obe

zenigata: 2chan.net [ExRare]

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:31:41 +0900

zenigata:

2chan.net [ExRare]

lustik: LWA Pigeon Post via SwissMiss

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:29:49 +0900

lustik:

LWA Pigeon Post via SwissMiss

highcampus: gifs_06.gif

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:54:46 +0900

highcampus:

gifs_06.gif

nastiaraj: Hooded nudibranch (Melibe leonina) brachia...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:53:42 +0900

nastiaraj:

Hooded nudibranch (Melibe leonina) brachia (gills).

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:59:58 +0900

Photo

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:21:51 +0900

Photo

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:17:26 +0900

cybergata: Весной, домой… НикВасилич

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:13:36 +0900

cybergata:

Весной, домой…
НикВасилич

planeshots: Grumman F-14 Tomcat. “A Grumman F-14 “Tomcat” of FS...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:03:30 +0900

planeshots:

Grumman F-14 Tomcat. “A Grumman F-14 “Tomcat” of FS (VF) 114 flies over a damaged radar site in Iraq.”

Photo

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:39:34 +0900

Photo

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:35:26 +0900

n-a-s-a: The Helix Nebula (NGC7293) Credit: ESO

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:24:20 +0900

n-a-s-a:

The Helix Nebula (NGC7293)

Credit: ESO

kenobi-wan-obi: Messier 45 by Michael Deger

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:24:16 +0900

kenobi-wan-obi:

Messier 45 by Michael Deger

distant-traveller: Pinwheeling across the sky The face-on...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:24:10 +0900

distant-traveller:

Pinwheeling across the sky

The face-on Pinwheel spiral galaxy is seen at ultraviolet wavelengths in this image taken by ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope.

Also known as M101, the galaxy lies 21 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It measures 170,000 light-years across – nearly twice the diameter of our own Milky Way Galaxy – and contains at least a trillion stars. About a billion of these stars could be similar to our own Sun.

More often seen in visible light, here the Pinwheel Galaxy glows at ultraviolet wavelengths. Massive, hot young stars streaming with ultraviolet radiation mark out the galaxy’s spiral arms with bright pockets of forming stars.

Since the largest stars are the shortest lived, with a maximum lifespan of a few million years, studying the ultraviolet radiation being emitted by a distant galaxy is a good way to measure how much star formation is taking place within it – and it is clear that M101 is still very active.

The Pinwheel Galaxy appears slightly lopsided, its arms wound tightly around the central bulge on one side but more loosely bound on the other. Its architecture is likely due to interactions with other galaxies earlier in its history, their gravitational attraction pushing and pulling M101’s arms in new directions.

Image credit: ESA/XMM & R. Willatt

distant-traveller: A bubbling galactic center What’s happening...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:24:06 +0900

distant-traveller:

A bubbling galactic center

What’s happening in the center of this galaxy? Close inspection of the center of NGC 4438, as visible in this recently released representative-color image by the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals an unusual bubble of hot gas, colored in red. Astronomers speculate that this strange bubble was created by a massive central black hole that resides there. As gas swirls around the black hole, gravity and friction pull it in and heat it up. Some of the hot gas then falls into the black hole, but not all - some gas gets so hot it shoots out the poles in fast jets. When these jets impact nearby material, they heat it up and cause the detected glow. Galaxy NGC 4438 resides about 50 million light years from Earth, and the pictured central bubble measures about 800 light-years across.

Image credit: Jeffrey Kenney (Yale) et al., WFPC2, HST NASA

kenobi-wan-obi: Milky Way Shows 84 Million Stars in 9 Billion...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:23:59 +0900

kenobi-wan-obi:

Milky Way Shows 84 Million Stars in 9 Billion Pixels

Side Note: The two images shown above are mere crop outs from ESA’s recent hit: The 9 Billion Pixel Image of 84 Million Stars. These two focus on the bright center of the image for the purpose of highlighting what a peak at 84,000,000 stars looks like.

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have released a breathtaking new photograph showing the central area of our Milky Way galaxy. The photograph shows a whopping 84 million stars in an image measuring 108500×81500, which contains nearly 9 billion pixels.

It’s actually a composite of thousands of individual photographs shot with the observatory’s VISTA survey telescope, the same camera that captured the amazing 55-hour exposure. Three different infrared filters were used to capture the different details present in the final image.

The VISTA’s camera is sensitive to infrared light, which allows its vision to pierce through much of the space dust that blocks the view of ordinary optical telescope/camera systems.

source

guardian: Black hole bonanza in ‘next door’ Andromeda...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:23:54 +0900

guardian:

Black hole bonanza in ‘next door’ Andromeda galaxy.

Twenty-six new black hole candidates have been discovered in the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy. According to the astronomers involved, these could be just the tip of the iceberg. Details of the find will be published in the 20 June issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Photograph: Dimitar Todorov/Alamy

kenobi-wan-obi: NGC 3628 by Alessandro Falesiedi

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:23:50 +0900

kenobi-wan-obi:

NGC 3628 by Alessandro Falesiedi

distant-traveller: Gamma Cygni region Image credit: astrochuck,...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:23:46 +0900

distant-traveller:

Gamma Cygni region

Image credit: astrochuck, on Flickr

animals-riding-animals: raccoon riding dog

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:23:05 +0900

animals-riding-animals:

raccoon riding dog