Archive for category Picspam
Vintage NASA
NASA has posted a collection of historical photos on Flickr, all copyright-free — this is just one of many cool images! (It amazes me to see these launch photos where it looks like the rocket is static, hanging in mid-air. Gravity-defying! At first I typed “gravy” — gravy-defying as well!)
(Hat tip to the Planetary Society Blog for the info and link!)
The Pelican Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Tony Hallas, astrophoto.com
Something sparkly and pink for your Tuesday. I’m in the midst of a server move, so you’ll either see this, or you won’t… at least, not for a day or two.
The prominent ridge of emission featured in this vivid skyscape is designated IC 5067. Part of a larger emission nebula with a distinctive shape, popularly called The Pelican Nebula, the ridge spans about 10 light-years and follows the curve of the cosmic pelican’s head and neck. Fantastic, dark shapes inhabiting the view are clouds of cool gas and dust sculpted by energetic radiation from hot, massive stars. But stars are also forming within the dark shapes. In fact, twin jets emerging from the tip of the central, dark tendril are the telltale signs of an embedded protostar cataloged as Herbig-Haro 555. The Pelican Nebula itself, also known as IC 5070, is about 2,000 light-years away. To find it, look northeast of bright star Deneb in the high flying constellation Cygnus.
Orbiter Tributes
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives, Picspam on August 26, 2010
The Kennedy Media Gallery recently posted these beautiful “tribute” graphics to each orbiter — Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. They are well worth downloading at the large size, so you can see all the patches and details. All five hang in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Our Solar System
Image credit: Licoti, licoti.deviantart.com
This fantastic artist’s rendition of the Solar System by Licoti is a bit of a download (18 Mb) but is well worth it! The image is 30,000 pixels wide, and shows all the planets (and Pluto!) and major satellites. There’s also a guided tour on YouTube, which makes a good thing even better! (Via SF Signal.)
The Trifid Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler (robgendlerastropics.com); Data Acquisition: Ryan Hannahoe (astronomicalimaging.com)
A beautiful picture for your Thursday. I seem to be taking Wednesdays off, in addition to Mondays. Don’t know how that happened.
Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula. Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula is visible with good binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos. The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas. The dark dust filaments that lace M20 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions. Which bright young stars light up the blue reflection nebula is still being investigated. The light from M20 we see today left perhaps 3,000 years ago, although the exact distance remains unknown. Light takes about 50 years to cross M20.
Into the Light
I was reading the text that went along with this NASA Image of the Day (quoted below), and what came to mind was… the above. Or maybe this:
Anyway, here’s the quote that inspired this post (emphasis mine):
Reflecting on his experience as he emerged from the craft into the daylight on the Expedition 24 mission’s second spacewalk, astronaut Doug Wheelock said “the colors of the Earth just explode at you as you exit toward the planet. Notice what looks like scorch marks on the hatch thermal cover, the effect of vacuum and atomic oxygen on the threads and thread sealant used on the thermal cover. The ‘smell’ of space follows suit, I’ve heard it described like burnt cake or cookies, or like the smell of an extinguished match.”
And the photo it went with:
Perseid over Kauai
Perseid over Poi Pu, Kauai, taken Aug. 7, 2010. Photo by Jeff Berkes.
I went out last night around 11:30, got a crick in my neck and saw three Perseids (two small, one streaky and bright.) I also got a good eye-helping of the Milky Way. This photo is better than my experience in a way, as it combines the two — but really, the experience is much better than looking at a photo. (Even if you only see three Perseids. I’m sure they all came out just as soon as I walked back inside!)
The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas
Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA
How is it I’ve never used this title before? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought it while posting. Maybe the lyrics work themselves into the blog in more subtle ways. Anyway, presented for your approval, the Sun, circa August 1, 2010.
Adjust Your Antennae
NASA’s telescope composite images come out so interesting-looking..!! And each color showing something different about the same area. It’s terrific! This one has HUGE visual appeal (in my book, anyway.) It’s like fireworks, shrouded in mist… against stars.
A beautiful new image of two colliding galaxies has been released by NASA’s Great Observatories. The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light-years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red). The Antennae galaxies take their name from the long antenna-like “arms,” seen in wide-angle views of the system. These features were produced by tidal forces generated in the collision.
The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.
The X-ray image from Chandra shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas that have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions. This enriched gas, which includes elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium, and silicon, will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets. The bright, point-like sources in the image are produced by material falling onto black holes and neutron stars that are remnants of the massive stars. Some of these black holes may have masses that are almost one hundred times that of the Sun.
The Spitzer data show infrared light from warm dust clouds that have been heated by newborn stars, with the brightest clouds lying in the overlapping region between the two galaxies.
The Hubble data reveal old stars and star-forming regions in gold and white, while filaments of dust appear in brown. Many of the fainter objects in the optical image are clusters containing thousands of stars.
The Chandra image was taken in December 1999. The Spitzer image was taken in December 2003. The Hubble image was taken in July 2004, and February 2005.
Perseid Aurora
Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College)
The Perseid meteor shower is my favorite astronomical event of the year, and one I look forward to all summer. I have fond childhood memories of staring at the skies with my parents, out on the back lawn. On this funky old chocolate/ivory zebra-striped blanket. The things you remember. [shrug]
Anyway, the image above is doubly neat, in that it is a Perseid seen against auroral glow in Colorado, taken in August 2000. Since anybody north of me (pretty much) has just seen a whopper of a geomagnetic storm, it seemed appropriate. And speaking of last night’s storm, I conclude with this beautiful shot from Denmark:
Photo credit: Jesper Grønne, Denmark
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About Silver Rockets
This blog celebrates space exploration, human spaceflight and the heavens, through lots and lots ofimages.
My name is Danielle Signor, and I am a space cadet.
This is a blog, NOT A SHOP. Click the images for their source or purchase link, if available.
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