Starship Asterisk*

The "little king" star, a "dwarf" galaxy, and one HUMONGOUS black hole! As supermassive as the Milky Way's but in a galaxy fifty times smaller!

I'm still somewhat puzzled by JWST colour choices. Is there a scientific reason why they chose pink/red for NGC 604 but a kind of rusty brownish not-really-red for the Tarantula Nebula? Is it to reflect different molecular properties or are these different colours for no real reason? 604.png 2070.j...

I'm still somewhat puzzled by JWST colour choices. Is there a scientific reason why they chose pink/red for NGC 604 but a kind of rusty brownish not-really-red for the Tarantula Nebula? Is it to reflect different molecular properties or are these different colours for no real reason? 604.png 2070.jpg

Mighty Jupiter… Twice as massive as all other planets of the solar system combined. But 80 times less massive than the smallest stars!

I was examining details of the Fox Fur nebula and this funny thing happened: From the position it is below I rotated the image 90 degrees left and a deer head appeared where the fox's head was, then another 90 degrees left and the profile of a cow's head appeared! (with a large owl above it, maybe) ...

The Southerners who can feast their eyes on the Carina Nebula anytime they want are lucky people!

wilddouglascounty wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2024 1:20 pm a fool's task, and falls short in the same way as, for instance, trying to describe a symphony to a mostly deaf person

I wonder what Beethoven would say about that!

I saw this eclipse and the bright pink prominences were stunning, and it got me reading about H alpha emission. And after some reading, I feel betrayed by every "H alpha" filtered photo of the sun I have seen. Because the prominences appeared obviously PINK to human eyes, doesn't that mea...

The red/pink is H-alpha. Is that to say that upon seeing the red/pink during totality, we are seeing with our own eyes the actual H-alpha colours of distant pink/red nebulae? The Sun is made of hot hydrogen. That hydrogen is emitting the same red light we see in emission nebulas. But where its gas ...

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 4:19 pm
The red/pink is H-alpha.

Is that to say that upon seeing the red/pink during totality, we are seeing with our own eyes the actual H-alpha colours of distant pink/red nebulae?

I came, I saw, and the eclipse conquered! That was my first ever total eclipse, and all I can say for now is however much you prepare and read to be ready, you're unprepared! Every aspect of the experience is something your brain has never processed before! And you only have a minute or so to take i...

So, I'm too late to get either solar glasses or other eclipse viewing paraphernalia (I'm only in a 95% totality band anyway), but if I was interested in getting something to use with binoculars in the future, what's the best choice? I know there are specialty "solar-only" binoculars with ...

A truly fascinating tale about the discovery of spiral structure in M51 is told in The M51 mystery: Lord Rosse, Robinson, South and the discovery of spiral structure in 1845 . I can't copy any text from this article, because the pages of the original text have been "photographed", so that...

So, in addition to being gorgeous, requiring unique conditions to be contemplated, having a mysteriously very high temperature, a wind carrying its material that shapes the tail of our comets, gives us auroras, shields us to some extent against interstellar radiation, - what else do we owe this wond...

The corona is the Sun's hidden glory! An eclipse is not just the Sun being eclipsed, it’s the corona being revealed!

Ann wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 4:46 am
Is the corona actually blue-white? I find the color magical.

Ann

I feel so lucky to be able to say: I'll tell you next week! (I live in the path of totality)

While the density of the coronal material (the solar wind) is much reduced by the time it reaches Earth, its temperature is about the same: 1 million K. And why exactly is this corona so friggin' hot?! Seriously I am baffled that it should be so much hotter than the very surface of the Sun. Like a ...

How far out do the petals of the corona extend? They seem huge. Not sure if this is a correct way to put it but solar wind is the corona spreading ever further out into space, so even we here on Earth are in a sense bathing in the Sun's corona! Luckily it has cooled down on the way. While the densi...

SpaceCadet wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 8:38 am How far out do the petals of the corona extend? They seem huge.

Not sure if this is a correct way to put it but solar wind is the corona spreading ever further out into space, so even we here on Earth are in a sense bathing in the Sun's corona! Luckily it has cooled down on the way.

TY4YA Jac I checked out FS Tau on Simbad . As expected it is one of those itty bitty little red dwarf star (or stars), the dime a dozen stars of the Universe. The way I understand it, many astronomers are very enthusiastic about the little red dwarf stars and seem to think that they are the perfect...

Fascinating APOD! But to me also frustrating! As yet again we are studying what surrounds a black hole, not what is inside. I would love to pick the brains of astrophysicists on this, I know they don't like to make claims unsupported by evidence but surely they must have opinions or hunches on the s...

In his unique style Richard Feynman wrote that globular clusters are one of the most beautiful things in the sky, adding "If one cannot see gravitation acting here, he has no soul."

Astronomy for musicians? Astronomy for the blind? What does dark matter sound like? A galaxy is a symphony? Inquiring minds want to know. It seems we already know what a black hole "sounds" like, and it sure is no symphony! In B flat or any other key. More like the atonal lament of doomed...

zendae1 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 3:30 pm Well, since no one has posted a reply today, I'll just offer that any APOD explanation that has Carl Sagan's name in it, I love.

I share your feeling! There have been lots of great astronomers and astrophysicists, but Carl Sagan is in a class of his own! We're lucky this man existed.

With that pair of bluish and goldish stars straight beneath it almost looks like a galaxy sitting on top of Albireo, lovely effect!