Found Images: 2015 June

[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!

[sebyta]

A trio that leaves tread.
M8, M20 and Big Foot
Picture taken from San Antonio de Areco 24/05/15.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
They are three hours of exposure in shots of 5 minutes ISO 800
Astro-Tech tube Apo astrograph F6 Quad / 5
Guided With 162 MM
NEQ6 Pro mount
Mono camera QHYII Guide
Canon 450 xsi sin Reformed IR filter and cooled
Copyright Sebastián Colombo.
http://www.astrofotografiadelcielosur.blogspot.com

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070)
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/114
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

[starsurfer]

Whale Galaxy (NGC 4631) and Hockey Stick Galaxy (NGC 4656)
http://www.starpointing.com/ccd/whales.html
Copyright: Fabian Neyer

This image was used to support a study of NGC 4631 as part of the Tief-Belichtete-Galaxien (TBG) project.

[starsurfer]

IC 5148
http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/IC51 ... 303_RC.htm
Copyright: Steve Crouch

[starsurfer]

IC 2169
http://afesan.es/Deepspace/slides/Monoceros-R1b.html
Copyright: Antonio Sánchez

[starsurfer]

Sh2-101
http://billsnyderastrophotography.com/?page_id=2030
Copyright: Bill Snyder

[starsurfer]

NGC 1931
http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n1931.shtml
Copyright: Adam Block
Acknowledgement: R. Jay GaBany

Click to view full size image

[geckzilla]

Tornadoes from last week's crazy storm in Colorado by photographer Kelly DeLay. I saw photos of the one but had no idea there were two!

Sister tornados from a massive supercell outside of Simla, Colorado. Shot of a lifetime for me. I have been trying to get a shot like this for 6 years. I hope you enjoy!

Sister Tornados Under Supercell by Kelly DeLay, on Flickr

[philto]

Orage from France...
image © Philippe TOSI

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

NGC 5367
http://www.astro-austral.cl/imagenes/ne ... T/info.htm
Copyright: José Joaquín Pérez/SSRO

[bystander]

Wide View of the Crab Nebula
ESO Picture of the Week | 2015 Jun 08

[b][i]Credit: ESO / Manu Mejias[/i][/b]

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The Crab Nebula, which also goes by the names Messier 1, NGC 1952 and Taurus A, is one of the best studied astronomical objects in the sky. It is the remnant of a supernova explosion which was observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054. The tangled filaments visible in this image are the remains of the exploded star, which are still expanding outwards at about 1500 kilometres per second.

Although not visible to the naked eye due to foreground filaments of helium and hydrogen the heart of the nebula hosts two faint stars. It is one of these that is responsible for the nebula that we see today — a star that is known as the Crab Pulsar, or CM Tau. This is the small, dense, corpse of the original star that caused the supernova. It is now only about 20 kilometres in diameter and rotates around its axis 30 times every second!

The star emits pulses of radiation in all wavelengths, ranging from gamma rays — for which it is one of the brightest sources in the sky — to radio waves. The radiation from the star is so strong that it is creating a wave of material that is deforming the inner parts of the nebula. The appearance of these structures changes so fast that astronomers can actually observe how they reshape. This provides a rare opportunity as cosmic timescales are usually much too long for change to be observed to this extent.

The data from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile used to make this image were selected from the ESO archive by Manu Mejias as part of the Hidden Treasures competition.

[bystander]

Meeting the Neighbours (PGC 18431)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Jun 08

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

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There are many galaxies in the Universe and although there is plenty of room, they tend to stick together. The Milky Way, for example, is part of a large gathering of over fifty galaxies known as the Local Group. Galaxy groups like this come together to form even larger groups called clusters which can congregate further still to create mammoth superclusters.

The sphere of space surrounding our galaxy is known as the Local Volume, a region some 35 million light-years in diameter and home to several hundred known galaxies. The subject of this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, a beautiful dwarf irregular galaxy known as PGC 18431, is one of these galaxies.

This image shows PGC 18431 smudged across the sky, but it wasn’t imaged purely for its looks. These Hubble observations were gathered in order to probe how Local Volume galaxies cluster together and move around. Hubble’s high resolution allows astronomers to explore star populations within these moderately distant galaxies — specifically, stars known as tip of the red-giant branch stars — in order to get an idea of the galaxy’s composition and, crucially, its distance from us. Knowing galactic distances enables us to accurately map a galaxy sample in three dimensions, a method key to understanding more about our cosmic neighbours, and to dismiss perspective and line-of-sight illusions.

[starsurfer]

Lagoon Nebula (M8)
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au
Copyright: Martin Pugh

[starsurfer]

Pacman Nebula (NGC 281)
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Nebulae/Pacman/NGC281.htm
Copyright: Ken Crawford

[bystander]

Lost in Space — New Hubble Image of Galaxy NGC 6503
ESA Hubble Photo Release | 2015 Jun 10

[img3="Credit: NASA, ESA, HST/LEGUS/WFC3, D. Calzetti (UMass), H. Ford (JHU),
and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration"]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/ ... c1513a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Although the Universe may seem spacious most galaxies are clumped together in groups or clusters and a neighbour is never far away. But this galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, shown here at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a very rich set of colours, adding to the detail seen in previous images.

NGC 6503 is only some 18 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Draco (The Dragon), making it one of the closest neighbours from our Local Group. It spans some 30 000 light-years, about a third of the size of the Milky Way. The galaxy’s lonely location led stargazer Stephen James O'Meara to dub it the “Lost-In-Space galaxy” in his 2007 book Hidden Treasures.

This galaxy does not just offer poetic inspiration; it is also the subject of ongoing research. The Hubble Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is exploring a sample of nearby galaxies, including NGC 6503, to study their shape, internal structure, and the properties and behaviour of their stars. This survey uses 154 orbits of time on Hubble; by contrast, a typical Hubble observing programme lasts from a few to a few tens of orbits.

The Local Void is a patch of space thought to be about 150 million light-years across that seems to be curiously devoid of galaxies. Astronomers using Hubble discovered that the emptiness of this region has quite an effect on the space around us — the Milky Way is being strongly pulled away from it by the gentle but relentless tug of other nearby galaxies.

NGC 6503 lies right on the edge of this void. It has an almost non-existent central bulge surrounded by a massive halo of gas. The galaxy’s central region is a good example of something known as a “low ionisation nuclear emission region”, or LINER. These are less luminous than some of the brightest galaxies. Emission from NGC 6503’s heart is believed to be the result of a starved black hole that is only just being kept active, receiving a very small amount of infalling gas to keep its large appetite at bay. ...

Lonely Galaxy 'Lost in Space'
NASA | STScI | HubbleSite | 2015 Jun 10

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6503
Hubble Heritage | STScI | AURA | 2015 Jun 10

[starsurfer]

NGC 7662
http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n7662.shtml
Copyright: Adam Block
Acknowledgement R. Jay GaBany

Some haloes around planetary nebulae are bright enough to be visible without narrowband. Another good example is NGC 6826. Understandably, much more detail is visible with narrowband exposures.

[starsurfer]

Pipe Nebula (LDN 1773)
http://www.astrobin.com/94693/
Copyright: John Gleason

Somewhere in this image, the Snake Nebula can also be found.

[starsurfer]

NGC 4217
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1503a/
Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: R. Schoofs

Click to view full size image

[bystander]

NGC 4217
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1503a/
Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: R. Schoofs

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=238370#p238370
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=239193#p239193

[starsurfer]

NGC 4217
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1503a/
Copyright: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: R. Schoofs

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=238370#p238370
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=239193#p239193

Well I knew you had posted it before but it looks so pretty I had to post it again!

[starsurfer]

Abell 78
http://www.astro-koop.de/?attachment_id=1517
Copyright: Stefan Heutz, Wolfgang Ries and Michael Breite

Click to view full size image

[bystander]

A Mix of Colours and Wonder
ESO Picture of the Week | 2015 Jun 15

[img3="Credit: ESO, Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)"]http://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1524a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

ESO’s Paranal Observatory is one of the best places on Earth to take in the night sky.

This panorama of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) atop the platform of Chile’s Cerro Paranal was taken by Babak Tafreshi, one of the ESO Photo Ambassadors.

A mix of colours sweeps across the sky in this image. From the fiery red sunset up to the dusty purple band of the Milky Way.

Although the VLT site is one of the best places on Earth for astronomy, the telescope must still overcome the natural distortions caused by our atmosphere. This is done through a process known as adaptive optics. Astronomers can make use of an artificial star by shining a powerful laser — seen here projected from the telescope on the far right — to correct for the blurring caused by the atmosphere.

The VLT, as a flagship facility for European astronomy, has opened up a new golden age of discovery in astronomy by making use of the most state-of-the art technologies.

[bystander]

True Blue (UGC 11411)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Jun 15

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA"]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/ ... w1524a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a galaxy known as UGC 11411. It is a galaxy type known as an irregular blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy.

BCD galaxies are about a tenth of the size of a typical spiral galaxy such as the Milky Way, and are made up of large clusters of hot, massive stars that ionise the surrounding gas with their intense radiation. Because these stars are so hot they glow brightly with a blue hue, giving galaxies like UGC 11411 their characteristic blue tint. With these massive stars being less than 10 million years old, they are very young compared to stellar standards. They were created during a starburst, a galaxy-wide episode of furious star formation. UGC 11411 in particular has an extremely high star formation rate, even for a BCD galaxy.

Unusually for galaxies with such intense star-forming regions, BCDs don’t contain either a lot of dust, or the heavy elements that are typically found as trace elements in recently formed stars, making their composition very similar to that of the material from which the first stars formed in the early Universe. Because of this astronomers consider BCD galaxies to be good objects to study to improve our understanding of primordial star-forming processes.

The bright stars in the image are foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.

[starsurfer]

Dumbbell Nebula (M27) widefield
http://www.astrobin.com/180724/
Copyright: Mark Elvov