#apparent size

[astrobiologistdale]

Relative Apparent Sizes of Celestial Objects

I was thinking about distance vs, apparent, ‘relative’, sizes (no, not, my aunt Alma – though, she was…), today, of celestial objects that are familiar to many. I (sloppily), put together this graphic to give you some idea. These are not ‘dead-accurate’ sizes; only a rough idea. All, but the Whirlpool, and, Pinwheel, galaxies, and the Crab nebula and Hercules Cluster are visible to the unaided…

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[space--bot]

Eclipse to Sunset

Image Credit & Copyright: Luc Perrot (TWAN)

Explanation: September's eclipse of the Sun is documented in the 68 frames of this timelapse composite. Starting at 1pm local time a frame every 4 minutes follow's the progress of the New Moon across the solar disk. Taken near the centerline of the narrow eclipse path, the series of exposures ends with a golden sunset. Balanced rock cairns in the foreground line a beach on the southern side of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, near the village of Etang-Sal . Of course, the close balance in apparent size creates drama in eclipses of the Sun by the Moon as seen from planet Earth. In an annular eclipse, the Moon's silhouette is just small enough to show the solar disk as a narrow ring-of-fire at maximum eclipse phase.

Taken from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Space--Bot is a computer program that searches for space images.

[megarockethero]

Planetary Nebulae

Some of the most gorgeous, ghostly, and variable objects in the universe are planetary nebulae.  They are all formed in a similar process, as a low-mass star (like our Sun) sheds it’s outer layers of gas and dust, heating them to a glow as they disperse over hundreds of millions of years.  A few Billion years from now, the Sun will undergo the same major state change.  When this happens, perhaps…

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