NCG 2392 ESKIMO NEBULA – A CLASSIC REVISITED.

NCG 2392 ESKIMO NEBULA – A CLASSIC REVISITED.

NCG 2392 ESKIMO NEBULA – A CLASSIC REVISITED.

Photo By: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Eskimo Nebula or NGC 2392 is one of the all time planetary nebula classics, and this photo, one of the all time Hubble Space Telescope classics. Discovered by Frederick William Herschel on January 17, 1787 this nebula resembles an Eskimos face surrounded by a winter parka hood when viewed through a telescope. What you are actually seeing is a bipolar, double-shell planetary nebula. Estimates say that approximately 10,000 years ago (as we see it) a star (HD59088), much like our own Sun began to die and its outer layers expelled into the surrounding universe by the violent solar winds of the dying star. Though the long bright orange filaments laced throughout the outer shell are not well understood; the outer shell of material ejected into space was done so during the stars red giant phase and that material is now being ionized by the massive dose of ultraviolet radiation released from the now exposed inner layers of the 10th magnitude white dwarf star itself. Continue reading →

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THOMAS ZIMMER – “MY GOD, IT’S FULL OF STARS.”

THOMAS ZIMMER – “MY GOD IT’S FULL OF STARS.”

THOMAS ZIMMER – “MY GOD, IT’S FULL OF STARS.”

Photo By: Thomas Zimmer – “My God It’s Full Of Stars.” http://500px.com/ThomasZ/stories/53311/the-making-of-my-god-it-s-full-of-stars

Show of hands….actually that wont work. Anyway, who hasn’t seen this amazing photo making the rounds around the internet? I’ve personally seen it hundreds of times carrying Carl Sagan quotes etc. but does anyone actually know who created it before this post? That’s alright, but unfortunately it happens all the time and that’s why I enjoy posting great pictures like this to help bring attention to those who deserve it because captures like this are not easy and in addition, they are very time consuming. Click the link above or read below as to how Mr. Zimmer went about capturing this in a write up he has posted on his site……enjoy. Continue reading →

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UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE DELTA 4 & WGS-5 SET TO LAUNCH AND SERVE THE U.S. MILITARY.

UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE DELTA 4 & WGS-5 SET TO LAUNCH AND SERVE THE U.S. MILITARY.

UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE DELTA 4 & WGS-5 SET TO LAUNCH AND SERVE THE U.S. MILITARY.

Photo By: Ben Cooper of Launch Photography: Launch of a Delta 4 on 1-19-2012 carrying WGS-4 satellite. The Shuttle in the foreground is Display Shuttle Explorer which was the shuttle you could walk up into at Kennedy Space Center and is now displayed in Houston TX. http://launchphotography.com/

LAUNCH ALERT!!!
On Thursday, May 23rd at 2027 EDT (0027 on May 24th UTC) from Space Launch Complex-37B (SLC-37B) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Boeing Delta 4 rocket flying in its M+5.4 configuration will accelerate out of Earth’s atmosphere carrying the fifth in the series of Wideband Global SATCOM Satellites (Formerly Wideband Gapfiller Satellites). These are U.S. Military satellites built by Boeing that are designed to fly in geostationary orbits to deliver military communications. Continue reading →

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OSIRIS-REx ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN BEGINS DEVELOPMENT

OSIRIS-REx ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN BEGINS DEVELOPMENT

OSIRIS-Rex ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN BEGINS DEVELOPMENT

Illustration by: NASA

It was announced this past week (Wednesday May 15) that the “Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer” spacecraft; thankfully nicknamed (OSIRIS-REx) entered into development. Scheduled to launch in September of 2016, the mission intends to rendezvous with near Earth Asteroid 1999 RQ36 or (101955 Bennu) in the year 2018. Once parked within about 3 miles of the asteroid, a comprehensive six month long surface mapping mission will begin to properly locate an appropriate sample location. Once a location is chosen the spacecraft will slowly move in and with the use of a robotic arm, collect about two ounces of surface material (Or about 60 grams) and return it to earth by the year 2023. Continue reading →

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ASTRONOMERS PREPARE YOUR WESTERN HORIZON FOR A 3 PLANET CONJUNCTION.

ASTRONOMERS PREPARE YOUR WESTERN HORIZON FOR A 3 PLANET CONJUNCTION.

Illustration By: Me, using Stellarium, a free software. http://www.stellarium.org/

Wherever your “Go-To” location is for western views you may want to check out the trio of planets getting ready to put on a show on May 26. Actually the conjunction will officially begin on the 24th with the three being at their tightest triangular-style grouping about 45 min after sunset very low on the horizon on the 26th of May. The Evening Star (Venus), Hermes (Mercury) and Jupiter will lie within 2.5 degrees of sky with each other and will create one of the most awe inspiring and thought provoking scenes in the night sky. Continue reading →

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NGC 3132 – THE SOUTHERN RING NEBULA.

NGC 3132 - THE SOUTHERN RING NEBULA.

NGC 3132 – THE SOUTHERN RING NEBULA.

Photo By: NASA Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Legacy Archive and processed by Donald Waid (Links below).

Located approximately 2000 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Vela is NGC 3132, Southern Ring or Eight Burst Nebula, a cosmic bubble that is the death of a star not unlike our own.
Look closely into the heart of this beautiful planetary nebula and you see the binary star system that created this structure, specifically the dim white star at the top right of the bright one. All of the material you see in this planetary were the stars outer layers of material strewn into space leaving only an extremely hot, collapsed core in the form of a white dwarf. The violent, unrelenting release of ultraviolet radiation excites the expelled shell of material causing it to glow through florescence, quite literally in the same fashion as a neon light in the night. Continue reading →

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THE MAJESTIC MESSIER-104 (M-104) SOMBRERO GALAXY.

THE MAJESTIC MESSIER-104 (M-104) SOMBRERO GALAXY.

THE MAJESTIC MESSIER-104 (M-104) SOMBRERO GALAXY.

Photo By: NASA Hubble Space Telescope (links & a video below).

Discovered in 1767 by Pierre Mechain, the great Sombrero Galaxy or (M-104) is located about 28 million light years away in the constellation of Virgo. What we’re viewing in this Hubble Space Telescope, 6 photo mosaic is a spiral galaxy viewed edge on (actually a very shallow 6 degrees north of its equatorial plane). Because of this positioning we can glean quite a bit of detail and data as to the thickness, density and composition of the massive ring of gas and dust that surrounds it along the galactic plane as well as the massive central bulge “above” and “below” the plane of the galaxy. Because of these features it was eventually nicknamed the Sombrero Galaxy; however Frederick William Herschel who independently discovered it in 1874 dubbed it “Dark Saturn”. William Herschel is also credited with the discovery of Uranus on March 13, 1871. Continue reading →

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