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4.07 | watergate

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Coma Cluster Galaxy

A long-exposure Hubble Space Telescope image shows a majestic face-on spiral galaxy located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, which lies 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices.The galaxy, known as NGC 4911, contains rich lanes of dust and gas near its center. 

Image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) [high-resolution]

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4.07 | watergate

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This new composite image of M101 also known as the “Pinwheel Galaxy”, contains data from four of NASA’s telescopes in space: X-rays from Chandra (purple), Infrared from Spitzer (red), optical from Hubble (yellow) and Ultraviolet from GALEX (blue).

This interesting picture shows how different telescopes (CGRO, Chandra, COBE, HST, Spitzer, EUVE & ALMA) capture different electromagnetic radiations:

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Top Ten Infrared Space Pictures

1. Helix Nebula. A newly expanded image of the Helix Nebula (pictured) is one of the ten infrared pictures chosen by scientists to celebrate the thousand days that the Spitzer Space Telescope has been working past its retirement date. Image courtesy J. Hora, HSCfA, W. Latter, Herschel, and Caltech/NASA

2. Mountains of Creation. An infrared photograph of the star-forming region W5, aka the Mountains of Creation (pictured), was taken before Spitzer’s coolant ran out. Image courtesy L. Allen, HSCfA, and Caltech/NASA

3. See-Through Sombrero. At visible wavelengths, the Sombrero galaxy is a fuzzy white ball encircled by a black-rimmed ring of dust. Yet in infrared (pictured), the dust glows with splendor. Image courtesy R. Kennicutt, U. Arizona, and Caltech/NASA

4. Cygnus Constellation. This close-up of the Cygnus constellation was the very first picture taken after Spitzer ran out of coolant in 2009. Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

5. Trifid Nebula. One of the more striking objects in the visible-light sky is the Trifid Nebula.Image courtesy J. Rho, SSC/Caltech/NASA

6. Ancient Galaxies. Spitzer is widely known for its see-through views of nebulae, the Milky Way, and nearby galaxies, but it was also designed to peer back in time-possible because of the time it takes light to travel from distant objects to reach Earth. Image Courtesy Spitzer Space Telescope

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Sun Is Moving Slower Than Thought

“Shocking” find may redraw picture of solar system’s cosmic shield.

The sun is moving through the Milky Way slower than previously thought, according to new data from a NASA spacecraft.

From its orbit around Earth, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellitemeasured the speeds of interstellar particles entering at the fringes of our solar system, 9 billion miles (14.5 billion kilometers) from the sun.

Plugging the new data into computer models, the IBEX team calculates that the sun is moving at about 52,000 miles (83,700 kilometers) an hour—about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) slower than thought.

The discovery suggests that the protective boundary separating our solar system from the rest of the galaxy is missing a bow shock, a major structural component thought to control the influx of high-energy cosmic rays.

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VISTA views a vast ball of stars

This striking view of the globular star cluster M55 in the constellation Sagittarius the Archer was obtained in infrared light with the VISTA survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. This vast ball of ancient stars is located at a distance of about 17,000 light-years from Earth.

Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

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When the Stars Go Blue

Giant blue stars ionizing hydrogen gas give dwarf galaxy IC 10 its signature blue glow, and signal ongoing star formation. IC 10 is one of tens of dwarf galaxies in our Local Group, which is dominated by the giant Milky Way (our galaxy) and Andromeda Galaxy.

Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum

Jack O’Neill