as "The Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other...

Dark Markings of the Sky Credit & Copyright: Steve Cannistra (StarryWonders Explanation: Based on wide field photographs, American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard cataloged the dark markings of the sky in the early 20th century. Barnard's markings are dark nebulae, interstellar...

They are fukking amazing! .. I love these.. .

Sharpless 308 Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman Explanation: Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 308 it lies some 5,200 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major and covers over 2/3 degree on the sky (compared with...

NGC 1333 Stardust Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin Explanation: NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at...

M39: Open Cluster in Cygnus Credit: Heidi Schweiker, WIYN, NOAO, AURA, NSF Explanation: Lying just at the limit of human perception is a picturesque starfield containing one of the larger open clusters on the northern sky. Spanning an angle larger than the Moon, M39's relatively few...

Unusual Dusty Galaxy NGC 7049 NASA - Home Explanation: How was this unusual looking galaxy created? No one is sure, especially since spiral galaxy NGC 7049 looks so strange. NGC 7049's striking appearance is primarily due to an unusually prominent dust ring seen mostly in silhouette...

The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 274 Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio (STScI) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Explanation: Two galaxies are squaring off in Virgo and here are the latest pictures. When two galaxies collide, the stars that compose them usually do not. This is...

In the Heart of the Tarantula Nebula Credit: ESA, NASA, ESO, & Danny LaCrue Explanation: In the heart of monstrous Tarantula Nebula lies huge bubbles of energetic gas, long filaments of dark dust, and unusually massive stars. In the center of this heart, is a knot of stars so...

Signals of a Strange Universe Credit: High-Z Supernova Search Team, HST, NASA Explanation: Eleven years ago results were first presented indicating that most of the energy in our universe is not in stars or galaxies but is tied to space itself. In the language of cosmologists, a...

The Seagull Nebula Credit & Copyright: Frank Barrett, Steve Davis Explanation: Images from two different cameras, a digital SLR and an astronomical ccd camera, are combined in this color starscape. Both cameras made use of the same telescope at the oceanside Winter Star Party in...