Imagens de Lisboa - Palacios - Palácio Nacional de Sintra

The two gigantic cones rising from this palace (one of the country’s oldest and once home to Prince Henry the Navigator) are chimneys of a kitchen where banquets (that apparently were authentic food orgies) were prepared. The rest of the interior presents beautifully-painted ceilings and extraordinary tile panels.

As duas gigantescas chaminés deste palácio (um dos mais antigos do país, e durante algum tempo residência do Infante D. Henrique), pertencem a uma cozinha onde eram preparados banquetes que aparentemente eram autênticas orgias. O resto do interior apresenta belas pinturas nos tetos e painéis de azulejos extraordinários.

Imagens do Rio de Janeiro - Palacios - Larangeiras

Localizado no bairro de Laranjeiras, a dois quarteirões do Palácio Guanabara, esse palácio foi construído em 1913 para ser residência da Família Guinle.

Em 1947 o Presidente Dutra adquiriu o palacete para destiná-lo a hospedagem de visitantes ilustres e chefes de estado em visita ao Brasil, entre 1956 e 1961 foi a residência oficial da presidência, no governo Juscelino Kubitschek.

Hoje em dia é a residência oficial do governador do estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 September 6 - The Whirlpool Galaxy and Beyond

The Whirlpool Galaxy and Beyond 
Image Credit & Copyright: Álvaro Ibáñez Pérez

Explanation: Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you might find this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the human eye, the above long-exposure, deep-field image taken earlier this year shows much of the faint complexity that actually surrounds the smaller galaxy. Thousands of the faint dots in background of the featured image are actually galaxies far across the universe.