#constellation scorpius

[ghostatrandom]

More OC stuff! Praise be Scorpio! The sign of punishment!

If you are born under Scorpio's era, then you are born under the sign of the restless huntress. Scorpio gained divinity the moment they swore to the skies that the quest of Orion shall be stopped before Earth's life met it's demise.

Remember followers of Scorpio: Vengeance and Punishment are not questions, they are a duty to fullfill in the eyes of the Scorpion. And Loyalty must be shown to those you know would never make you fullfill the other two.

The Ram and The Scorpion, while believing to be complete opposites, are both Signs of war. Both restless, both strong and both determined.

[the-hiding-witch]

The constellation Scorpius.

I actually got this idea from a nifty video. I just thought the painting they made in the video was so pretty, I gave it a go with my own twist. 

please do not steal

[brightestofcentaurus]

Butterfly Nebula

The Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302, is a planetary nebula located about 4,000 light years away towards the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. The “wings” of the nebula span some 3 light years. 

The central, dying star of NGC 6302 is unusually hot, about 250,000 degrees Celsius at its surface. Even though it is hidden by a thick torus of dust and gas, it appears bright in ultraviolet light. Planetary nebula form from dying, Sun like stars. These stars eventually run out of material for fusion and collapse, emitting their outer layers which form the surrounding nebulae.

Image and information from NASA.

[brightestofcentaurus]

NGC 6388

NGC 6388 is a globular cluster located in the Milky Way towards the constellation Scorpius. While only middle aged in terms of globular clusters, NGC 6388 is still over 10 billion years old. It is thought to possibly contain an intermediate black hole at its center.

Optical observations suggested the possibility of a central black hole, and at one point X-ray observations were thought to be related. However, further observations showed that the X-rays did not originate from the black hole, but rather a broken planet being destroyed by a white dwarf star. When a planet drifts to close to a white dwarf, the tidal forces rip it apart. As the pieces fall in to the star, they heat up and release X-rays.

Image from ESA, information from Chandra.

[brightestofcentaurus]

Jabbah

Jabbah is a star system located about 440 light years away  towards the constellation Scorpius. There may be up to seven stars in the system, all of which are significantly larger and brighter than the Sun, illuminating surrounding dust and gas.

In this image, Jabbah is seen surrounded by a cloud of red dust. The surrounding nebula is labeled IC 4592. Most of the other bright stars in the area are part of the Upper Scorpius Association, and were probably once all part of one cluster, but are likely no longer bound together by gravity.

Image and information from NASA.

[spaceplasma]

Reflection Nebula DG 129 and Pi Scorpii

Gripped in the claw of the constellation Scorpius, sits the reflection nebula DG 129, a cloud of gas and dust that reflects light from nearby, bright stars. This infrared view of the nebula was captured by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Viewed in visible light, this portion of the sky seems somewhat unremarkable. But in infrared light, a lovely reflection nebula is revealed. DG 129 was first catalogued by a pair of German astronomers, named Johann Dorschner and Joachim Gürtler, in 1963.

Much like gazing at Earth-bound clouds, it is fun to use your imagination when looking at images of nebulae. Some people see this nebula as an arm and hand emerging from the cosmos. If you picture the "thumb" and "forefinger" making a circle, it is as though you are seeing a celestial "okay" sign.

The bright star on the right with the greenish haze is Pi Scorpii. This star marks one of the claws of the scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. It is actually a triple-star system located some 500 light-years away. Perhaps a cross-species celestial handshake is imminent?

The colors used in this image represent different wavelengths of infrared light. The image was constructed from frames taken after WISE ran out of some of the coolant needed to chill its infrared detectors and began to warm up. The WISE detector sensitive to 22-micron light has become too warm to produce good images, but the three shorter wavelength detectors continue to crank out over 7,000 pictures of the sky every day, like the ones that make up this picture .Blue represents infrared radiation at 3.4 microns, while green represents light with a wavelength of 4.6 microns. Red represents 12-micron infrared light.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team

[spaceplasma]

IC 4592: A Blue Horsehead

This complex of beautiful, dusty reflection nebulae lies in the constellation Scorpius along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Its overall outline suggests a horsehead in profile, though it covers a much larger region than the better known Horsehead Nebula of Orion. The star near the eye of the horse and the center of the 5 degree wide field, is embedded in blue reflection nebula IC 4592 over 400 light-years away. At that distance, the view spans nearly 40 light-years. The horse's gaze seems fixed on Beta Scorpii, also named Graffias, the bright star at the lower left. Toward the top right, near the horse's ear, is another striking bluish reflection nebula, IC 4601. The characteristic blue hue of reflection nebulae is caused by the tendency of interstellar dust to more strongly scatter blue starlight.

Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo

[astronomerinprogress]

M6: The Butterfly Cluster 

Image Credit & Copyright: Sergio Eguivar Buenos Aires Skies

Explanation: To some, the outline of the open cluster of stars M6 resembles a butterfly. M6, also known as NGC 6405, spans about 20 light-years and lies about 2,000 light years distant. M6 can best be seen in a dark sky with binoculars towards the constellation of Scorpius, coving about as much of the sky as the full moon. Like other open clusters, M6 is composed predominantly of young blue stars, although the brightest star is nearly orange. M6 is estimated to be about 100 million years old. Determining the distance to clusters like M6 helps astronomers calibrate the distance scale of the universe.