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

Colonization of Space is Now

When we think of space exploration, we generally think of excitement and entertainment--of all the interesting things that await us out in the cosmos. What we often fail to consider is the evolution and advancement of our species. And when I say "evolution," I mean it literally.

Learn how space exploration may fuel our evolution at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/colonization-of-space-is-now/

Image can be purchased here:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/gus3141592/works/5874730-jetpack-evolution

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.

The Sun"s Magnetic Field is Expected to Flip Soon. The End of Earth?

According to NASA, over the course of the next few months, the sun"s magnetic field will flip -- just as it does every 11 years (like clockwork). This event will not be catastrophic but it does sound kind of daunting, so what exactly happens when the sun"s magnetic field flips?

Find out here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-suns-magnetic-field-is-expected-to-flip-soon-the-end-of-earth/

Image Credit: Karen Teramura [UH IfA]

New Research Suggests Our Sun Won"t Form a Planetary Nebula

You have probably heard that the Sun will turn into a red giant in about 5 billion years. And you probably know that this will result in not-so-fun times for any being still on planet Earth. As it transitions from a main sequence star into a red giant, the outer layers of the Sun will expand across the solar system. When this happens, our life-giving star will turn into an object of utter destruction. The Sun will expand beyond Mercury. It will expand beyond Venus. It will sweep across the entirety of the inner solar system in a mere 5 million years. When it finally stops its expansion, the searing tips of the solar surface will rest beyond the bounds of Earth’s orbit. In short: if we aren’t knocked out of the solar system as the Sun expands, or moved into a larger orbit as it loses mass...we will be consumed.

But what happens to the Sun after it becomes a red giant? We have a pretty good handle on the fate of our own world...but what about the Sun itself?

We once thought it would turn into a planetary nebula, but we might be wrong on that one.

Read More: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-research-suggests-our-sun-wont-form-a-planetary-nebula/

Image Credit: ESO/S. Steinhöfel

Astronomy Photo of the Day: 12/22/2013

This eerie bubble looks like a massive plume of fog rolling across the cosmos, but don’t be fooled, this beast won’t create a nice chill on a warm evening. The smoke-like material is actually rather hot. Amazingly hot, in fact. That’s because the sphere is composed of gas that was cast off from a star that is several hundred thousand times more luminous and around 45 times more massive than our Sun.

Learn about this amazing image at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-12222013/

Image:
NASA

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 12/19/13 - New Look at Old Vesta Images

The Dawn Spacecraft is a trailblazer in every sense of the term. Over the course of the last few years, it has offered us valuable insight into the inner workings of several non-planetary bodies in our solar system (proving that size doesn"t necessarily always matter). Now, as it makes its way toward Ceres - a dwarf planet that can be found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) - scientists decided to take another look at some of the images it beamed back to Earth during its foray with a large asteroid from 2011 to 2012.

The new look at the original images of Vesta was led by a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Using the images that were gathered by Dawn"s framing camera, the team analyzed the surface features in unprecedented detail by ascribing specific colors to wavelengths of light noted on Vesta. This granted them with the opportunity to make out details that would not be discernible to the naked eye (In the images, each pixel is representative of 200 feet [60 meters]).

References & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-vesta/

Larger Image: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/vesta.jpg

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: 11/19/13 - The ISS Transiting the Moon

In a truly one-of-a-kind photograph, astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured this detailed image of the International Space Station transiting the moon from our vantage point. This is such an incredibly difficult shot to capture since the ISS is constantly traveling at 7.5k meters per second, or about 28,0000 km/h (17,500 mph). Therefore, it only takes about half a second for the ISS to dance across the face of the moon. As you can (hopefully) see, the ISS was snapped here about an inch above the famous Tycho crater (not literally, of course. It just appears as such because of the photo"s size.)

Legault took this image from Avranches in Normandy, France a few hours before the eclipse, on December 20th of 2010. He used a Meade 10″ ACF on Takahashi EM400, with a Canon 5D mark II.

Additional Reading : http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-iss-transiting-the-moon/

Image Credit: Thierry Legault

P.S. You can sign up for alerts from NASA, who will contact you to let you know when the ISS is expected to pass over your location.

Learn more here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/?p=9814

Astronomy Picture of the Day: 11/17/13 - NGC 2146

This celestial region was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals the never-ending beauty of a galaxy located more than 90 million light-years from Earth (in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis).

NGC 2146, its designated name, is a barred spiral galaxy that is unlike our galaxy and others of its kind. This is due to one of its spiral arms having looped around the galaxy"s core, which deformed the galaxy"s overall shape, spawning a new wave of star formation relative to our point of view (in front of the galactic center, instead of being buried by the surrounding dust clouds).

It is typically unusual for galaxies such as NGC 2146 to see such a huge spike in star production at this phase of galaxy evolution, so it"s likely that the region recently devoured another galaxy several hundreds of millions of years ago (from our perspective). We are just now witnessing the after-effects of that merger, the light began its journey more than 90 million years ago.

Sources & Further Reading: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-111713-ngc-2146/

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

How to Sign-up For ISS Alerts

see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-to-sign-up-for-iss-alerts/

Image Credit: NASA

Astronomy Photo of the Day: Nov. 14 2013

In this amazing image, Comet Lovejoy blasts past the Earth (just visible near Earth"s horizon). This comet was discovered in November of 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. From the get-go, scientists did not believe that the comet would have had a happy ending or make another pass by the Earth.

As Lovejoy sped into the Sun’s corona in 2011, passing within just 87,000 miles of the sun’s surface (well within spitting distance—astronomically speaking), most were assured that the comet would not survive the encounter. Scientists believed that the Sun would consume (melt off) most of the comet"s material. However, the comet managed to withstand the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, and it headed back out into the solar system.

Lovejoy is a fascinating object: It belongs to the Kreutz family of sun-grazing comets (likely all pieces of a single giant comet that splintered apart in approximately 1106 AD), and it is believed to be the largest fragment of the giant comet. Since it was able to withstand the intense heat of the Sun, astronomers believe that the comet is larger than initially anticipated.

The photo was taken on Dec. 22, 2011 by NASA astronaut Dan Burbank while he was on the International Space Station.

For sources, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-nov-14-2013/

Image source:
NASA

India to Mars! A Potential New Space Race Ignites!

Some exciting news is on the horizon, with the announcement that India will be attempting its hand at launching its first interplanetary probe! The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) originally scheduled the date of this event to transpire on Oct.28, 2013, but due to delays with the delivery of crucial radar equipment - it has now been postponed for November 5, 2013.

The probe, called Rs 450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission, will India"s first mission to the Red Planet. The spacecraft will be ejected into orbit, then, through a series of complicated maneuvers, it will align its trajectory to keep the probe in sync with Mars" orbit. Because of the short distance separating Mars and Earth, October and November are the ideal months for launch.

Read more here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/india-to-mars-a-potential-new-space-race-ignites/

Image Credit: NASA