Starship Asterisk*

'Smiling Cat' Nebula Captured in New ESO Image ESO Photo Release | VST | 2023 Jun 27 https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/eso2309a.jpg This cloud of orange and red, part of the Sh2-284 nebula, is shown here in spectacular detail using data from the VLT Survey Telescope ( VST ), hosted by the European ...

https://asterisk.apod.com/download/file.php?id=47757&mode=view Wow; A lot of great photos in today's APOD Orin, that's a great image! :D I couldn't find it in the links of today's caption. Where did you find it? ... the belt is frequently caught by accident in other photographs . APOD: Shadows ...

Webb Makes First Detection of Crucial Carbon Molecule NASA | GSFC | STScI | JWST | 2023 Jun 26 https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/imagea.jpeg?itok=U_5TSDna A team of international scientists has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a new c...

Hubble Checks in on the Neighbours ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2023 Jun 26 https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/potw2326a.jpg The highly irregular galaxy ESO 174-1 , which resembles a lonely, hazy cloud against a backdrop of bright stars , dominates this image from the NASA/ES...

All Alone in the Desert ESO Image of the Week | APEX | 2023 Jun 26 https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw2326a.jpg Take a look at this aerial photo of the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, or APEX for short, sat stoically atop the Chajnator plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert . This remote, dry location...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/nebulae/crab_ixpe_small.jpg The Curl of the Crab The Crab Nebula is an extended cloud of hot gas produced by the total explosion of a hot, massive star which was observed in 1054 A. D . (but which occurred nearly 2000 years earlier). At the heart ...

Astronomers Have Never Detected Merging Supermassive Black Holes. That Might Be About to Change Universe Today | Brian Koberlein | 2023 Jun 19 https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/merger.jpg Gravitational wave astronomy currently can only detect powerful rapid events, such as th...

Expansion of the universe could be a mirage Space.com | Robert Lea | 2023 Jun 21 New research looking at the cosmological constant problem suggests the expansion of the universe could be an illusion. https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ydpsncMiE6rHH2mN7caMP4-1920-80.jpg.webp The expansion of the univ...

Evidence is Building that Dark Matter is Made of Axions Universe Today | Carolyn Collins Petersen | 2023 Jun 19 https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/heic2003b.jpg There’s some potentially big news on the hunt for dark matter. Astronomers may have a handle on what makes this mysteri...

Milky Way's Central Black Hole Woke Up 200 Years Ago NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2023 Jun 21 https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2023/gcenter/gcenter.jpg These images show X-ray data of the area around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. New data fro...

Never-Before-Seen Way to Annihilate a Star NOIRLab Science Release | Gemini | 2023 Jun 22 International Gemini Observatory traces gamma-ray burst to nucleus of ancient galaxy, suggesting stars can undergo demolition-derby-like collisions https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/screen/noirl...

Dark Shrouds in Orion NOIRLab Image of the Week | KPNO | 2023 Jun 21 https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/screen/iotw2325a.jpg The shadowy clouds of LDN 1622 are pictured in this observation from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory ( KPNO ), a Prog...

The Hidden Benefits of Large Science Projects Universe Today | Paul M. Sutter | 2023 Jun 16 https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/noirlab2118a.jpg Large astronomical projects like the Dark Energy Survey and the James Webb Space Telescope provide innumerable benefits to society, l...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/technology/xrism23_small.jpg A Final Exam for XRISM As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words . Astronomers have their own variation on this honored maxim: a spectrum is worth a thousand pictures. A spectrum is the measure of the bri...

On the Edge of the Lagoon ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2023 Jun 19 potw2325a[1].jpg A cluster of stars in warm and cool colours. The whole view is filled with small stars, which become much denser and brighter around a core just right of centre. Most of the stars are small, but some are larger ...

The ‘Brightest of All Time’ Gamma-Ray Burst and Its Ordinary Supernova NOIRLab Stories | 2023 Jun 14 One of the closest and most powerful gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) ever seen could change the way that we think about these titanic explosions. https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/screen/noir...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/technology/fermi15_small.jpg Happy 15th Anniversary to Fermi June 11, 2023, marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope , named in honor of the great physicist Enrico Fermi . Fermi, as it's commonly called, scan...

Red Bloom above Cerro Tololo NOIRLab Image of the Week | CTIO | 2023 Jun 14 https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/screen/iotw2324a.jpg Below the southern skies, the telescopes of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ( CTIO ), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, bask in the starlight of the br...

A Dishevelled Irregular Galaxy ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2023 Jun 12 https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/potw2324a.jpg The galaxy NGC 7292 billows across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, accompanied by a handful of bright stars and the indistinct smudges...

What’s that coming over the hill? It’s ALMA! ESO Picture of the Week | ALMA | 2023 Jun 12 https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw2324a.jpg It might look like there’s not a lot going on in this Picture of the Week, but looks can be deceiving. Far off in the distance, huddled together like penguins in...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/stars/eagleneb_cxojwst_small.jpg Reaching for the Stars In the Milky Way and other galaxies, stars form within dense clouds composed largely of molecular hydrogen gas. Because these clouds are dense, trace elements like oxygen, carbon, silicon and...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/large_scale_structure//perseus_waves_small.jpg Surfing Perseus The X-ray emitting gas that resides in clusters of galaxies has a revealing story to tell. This gas is important since it actually contains most of the normal matter in the cluster, mo...

https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/objects/heapow/active_galaxies/cena_chandra23_small.jpg The Sword of the Centaur One of the most mysterious and beautiful galaxies is Centaurus A. Cen A was discovered August 4, 1826 by James Dunlop at the Parramatta observatory in Australia. It first arose to p...

Celestial Landmarks of the Northern Sky NOIRLab Image of the Week | KPNO | 2023 Jun 07 https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/images/screen/iotw2323a.jpg The eighteen-story Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory ( KPNO ), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, and...

Gemini North Back on Sky with Dazzling Image of Supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy NOIRLab Photo Release | Gemini North | 2023 Jun 07 Gemini North returns to cosmic exploration “with a bang” following repair and refurbishment of its 8-meter primary mirror https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/ima...