Tag: hubble

NGC 520 from Hubble

Update 9/7/2021: This image has been chosen as and APOD by NASA! You can view their write-up here: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210907.html. This galaxy is just so bizarre that I had to process it! NGC 520 is the product of a collision between two disc galaxies that started 300 million years ago. It exemplifies the middle stages of the merging process: the discs of the parent galaxies have merged together, but the nuclei have not yet coalesced. It features an odd-looking tail of stars and a prominent dust lane that […]

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ARP 273 from Hubble

This is one of my absolute favorite galaxies, so I had to take a shot at processing it! The whirling spirals, the dark dust lanes, the beautiful colors – Hubble really picked a great target! From APOD’s description (4/21/2011): “The spiky stars in the foreground of this sharp cosmic portrait are well within our own Milky Way Galaxy. The two eye-catching galaxies lie far beyond the Milky Way, at a distance of over 300 million light-years. Their distorted appearance is due to gravitational tides as the pair […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 8/8/2021

Next week’s night sky: When the moon completes the first quarter of its journey around Earth on Sunday, Aug. 15 at 11:19 a.m. EDT (1519 GMT), its 90-degree angle away from the sun will cause us to see the moon half-illuminated — on its eastern side. In the first quarter, the moon always rises around midday and sets around midnight, so it is also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. The evenings surrounding the first quarter are the best ones for seeing the lunar terrain when it […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 6/13/2021

Next week’s night sky: The moon will officially reach its full phase on Thursday, June 24 at 2:39 p.m. EDT (1839 GMT). The June full moon, colloquially known as the Strawberry Moon, Mead Moon, Rose Moon, or Hot Moon, always shines in or near the stars of southern Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Bearer. The indigenous Ojibwe people of the Great Lakes region call this moon Ode’miin Giizis, the Strawberry Moon. For the Cree Nation it’s Opiniyawiwipisim, the Egg Laying Moon (referring to the activities of wild water-fowl). The Mohawks […]

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The Tadpole galaxy, taken by Hubble and processed by me

The Tadpole Galaxy is a disrupted barred spiral galaxy located 420 million light-years from Earth in the northern constellation Draco. Its most dramatic feature is a massive trail of stars about 280,000 light-years long; the size of the galaxy has been attributed to a merger with a smaller galaxy that is believed to have occurred about 100 million years ago. The galaxy is filled with bright blue star clusters. Image: Processing: I created this image with 3 filters taken by the Hubble ACS camera: near- infrared (814nm), […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 3/28/2021

Next week’s night sky: The moon will officially reach its new phase on Sunday, April 11 at 10:30 p.m. EDT or 7:30 p.m. PDT. That translates to 02:30 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Monday, April 12. While new, the moon is traveling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only reach the far side of the moon, and the moon is in the same region of the sky as the sun, the moon becomes completely hidden from view from anywhere on Earth for about a day. […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 3/7/2021

Next week’s night sky: At 5:21 a.m. EST, or 10:21 GMT, on Saturday, March 13, the moon will officially reach its new moon phase. While new, the moon is travelling between Earth and the sun. Since sunlight can only reach the far side of the moon, and the moon is in the same region of the sky as the sun, the moon becomes completely hidden from view for about a day. After the new moon phase Earth’s celestial night-light will return to shine in the western evening […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 2/7/2021

Next Week’s Night Sky: When the moon completes the first quarter of its orbit around Earth at 1:47 p.m. EST (or 18:47 GMT) on Friday, Feb. 19, the relative positions of the Earth, sun, and moon will cause us to see it half-illuminated — on its eastern side. In the first quarter, the moon always rises around noon and sets around midnight, so it is also visible in the afternoon daytime sky. The evenings surrounding the first quarter are the best for seeing the lunar terrain when […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 1/17/2021

Next Week’s Night Sky: January 28th is the full moon. This is a wonderful time to take a good look at the moon through binoculars —  you should be able to make out many fine and beautiful details! Youngest Magnetar Astronomers discovered the youngest member of a bizarre group of stars, known as magnetars, using NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope in March of 2020. And now, further observations shed even more light on the exotic beast. Magnetars are a special breed of already strange neutron stars. Remnants […]

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Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 12/20/2020

Next week’s night sky: The December full moon, traditionally known as the Oak Moon, Cold Moon, and Long Nights Moon, always shines in or near the stars of Gemini. Since it’s opposite the sun on this day of the lunar month, the moon is fully illuminated and rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. Full moons during the winter months reach as high in the sky as the summer noonday sun, and cast similar shadows. This is a great time to get a good look at the […]

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