Solar System

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Planetary nebula Abell 78

More than 11000 years ago, a massive, supergiant star Cassiopeia A came to the end of its life. The star's core collapsed to form an incredibly dense ball of neutrons, and its exterior was blasted away in an immense release of energy astronomers call a supernova.

Saturn's Spring

At the very top of the frame, within the band of the Milky Way, lies a pair of bright stars. These form part of Crux (The Southern Cross), one of the most recognizable constellations in the southern sky. Just below Crux, a dark, irregular shape is silhouetted against the central band of our galaxy. This is a prominent dark nebula lying just 600 light-years away: a giant cloud of molecules so dense it blocks out the light of anything behind it.

This week’s Hubble/ESA Picture of the Week features NGC 7678 — a galaxy located ~ 164 million ly away in the constellation of Pegasus.

 

[Space Lynx]

this is fascinating... after watching it I still don't really understand. so the universe isn't 14 billion years old? well I guess I get it, the measurements are + or - 1 billion years.

but if we have a star that is older than our current estimates, we prob should just adjust the universe estimated age to 15 billion to be safe. lol

 

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Here's latest findings if you want to know about the age/expansion of the Universe

How fast is the universe expanding? Galaxies provide one answer. | Berkeley News

More new cool stuff:

New Images Reveal Magnetic Structures Near Supermassive Black Hole - National Radio Astronomy Observatory (nrao.edu)

A field of sand dunes occupies this frosty 5-km diameter crater in the high-latitudes of the northern plains of Mars. Some dunes have separated from the main field and appear to be climbing up the crater slope along a gully-like form.

This image from NASA’s Juno mission captures the northern hemisphere of Jupiter around the region known as Jet N7. The planet’s strong winds create the many swirling storms visible near the top of its atmosphere.



Just for fun

 

[lexluthermiester]

so the universe isn't 14 billion years old?

No and for several reasons. The primary reason is that not only is the Universe expanding and accelerating, time seems to be accelerating as well. Actually measuring the age of the universe relative to our current time point is going to be a challenge. However, there one estimate that puts the actual age of the universe at nearly 38billion years old. Remember, time is not a constant, it is a variable.

 

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Astronomers found a number of baby stars hiding around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the environment there is too harsh to form stars because of the strong tidal forces, strong magnetic fields, high energy particles, and frequent supernova explosions. These findings indicate that star formation is more resilient than researchers thought. These observations suggest there is ubiquitous star formation activity hidden deep in dense molecular gas, which may allow for the possibility of a future burst of star formation around the Galactic Center.

Stellar Eggs near Galactic Center Hatching into Baby Stars | ALMA (almaobservatory.org)

X-ray from Uranus…

 

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam to take an image of this hill, nicknamed "Rafael Navarro Mountain" after Rafael Navarro-González, an astrobiologist who worked on the mission until he passed away January 26, 2021. He was a member of the team working with Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument.

On March 21, 2021, the large asteroid 2001 FO32 made a close approach with our planet, passing at a distance of ~ 2 million km. While there was no risk of the near-Earth asteroid colliding with Earth as its orbit is very well known, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California took the opportunity to capture these radar images of the asteroid as it tumbled past.

 

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This extraordinary image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy cluster Abell 2813 (also known as ACO 2813) has an almost delicate beauty, which also illustrates the remarkable physics at work within it. The image spectacularly demonstrates the concept of gravitational lensing.

Arabia Terra (Mars)​

This false-color image, taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in 2012, shows an extraordinary outburst from a black hole – where its X-ray output increased at least 3000 times – in the galaxy M83. Chandra observed what is called a ULX, or ultraluminous X-ray source. The remarkable behavior of this ULX in M83 provides direct evidence for a population of older, volatile, stellar-mass black holes.

‘It’s very exciting’: Scientists discover another layer in Earth’s core

For many years, it has been widely believed that the Earth has four layers: the crust, the mantle, the outer core, and the inner core. A group of scientists now claims to have confirmed the existence of Earth’s “innermost inner core.”

www.aol.com

 

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This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.
This is one of six galaxy clusters being studied by the Hubble Frontier Fields program, which produced the deepest images of gravitational lensing ever made.
Scientists used intracluster light (visible in blue) to study the distribution of dark matter within the cluster.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Jupiter in IR is very fascinating!

Speaking of;

 

[Space Lynx]

@lexluthermiester

I think you particular might like this, a summarization of the latest dark matter data compilation of the last 3 years... Dr. Becky is excellent at explaining, and has timestamps so you can skip the parts that you already know about.

 

[lexluthermiester]

@lexluthermiester

I think you particular might like this, a summarization of the latest dark matter data compilation of the last 3 years... Dr. Becky is excellent at explaining, and has timestamps so you can skip the parts that you already know about.

I like Dr Becky. Her channel is already in my list!

 

[Space Lynx]

I like Dr Becky. Her channel is already in my list!

ya she is great, I used to watch dr. tyson, but his channel has mostly become a comedy channel, i learn tons more from Dr Becky. I love when she reviews science movies/shows too... the carl sagan contact movie, she does a "an astrophysicists take on contact" its hilarious at times, insightful at other times. just golden, she is 10/10 deserves a bigger audience honestly.

 

[lexluthermiester]

ya she is great, I used to watch dr. tyson, but his channel has mostly become a comedy channel, i learn tons more from Dr Becky. I love when she reviews science movies/shows too... the carl sagan contact movie, she does a "an astrophysicists take on contact" its hilarious at times, insightful at other times. just golden, she is 10/10 deserves a bigger audience honestly.

Professor Sutter's channel should appeal to you then!

 

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In this view from aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, a pair of the ISS's main solar arrays seemingly drape across the Earth's horizon as the orbital lab soars 271 miles above the south Atlantic in between Argentina and South Africa.

Earth is a pale, blue dot when seen from space because our home planet is 71% water. NASA monitors Earth's water from space, the skies, ground stations on land, ships sailing the seas and even with apps on mobile phones.

While Earth is so wet it looks blue from space, most of that water is saltwater. % of Earth's water is fresh water and nearly all of that water is frozen – locked up in polar ice caps, glaciers and other ice. The small amount of fresh water that remains is all that's available for all the ways we use water.

 

[dorsetknob]

Northern Hemisphere Eclipse mid morning BST Tomorrow 10 June

 

[lexluthermiester]

Northern Hemisphere Eclipse mid morning BST Tomorrow 10 June

Long time no see! Welcome back! Back on topic, you folks over in the UK are going to have a great view of it!

 

[dorsetknob]

Back on topic, you folks over in the UK are going to have a great view of it!

Not so good view in the South the further north you go the more of the Partial eclipse your see

Solar eclipse: Shetland 'will be best place in UK for view'

Shetlanders can expect to have 39% of the Sun obscured during the annular eclipse on Thursday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

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Not so good view in the South the further north you go the more of the Partial eclipse your see

Solar eclipse: Shetland 'will be best place in UK for view'

Shetlanders can expect to have 39% of the Sun obscured during the annular eclipse on Thursday.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not so good view in the South the further north you go the more of the Partial eclipse your see

Solar eclipse: Shetland 'will be best place in UK for view'

Shetlanders can expect to have 39% of the Sun obscured during the annular eclipse on Thursday.

www.bbc.co.uk

Oh I am sorry. Misread an article...

 

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A partial solar eclipse is seen as the Sun rises behind the United States Capitol Building, Thursday, June 10, 2021, as seen from Arlington, Virginia.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

 

[64K]

Scientists Find ‘Monster’ Black Hole So Big They Didn’t Think it Was Possible

Scientists did not think it was possible for a stellar black hole, one that forms from a dying star, to be as large as the “monster” it discovered in our own galaxy.

getpocket.com

 

[lexluthermiester]

Scientists Find ‘Monster’ Black Hole So Big They Didn’t Think it Was Possible

Scientists did not think it was possible for a stellar black hole, one that forms from a dying star, to be as large as the “monster” it discovered in our own galaxy.

getpocket.com

Considering that the universe itself was an enormously massive black-hole to begin with(before the big bang), I'm left wondering why they didn't think it possible.

 

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Picturing Our Solar System's Asteroid Belt​

A spectacular lunar halo — known as a 22° halo — formed in the sky above ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The optical phenomenon is a result of moonlight interacting with millions of ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, forming a ring with an apparent radius of approximately 22° around the moon. It is also known as the “moon ring” or “winter halo”.

 

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Two enormous galaxies capture your attention in this spectacular image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy on the left is a lenticular galaxy, named 2MASX J03193743+4137580. The side-on spiral galaxy on the right is more simply named UGC 2665. Both galaxies lie ~ 350 million ly from Earth, and they both form part of the huge Perseus galaxy cluster.