Astronomy Photo of the Day: A Volcanic Eruption of Galactic Proportions: 1/12/2014

Most of us have probably heard about super eruptions, but for those of us who aren’t familiar with them, these are massive volcanic explosions that make ordinary eruptions look like nothing more than a bit of steam. So, what happens with a super eruption? In essence, the volcano erupts; people are drowned beneath mountains of lava; a looming cloud of sulfur dioxide gets carried over the globe; the Earth plunges into a volcanic winter; countless species die.

Fun times.

Of course, not all super eruptions are this catastrophic, but the basic point remains the same: A super eruption is a natural disaster of monumental proportions. And for whatever reason, humans are obsessed with annihilation. We love to witness the awesome power of a tornado, the havoc brought by earthquakes, and the explosive power of meteoroids. This drive has made “Storm Chaser” an actual job title.

This image by photographer Yuga Kurita shows an eruption that is just as awe inspiring as ordinary eruptions, but is (thankfully) far less destructive. In Japan, many individuals traverse the side of Mt. Fuji after sundown in order to see the sunrise from the volcanic peak. In order to avoid an undesirable tumble, the travelers use flashlights to guide them.

Kurita explained the creation of the image, writing that, “when I arrived at Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture, I saw people climbing up Mt. Fuji with flash lights and I thought they looked like lava streams. Then I came up with this composition, since nowadays, the Milky Way appears vertically in the sky so probably I could liken Mt. Fuji to an imaginary galactic volcano, that is, people climbing up with torches are lava streams and the Milky Way is the volcano smoke.”

Sources:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-a-volcanic-eruption-of-galactic-proportions-1122014/

Image via: https://www.facebook.com/kuriyuga

True Shooting Stars;

If you"ve ever gazed up at the night sky (and lets just admit it, we all have) you"ve probably wished upon a shooting star (which are really meteors burning up after entering Earth"s atmosphere) at some point in your life, but shooting stars actually do exist, and they"re as rare as one in 100 million.

In 2005, astronomers discovered the first "hypervelocity" star careening out of the galaxy into intergalactic space at nearly 530 miles per second (or almost 2 million miles per hour), which is 10 times faster than ordinary star movement. They were first theorized to exist in 1988, but not confirmed for several more years. The theory was that binary star systems at a galaxy"s center would occasionally wander too close to the supermassive black hole looming there, which would disrupt their orbital dance. While one of the pair was captured by the black hole, the other would be sent rocketing off at incredible speeds.

One such star, which can be read about here, has a more interesting story: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/true-shooting-stars/

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 01/05/14 - IC 4678

This magnificent image has several areas of interest: First and foremost, we have the Lagoon nebula, one of the most photographed star forming regions in our galaxy. Pictured close-by is IC 4678, an emission nebula comprised of glowing red gas, surrounded by intricate filaments of material. Moving onward, we see a small reflection nebula (the small blue area containing two bright stars). Lastly, we have a dark absorption nebula, which contains so much opaque dust, the activity going on inside of the area is obscured from sight.

IC 4678 (and its respective regions) can be found more than 5,000 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation. Overall, the area spans more than 25 light-years across.

Sources & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-ic-4678/

Image Credit: Ken Siarkiewicz & Adam Block, NOAO, AURA, NSF

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 01/01/14 - The Magellanic Stream

No, that"s not a bleach stain on the Milky Way. This object is called the Magellanic Stream. It was discovered in 1965 in the southern hemisphere of the Milky Way, covering at least 180 degrees of sky (it"s about 600,000 light-years in length). The mysterious structure is located about 180,000 light-years from the Milky Way. The gas moves at excessive speeds, and in a direction that doesn"t match patterns found within the Milky Way. As a result, it has been the source of much astronomical scrutiny.

However, the long search for the object that spawned this beast is over. This structure was found to originate from the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Through this new data, originating from Hubble"s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, scientists were able to determine that the material was likely freed from the gravitational bondage of the two satellite galaxies some 2-billion years ago, when the two galaxies interacted with each other. Most of the material is thought to originate from the Small Magellanic Cloud because it"s smaller and would have felt a stronger pull from the bullying Large Magellanic Cloud.

Another mystery solved. Yay.

Sources and further reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-010114-the-magellanic-stream/

Image Credit: D. Nidever et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF, A. Mellinger, LAB Survey, Parkes, Westerbork, and Arecibo Obs.

Astronomy Photo of the Day: 12/28/2013 - The Little Ghost Nebula

This eerie image is of vdB 141, otherwise known as “the Ghost Nebula.” The grasping figures that are stretching out of the dust cloud seem oddly reminiscent of the ghostly terrors that plague people in horror stories. Unsurprisingly, these figures are responsible for giving this structuring its title.

Learn about this amazing structure at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-the-little-ghost-nebula/

Image:
NASA

IC 1101 - The Largest Galaxy Ever Found

Galaxies. The Universe is littered with them. They have speckled the vast darkness of intergalactic space with points of light for 13-billion years now, giving birth to numerous twinkly stars and fleeting planets along the way.

Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are large, some are small, some are inconceivably bright, while others fade into the background.

But one galaxy stands apart from the pack: IC 1101

Find out more about the largest galaxy in the universe, here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/ic-1101-the-largest-galaxy-ever-found/

Image Credit: NASA

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/21/13 - Elephant"s Trunk Nebula

This beauty is IC 13961 (more commonly known as the Elephant"s Trunk Nebula); a region that lies about 2,400 light-years from Earth in the quaint constellation of Cepheus. Also within the vicinity of IC 13961 is the larger emission nebula called IC 1396, where extremely hot, glowing clouds of gas and dust reside. These clouds are known to absorb the light emitted in optical wavelengths from the baby stars buried within the nebula. They would remain hidden from our sensitive telescopes without special filters that can detect light in infrared or ultraviolet, alluding to the presence of younger, still cool protostars that are just beginning to emerge from their stellar cocoons.

Most emission nebulae such as this one, are often found in regions of space where new stars are furiously being created from collapsing clouds of hydrogen gas. All emission nebulae are responsible for absorbing the optical light and energy from neighboring stars, until the clouds become ionized, causing them to brilliantly glow until they can be seen using special telescope tools. Astronomers subsequently use the information to put together nebulae as they are seen at multiple wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum.

One pair of young stars in the cluster, known as LkHa 349 and LkHa 349c (catchy, right?), can be seen both at optical and infrared wavelengths through a spherical opening near the elongated dark globule of the Elephant"s "trunk," with one of the stars being much fainter optically than its partner. Interestingly, both of them look roughly the same magnitude when seen in infrared, which suggests that there"s some sort of a circumstellar disk around LkHa 349c. It"s quite likely that this circumstellar disk will eventually give birth to a planetary system in the next few millions of years, as the material collects and coalesces into planets and moons.

References & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-elephants-trunk-nebula/

Image Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope / Coelum

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/17/13 - The Helix Nebula

While the most stunning deep space image that has ever been taken is debatable (*cough* sh2–239 *cough*), in my not-so-humble opinion, this image of NGC 7293 (also known as the Helix nebula, or the Eye of God) is by far one of the creepiest. Its resemblance to a human eye is so uncanny, I can"t resist making a silly joke about how Santa Claus is a 4 dimensional creature that obviously lives here on his off-time ("He sees you when you"re sleeping. He knows when you"re awake. He knows if you"ve been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake.")

On a more serious note, The Helix Nebula is located approximately 700 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. It"s a planetary nebula by designation, which means the nebula was born following the death of a medium-mass, or sun-like star. Before the star died, leaving behind a dense core called a white dwarf, the star shed the remainder of its outer envelope of gasses off into space, thus forming a nebula. As the material continues to expand outward from the central star, it will eventually disperse, rendering the likeness to the human eye obsolete.

Overall, the nebula extends about 2.5 light-years across. Meaning, it"s larger in size than our entire solar system. In fact, light could make it half of the way from the sun to the sun"s nearest neighbor (in the Alpha Centauri star system) before it could travel from one side of the Helix nebula to the other one.

Sources, Further Reading & Additional Resources: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-121713-the-helix-nebula/

Image Credit: Optical: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO) Infrared: ESO/VISTA/J. Emerson (Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit) Ultraviolet: NASA/AP

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/16/13 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

The Pinwheel Galaxy, which can be found more than 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major, is one of the most majestic galaxies in the observable universe. The only thing more impressive than the galaxy"s beauty is its size. It comes in with a staggering diameter of 170,000 light-years, making it about 70% larger than our home galaxy, the Milky Way (it, in contrast, is about 100,000 light-years across).

You may not know this, but capturing a detailed image of distant galaxies isn"t as easy as clicking a button on a camera. For instance, take the beautiful photograph of the Pinwheel Galaxy seen here. Instead of it being one shot, it"s actually a composite of four shots taken in infrared, visible light, ultraviolet and x-ray. Optical data was collected by the Hubble Space Telescope (in yellow). The Chandra X-ray Observatory captured the galaxy at x-ray wavelengths (seen in purple), while the Spitzer Space Telescope viewed it at infrared wavelengths (seen in red). Ultraviolet data was taken by GALEX - the Galaxy Evolution Explorer - in blue.

Sources & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-121613-the-pinwheel-galaxy/

Image Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Satellite, Hubble Space Telescope, and GALEX Satellite

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/06/12 - Milky Way & Arches National Park

This magnificent image, which was captured by Brad Goldpaint, was taken under the famous Double Arch in the Arches National Park (located in Utah). This is also the perfect place to capture the Milky Way"s dust band, which adds a stunning arc to this already picturesque scene. Near the horizon, you can also see the dim haze of the light pollution plaguing Moab, Utah.

See more of his work on his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/goldpaintphotography

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/04/13 - RCW120

Located approximately 4,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius, RCW120 (also known as Sh 2-3 or Gun 58) is an emission nebula that, to some, heavily resembles a glowing emerald in the sky.

As you can see, this is a region full of hot gas and dust, which are illuminated by the light of "O" type stars (the most massive stars currently known to exist). The ring of dust shown in this picture would not be visible like this to human eyes, but it can be seen here because it was taken in infrared by Spitzer"s infrared detectors. In the center of the ring lies several more massive "O" type stars. The stars in question tirelessly work to bombard the surrounding gas with ultraviolet radiation, thus causing the material to become ionized.

The "galactic bubble" is thought to contain the mass of at least 8 suns. Astronomers think that embedded inside of it, there lies an embryonic star currently in the process of growing. Depending on how it evolves in the coming years, it might grow to become one of the biggest and brightest stars in the galaxy. (It shouldn"t be too hard, as there is an additional 2,000 solar masses worth of gas and dust for the baby star to feed on to grow!)

This image is a three-color composite showing images of the nebula taken in infrared by two instruments on-board the Spitzer Space Telescope. RCW 120 can be found ever so slightly above the flat plane of the Milky Way.

Sources & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-120413-rcw120/

Image Credit: ESA/PACS/SPIRE/HOBYS Consortia

One of the Largest Structures in the Universe:

Astronomers recently discovered a group of active galactic cores that stretch more than 4 billion light-years end to end. The structure is a large quasar group (LQG). And it is simply massive.



For comparison, the Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across. Our closest neighboring galaxy (Andromeda) is some 2.5 million light-years distant, and it is more than twice the size of the Milky Way (about 260,000 light-years). Which means that this LQG could easily swallow Andromeda, the Milky Way, and all the space in between.

Learn more about this amazing structure and how is impacts the cosmological principle at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/largest-structure-in-the-universe-discovered/

Image source:
NARO

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 11/25/13 - Infrared Look at the Rosette Nebula

This is the Rosette Nebula as you"ve never seen it before. The region, which can be found about 5,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), is named as such due to its flowery appearance. Only, this cosmic flower is rather large - measuring in at about 130 light-years in diameter (with an estimated 10,000 solar masses of material) - and very unflower-like, as its filled with the light of thousands of energetic baby stars. (Many of said stars are still encased in their stellar cocoons, not yet fully awakened from their eternal slumber.)

Regardless of this, the hot UV radiation has had a substantial impact on the overall shape of this region. For that matter, if you look closely, you"ll note a rather large hole. This "hole," in all actuality, is a cavity carved into the surrounding material thanks to the close proximity from the stellar nursery. (It can be seen in much more clarity in other images) The stars - in all their fury - eject large quantities of ultraviolet radiation into the superheated materials through stellar winds, which is, in turn, responsible for the erosion.

Apart from my being favorite look at the Rosette nebula, this particular image was taken at infrared wavelengths. The little bubbles reveal the locations of very hot O-type stars. Stars of this stellar classification have temperatures that can reach about 25,000 kelvins.

Sources & Additional Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-112513-infrared-look-at-the-rosette-nebula/

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Galaxy Classifications: From Dwarfs to Spirals and Beyond

Surprisingly, over the course of most of humanity"s existence, we had no idea that other galaxies even existed. All we could see was our own little corner of the universe. It wasn"t until the early 1900"s that the nature of the so-called "Andromeda nebula" was discerned. Edwin Hubble settled the galaxy vs. nebula debate in 1925, and it was finally revealed that this "nebula" was actually a galaxy containing some 400 billion stars and not simply an extension of our own galaxy. Almost 100 years later, our reality (and relative insignificance) is well known, as we are now aware of the fact that the universe contains several BILLION large galaxies, many of which are similar to our own (current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe). With that revelation, we"ve learned that galaxies come in all shapes and sizes too. "So what other kinds of galaxies are there," you might ask? Here are the main types:

To learn about all the galaxy types, see:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/galaxy-classifications-from-dwarfs-to-spirals-and-beyond/

Image source:
http://qproject.net/Universe/281236_534286593250951_619997205_n.jpg

Astronomy Photo of the Day: 11/11/13 - Omega Centauri Globular Cluster

Want to take a guess at how many stars you"re looking at in this small patch of space? This bit of space, which is a part of the larger Omega Centauri globular cluster (the largest star cluster located in the Milky Way galaxy), contains over 100,000 stars. This is an astonishingly large number of stars lurking in an area that spans only 150 light-years across. It"s even more astonishing to learn that the 100,000 stars seen here is only a small fragment of the total number found in this dense cluster. It contains an estimated 10 MILLION stars.

With the holiday season right around the corner, this festive cluster kind of sets the mood. Each of the various colors represent stars that are in different phases of stellar evolution. We have some that appear slightly orange or yellow, whilst others look blue or red. The contrast of coloring within the densely-packed stars is largely the result of numerous collisions and mergers. When these mergers occur, they can transform average sun-like stars into intensely hot and incredibly bright blue-white stars, called blue stragglers. Other times, neighboring stars siphon material from other stars located within the same general vicinity. (Not hard since each star is separated by less than 0.1 light-year) This results in the cannibal star becoming much brighter temporarily. There are also quite a few sun-like stars seen here, but red, by far, is the most prevalent color, indicating that this cluster is quite old. (Maybe around 12 billion years in age?) In fact, it may be that this cluster was once the foundation of a dwarf galaxy - one that was disturbed long, long ago, by a gravitational interaction with a runaway galaxy - one that resulted in the Milky Way absorbing the stars in the cluster.

Overall, there are about 150 known globular clusters within the confines of the Milky Way galaxy. All of these clusters are thought to be among the oldest objects in the galaxy. Understanding their properties help astronomers pin down important information about the galaxy"s history, along with the age of the universe in general. This one in particular, Omega Centauri, is located about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation known as Centaurus.

NASA has an awesome interactive tool that lets you explore the region. Check it out: http://ow.ly/qFoEJ

References, Sources, and Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-110513-the-omega-centauri-globular-cluster/

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team