NASA

Earth’s Richat Structure Image Credit:...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:40:23 -0400

Earth’s Richat Structure

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

space-pics: A composite picture of the Moon...

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:20:17 -0400

space-pics:

A composite picture of the Moon tonight.
http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

Sunbursts

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:20:29 -0400

Sunbursts

the-science-llama: Reflection and Emission Nebulas— Rho...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:40:08 -0400

the-science-llama:

Reflection and Emission Nebulas
— Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

Credit: Gerald Rhemann // Astrostudio

Comet PanSTARRS Anti-Tail Image Credit & Copyright: Marco...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:01:14 -0400

Comet PanSTARRS Anti-Tail

Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Fulle (INAF)

pappubahry: Jupiter’s moon Io, photographed by Voyager 2, 10...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:20:27 -0400

pappubahry:

Jupiter’s moon Io, photographed by Voyager 2, 10 July 1979.

The end of this blog’s Io-thon follows on from yesterday’s post. The photos used in this gif were taken with longer exposures than yesterday’s, so there is a better contrast between Io and the background. Two volcanic eruptions are clearly visible in the top-left: I think that they are from Amirani and Maui. There’s also an eruption on the right-hand side, but as its only lit by reflected light from Jupiter, it requires a lot of brightening to see (NASA’s photojournal shows it here).

You can also see a volcano in the south, tall enough to stay in sunlight even as the surrounding areas fall into darkness.

Yesterday I mentioned the bright spot glinting near the equator. I asked Jason Perry (who used to write an Io blog) about it on Twitter and he said that it “looks like specular reflection off of glassy, cooled lava near Hi’iaka Patera.” So there you go.

M2-9 (Minkowski Butterfly) Credit: Josef Pöpsel, Beate Behle

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:01:17 -0400

M2-9 (Minkowski Butterfly)

Credit: Josef Pöpsel, Beate Behle

The Waterfall and the World at Night Image Credit &...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:40:26 -0400

The Waterfall and the World at Night

Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)

pappubahry: Saturn’s moon Prometheus and the F Ring,...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:20:27 -0400

pappubahry:

Saturn’s moon Prometheus and the F Ring, photographed by Cassini, 29 October 2008.

astronomy-picture-of-the-day: Black Hole-Powered Jets Plow Into...

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:01:20 -0400

astronomy-picture-of-the-day:

Black Hole-Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy.

This composite image of a galaxy illustrates how the intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to generate immense power. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical light obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (gold) and radio waves from the NSF’s Very Large Array (pink).

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Image Credit: NASA

Four X-class Flares Image Credit: NASA, Solar Dynamics...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:40:23 -0400

Four X-class Flares

Image Credit: NASA, Solar Dynamics Observatory, GSFC

Antares & Rho Ophiuchus Region Credit: Philip Perkins

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:20:13 -0400

Antares & Rho Ophiuchus Region

Credit: Philip Perkins

“Probably no stars will physically hit each other. There’s just...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:01:07 -0400

“Probably no stars will physically hit each other. There’s just so much space between the stars, but when Andromeda collides with us it’ll have a huge impact on the Milky Way. Some things will get thrown into the black hole in the middle, some stars will get ripped off and thrown away into space, so it’ll be dramatic. And the entire night sky will change.” - The Universe S1E9 Alien Galaxies

Kepler’s Supernova Remnant in X-Rays Image Credit: X-ray:...

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:40:56 -0400

Kepler’s Supernova Remnant in X-Rays

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/M. Burkey et al. Optical: DSS

stellar-indulgence: N44C Nebula Image credit: NASA and the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:20:18 -0400

stellar-indulgence:

N44C Nebula

Image credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: D. Garnett (University of Arizona)

spaceplasma: X-ray vision tracks lightning bursts Blink and...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:21:02 -0400

spaceplasma:

X-ray vision tracks lightning bursts

Blink and you’ve missed it. Researchers in the US have captured the world’s first X-ray images of lightning, by creating a special camera that can capture radiation at 10 million frames per second. They presented their new findings at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco and they say that this new view of lightning could help to solve some of the mysteries of this spectacular natural phenomenon.

The research was carried out at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing, located in Florida. It is one of the few sites in world where lightning is initiated and studied under controlled conditions. By firing rockets with trailing wires into thunder clouds, scientists are able to generate electric fields that are large enough to trigger bolts of lightning, which then propagate back down towards the rocket launch tower.

Joseph Dwyer and colleagues at the Florida Institute of Technology became interested in the fact that lightning emits X-rays as it propagates through the air, a phenomenon that was only noted in the past decade. But given that X-ray sources in lightning travel through the Earth’s atmosphere at velocities approaching the speed of light, it is difficult to catch them on camera before they disappear. In addition, they cannot be imaged with standard mirrors and lenses because huge amounts of material are required to prevent X-rays and gamma rays from entering through the sides of a camera.

Dwyer’s team has created a customized camera that has 30 detectors made from a combination of sodium iodide and photomultiplier tubes, each measuring 3 × 3 inch. The device, which is approximately the size of a standard refrigerator, is also equipped with a 3 inch pinhole aperture, and can record X-rays at 10 million frames per second. “This is actually a very old technique for making images, like that seen in a camera obscura,” Dwyer says.

During July and August this year, Dwyer’s team studied four rocket-triggered lightning flashes at the Florida test site. Each flash lasted for approximately two seconds and the resulting sequences of images revealed that X-rays emerged primarily from the vicinity of the lightning tip as it propagated towards the Earth. As the lightning crashed into the control tower it also triggered large bursts of gamma radiation, which were also captured by the camera.

“For the first time we’re catching a glimpse of lightning in the X-ray emission,” says Dwyer. “We’re seeing lightning as Superman would see it with his X-ray vision”.

Credit: James Dacey/physicsworld.com

NGC 7008 in Cygnus Credit: Stefan Heutz, Stefan Binnewies,...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:01:24 -0400

NGC 7008 in Cygnus

Credit: Stefan Heutz, Stefan Binnewies, Josef Pöpsel

NGC 5189 (The Spiral Planetary) in Musca Credit: Rainer...

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:41:47 -0400

NGC 5189 (The Spiral Planetary) in Musca

Credit: Rainer Sparenberg, Stefan Binnewies, Volker Robering

Galaxy Collisions: Simulation vs Observations Images Credit:...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:20:23 -0400

Galaxy Collisions: Simulation vs Observations

Images Credit: NASA, ESA; Visualization: Frank Summers (STScI); Simulation: Chris Mihos (CWRU) & Lars Hernquist (Harvard).

Messier 97: Owl Nebula

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:20:21 -0400

Messier 97: Owl Nebula