Starship Asterisk*

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_240919.jpg The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus https://asterisk.apod.com/download/file.php?id=50303&t=1 Thanks for putting the Seahorse in perspective, Jac! :D It is right next to the Giant Squid inside the Flying Bat nebula! https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/prox...

RMG - Astronomy Photographer of the Year www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/exhibition Royal Museums Greenwich (London): Astronomy Photographer of the Year is an annual competition featuring the world’s greatest space photography. Photographers from across the globe compete to take ...

Yes, I can see the mermaid! :D https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/Mermaid_Corke_1080.jpg APOD 18 September 2024 annotated.png APOD Robot wrote: (T)he Mermaid Nebula makes up part of an unusual subclass of supernova remnants that are two-sided and nearly circular. Like the Veil Nebula, you mean? h...

What I find interesting about this image is that we can see large-scale structures in the shape of long twisted "tubes", and then there is a lot of small-scale turbulence inside those tubes. What keeps the small-scale turbulence contained inside those long tubes? Ann It's important to dis...

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/HeartMelotte_McInnis_960.jpg What I find interesting about this image is that we can see large-scale structures in the shape of long twisted "tubes", and then there is a lot of small-scale turbulence inside those tubes. What keeps the small-scale turb...

NASA’s Webb Peers Into Digel Cloud 1/2 in the Extreme Outer Galaxy universetoday.com | Original release 2024 September 13 https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/weic2422a-2000x1200.jpg The Milky Way’s outer reaches are coming into view thanks to the JWST. Astronomers pointed the p...

The Lady in the Moon is so much more obvious!


Ann

Yes, I like it! :D Today's APOD is what Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa would have looked like, if Leonardo had painted her with large pixels (or big filled circles) instead of brush strokes, and if he had used too few pixels or circles! https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/Moonalisa_Example1024.jpg ...

I said in my previous post in this thread that I could see no signs of planet formation in the disk around a young star inside NGC 1333. But what would such signs look like? The way I understand it, a newly formed planet would reveal itself as a gap in a protoplanetary disk, and the young planet wil...

On the lower right, is this a planetary disk seen edge-on ? It is clearly a disk of some sort. APOD 12 September 2024 detail.png I'd say it's the the accretion disk, or the remnant of the accretion disk, around a young star. No obvious signs of planet formation can be seen at this resolution and ma...

Using the X-ray point sources from the Massive Young star-forming complex Study in Infrared and X-rays (MYStIX) survey of OB-dominated region, the Lagoon Nebulae (1.3 kpc = app. 4200 ly) is closer then the omega nebulae ( 2.0 kpc = app. 6500 ly). Thanks, Jac! I guess you are referring to this paper...

I don't think we see much dust in this narrowband image. Most of the surrounding structure appears to be ionized hydrogen. All right - all the details in the surrounding chaotic gas, then? Or maybe the gas is not even chaotic, just turbulent? Ann Well...quite colorfull making of... :lol2: https://y...

A deep view into the area around Sh2-140 in Cepheus https://astrophoto-hannover.de/downloads/Sh2-140_by_Markus_Horn_thumb_2.jpg (Thumb only) >>>High Resolution: https://astrophoto-hannover.de/downloads/Sh2-140_by_Markus_Horn.jpg I had seen images showing faint gas and dust clouds surrounding Sh2-14...

Can you tell me more about the Lagoon and Omega Nebulae, particularly their distance from Earth and their role in star formation? Block Blast Well, that is an interesting task you charged me with! I'll se what I can do. First, let's take a look at the visual appearance of these two nebulas: https:/...

What I like about this APOD is all the details in the surrounding dust. I don't think we see much dust in this narrowband image. Most of the surrounding structure appears to be ionized hydrogen. All right - all the details in the surrounding chaotic gas, then? :wink: Or maybe the gas is not even ch...

What I specifically like about the APOD is all the "pillars" pointing at Sigma Orionis. Sigma Orionis is a hot O-type star, which, because of its harsh stellar wind and intense ultraviolet light, has cleared a "bubble" around itself. But at the margins of this bubble, "pill...

What I like about this APOD is all the details in the surrounding dust. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/OrionOrange_Grelin_1080.jpg APOD 10 September 2024 annotated.png Note the "pillars" pointing at Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula is one of those pillars. What I specifically lik...

Expert explains evidence for planetary formation through gravitational instability phys.org | Original release 2024 September 04 https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/3-questions-evidence-f.jpg The canonical theory for planet formation in circumstellar disks proposes that planets are grown from...

Yes, that's a nice portrait of the most-photographed non-Milky Way galaxy of them all! https://i.etsystatic.com/11004185/r/il/61a596/2228500727/il_680x540.2228500727_lcu4.jpg https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/M31_HstSubaruGendler_960.jpg But, as is the case in all beauty contests, it is importan...

Neptune and Uranus are much the same pale cyan hue, and the processes that cause this color - atmospheric methane that absorbs infrared light - are much the same. Absorbing IR cannot make anything look blue. That requires absorbing longer visible wavelengths, like red and yellow. We are seeing all ...

So, Neptune's atmospheric methane both absorbs infrared (getting warmer I suppose), and then also emits infrared that is visible to JWST here? Or is it only the "High altitude clouds that reach above most of Neptune's absorbing methane" that we are seeing here? (And that also must be emit...

Very nice APOD of the Needle Eye Galaxy and friends! So why is it called the Needle Eye Galaxy? It is because one side of its disk contains a large void like an extremely big eye of a needle! https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/NGC247-Hag-Ben1024.JPG APOD 5 September 2024 annotated.png R. Wagner-...

Very nice APOD of the Needle Eye Galaxy and friends! So why is it called the Needle Eye Galaxy? It is because one side of its disk contains a large void like an extremely big eye of a needle! https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/NGC247-Hag-Ben1024.JPG APOD 5 September 2024 annotated.png R. Wagner-K...

Can't see a bat 🦇 in the Veil Nebula, but I know one thing - there is an evil grinning Joker there. [...] Ann Maybe this nebula should be better called Batman Nebula :evil: . https://preview.redd.it/the-bat-nebula-aka-eastern-veil-nebula-v0-n7wdy8fr2so81.jpg?width=1854&format=pjpg&auto=webp...

Can't see a bat 🦇 in the Veil Nebula, but I know one thing - there is an evil grinning Joker there. 😈 🤡 Grinning Joker in the Veil Nebula Brian Ventrudo.png A grinning Joker in the Veil Nebula. Credit: Brian Ventrudo. Joker profile by Gossamer1970.png Joker profile. Credit: Gossamer1970. Ann P.S. I ...