Panoramic View of the Orion Nebula – Astronomy Picture of the Week
This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, represents the sharpest view ever taken of the Orion Nebula. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image. The bright central region is the home of the four largest stars in the nebula.
“Mystic Mountain” in the Carina Nebula – Astronomy Picture of the Week
This close up on the Carina nebula looks like the fantasy "Mystic Mountain" from Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". The image was taken on Feb. 1-2, 2010 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into an orbit around the Earth.
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Necklace Nebula
The Necklace Nebula consists of a bright ring, measuring nearly 20 trillion kilometers across, with dense, bright knots of gas spread out in a way that resembles the diamonds in a necklace. The knots are not stars, they only glow due to the absorption of ultraviolet light from the two stars located in the center of the nebula.
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud
This composite image of the nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074 was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, 2008, in commemoration of completing its 100,000th orbit in its 18th year since the beginning of the mission.
Ara Constellation
Ara is a southern constellation located between Scorpius and Triangulum Australe. It was one of the 48 Greek constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Mythology Ara is a Latin word meaning “altar”, but its mythology comes from ancient Greece. Ara was identified as the altar, made by the Cyclops, where the gods made offerings and formed an alliance to fight the Titans. Notable stars Beta Arae (β Arae) is the brightest star in the constellation. It is an orange K-type bright giant or supergiant with an apparent magnitude of +2.84 and located 603…
Aquila Constellation
Aquila is a constellation that lies just a few degrees North of the celestial equator. It is best seen in the summer because of its apparent location along the line of our galaxy. This is why many clusters and nebulae are found within its borders. It was one of the 48 constellations described by Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Aquila had also been earlier mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century BC. It is now one of the 88 constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Its name is Latin for “eagle” and it is commonly represented as such. The constellation…
Aquarius Constellation
Aquarius is one of the oldest of the recognized constellations along the sun’s apparent path, also known as the zodiac. It was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for “water-bearer” or “cup-bearer”. It is found in a region often called the Sea because of all the constellations named after a water reference, such as Cetus the whale, Pisces the fish or Eridanus the river. In illustrations, the brightest stars of Aquarius are represented as the figure of a man, while the fainter stars barely visible to the naked eye are represented as…
Astronomy Picture of the Week – NGC 2346 Planetary Nebula
NGC 2346 is a planetary nebula which is ejected from Sun-like stars which are near the ends of their lives. It is remarkable because its central star is a very close pair of stars, orbiting each other every 16 days. The nebula lies about 2,000 light-years away from us, and is about one-third of a light-year in size.
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Planetary Nebula MyCn18
This image of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula, was taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) aboard NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula looks like an alien eye staring at us. It is located 8,000 light-years away in the constellation of Musca. Image Credits: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA
Astronomy Picture of the Week – Supernova Bubble Resembling Holiday Ornament
This image was made by combining data from two of NASA’s Great Observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The supernova remnant, cataloged as SNR 0509-67.5, is the result of a type Ia supernova. It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 5,000 kilometers per second. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, SAO, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and J. Hughes (Rutgers University)
