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2016-11-09

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 9 - Inverted City Beneath Clouds

2016 November 9

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Inverted City Beneath Clouds
Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Hersch

Explanation: How could that city be upside-down? The city, Chicago, was actually perfectly right-side up. The long shadows it projected onto nearby Lake Michigan near sunset, however, when seen in reflection, made the buildings appear inverted. This fascinating, puzzling, yet beautiful image was captured by a photographer in 2014 on an airplane on approach to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The Sun can be seen both above and below the cloud deck, with the latter reflected in the calm lake. As a bonus, if you look really closely -- and this is quite a challenge -- you can find another airplane in the image, likely also on approach to the same airport.

2016-11-06

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 6 - Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603

Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/ Hubble Collaboration;
Acknowledgment: J. Maiz Apellaniz (Inst. Astrofisica Andalucia) et al., & Davide de Martin (skyfactory.org)

Explanation: A mere 20,000 light-years from the Sun lies NGC 3603, a resident of the nearby Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603 is well known to astronomers as one of the Milky Way's largest star-forming regions. The central open star cluster contains thousands of stars more massive than our Sun, stars that likely formed only one or two million years ago in a single burst of star formation. In fact, nearby NGC 3603 is thought to contain a convenient example of the massive star clusters that populate much more distant starburst galaxies. Surrounding the cluster are natal clouds of glowing interstellar gas and obscuring dust, sculpted by energetic stellar radiation and winds.Recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope, the image spans about 17 light-years.

2016-11-05

Kids United -"Tout le bonheur du monde" - Video - Music

"Tout le bonheur du monde"

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 5 - ISS Fisheye Fly-Through

ISS Fisheye Fly-Through
Image Credit: NASA, ISS, Harmonic

Explanation: Shot in Ultra HD, this stunning video can take you on a tour of the International Space Station. A fisheye lens with sharp focus and extreme depth of field provides an immersive visual experience of life in the orbital outpost. In the 18 minute fly-through, your point of view will float serenely while you watch our fair planet go by 400 kilometers below the seven-windowed Cupola, and explore the interior of the station's habitable nodes and modules from an astronaut's perspective. The modular International Space Station is Earth's largest artificial satellite, about the size of a football field in overall length and width. Its total pressurized volume is approximately equal to that of a Boeing 747 aircraft.

2016-11-03

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 3 - NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe

NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
Image Credit & Copyright: Dietmar Hager, Eric Benson

Explanation: Shiny NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one of the dustiest. Some call it the Silver Dollar Galaxy for its appearance in small telescopes, or just the Sculptor Galaxy for its location within the boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor. First swept up in 1783 by mathematician and astronomer Caroline Herschel, the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away. About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest to our own Local Group of Galaxies. In addition to its spiral dust lanes, tendrils of dust seem to be rising from a galactic disk laced with young star clusters and star forming regions in this sharp color image. The high dust content accompanies frantic star formation, earning NGC 253 the designation of a starburst galaxy. NGC 253 is also known to be a strong source of high-energy x-rays and gamma rays, likely due to massive black holes near the galaxy's center.

2016-11-02

Antonio Zambujo - "Trago Alentejo na voz" - Video - Musica

"Trago Alentejo na voz"

Playing For Change - "El choclo" - Video - Musica - Around

"El choclo"

Astronomy picture of the day - 2016 November 2 - M27: The Dumbbell Nebula

M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: John Hayes

Explanation: The first hint of what will become of our Sun was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward theconstellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, shown above in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star's gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf.