Cool astronomy photos

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:35 pm

https://spacenews.com/nasa-confirms-jws ... unch-date/

WASHINGTON — The head of NASA’s science directorate confirmed June 10 that the James Webb Space Telescope will miss its March 2021 launch date, a slip that was all but inevitable as the coronavirus pandemic slowed work on the spacecraft.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:31 pm

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:04 am

Grammatron wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:35 pm https://spacenews.com/nasa-confirms-jws ... unch-date/

WASHINGTON — The head of NASA’s science directorate confirmed June 10 that the James Webb Space Telescope will miss its March 2021 launch date, a slip that was all but inevitable as the coronavirus pandemic slowed work on the spacecraft.

Well, if not that, something else. The riots would suffice.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Jun 12, 2020 12:50 pm

You can't call in sick to a riot.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Jun 21, 2020 7:46 am

For our Japanese residents, but just barely ...

You are watching timeanddate.com's live stream of the annular solar eclipse that is currently in progress in parts if Africa and Asia.

meh, watching an eclipse on youtube is pretty dull, and Graham Jones doesn't help. But I'd love to see it in person, in Asia.

But it's hot outside there so I'd watch it from inside.

On a couch.

Via youtube.

p.s. Newser was calling it an annual solar eclipse. Which caused me to blink.

Newser) – Star-lovers will get a rare treat this weekend when an annual solar eclipse accompanies the summer solstice

https://www.newser.com/story/292515/how ... lipse.html

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Jun 23, 2020 1:10 am

Rob Lister wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 7:46 am p.s. Newser was calling it an annual solar eclipse. Which caused me to blink.

It's "annular", of course.

Taken from India:

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Jun 23, 2020 11:49 am

Annular as in ring-shaped?

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:04 am

Bigger original: https://i.imgur.com/zqimSLS.jpg

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:24 pm

(Taiwan)

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:02 am

Widespread galactic cannibalism in Stephan's Quintet revealed by CFHT

An extremely deep multi-band optical image from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT, Hawaii. USA) casts a new light on the formation process of the famous group of 5 colliding galaxies. The image reveals structures undetected thus far, in particular a very extended red halo composed of old stars, and centered on an elliptical galaxy, NGC 7317, which had been ignored in previous studies on the dynamics of the global collision. These results are published in the Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by a team from the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg (France), CEA Saclay (France) and the Lund Observatory (Sweden).

The wide field image captured with the 380 megapixel camera called MegaCam is focused on the nearby galaxy NGC 7331. The image exhibits several galactic and extragalactic features, some very extended and dim, including filaments of interstellar dust in the foreground (galactic cirrus). The scientists' attention was however captured by the condensation of galaxies in the field, much further beyond NGC 7331: the famous Stephan's Quintet named after the French astronomer Édouard Stephan who was the first to observe it in 1878.

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-widesprea ... intet.html

Usual view:

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Thu Jun 25, 2020 11:45 pm

Who knew those talking angels/galaxies in "It's a Beautiful Life" were actually cannibals. Not so Jimmy Stuart now huh?

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jun 25, 2020 11:47 pm

↑ The beauty of evil.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Fri Jun 26, 2020 1:19 am

"Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!"

"Merry Christmas to you too George, in jail. Why don't you go on home, I think they're waiting for you!"

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:40 pm

IC 5070 - 20 hours on the Pelican Nebula from the backyard

All the technical details: https://www.galactic-hunter.com/post/ic ... e-backyard

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:18 pm

Puppis A: An X-ray Tapestry

Puppis A is a supernova remnant located about 7,000 light years from Earth.

This new image includes data from Chandra and XMM-Newton and is the most complete and detailed X-ray view of Puppis A to date.

The combined dataset reveals a delicate tapestry of X-ray light left behind by the supernova explosion.

https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/puppisa/

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:50 am

Is that blue dot in the middle a remnant or a different star in the background?

ETA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RX_J0822%E2%88%924300

RX J0822−4300, often referred to as a "Cosmic Cannonball", is a radio-quiet neutron star currently moving away from the center of the Puppis A supernova remnant at over 3 million miles per hour (5 400 000 km/h; 1500 km/s; ~0.5% the speed of light), making it one of the fastest moving stars ever found. Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe the star over a period of five years to determine its speed. At this velocity the star will be ejected from the galaxy millions of years from now.

Although the cosmic cannonball is not the only hypervelocity star discovered, it is unique in the apparent origin of its speed. Others may have derived theirs from a gravitational slingshot around the Milky Way's suspected supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. Current theories fail to explain how such speeds can be attained from a supernova explosion. It could be a possible quark star.

However, a more recent (2012) analysis by the same group yielded a more modest recoil velocity of 672±115 km/s which is much less problematic theoretically.[3]

(No idea if this "Cosmic Cannonball" is the blue dot in the middle of that image)

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:02 am

Small observatory in Skinakas, Crete.

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:54 am

Goddamn but I love astronomy

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:56 am

I’m sitting at home looking at images and data that are simply mind blowing

I think of the old days where a lone astronomer carefully was watching through a telescope, freezing in the high altitude, with no way to even record what he saw

Other than to draw it

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:05 am

Spoiler:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:18 pm

Ingenuity: A man's decades-long quest to fly a helicopter on Mars

NASA is about to fly a rotorcraft on another planet for the first time. And for the engineers who built the Mars Ingenuity helicopter, it's a Wright brothers moment.

When America first dreamed of sending astronauts to another world, German-American rocket engineer Wernher von Braun didn’t want to go to the Moon. He wanted to send dozens of people to Mars. He envisioned a winged craft soaring through the Red Planet’s atmosphere, landing gently on the rust-colored surface. And though earthlings quickly learned that traveling to another planet isn’t so easy, the fantasy of flying on Mars never died.

And now, that dream is on the verge of being fulfilled. On July 22, NASA plans to launch its Mars Perseverance rover. But there's also a robotic hitchhiker onboard. This small, solar-powered helicopter, named Ingenuity, is on mission totally independent from the rover. While Perseverance searches for signs of alien life, Ingenuity will prove it's possible to fly in Mars' thin atmosphere. The data it gathers will help engineers build even larger helicopter drones for the Red Planet. And if it works, the long-term impact could be a game-changer for Mars exploration.

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/07/the- ... er-on-mars

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Jul 02, 2020 10:12 pm

That's one cool trick. Google tells me the density of air on Mars is 1% of what it is here. That's like flying a helo to the peak of Mount Everest. Or something. I may have just made that up out of recycled cloth.

Wouldn't a or hydrogen balloon be more technologically economical?

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:38 am

Interesting question. I suggest someone has already done the maths and it didn't work out due to the mass of the cylinder required to store the pressurized gas.

Besides, a balloon goes where the prevailing wind takes it, whereas a helicopter goes where the pilot tells it to unless the prevailing wind is lots faster than the 'copter.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:10 am

On the other hand, the gravity is weaker on Mars.
3.711 m/s² as compared to 9.807 m/s² on Earth.
It wouldn't work on the moon, but Mars may have just enough of an atmosphere to make it possible.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:20 am

Anaxagoras wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:10 am On the other hand, the gravity is weaker on Mars.
3.711 m/s² as compared to 9.807 m/s² on Earth.
It wouldn't work on the moon, but Mars may have just enough of an atmosphere to make it possible.

Mars is also very dry and dusty. Seems like kicking up a cloud of dust would create conditions for lightning.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:53 am

I'm sticking with the hydrogen-filled balloon. Sparks raises two issues:

1. [M]ass of the cylinder required to store the pressurized gas.
If he refers to the added mass to the rover itself, I think the science outweighs the cost. If he refers to the added mass to the cargo of the balloon, there is no reason to take the expended canister with it; just fill and release.

2. [A] balloon goes where the prevailing wind takes it.
True, but prevailing winds are a science in and of itself. You could bring more than one.

I'll go ahead and shoot a memo to Jim Bridenstine at NASA and have him work out the cost details.

@Pyrrho, I think you're off on the 4th, right? Why don't you go ahead and make up a slide deck for presentation to the NASA board on Monday. Two days should be fine, right? Nothing fancy, just fifty or slides. Use your gut for the technical stuff. Make sure you run it through HR; we don't want to inadvertently imply anything untoward therein. Best they give it a pass.

ed · Post by ed » Fri Jul 03, 2020 10:46 am

10 Years of the Sun. We are in the future, aren't we?

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:32 pm

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 04, 2020 2:23 am

Taken with a smartphone. Technical details: https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... tphone_oc/.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:30 pm

Crescent nebula. Technical details: https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... nt_nebula/.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 3:12 pm

Taken in the Adirondacks.

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:54 pm

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:20 am

A new comet will be visible for early risers as it races closer to Earth

TORONTO -- Early risers in the northern hemisphere will be treated to a view of a recently identified comet, which has suddenly become visible to the unaided eye, as it hurtles towards Earth.

Comet NEOWISE – technically called C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) – was first discovered on March 27 by the Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) space telescope launched by NASA in 2009.

At the time, astronomers were unsure if the comet would meet a similar fate to other comets before it, such as Comet ATLAS and Comet SWAN, and break apart as it travelled close to the sun and warmed up.

However, it appears Comet NEOWISE survived its closest approach to the sun late last week and is now making its way closer to Earth before it is expected to return to the outer solar system, according to NASA.

The space agency said the comet has become one of the few “naked-eye comets” of the 21st century after it “suddenly” became visible to the unaided eye this week.

“Word spread quickly, and the comet has already been photographed behind many famous sites and cities around the globe,” NASA said in the caption of a photo of Comet NEOWISE passing over Lebanon on Sunday, which they shared as their “Astronomy Photo of the Day” on Tuesday.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sci-tech/ ... -1.5014178

And here seen from Austria:

Expected to get brighter…

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:51 am

Sweet

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:51 am

Now if I could get some clear morning skies

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:18 am

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:30 am

With Mt. Shasta in California

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:33 am

Milky Way core. Technical details: https://old.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comm ... _backyard/

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:22 am

A Giant 'Wall' of Galaxies Has Been Found Stretching Across The Universe

The Universe isn't just a random scattering of galaxies sprinkled throughout an expanding void. The closer we look, the more we see that there are structures - some of which are incomprehensibly vast groupings and clusters of galaxies that are gravitationally bound together.

Such a structure has just been discovered arcing across the southern edge of the sky, and it's a colossus, spanning an immense 1.37 billion light-years from end to end. Its discoverers have named it the South Pole Wall.

Although the size is remarkable - it's one of the largest structures in space we've ever seen - we know exactly what the South Pole Wall is. It's a galaxy filament, a huge formation of galaxies that forms a border between the empty spaces of cosmic voids that together form the cosmic web. Hence, we call it a wall.

Other, larger such walls are known. The largest is the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, which spans 9.7 billion light-years. But the South Pole Wall is special, because it's insanely close to the Milky Way galaxy, lying just 500 million light-years away. In other words, it is the most massive structure we've ever seen this close.

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-giant-wa ... e-universe for the rest.