Cool astronomy photos

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:50 pm

The Heart nebula (IC 1805) with stars removed:

Technical details: https://www.galactic-hunter.com/post/ic ... art-nebula.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:00 pm

Shell Galaxies in Pisces

This intergalactic skyscape features a peculiar system of galaxies cataloged as Arp 227 some 100 million light-years distant. Swimming within the boundaries of the constellation Pisces, Arp 227 consists of the two galaxies prominent right of center, the curious shell galaxy NGC 474 and its blue, spiral-armed neighbor NGC 470. The faint, wide arcs or shells of NGC 474 could have been formed by a gravitational encounter with neighbor NGC 470. Alternately the shells could be caused by a merger with a smaller galaxy producing an effect analogous to ripples across the surface of a pond. The large galaxy on the top lefthand side of the deep image, NGC 467, appears to be surrounded by faint shells too, evidence of another interacting galaxy system. Intriguing background galaxies are scattered around the field that also includes spiky foreground stars. Of course, those stars lie well within our own Milky Way Galaxy. The field of view spans 25 arc minutes or about 1/2 degree on the sky. [Roughly the angular size of the moon.]

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:14 pm

Reminds me to revisit Olbers paradox

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:02 am

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:49 am

Coronal loops, October 2014.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:59 am

Hundreds of astronomers warn Elon Musk's Starlink satellites could limit scientific discoveries

SpaceX plans to launch thousands of satellites as part of its Starlink space internet project

Hundreds of astronomers have warned that satellite constellations like Elon Musk‘s Starlink network could prove “extremely impactful” to astronomy and scientific progress.

A report by the Satellite Constellations 1 (Satcon1) workshop found that that constellations of bright satellites will fundamentally change ground-based optical and infrared astronomy and could impact the appearance of the night’s sky for stargazers around the world.

The research brought together more than 250 astronomers, satellite operators and dark-sky advocates to better understand the astronomical impact of large satellite constellations.

“We find that the worst-case constellation designs prove extremely impactful to the most severely affected science programs,” stated the report, which was published on Tuesday.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to launch more than 30,000 Starlink satellites in order to beam high-speed internet down to Earth. The report warned that “Starlink alone may roughly double the number of space-based moving objects detectable by the unaided eye around twilight.”

Options to reduce the impact include “darken them”, “keep them low”, “orient them to reflect less sunlight”, but number one on the list was “don’t launch them”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-styl ... 87901.html

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:09 pm

How hard is it to make them dark? Is it a heating issue from sunlight?

But yeah, don’t fucking do it. Like that is going to happen

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:01 pm

https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments ... uds_for_a/

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:30 pm

Musk is such a showoff.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:40 am

https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... n_jupiter/

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 11:08 am

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Wed Sep 02, 2020 1:06 am

All right, hang on, you sure this ain't JW propaganda?
Short story... A glory sunset clouds, sun rays, guy riding a bicycle. He dropped to his knees in what I assume to be prayer.

Truth be told it was kinda awe inspiring

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:45 pm

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 12:51 am

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:22 am

I've always thought that looked like two guys holding their dicks together and a little dog getting in on the action.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 12:04 pm

Fid wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:22 am I've always thought that looked like two guys holding their dicks together and a little dog getting in on the action.

Thanks. Now I can't unsee it.

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:57 pm

I was just coming to post that

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 4:27 pm

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 6:44 pm

I apologize for lowering the tone of this august thread to Shemp level.
mine's on the right with the little dog

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:46 am

The classic Sombrero Galaxy (M104/Hubble):

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:41 am

Milky Way Arch at Refugio Punta de los Roques / La Palma 2019 - 6840 ft / 2085 m [2050x1365]

Source & technical details: https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... t_refugio/

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Sep 20, 2020 12:48 pm

Taken in Rovaniemi, Finland. The week in pictures, BBC

ed · Post by ed » Sun Sep 20, 2020 12:54 pm

I only saw the aurora once. Impressive stuff.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:41 am

Andromeda galaxy with and without foreground stars:

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:58 am

What are the two white blobs top and bottom?

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am

sparks wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:58 am What are the two white blobs top and bottom?

Other galaxies. Much farther away. The Andromeda galaxy is one of the relatively close ones. In fact, other than some dwarf galaxies, I think it's the closest large galaxy.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:55 pm

Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am
sparks wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:58 am What are the two white blobs top and bottom?
Other galaxies. Much farther away. The Andromeda galaxy is one of the relatively close ones. In fact, other than some dwarf galaxies, I think it's the closest large galaxy.

Not "much farther away": these are satellite galaxies of M31/Andromeda.

Wikipedia wrote:The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) has satellite galaxies just like the Milky Way. Orbiting M31 are at least 13 dwarf galaxies: the brightest and largest is M110, which can be seen with a basic telescope. The second-brightest and closest one to M31 is M32. The other galaxies are fainter, and were mostly discovered only starting from the 1970s.

The Andromeda Galaxy with M110 at upper left and M32 to the right of the core.

List of satellite galaxies of Andromeda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_A ... e_galaxies
Ditto for our own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite ... _Milky_Way

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:14 am

Witness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:55 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am Not "much farther away": these are satellite galaxies of M31/Andromeda.

Oh dear, it seems I have spoken ignorantly.

I mistakenly thought they were large elliptical galaxies but far away. I should have checked.

I think they are elliptical, but small ones.

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:58 pm

Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:14 am
Witness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:55 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am Not "much farther away": these are satellite galaxies of M31/Andromeda.
Oh dear, it seems I have spoken ignorantly.

I mistakenly thought they were large elliptical galaxies but far away. I should have checked.

I think they are elliptical, but small ones.

You're forgiven. None of us knows everything, do we?

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:33 am

Lunar analemma:

Photographic stack of the lunar phases obtained every day at the same time, plus 51 minutes of offset to compensate the Earth's translation, in a total period of 29.5 days, carried out at a distance of 8 kilometers from Toledo. This peculiar shape is due to the synodic curve formed by the inclined and elliptical orbit of our satellite, whose aspect changes gradually each lunar cycle.

Due to adverse weather conditions, some of these photos could not be taken during the same period as the rest, so they were obtained from a previous lunar cycle, and to achieve the position at the same time, several of them were taken during the day for what they were digitally treated to give them a nocturnal appearance. Also indicate that, to adapt it to the landscape, the relative dimensions of the complete analema have been reduced proportionally, but maintaining the aspect and the real size of the Moon in relation to the city, as observed at that distance.

https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasf ... ledo_over/

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Wed Sep 23, 2020 1:48 am

asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:58 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:14 am
Witness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:55 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am Not "much farther away": these are satellite galaxies of M31/Andromeda.
Oh dear, it seems I have spoken ignorantly.

I mistakenly thought they were large elliptical galaxies but far away. I should have checked.

I think they are elliptical, but small ones.
You're forgiven. None of us knows everything, do we?

No! Not forgiven. I shall hold disdain for you for this gross negligence forever! Some things can never be forgiven.

Not really. I was just looking for an excuse to post that.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Wed Sep 23, 2020 1:42 pm

This guy has some nice stuff:

https://www.johnkrausphotos.com

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:28 pm

asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:58 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:14 am
Witness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:55 pm
Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 2:53 am Not "much farther away": these are satellite galaxies of M31/Andromeda.
Oh dear, it seems I have spoken ignorantly.

I mistakenly thought they were large elliptical galaxies but far away. I should have checked.

I think they are elliptical, but small ones.
You're forgiven. None of us knows everything, do we?

Speak for yourself.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Sep 25, 2020 1:20 am

The first-ever image of a black hole is now a movie

Pictures created from old observations show the void’s stormy evolution over the past decade.

The historic first image of a black hole unveiled last year has now been turned into a movie. The short sequence of frames shows how the appearance of the black hole’s surroundings changes over years as its gravity stirs the material around it into a constant maelstrom.

The images show a lopsided blob of light swirling around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87. To create them, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration — which harnesses a planet-wide network of observatories — exhumed old data on the black hole and combined these with a mathematical model based on the image released in April 2019, to show how the surroundings have evolved over eight years. Although it relies partly on guesswork, the result gives astronomers rich insights into the behaviour of black holes, the intense gravity of which sucks in matter and light around them.

“Because the flow of matter falling onto a black hole is turbulent, we can see that the ring wobbles with time,” says lead author Maciek Wielgus, a radio astronomer at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586- ... 479NdPP3E0

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:53 pm

93.6Hrs total exposure time over 7nights - The Squid Nebula

https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... time_over/

Fid dick comment in 3… 2… 1…

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:04 am

Cosmic dog shit........

......from Sirius, of course.

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:46 am

Witness wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:53 pm
93.6Hrs total exposure time over 7nights - The Squid Nebula

https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... time_over/

Fid dick comment in 3… 2… 1…

Looks to be a double header. You know me too well sir.

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:48 am

Orion never does clean up after that damn dog.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Sep 26, 2020 11:33 pm

Enceladus in Infrared

One of our Solar System's most tantalizing worlds, icy Saturnian moon Enceladus appears in these detailed hemisphere views from the Cassini spacecraft. In false color, the five panels present 13 years of infrared image data from Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer and Imaging Science Subsystem. Fresh ice is colored red, and the most dramatic features look like long gashes in the 500 kilometer diameter moon's south polar region. They correspond to the location of tiger stripes, surface fractures that likely connect to an ocean beneath the Enceladus ice shell. The fractures are the source of the moon's icy plumes that continuously spew into space. The plumes were discovered by by Cassini in 2005. Now, reddish hues in the northern half of the leading hemisphere view also indicate a recent resurfacing of other regions of the geologically active moon, a world that may hold conditions suitable for life.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200924.html

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Sun Sep 27, 2020 3:44 am

At some point these enlarged, throbbing, pulsating fountains of salty water will...
will...

ahem...

astronomy...Mars is at opposition.