Found images: 2017 May

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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!

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A Trip to Mars
ESO Picture of the Week | 2017 May 01

[img3="Credit: ESO/Simon Lowery"]https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1718a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Many ESO Pictures of the Week feature distant cosmic objects — mysterious jumbles of stars, gas, dust and more sitting millions of light-years away. This panorama, however, showcases a somewhat more tangible, but no less glorious, beauty — that of our home planet, Earth.

Captured as the Sun slips below a false horizon of cloud, the sky glows in such a vivid shade of orange that the desert landscape takes on an almost alien appearance. In fact, the Chilean Atacama desert has been used previously by film crews seeking a Mars-like landscape! This other-worldly look is due to the exceptionally arid climate and the site’s complete isolation. The lack of humidity, rain and light pollution together produce both a dusty, rocky landscape and some of the most spectacularly clear skies found anywhere on Earth.

This image was taken by ESO’s Simon Lowery in 2016 from Cerro Armazones, the future home of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The Paranal site, home to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), is just visible beyond the hilltops running across the centre of the frame. The constituent telescopes of the VLT can here be seen alongside the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) on the leftmost hill, whilst the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) sits on an adjacent peak.

[bystander]

A Cosmic Conversation
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2017 May 01

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA"]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives ... w1718a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This image from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a spiral galaxy NGC 5917, perhaps best known for its intriguing interactions with its neighbouring galaxy MCG-01-39-003 (not visible here, but located off the bottom right of the frame — as seen here).

Mass is often confused with weight, but they are very different things. Mass is the very substance of an object and is something one always has, no matter the location. If you fly to the Moon and experience low-gravity conditions, your mass has not changed at all. What has actually changed is your weight, because weight is a force caused by the gravitational attraction of another massive body. Gravity is how objects with mass “talk” to one another. People do weigh less on the Moon, but not because they have lost any body mass — the mass of the Moon is less than that of the Earth, so it exerts a smaller gravitational pull on them.

Understanding mass is vital when it comes to understanding why objects behave the way they do in space. Without mass “talking” via gravity, the planets would not orbit the Sun, and galaxies would not interact as NGC 5917 does with its neighbour. Galaxy interactions can lead to very interesting effects; the galaxies can steal mass — in form of stars, dust and gas — from one another, distort and warp one another’s shape, or trigger immense waves of new star formation. Sometimes, a galactic duo interact so strongly that they end up colliding and merging completely. Unfortunately, if NGC 5917 is destined to merge with its celestial neighbour, it will happen much too far into the future for us to enjoy the spectacle.

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A Cosmic Conversation
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2017 May 01

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA"]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives ... w1718a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This image from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a spiral galaxy NGC 5917, perhaps best known for its intriguing interactions with its neighbouring galaxy MCG-01-39-003 (not visible here, but located off the bottom right of the frame — as seen here). ...

This is part of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 254, it can be seen in its entirety in this image by Adam Block.

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NGC 1770 and N86
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/ ... phy_nebula
Copyright: Michael Sidonio

The supernova remnant N86 is also called the Lionel Murphy Nebula and was given this name by the astronomer Michael Dopita in the 1980's.

[Ann]

This is part of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 254, it can be seen in its entirety in this image by Adam Block.

I prefer Adam Block's image. His picture makes it clear that NGC 5917 is dominated by blue stars, which is not really obvious in the ESA/HEIC image. In Adam Block's picture, we can compare NGC 5917 with a number of yellow galaxies in the field, but in the ESA/HEIC image, the choice of filters makes it quite hard to "read" the picture and the stellar populations of the galaxy.

Adam Block's image also shows us very clearly where the large pink Ha nebulas are located in NGC 5917, but these nebulas are downright hard to spot in the ESA/HEIC image. Also, of course, Adam Blcok's image offers a dramatic portrayal of the amazing interaction between the two components of Arp 254, which is of course completely absent in the ESA/HEIC picture.

Certainly the ESA/HEIC image has a lot to offer when it comes to resolution, but my verdict must be...Adam Block is a fantastic astrophotographer!

Ann

[starsurfer]

This is part of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 254, it can be seen in its entirety in this image by Adam Block.

I prefer Adam Block's image. His picture makes it clear that NGC 5917 is dominated by blue stars, which is not really obvious in the ESA/HEIC image. In Adam Block's picture, we can compare NGC 5917 with a number of yellow galaxies in the field, but in the ESA/HEIC image, the choice of filters makes it quite hard to "read" the picture and the stellar populations of the galaxy.

Adam Block's image also shows us very clearly where the large pink Ha nebulas are located in NGC 5917, but these nebulas are downright hard to spot in the ESA/HEIC image. Also, of course, Adam Blcok's image offers a dramatic portrayal of the amazing interaction between the two components of Arp 254, which is of course completely absent in the ESA/HEIC picture.

Certainly the ESA/HEIC image has a lot to offer when it comes to resolution, but my verdict must be...Adam Block is a fantastic astrophotographer!

Ann

Hubble is great for resolution but people like Adam Block use telescopes that allow a wider field of view that shows more of the space around an object.

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Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944)
http://www.atacama-photographic-observa ... .php?id=65
Copyright: Thierry Demange, Richard Galli and Thomas Petit

The planetary nebula near the top left corner is Hen 2-72.

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Kronberger 24
http://www.cxielo.ch/gallery/f/kn24
Copyright: Martin Rusterholz

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IC 59, IC 63 and NGC 225
http://www.straightontillmorning.me/Ast ... d4n2Bfj/X2
Copyright: Hytham Abu-Safieh

IC 59 and IC 63 are the nebulae in the top right corner and NGC 225 is the open cluster in the bottom left corner with the blue reflection nebula vdB4.

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Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944)
http://www.atacama-photographic-observa ... .php?id=65
Copyright: Thierry Demange, Richard Galli and Thomas Petit
ic2944.jpg
The planetary nebula near the top left corner is Hen 2-72.

http://www.atacama-photographic-observa ... .php?id=69
Copyright: Thierry Demange, Richard Galli and Thomas Petit

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M94
http://outters.fr/wp/m94/
Copyright: Nicolas Outters

This image won the galaxy category of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 competition.

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CG 1
http://www.capella-observatory.com/Imag ... la/CG1.htm
Copyright: Dietmar Böcker, Ernst von Voigt, Stefan Binnewies and Josef Pöpsel

[bystander]

Green and Blue
ESO Picture of the Week | 2017 May 08

[img3="Credit: ESO/S. Fandango"]https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1719.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Sitting amongst the alien landscape of the harsh Atacama, the antennas of the Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) look eerily otherworldly in this ESO Picture of the Week as they are bathed in a neon green light.

This light is actually an in-built function of ALMA, not evidence of alien activity! The array’s antennas have a flashing green light that blinks periodically whilst the antennas are in operation, and does not disturb the radio-wavelength observations. This light is not usually quite so visible — this picture was captured using a 10-second exposure, during which time a green flash occurred and spread throughout the image, creating a stark contrast between the neon green of the antennas and the deep blue of the night sky.

Jagged ice formations known as penitentes can be seen in the foreground. These form at high altitudes where the low pressure and cold temperatures cause an unusual freezing and melting cycle. Penitentes form in a wide range of sizes, from a couple of centimetres up to around five metres. The ones in this picture are fairly small, measuring less than a metre.

[bystander]

Close Encounter
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2017 May 08

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA"]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives ... w1719a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the unusual galaxy IRAS 06076-2139, found in the constellation Lepus (The Hare). Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments observed the galaxy from a distance of 500 million light-years.

This particular object stands out from the crowd by actually being composed of two separate galaxies rushing past each other at about 2 million kilometres per hour. This speed is most likely too fast for them to merge and form a single galaxy. However, because of their small separation of only about 20 000 light-years, the galaxies will distort one another through the force of gravity while passing each other, changing their structures on a grand scale.

Such galactic interactions are a common sight for Hubble, and have long been a field of study for astronomers. The intriguing behaviours of interacting galaxies take many forms; galactic cannibalism, galaxy harassment and even galaxy collisions. The Milky Way itself will eventually fall victim to the latter, merging with the Andromeda Galaxy in about 4.5 billion years. The fate of our galaxy shouldn’t be alarming though: whilst galaxies are populated by billions of stars, the distances between individual stars are so large that hardly any stellar collisions will occur.

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K2-1
http://www.pbase.com/skybox/image/161853696
Copyright: Kevin Quin

This is not a reflection nebula.

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IC 5076
http://www.capella-observatory.com/Imag ... IC5076.htm
Copyright: Josef Pöpsel and Stefan Binnewies

This is a reflection nebula.

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Alnilam and Mintaka
http://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/ ... 5n8vJ2W/X3
Copyright: Marco Lorenzi

Click to view full size image

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Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888)
http://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/crescent-nebula/
Copyright: Don Goldman

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Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392)
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/103
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

Click to view full size image

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Abell 3574
http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au
Copyright: Martin Pugh

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IC 2631
http://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/ic-2631/
Copyright: Don Goldman

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NGC 5084
http://www.astrophoton.com/NGC5084.htm
Copyright: CEDIC
Processing: Bernhard Hubl

Click to view full size image

[bystander]

Feeding a Baby Star with a Dusty Hamburger
ESO Picture of the Week | ALMA | 2017 May 15

[img3="Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/CF Lee et al"]https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1720a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This intriguing image may look like a collection of coloured blobs, but it is actually a high-resolution snapshot of a newborn star enshrouded in dust. Just 1300 light-years away in the Orion Nebula, the star, named HH 212, is remarkably young. The average lifespan of such a low-mass star is around 100 billion years, but this star is only 40 000 years old — truly an infant in stellar terms.

In the cores of the vast molecular clouds in star formation regions, an ongoing battle rages; gravity versus the pressure of gas and dust. If gravity wins, it forces the gas and dust to collapse into a hot dense core that eventually ignites — forming a protostar. All the leftover gas and dust form a spinning disc around this baby star, and in many star systems they eventually coalesce to make planets. Such very young protostellar discs have been hard to image because of their relatively small size, but now the exceedingly high resolution of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) makes it possible to understand the intricate details of star and planet formation.

A closer look at HH 212 reveals a prominent, cool, dark dust lane running through the disc, sandwiched between two brighter regions that are heated by the protostar. The result resembles a cosmic “hamburger”. This is the very first time astronomers have spotted such a dust lane in the earliest phases of star formation, and so it may provide clues as to how planetary systems are born.

Feeding a Baby Star with a Dusty Hamburger
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) | 2017 Apr 20

First Detection of Equatorial Dark Dust Lane in a Protostellar Disk at Submillimeter Wavelength - Chin-Fei Lee et al

• Science Advances 3(4):e1602935 (19 Apr 2017) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602935
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1704.08962 > 28 Apr 2017

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M98
http://www.karelteuwen.be/photo_page.ph ... 4&album=14
Copyright: Karel Teuwen