Starship Asterisk*

The first comet discovered by an orbital observatory. For more information, see Karl Battams's article here: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2014/0829-the-pivotal-discovery.html

[attachment=0]20140829_comet-c-1979.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]SBW 1[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1401a/[/url]
Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgements: Nick Rose/Steve Byrne
[img2]http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/screen/potw1401a.jpg[/img2]
You can read about SBW 2 here: [url]http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/134/2/846/pdf/205802.web.pdf[/url]

[size=120][b]NGC 6559[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_close_ngc6559.html[/url]
Copyright: R. Jay GaBany
[attachment=0]ngc6559.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]NGC 678, NGC 680 and NGC 691[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.capella-observatory.com/ImageHTMLs/Galaxies/NGC678.htm[/url]
Copyright: Makis Palaiologou, Stefan Binnewies and Josef Pöpsel
[attachment=0]NGC678.jpg[/attachment]
NGC 678 is the edge on galaxy, NGC 680 is the shell elliptical near it and NGC 691 is the spiral near the bottom. NGC 680 is probably the product of a merger, it is also unusual in that it also includes a dust lane. Also to the left is the companion galaxy IC 1730. More information is available [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.5654]here[/url]. [url=http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n691.shtml]This image of NGC 691 by Adam Block[/url] also includes the spiral galaxy IC 167, all four galaxies are part of a galaxy group.

[size=120][b]NGC 7380[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n7380.shtml[/url]
Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
[attachment=0]n7380.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]LDN 1584[/b][/size]
[url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/neutronman/12352888865/[/url]
Copyright: John Davis
[attachment=0]12352888865_ef2358b74e_o.jpg[/attachment]
This region is part of the giant emission nebula Sh2-264. The reflection nebula is catalogued as Ced 51, a [url=http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/ced51.shtml]closeup by Adam Block[/url].

[size=120][b]VBRC 7[/b][/size]
[url]http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/ESO2253_STXL6303_RC14.htm[/url]
Copyright: Steve Crouch
[attachment=0]ESO2253.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]NGC 3610 and NGC 3642[/b][/size]
[url]http://afesan.es/Deepspace/slides/NGC%203642-3610%20LRGB%20%28Ursa%20Major%29.html[/url]
Copyright: Antonio Sánchez
[attachment=0]NGC 3642-3610.jpg[/attachment]
A closeup of [url=http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n3642.shtml]NGC 3642 by Adam Block[/url].

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oSxkCR][img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/15011788221_c04b637efc.jpg[/img][/url]
August 24 2014 the waning crescent moon closest approach to sweep near the sky’s brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter forming triangle shape. as seen in the Philippines.

[size=120][b]Cygnus X-1[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1248.html[/url]
Copyright: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)
[attachment=0]cyg_x1.jpg[/attachment]
This image only shows part of the black hole jet powered bowshock nebula associated with Cygnus X-1. The whole nebula can be seen in this [url=http://www.astrodonimaging.com/gallery/display.cfm?imgID=254]image by Don Goldman[/url].

[size=120][b]47 Tucanae (NGC 104)[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.baskies.com.ar/PHOTOS/NGC%20104%20LRGB%20N.htm[/url]
Copyright: Sergio Eguivar
[attachment=0]NGC 104.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888)[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.astro-koop.de/?attachment_id=1450[/url]
Copyright: Stefan Heutz, Wolfgang Ries and Michael Breite
[attachment=0]NGC6888.jpg[/attachment]
Considering this image is a HaLRGB composite, the OIII shell of this Wolf Rayet nebula is barely visible.

[quote="MargaritaMc"][img2]http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/newsfeature/eso1425a.jpg[/img2]
ESO Photo release today.

Wolf-Rayet stars, plus the biggest Hll region on our galaxy and some Bok globules. And a nice image too.
[url]http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1425/[/url][/quote]
This is one of my favourite regions in the constellation of Carina, which is full of many Wolf Rayet stars and also many Wolf Rayet nebulae.

If you look carefully (or at the full resolution image), there are also two planetary nebulae. These are PN G291.6-00.2 and PN G291.4-00.3, see the image below.
[attachment=0]ngc3576_pn.jpg[/attachment]
These are some of more than 1000 planetary nebulae discovered in the MASH project, see here: [url]http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/vizier/MASH/index.htx[/url]

Also some of the Wolf Rayet nebulae in Carina have been imaged in detail, see the list below:
[url=http://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/Nebulae/i-7N2VrSJ/X3]NGC 3199 by Marco Lorenzi[/url]
[url=http://www.astrodonimaging.com/gallery/display.cfm?imgID=264]RCW 58 by Don Goldman[/url]
[url=http://www.astrodonimaging.com/gallery/display.cfm?imgID=269]WR 16 nebula by Don Goldman[/url]
[url=http://www.astrodonimaging.com/gallery/display.cfm?imgID=216]WR 23 nebula by Don Goldman[/url]

Some others that haven't been imaged yet are the nebulae around WR 22 and WR 30 and Hen 3-519, which interestingly makes a pair with the LBV nebula around the luminous blue variable star AG Carinae. There are also lots of [url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980PASP...92..730C]Wolf Rayet nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud[/url] that haven't been imaged yet.

Finally, the image of NGC 3603 by HST is one of my favourite Hubble images!

Found floating around Twitter tonight...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cmglee?rdfrom=commons:User:Cmglee#comparison_optical_telescope_primary_mirrors.svg_.E2.98.8E_7_Jul_2014

Comparison of Optical Telescope Primary Mirrors by Wikipedia user Cmglee
[attachment=0]Comparison_optical_telescope_primary_mirrors.svg.png[/attachment]

[float=left][c][s][/s]
[url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/lasilla/][size=110][b][i]ESO: A panorama of a unique cloudscape over La Silla[/i][/b][/size][/url]

[img3="[b][i]Credit: ESO/F. Kamphues[/i][/b]"]http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/screen/lasilla.jpg[/img3][/c][/float]

[img2]http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/newsfeature/eso1425a.jpg[/img2]
ESO Photo release today.

Wolf-Rayet stars, plus the biggest Hll region on our galaxy and some Bok globules. And a nice image too.
[url]http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1425/[/url]

[size=120][b]SMC[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.astrostudio.at/1_Deep%20Sky%20Objects.php?img=images/1_Deep%20Sky%20Objects/181_SMC.jpg&PHPSESSID=2b15e47136653b40c5510981e9d04c07[/url]
Copyright: Gerald Rhemann
[attachment=0]181_SMC.jpg[/attachment]

[size=120][b]vdB31, B27, B28 and B29[/b][/size]
[url]http://www.karelteuwen.be/photo_page.php?img=331&album=15[/url]
Copyright: Karel Teuwen
[attachment=0]vdB31.jpg[/attachment]

[quote="Ann"]How interesting, Geck.

NGC 3597 is obviously a a galaxy with a high surface brightness inner part, which contains a lot of ongoing or recent star formation. There is a huge envelope of old stars surrounding the bright center.

The galaxy is interestingly colorless. No parts of it appear particularly yellow and no parts appear blue. Can you tell me what filters were used for this image?

Ann[/quote]
Adam Block needs to image this galaxy! I imagine it would look quite blue.

[float=left][c][s][/s]
[url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1433a/][size=110][b][i]A Silver Needle in the Sky (NGC 4244)[/i][/b][/size][/url]
[i]ESA Hubble POTW (2014 Aug 18)[/i]

[img3="[b][i]Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble[/i][/b]"]http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/screen/potw1433a.jpg[/img3][/c][/float]

[float=left][c][s][/s]
[url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1433a/][size=110][b][i]Sculpting La Silla’s Skies (ESO POTW 2014 Aug 18)[/i][/b][/size][/url]

[img3="[b][i]Credit: A. Fitzsimmons/ESO[/i][/b]"]http://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/screen/potw1433a.jpg[/img3][/c][/float]

That's one of those Frankenstein images. There was F702W available all over for the red channel but for blue the right side uses F405W and the left side uses F555W. Pseudogreen all around and there is a triangular hole up and left of the nucleus which was completely devoid of data. It's a weird galaxy probably near the end of a merge. Is it transitioning into an elliptical galaxy? I don't know if there is any star formation. There was an old supernova I found in the nucleus that the scientists missed.

How interesting, Geck.

NGC 3597 is obviously a a galaxy with a high surface brightness inner part, which contains a lot of ongoing or recent star formation. There is a huge envelope of old stars surrounding the bright center.

The galaxy is interestingly colorless. No parts of it appear particularly yellow and no parts appear blue. Can you tell me what filters were used for this image?

Ann

[size=120][b]NGC 3597[/b][/size]
[url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/11813822426/[/url]
Copyright: Hubble Legacy Archive/NASA/ESA
Processing: Judy Schmidt
[img2]http://www.geckzilla.com/img/art/pics/NGC3597.jpg[/img2]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/om5Rat][img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5575/14667124649_b7e137aa30_n.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/om5Rat]Thunerstorm Panorama[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/38972003@N05/]Mavroudakis Fotis[/url], on Flickr

Lightning bolts from a summer thunderstorm in the city of Kavala in Greece

© Mavroudakis Fotis

https://www.flickr.com/photos/airliner/