Tag: astro photo

Stellar Fireworks in NGC 4449

NGC 4449 has been forming stars for several billion years, but currently it is experiencing a star formation event at a much higher rate than in the past. At the current rate, the gas supply that feeds the stellar production would only last for another billion years or so. The hot, new young stars are illuminating the surrounding gas in a beautiful display. Pink regions represent ionized hydrogen gas, and blue regions represent ionized oxygen gas. Image: Details: Data was taken from the following proposals: https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=10585, https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=10522 […]

Read more

Hubble’s stunning 325 megapixel mosaic of the Tarantula Nebula

I don’t really think that words can effectively describe this image. There’s so much going on here that it almost seems wrong to try to simplify what’s happening, but here goes: At the top center lies a massive star cluster that’s putting out enormous amounts of energy. All the hydrogen gas around that star cluster is being ionized, much like a neon sign. The ionization and energy outflows create the beautiful knots and filaments that you can see. By looking at this region through a filter that […]

Read more

A luminous M42

The first image from my new mount! The GEM28 has turned out to be an incredibly accurate mount, giving me sharp stars at 600mm with 4 minute exposures! The Great Orion Nebula, an immense, nearby starbirth region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Here, glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. The bright core illuminates the surrounding the star cluster, highlighting the streams of dark dust on top. Image: Equipment: Nikon D800 […]

Read more

NGC 105 from Hubble

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope displays spiral galaxy NGC 105, which lies 215 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. NGC 105 appears to be plunging edge-on into a collision with a neighbouring galaxy, but this is just the result of the chance alignment of the two objects in the night sky. NGC 105’s elongated neighbor is actually far more distant and remains relatively unknown to astronomers. These misleading conjunctions occur frequently in astronomy, a great example being NGC 3314: https://theastroenthusiast.com/ngc-3314-from-hubble/ Image: Details: All data was […]

Read more

A colorful cosmic rose: A collaboration of 110+ hours of data from three continents

I highly recommend opening the full version to take a closer look at some of the finer details revealed by the large integration time. A starless copy is also provided to show off fainter detail. This incredibly detailed image of the Rosette nebula was created from more than 110 hours of exposure across three continents —  Europe, USA, and Oceania. We combined 1064 subframes and 6791 minutes of exposure to reveal faint details previously masked by lower amounts of data. The high exposure time also allowed us […]

Read more

NGC 5189 from Hubble

Why is this beautiful nebula so complicated ? When a star is dying, it blast away its outer layers, usually into a simple overall shape. Sometimes this shape is a sphere, sometimes a double lobe, and sometimes a ring or a helix. In this image, however, no such simple structure has emerged. To help find out why, Hubble Space Telescope recently observed NGC 5189 in Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulfur emission lines. Previous findings indicated the existence of multiple periods of material outflow, including a recent one that […]

Read more

Nebulosity in the Auriga Region

This image showcases much of the nebulosity in the Auriga region in its natural colors. On the left is the flaming star nebula, an emission-reflection nebulae ionized by the star at its core. The blue parts are reflection, and the red parts are emission. At top center lies the tadpole nebula, a strong emission nebula. On the left are the spider and fly nebulae, two complex regions, of dark nebula, dust, emission nebulae, and reflection nebulae. Below theses two nebula is an open star cluster. Scroll down […]

Read more

NGC 1672 from Hubble

NGC 1672 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado. Its massive spiral arms display clusters of hot young blue stars , and beautiful clouds of pink ionized hydrogen gas. Dust lanes throughout the galaxy obscure and redden the light of the stars behind them. NGC 1672’s dynamic core is emphzised by the ring of hydrogen gas and dark dust lanes around it. Image: Details: All data was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys by the following proposal: https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=10354 Processing

Read more

Messier 42 and surrounding nebulosity

This image showcases the bright orion nebula and its surrounding dust. The bright central nebula is lit by the star cluster at its center; the rest of the dust is a combination of glowing red hydrogen and darker, cooler dust. Some notable features in this image include the tip of the horsehead nebula on the bottom left, and the dark trail of dust including NGC 1999 on the right. This image combines 28 hours of long exposure with 30 minutes of short exposure to preserve dynamic range. […]

Read more

Hubble’s incredible mosaic of Messier 82

Also known as the Cigar Galaxy because of its appearance, Messier 82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation is driving the stunning red outflows. This image highlights emission from filaments of atomic hydrogen gas in reddish hues. The filaments extend for well over 10,000 light-years. I recommend checking out the full 66 megapixel image on Gigapan, where you can zoom into all the awesome filamentary details. http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/227686 Image: Details: All […]

Read more