Beyond the Blue Marble

Dip your toes in the galaxy because it's yours to explore tonight:

[beyondthebluemarble]

A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is nearby, about 30 million light-years distant toward the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of our own Milky Way. Its bright core and majestic spiral arms lend the galaxy its popular name, The Sunflower Galaxy, while this exceptionally deep exposure also follows faint, arcing star streams far into the galaxy's halo. Extending nearly 180,000 light-years from the galactic center the star streams are likely remnants of tidally disrupted satellites of M63. Other satellite galaxies of M63 can be spotted in this remarkable wide-field image, made with a small telescope, including five newly identified faint dwarf galaxies, which could contribute to M63's star streams in the next few billion years. Source:  NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day - December 4, 2020 Credit:  Image - Fabian Neyer, Rainer Spani.  Collaboration - I.D. Karachentsev, F. Neyer, R. Spani, T. Zilch 

[beyondthebluemarble]

2015:  SpaceX - CRS-7 Launch explosion  SpaceX webcast

[nasa]

How to See Comet NEOWISE

Observers all over the world are hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet NEOWISE before it speeds away into the depths of space, not to be seen again for another 6,800 years. 

For those that are, or will be, tracking Comet NEOWISE there will be a few particularly interesting observing opportunities this week. 

Over the coming days it will become increasingly visible shortly after sunset in the northwest sky.

The object is best viewed using binoculars or a small telescope, but if conditions are optimal, you may be able to see it with the naked eye. If you’re looking in the sky without the help of observation tools, Comet NEOWISE will likely look like a fuzzy star with a bit of a tail. Using binoculars will give viewers a good look at the fuzzy comet and its long, streaky tail. 

Here’s what to do:

Find a spot away from city lights with an unobstructed view of the sky

Just after sunset, look below the Big Dipper in the northwest sky

Each night, the comet will continue rising increasingly higher above the northwestern horizon.

There will be a special bonus for viewers observing comet NEOWISE from the northeast United States near Washington, DC. For several evenings, there will be a brief conjunction as the International Space Station will appear to fly near the comet in the northeast sky. Approximate times and locations of the conjunctions are listed below (the exact time of the conjunction and viewing direction will vary slightly based on where you are in the Washington, DC area):

July 17 :  ~10:56 p.m. EDT  = NEOWISE elevation: ~08°   Space Station elevation: ~14°

July 18 :  ~10:08 p.m. EDT  = NEOWISE elevation: ~13°   Space Station elevation: ~18°

July 19 :  ~10:57 p.m. EDT  = NEOWISE elevation: ~10°   Space Station elevation: ~08°

July 20 :  ~10:09 p.m. EDT  = NEOWISE elevation: ~17°   Space Station elevation: ~07°

It will be a late waning Moon, with the New Moon on July 20, so the viewing conditions should be good as long as the weather cooperates. 

Comet NEOWISE is about 3 miles across and covered in soot left over from its formation near the birth of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago - a typical comet.

Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock and ices. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet. This material forms a tail that stretches millions of miles.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

[beyondthebluemarble]

From NASA’s Instagram: “ Saturn is so beautiful that astronomers cannot resist using the @NASAHubble Space Telescope to take yearly snapshots of the ringed world when it is at its closest distance to Earth. 😍⁣ ⁣ This image, however, is more than just a beauty shot. It reveals exquisite details of the planet as a part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy project to help scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics of our solar system's gas giants.⁣“ Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL Team⁣ Image link:  https://www.instagram.com/p/B2b9C9dlR51/

[spinningblueball]

Hubble Ultra Deep Field - 10,000 Plus Galaxies!

[beyondthebluemarble]

Explanation: Connecting the Pipe Nebula to the colorful region near bright star Antares is a dark cloud dubbed the Dark River, flowing from the picture's left edge. Murky looking, the Dark River's appearance is caused by dust obscuring background starlight, although the dark nebula contains mostly hydrogen and molecular gas. Surrounded by dust, Antares, a red supergiant star, creates an unusual bright yellowish reflection nebula. Above it, bright blue double star Rho Ophiuchi is embedded in one of the more typical bluish reflection nebulae, while red emission nebulae are also scattered around the region. Globular star cluster M4 is just seen above and right of Antares, though it lies far behind the colorful clouds, at a distance of some 7,000 light-years. The Dark River itself is about 500 light years away. The colorful skyscape is a mosaic of telescopic images spanning nearly 10 degrees (20 Full Moons) across the sky in the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). SOURCE:  NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (February 22, 2015) CREDIT:  Jason Jennings 

[amazinguniverses]

Palomar 12

[beyondthebluemarble]

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150219.html 

[colchrishadfield]

The hot, dry dust of Portugal seeding the Atlantic. Gibraltar looks like 2 fingers pinching at the end of the Med. (great photo by Alex Gerst up on the Space Station)

[spacettf]

Elliptical elegance by European Southern Observatory on Flickr.

[spacettf]

Up and Down in Vesta’s Cratered Terrain by NASA on The Commons on Flickr.

[spacettf]

NGC104 Globula Cluster by Terry Robison on Flickr.

[humanoidhistory]

TODAY IN HISTORY: Remembering teacher Christa McAuliffe, who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 2, 1948.

[sci-universe]

Ethereal views of Jupiter’s north and south pole

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back images providing never-before-seen perspective on Jupiter’s north (1st image) and south pole (2nd image). The JunoCam instrument acquired the views on August 27, 2016.

According to NASA, the download of 6 MB of data collected during the 6-hour transit, from above Jupiter’s north pole to below its south pole, took 1.5 days. While analysis of this first data collection is ongoing, some unique discoveries have already made themselves visible.

“First glimpse of Jupiter’s north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “It’s bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to – this image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter. We’re seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features.”

The down under is full of rotating storms of various sizes, similar to giant versions of terrestrial hurricanes, as well. You probably remember this image from the Cassini spacecraft, which observed most of the polar region as it flew past Jupiter on its way to Saturn in 2000. However, the south pole has never been seen from this viewpoint.

What’s more from this treasure trove of news is that along with JunoCam, all eight of Juno’s science instruments were collecting data. The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), supplied by the Italian Space Agency, acquired some remarkable images of Jupiter at its north and south polar regions in infrared wavelengths. Here’s the southern aurora:

“These first infrared views of Jupiter’s north and south poles are revealing warm and hot spots that have never been seen before. No other instruments, both from Earth or space, have been able to see the southern aurora. Now, with JIRAM, we see that it appears to be very bright and well-structured. The high level of detail in the images will tell us more about the aurora’s morphology and dynamics,” said Alberto Adriani, JIRAM co-investigator from Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Original articles: 1, 2

[beyondthebluemarble]

M27/NGC 6853, the Dumbbell Nebula.  Photo by Jason R. Wait.

[beyondthebluemarble]

UGC 4879, an irregular dwarf galaxy. Source:  NASA Goddard instagram Credit:  NASA/ESA 

[beyondthebluemarble]

The Cassini Division in Saturn’s rings is a region that is 2,980 miles (4,800km) wide - almost as wide as the planet Mercury - between the A and B rings.   Source:  NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory instagram 

[spacettf]

NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy

APM LZOS 130/780 at f/6 ATIK ONE 9.0 with IDAS LPS-D1 and Baader RGB filters. LRGB, total: 10h 100% crop