entropy

Notice that I am not very active on this blog lately, but it's not abandoned, so if you follow you might get a little knowledge once in a while. Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the formation and development of the universe.

[itsokaytobesmart]

Looking in the mirror from 898,410,414 miles away…

NASA has just released a raw edition of Friday’s photo of Earth and the moon, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn.

From out there, we look like stars. 

Just a tip, NASA: We’re gonna have to give it a better name than “N00213959.jpg". Maybe “Pale Blue Sparkle"?

(hi-res at NASA website, a more processed version is sure to come… stay tuned)

[spaceplasma]

UGC 8058

The extraordinary galaxy Markarian 231 was discovered in 1969 as part of a survey searching for galaxies with strong ultraviolet radiation. It has long tidal tails and a disturbed shape. Results from the first spectrum showed clear signs of the presence of a powerful quasar in the centre that made Markarian 231 unique in the Markarian sample.

Markarian 231 has maintained its reputation as an exceptional object since those early observations and continues to be a favourite target in all wavelength regimes. Its infrared luminosity is similar to that of quasars, making it one of the most luminous and powerful known ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Although the emission of many ultraluminous infrared galaxies appears to be dominated by energetic starbursts, Markarian 231 has been repeatedly identified as an exception and many pieces of evidence point toward an accreting black hole as the major power source behind the enormous infrared luminosity.

Although the primary power source behind the incredible far-infrared luminosity of Markarian 231 is almost certainly an active nucleus, the galaxy is also undergoing an energetic starburst. Most dramatically a nuclear ring of active star formation with a rate estimated to be greater than 100 solar masses per year has been found in the centre.

UGC 8058 is located about 600 million light-years away from Earth.

Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

[redwood-trail]

[onlytheuniverse]

Pan-STARRS comet as seen from the far-side of the Sun by NASA’s STEREO spacecraft. NASA/NRL/STEREO

[onlytheuniverse]

The Universe is a wee bit older than we thought. Not only that, but turns out the ingredients are a little bit different, too. And not only that, but the way they’re mixed isn’t quite what we expected, either. And not only that, but there are hints and whispers of something much grander going on as well.

[crookedindifference-deactivated]

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 24, 2003, through to January 16, 2004. Looking back approximately 13 billion years (between 400 and 800 million years after the Big Bang) it will be used to search for galaxies that existed at that time. The HUDF image was taken in a section of the sky with a low density of bright stars in the near-field, allowing much better viewing of dimmer, more distant objects. The image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. In August and September 2009, the Hubble’s Deep Field was expanded using the infrared channel of the recently attached Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). When combined with existing HUDF data, astronomers were able to identify a new list of potentially very distant galaxiesrong>

[iliveinaspiralgalaxy]

IC405 by TheKillerRabbit on Flickr.

[klesey]

The North America Nebula and the Open Star Cluster Messier 39

Credit: ESO/S. Brunier 

[klesey]

Barnard Stares at NGC 2170 

Image Credit & Copyright: John Davis 

[wildmermaids]

[jediam]

[onlytheuniverse]

[zptp]

lunar eclipse - 2011 by x

[definitive]

[infinity-imagined]

The Tadpole Galaxy

[galaxyshmalaxy-blog-blog]

Storm Clouds on Saturn (by Lights In The Dark)

[onlytheuniverse]

The galaxy, called NGC 5010, is in a period of transition. The aging galaxy is moving on from life as a spiral galaxy, like our Milky Way, to an older, less defined type called an elliptical galaxy.

[iliveinaspiralgalaxy]

Pleiades M45 by flyingdodo on Flickr.