Think Bigger, Explore Further

mul·ti·verse noun. "An infinite realm of being or potential being of which the universe is regarded as a part or instance." est. 8/28/12

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Simeis 147

Simeis 147, also known as Sharpless 2-240 or the Spaghetti Nebula, is a supernova remnant located about 3,000 light years away towards the edges of the constellations Taurus and Auriga. The remnant stretches about 150 light years across.

The Spaghetti Nebula’s age is estimated at 40,000 years old, meaning that the light from the supernova that produced it reached Earth 40,000 years ago. The explosion threw out superheated gas that collided with other interstellar material, and these glowing strands are what form the remnants we see. The original star in this nebula has collapsed into a pulsar or neutron star.

Image from National Geographic, information from NASA and Chandra.

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Airglow by Fragile Oasis on Flickr.

Via Flickr: Airglow of Earth’s atmosphere is a nightlight for astronauts on the International Space Station.

[vintagerachel-deactivated202410]

Instead of just looking up into the sky, you’re actually gazing down into the infinite cosmic abyss, with only gravity holding you onto the surface of the earth

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Earth, Jupiter and Venus from the skyline of Mars!

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Supernova Remnants: Dazzling Entrails of Violent Stellar Death

Even in death, there can be great beauty. Consider supernova remnants, the results of massive stars dying in great explosions, creating some of the most spectacular cosmic objects around.

Every 50 years or so, a star in our galaxy with more than 10 times the mass of our sun will expire. When such stars die, they go supernova, one of the most violent events in our universe. These explosions shoot off tons of material from the central star at up to 10 percent the speed of light.

Though the area surrounding stars seems empty, it is usually home to vast amounts of interstellar gas and dust. The supernova’s outburst runs into this surrounding material, creating a shockwave and heating it to temperatures greater than 10,000 Celsius. Over thousands of years, the local structure of the gas and dust shapes the stellar outpouring into shells, filaments, and other diffuse forms. Astronomers call these objects supernova remnants.

Supernova explosions and the remnants they leave behind have wide-ranging effects. They heat up the interstellar medium, creating complex chemistry out in space, and are responsible for accelerating protons and other atomic nuclei, which go zipping around the universe as cosmic rays. Perhaps most importantly, supernova explosions generate and liberate heavy elements, such as oxygen, carbon, and all metals, distributing them out into the wider cosmos. These elements eventually find their way into planetary systems, making life possible on at least one world that we know of.

Here, we take a look at some of the most famous and beautiful supernova remnants, giving you a chance to contemplate life, death, and cycles of renewal in the universe.

N186 D

Crab Nebula

N 63 A

Kepler’s Supernova/SN 1604

Veil Nebula

DEM L 190

Manatee Nebula

RCW 86

SN 1006

Simeis 147

SN 1987a

SN 1572

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Moon 02/02/2013.

Great conditions this morning :)

[wigmund]

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From Astronomy Picture Of The Day; January 25, 2013:

Matijevic Hill Panorama  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State U.

On January 25 (UT) 2004, the Opportunity rover fell to Mars, making today the 9th anniversary of its landing. After more than 3,200 sols (Mars solar days) the golf cart-sized robot from Earth is still actively exploring the Red Planet, though its original mission plan was for three months. Having driven some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from its landing site, Opportunity’s panoramic camera recorded the segments of this scene, in November and December of last year. The digitally stitched panorama spans more than 210 degrees across the Matijevic Hill area along the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Features dubbed Copper Cliff, a dark outcrop, appear at the left, and Whitewater Lake, a bright outcrop, at the far right. The image is presented here in a natural color approximation of what the scene would look like to human eyes.

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Robonaut operates task board in space

In the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory, Robonaut 2 is pictured on Jan. 2, during a round of testing for the first humanoid robot in space. Ground teams put Robonaut through its paces as they remotely commanded it to operate valves on a task board.

Robonaut is a testbed for exploring new robotic capabilities in space, and its form and dexterity allow it to use the same tools and control panels as its human counterparts do aboard the station.

Image credit: NASA

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wildlydistorted:

Neptune through Adaptive Optics From the Earth’s surface, Neptune usually appears as a fuzzy blotch. The blurring effects of the Earth’s atmosphere deny clearer images. By distorting mirrors in the telescope itself in time with the changing atmosphere, however, these effects can be greatly reduced. Many of the world’s largest telescopes are now implementing these “rubber mirror” adaptive optics (AO) systems to bring out the finest details that these telescopes can resolve. Recently the 10-meter Keck II telescope in Hawaii came on-line with AO capability. The above image of Neptune in three infrared colors demonstrates the clarity of the new technique - as compared to an image of Neptune from Keck II without AO.

Credit: AO Staff, Keck, LLNL

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The collision between the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy.

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Pleiades 2012-12-09 by horstm42 on Flickr.

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Jupiter imaged using SLOOH’s Canary Islands 2 High Mag on Dec 13th, 2012 at 19:33:10 UTC

[distant-traveller]

NGC 2174: Emission nebula in Orion

A lesser known sight in the nebula-rich constellation Orion, NGC 2174 can be found with binoculars near the head of the celestial hunter. About 6,400 light-years distant, the glowing cosmic cloud surrounds loose clusters of young stars. Covering an area larger than the full Moon on the sky, this stunning narrow band image adopts a typical color mapping of the atomic emission from NGC 2174. The false-color mapping shows otherwise red hydrogen emission in green hues and emphasizes sulfur emission in red and oxygen in blue.

Image credit: Dan Kowall

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A supernova’s shattered remains in the Veil Supernova by Bob and Janice Fera