Posts tagged space
The GIFs above are from this beautiful video (made with footage shot by NASA and ESA using the Cassini spacecraft).
Planetary scientist (and UCLA alum) Dr. Ashwin Vasavada participated with the Cassini mission to Saturn: he played a major role in science planning for Saturn atmospheric imaging.
(Source: ucresearch)
19th Century Astronomical Illustrations via The Beauty of the Heavens (1842)
Vintage Space-Themed Russian Matchbox Labels via Maraid
Happy Carl Sagan day!
In honor of this momentous occasion, I made a quick little playlist of Sagan-themed videos. I apologize if there is any overlap in the content, I just chose some of my favourites. His whole Cosmos series is also available to watch on Hulu, here.
Take this day to educate yourself a bit more on what we’ve accomplished through science, love, and human curiosity.
Image captured from Redlands, Califronia with a Lunt 100/Coronado 90 double stacked Ha telescope, a DMK 41 camera, and a Takahashi FSQ106N refractor.
Classify Galaxies →
Contribute to space understanding and exploration by taking the time to classify galaxies on Galaxy Zoo.
Supernova Remnant E0102-72
Explanation: The expanding debris cloud from the explosion of a massive star is captured in this multiwavelength composite, combining x-ray and optical images from the Chandra and Hubble telescopes. Identified as E0102-72, the supernova remnant lies about 190,000 light-years away in our neighboring galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud. A strong cosmic source of x-rays, E0102 was imaged by the Chandra X-ray Observatory shortly after its launch in 1999. In celebration of Chandra’s 10th anniversary, this colorful view of E0102 and its environs was created, including additional Chandra data. An analysis of all the data indicates that the overall shape of E0102 is most likely a cylinder that is viewed end-on rather than a spherical bubble. The intriguing result implies that the massive star’s explosion has produced a shape similar to what is seen in some planetary nebulae associated with lower mass stars. At the distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, this field of view spans about 150 light-years.
(Source: apod.nasa.gov)
Mars-Inspired Art by Nicholas Khan and Richard Selesnick
Galactic Collision via NASA
This composite image of the Antennae galaxies contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), optical data from Hubble (gold and brown), and infrared data from Spitzer (red). The X-ray image shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas that have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions.
The 1952 space mural that (still) resides on a wall in San Quentin State Prison’s cafeteria.
NASA to Reveal Hubble Discovery of Milky Way’s Violent Fate
Figure: Galactic Cannibalism of two galaxies that wandered too close to each other’s orbit.
NASA will reveal new discoveries about the violent fate of our Milky Way galaxy on Thursday (May 31), the space agency has announced.
NASA will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) Thursday at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Scientists will discuss new Hubble Space Telescope findings about the inevitable crash of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, which will occur billions of years from now.
“Because of uncertainties in Andromeda’s motion, it has not been possible to determine whether the Milky Way will have a head-on collision or glancing blow with the neighboring galaxy billions of years in the future,” NASA officials said in a media alert Friday (May 25). “Hubble’s precise observations will settle this question.”
