Posts Tagged extrasolar planets

Planetary Formation

Posted by Danielle in Picspam on December 23, 2009

An interesting new composite from Hubble — get it large to really examine the highlight areas:

How do planets form? To help find out, the Hubble Space Telescope was tasked to take a detailed look at one of the more interesting of all astronomical nebulae, the Great Nebula in Orion. The Orion nebula, visible with the unaided eye near the belt in the constellation of Orion, is an immense nearby starbirth region and probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Insets to the above mosaic show numerous proplyds, many of which are stellar nurseries likely harboring planetary systems in formation. Some proplyds glow as close disks surrounding bright stars light up, while other proplyds contain disks further from their host star, contain cooler dust, and hence appear as dark silhouettes against brighter gas. Studying this dust, in particular, is giving insight for how planets are forming. Many proplyd images also show arcs that are shock waves – fronts where fast moving material encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula lies about 1,500 light years distant and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as our Sun.

extrasolar planets, hubble, nebulae

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Extrasolar

Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on December 22, 2009

Astronomical Illustrations and Space Art, by Fahad Sulehria

Here is but a sampling of the fantastic astronomical illustrations and space art of Fahad Sulehria, specifically some of his extrasolar planets.

extrasolar planets, illustration

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Space artwork, part 5

Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on October 10, 2008

I was introduced to the artwork of Lynette Cook via APOD. Her visions of extrasolar planets, with accompanying moons and stars as appropriate, are simply fantastic. There’s a press release for the above image, illustrating a recent planetary collision witnessed by astronomers working at Cal Tech, UCLA and Tennessee State University.

Here’s a snippet from her bio:

Today Lynette is best known for her paintings of exoplanets, several of which have accompanied discovery press releases. Her work on this subject began in 1995, following the announcement the first confirmed extrasolar planet orbiting a sunlike star, 51 Pegasi b. She now has a sizeable collection of such artwork to her credit. These, and other astronomical pieces, have been presented throughout the world in books, periodicals, and documentaries published/produced by Astronomy, BBC Television, bild der wissenschaft (Germany), CNN, Cosas (Peru), The Discovery Channel, Eos (Belgium), Japan Public Television, The Learning Channel, PBS, Science et Vie (France), Science News, Sky & Telescope, Time, and US News & World Report, among others. Lynette’s original artwork has been exhibited across the United States as well.

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astronomy, extrasolar planets, fine arts

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