2018-02-06

Foto - Rio Tejo, Barreiro, Portugal

Rio Tejo

Barreiro, 20-09-2014
JoanMira

Foto - Brasil - Desfile de Harley-Davidson em Copacabana

Desfile de Harley-Davidson em Copacabana

16-09-2012
JoanMira

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 6 - Galaxy NGC 474: Shells and Star Streams

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.
Galaxy NGC 474: Shells and Star Streams 
Image CreditCFHTCoelumMegaCamJ.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT) & G. A. Anselmi (Coelum)
Explanation: What's happening to galaxy NGC 474? The multiple layers of emission appear strangely complex and unexpected given the relatively featureless appearance of the elliptical galaxy in less deep images. The cause of the shells is currently unknown, but possibly tidal tails related to debris left over from absorbing numerous small galaxies in the past billion years. Alternatively the shells may be like ripples in a pond, where the ongoing collision with the spiral galaxy just above NGC 474 is causing density waves to ripple through the galactic giant. Regardless of the actual cause, the featured image dramatically highlights the increasing consensus that at least some elliptical galaxies have formed in the recent past, and that the outer halos of most large galaxies are not really smooth but have complexities induced by frequent interactions with -- and accretions of -- smaller nearby galaxies. The halo of our own Milky Way Galaxy is one example of such unexpected complexity. NGC 474 spans about 250,000 light years and lies about 100 million light years distant toward the constellation of the Fish (Pisces).

2018-02-05

JoanMira - Bayamo, Cuba - Fotos

"Bayamo"

26-10-2010
JoanMira

Steve Hanks - "Mãe e filho" - Aguarela

Steve Hanks, aquarelas
Mãe e filho

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 5 - NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula Expanding

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.
NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula Expanding 
Image CreditGöran Nilsson & The Liverpool Telescope
Explanation: It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive star BD+602522, visible in blue toward the right, inside the nebula. Next door, though, lives a giantmolecular cloud, visible to the far right in red. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way. The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebulapictured here is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. TheBubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).

2018-02-04

@naagaoshi - "Imagens do Inverno no Japão" - (5) - Fotografia

Imagens do Inverno  no Japão 

Júlio Rodrigues - Rua em Portel - Aguarela

Rua em Portel, Alentejo - Portugal
Rua em Portel, Alentejo - Portugal 

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 4 - Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun

See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.
Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun 
Image Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital Composition: Peter L. Dove
Explanation: An unusual type of solar eclipse occurred in 2012. Usually it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. That year, most unusually, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase of Venusbecame a continually thinner crescent as Venus became increasingly better aligned with the Sun. Eventually the alignment became perfect and the phase of Venus dropped to zero. The dark spot of Venus crossed our parent star. The situation could technically be labeled a Venusian annular eclipse with an extraordinarily large ring of firePictured here during the occultation, the Sun was imaged in three colors of ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, with the dark region toward the right corresponding to a coronal hole. Hours later, as Venus continued in its orbit, a slight crescent phase appeared again. The next Venusian transit across the Sun will occur in 2117.