Found Images: 2015 April

[Sandgirl]

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Have you seen a great image or video somewhere that you think would make a great APOD? Nominate it for APOD! Please post as much information here as you have about the image/video with a link to any source(s) for it you know of here, and the editors will take a look.

When posting the image itself, please do not post anything larger than a thumbnail here; please honor the copyright holder's copyright.

Please keep hotlinked images under 400K.

Thank you!

[geckzilla]

Powerful series images taken by Astro Sam of Typhoon Maysak recently.


Typhoon #Maysak. by AstroSamantha, on Flickr


A closer look... #Maysak by AstroSamantha, on Flickr


Typhoon #Maysak. by AstroSamantha, on Flickr

[starsurfer]

Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/m27.html
Copyright: Fabian Neyer and Robert Pölzl

[starsurfer]

NGC 2626
http://www.astro-austral.cl/imagenes/ne ... T/info.htm
Copyright: José Joaquín Pérez/SSRO

[starsurfer]

SMC
https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0993.html
Copyright: F. Winkler/Middlebury College, the MCELS Team, and NOAO/AURA/NSF

[bystander]

Stars Rain over ALMA
ESO Picture of the Week | 2015 Apr 06

[b][i]Credit: K. Ashitagawa (NAOJ), ESO[/i][/b]

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This photo, courtesy of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), shows one of the 66 antennas which form the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), located on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. Above the antennas, stars appear to rain down on the site.

The downpour of stars is the result of a long exposure capturing their trail across the sky as the Earth rotates.

The plateau on which ALMA is located was actually chosen in part due to its dryness. Radio waves can easily penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, but moisture in the air absorbs them and degrades the quality of the observations. So just as well that this is not real rain!

ALMA is an international partnership between Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.

[bystander]

The Crammed Centre of Messier 22
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Apr 06

[b][i]Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA[/i][/b]

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This image shows the centre of the globular cluster Messier 22, also known as M22, as observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Globular clusters are spherical collections of densely packed stars, relics of the early years of the Universe, with ages of typically 12 to 13 billion years. This is very old considering that the Universe is only 13.8 billion years old.

Messier 22 is one of about 150 globular clusters in the Milky Way and at just 10 000 light-years away it is also one of the closest to Earth. It was discovered in 1665 by Abraham Ihle, making it one of the first globulars ever to be discovered. This is not so surprising as it is one of the brightest globular clusters visible from the northern hemisphere, located in the constellation of Sagittarius, close to the Galactic Bulge — the dense mass of stars at the centre of the Milky Way.

The cluster has a diameter of about 70 light-years and, when looking from Earth, appears to take up a patch of sky the size of the full Moon. Despite its relative proximity to us, the light from the stars in the cluster is not as bright as it should be as it is dimmed by dust and gas located between us and the cluster.

As they are leftovers from the early Universe, globular clusters are popular study objects for astronomers. M22 in particular has fascinating additional features: six planet-sized objects that are not orbiting a star have been detected in the cluster, it seems to host two black holes, and the cluster is one of only three ever found to host a planetary nebula — a short-lived gaseous shells ejected by massive stars at the ends of their lives.

[starsurfer]

RCW 114
http://www.astrobin.com/94334/
Copyright: John Gleason

[starsurfer]

NGC 6188 widefield
http://www.astrostudio.at/1_Deep%20Sky% ... 84d395411c
Copyright: Gerald Rhemann

[starsurfer]

Heart Nebula (IC 1805) closeup
http://www.astro-koop.de/?attachment_id=1527
Copyright: Stefan Heutz, Wolfgang Ries and Michael Breite

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Arp 295
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/122
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

DG 181
http://afesan.es/Deepspace/slides/DG%20 ... us%29.html
Copyright: Antonio Sánchez

[starsurfer]

Sh2-242
http://www.astro-auersthal.at/Sh2-242.htm
Copyright: Martin Helm

[bystander]

Young and Dynamic (NGC 2865)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Apr 13

[b][i]Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA; Acknowledgment: [/i][/b][url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/9823338186/][b][i]Judy Schmidt[/i][/b][/url]

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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an elliptical galaxy called NGC 2865. It lies just over 100 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Hydra — The Sea Serpent — and was discovered in 1835 by astronomer John Herschel.

Elliptical galaxies are usually filled with old, dying stars. NGC 2865, however, is relatively youthful and dynamic, with a rapidly rotating disc full of young stars and metal-rich gas. For an elliptical galaxy it contains an unusually high number of young stars — suggesting that a galaxy-wide starburst took place about one billion years ago.

The starburst itself was induced by a merger between a spiral galaxy, similar to our galaxy, the Milky Way, and an elliptical galaxy some three times more massive — the progenitor galaxy of NGC 2865. The new gas from the spiral galaxy revitalised the dying population of old stars in the elliptical galaxy, and several new generations of stars were born.

The faint halo surrounding the galaxy, visible in this image, is also a result of this merger. It consists of cold gas that was ripped away from the spiral galaxy during the merging process. The gas now forms an almost closed shell around its host galaxy. ...

[starsurfer]

Young and Dynamic (NGC 2865)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Apr 13

[b][i]Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA; Acknowledgment: [/i][/b][url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/9823338186/][b][i]Judy Schmidt[/i][/b][/url]

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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an elliptical galaxy called NGC 2865. It lies just over 100 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Hydra — The Sea Serpent — and was discovered in 1835 by astronomer John Herschel.

Elliptical galaxies are usually filled with old, dying stars. NGC 2865, however, is relatively youthful and dynamic, with a rapidly rotating disc full of young stars and metal-rich gas. For an elliptical galaxy it contains an unusually high number of young stars — suggesting that a galaxy-wide starburst took place about one billion years ago.

The starburst itself was induced by a merger between a spiral galaxy, similar to our galaxy, the Milky Way, and an elliptical galaxy some three times more massive — the progenitor galaxy of NGC 2865. The new gas from the spiral galaxy revitalised the dying population of old stars in the elliptical galaxy, and several new generations of stars were born.

The faint halo surrounding the galaxy, visible in this image, is also a result of this merger. It consists of cold gas that was ripped away from the spiral galaxy during the merging process. The gas now forms an almost closed shell around its host galaxy. ...

I'm very happy to see Judy Schmidt acknowledged and also to learn more about NGC 2865, shell ellipticals are truly fascinating deep sky objects.

[starsurfer]

Witch's Broom Nebula (NGC 6960)
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au
Copyright: Martin Pugh

[starsurfer]

NGC 1579
http://www.astroimager.net/Page-RHA-CCD-340.html
Copyright: Jim Janusz

[starsurfer]

Sh2-308
http://www.pampaskies.com/gallery3/Deep ... ts/Sh2-308
Copyright: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo

[starsurfer]

Ring Nebula (M57)
http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/m57.shtml
Copyright: Adam Block
Acknowledgement: R. Jay GaBany

[bystander]

Romantic Sunset over the VLT
ESO Picture of the Week | VLT | 2015 Apr 20

[b][i]Credit: ESO, Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)[/i][/b]

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In this romantic scene a bright, crimson sunset complements the colourful centre of the Milky Way and the zodiacal light above the platform of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal.

The pink regions scattered across the disc of our galaxy are regions where new stars are being born. On average the disc is about 1000 light-years tall and about 100 000 light-years in diameter. The setting Sun is just one of over 400 billion stars found in the Milky Way.

Captured in this image is one of the Unit Telescopes (UTs, here UT1 also known as Antu) and three of the four Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) which form part of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI).

To the left of the UT is a very faint meteor, and the red supergiant star Antares stands out above the ATs. Antares is found at the heart of the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion).

This photograph was taken by Babak Tafreshi, one of the ESO Photo Ambassadors.

[bystander]

Extragalactic Peculiarity (ESO 162-17)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Apr 20

[b][i]Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA[/i][/b]

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This galaxy goes by the name of ESO 162-17 and is located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Carina (The Keel). At first glance this image seems like a fairly standard picture of a galaxy with dark patches of dust and bright patches of young, blue stars. However, a closer look reveals several peculiar features.

Firstly, ESO 162-17 is what is known as a peculiar galaxy — a galaxy that has gone through interactions with its cosmic neighbours, resulting in an unusual amount of dust and gas, an irregular shape, or a strange composition.

Secondly, on 23 February 2010 astronomers observed the supernova known as SN 2010ae nestled within this galaxy. The supernova belongs to a recently discovered class of supernovae called Type Iax supernovae. This class of objects is related to the better known Type-Ia supernovae. ...

[starsurfer]

IC 2184
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1306a/
Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

LDN 1003
http://www.kencrawford.smugmug.com/Astr ... gPtHRQN/X3
Copyright: Ken Crawford

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

B7 region
http://astrophotography.aa6g.org/Astrop ... nard7.html
Copyright: Chuck Vaughn

B7 is the dark nebula near the top left corner while the blue reflection nebula below it is Ced 30. The nebula near the right is catalogued as Bernes 71.

[starsurfer]

Trifid Nebula (M20)
http://www.nightsky.at/Photo/Neb/M20_HaRGB.html
Copyright: Walter Koprolin