2018-01-19

Ching Lin Che - Aguarela na chuva

Brilhantes pinturas feitas com Aquarela
Aguarela na chuva
Brilhantes pinturas feitas com Aquarela

Cidades de Portugal - Amarante - Ponte, Igreja e Convento de São Gonçalo


Ponte, Igreja e Convento de São Gonçalo

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 January 19 - Clouds in the LMC

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Clouds in the LMC 
Image Credit & Copyright: Josep DrudisDon Goldman
Explanation: An alluring sight in southern skies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen in this deep and detailed telescopic mosaic. Recorded with broadband and narrowband filters, the scene spans some 5 degrees or 10 full moons. The narrowband filters are designed to transmit only light emitted by hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Ionized by energetic starlight, the atoms emit their characteristic light as electrons are recaptured and the atoms transition to a lower energy state. As a result, in this image the LMC seems covered with its own clouds of ionized gas surrounding its massive, young stars. Sculpted by the strong stellar winds and ultraviolet radiation, the glowing clouds, dominated by emission from hydrogen, are known as H II (ionized hydrogen) regions. Itself composed of many overlapping H II regions, the Tarantula Nebula is the large star forming region at the left. The largest satellite of our Milky Way Galaxy, the LMC is about 15,000 light-years across and lies a mere 160,000 light-years away toward the constellation Dorado.

2018-01-18

Steve Hanks - "Realismo emocional" - Aguarela

Realismo Emocional

Cidades de Portugal - Almada - Cristo Rei

Almada - Santuário Nacional de Cristo Rei

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 January 18 - Blue Comet in the Hyades

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Blue Comet in the Hyades 
Image Credit & CopyrightRogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)
Explanation: Stars of the Hyades cluster are scattered through this mosaic spanning over 5 degrees on the sky toward the constellation Taurus. Presently cruising through the Solar System, the remarkably blue comet C/2016 R2 PanSTARRS is placed in the wide field of view using image data from January 12. With the apex of the V-shape in the Hyades cluster positioned near the top center, bright Aldebaran, alpha star of Taurus, anchors the frame at the lower right. A cool red giant, Aldebaran is seen in orange hues in the colorful starfield. While the stars of the Hyades are gathered 151 light-years away, Aldebaran lies only 65 light-years distant and so is separate from the cluster stars.On January 12, C/2016 R2 was over 17 light-minutes from planet Earth and nearly 24 light-minutes from the Sun. Its blue tinted tail largely due to CO+ gas fluorescing in sunlight, the head or coma of the comet appears with a slightly greenish hue, likely emission from diatomic carbon.

2018-01-17

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 January 17 - In the Valley of Orion

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In the Valley of Orion 
Visualization Credit: NASAESA, F. Summers, G. Bacon,
Z. Levay, J. DePasquale, L. Frattare, M. Robberto, M. Gennaro (STScI) and R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)
Explanation: This exciting and unfamiliar view of the Orion Nebula is a visualization based on astronomical data and movie rendering techniques. Up close and personal with a famous stellar nursery normally seen from 1,500 light-years away, the digitally modeled frame transitions from a visible light representation based on Hubble data on the left to infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope on the right. The perspective at the center looks along a valley over a light-year wide, in the wall of the region's giant molecular cloud. Orion's valley ends in a cavity carved by the energetic winds and radiation of the massive central stars of the Trapezium star cluster. The single frame is part of a multiwavelength, three-dimensional video that lets the viewer experience an immersive, three minute flight through the Great Nebula of Orion.

Paisagens de Portugal - Linha do Douro - Alijo/Carrazeda de Ansiães

Viajando pela Linha Ferroviária do Douro, desde a estação de Pinhão (Alijó) até à estação de Foz Tua (Carrazeda de Ansiães)

2018-01-16

Cidades - Alcochete - Rio Tejo - Marginal de Alcochete

Rio Tejo - Marginal de Alcochete

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 January 16 - An Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus

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An Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus 
Image Credit & CopyrightProcessing - Robert GendlerRoberto Colombari
Data - Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Robert Gendler, Adam Block
Explanation: With image data from telescopes large and small, this close-up features the dusty Elephant's Trunk Nebula. It winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Also known as vdB 142, the cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The colorful view highlights bright, swept-back ridges that outline the region's pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas. Such embedded, dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. This dramatic scene spans a 1 degree wide field, about the size of 2 Full Moons.