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

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids:

The most underrated threat to our planet might be impact events that threaten our small world. Most meteors and asteroids may be incredibly small; however, even the largest are discreet and almost undetectable until it"s too late to do anything about them -- a situation that played out just last year, with the Chelyabinsk Meteor in Russia. If that impact didn"t open your eyes to the danger of these objects, perhaps this newly released image will.

Learn about the significance of this image at
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/14300/

Image via
NASA

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Science on,
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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

Alien Stars in Our Solar System: Threats That are Out of This World (literally)

Our solar system is located about 2/3rds of the way from our galactic center, in the Orion spur (of the Perseus spiral arm), which is relatively empty compared to the more cluttered area surrounding the super-massive black hole situated at the center of the Milky Way. However, that"s not to say that no stars or celestial objects pose a danger to us here on Earth. In fact, one particular star may actually pose a significant danger to us. New models uncovered in 2010 say the rogue star could seriously upset the icy comets in the Oort cloud, a theoretical region located on the edges of our solar system.

Read about this cosmic wanderer at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/alien-stars-in-our-solar-system-threats-that-are-out-of-this-world-literally/

Image:
NASA