Astronomy - EAGLE NEBULA PILLARS IN INFRARED FROM HUBBLE

 2026 May 31

Eagle Nebula Pillars in Infrared from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing: Luis Romero Ventura

Explanation: Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula. They are gravitationally contracting in pillars of dense gas and dust. The intense radiation of these newly-formed bright stars is causing surrounding material to boil away. This image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in near infrared light, allows the viewer to see through much of the thick dust that makes the pillars opaque in visible light. The giant structures are light years in length and dubbed informally the Pillars of Creation. Associated with the open star cluster M16, the Eagle Nebula lies about 6,500 light years away. The Eagle Nebula is a satisfying target for small telescopes in a nebula-rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).

Géoglyphes - LE GEANT DE WILMINGTON EN ANGLETERRE

Le Géant de Wilmington, appelé traditionnellement Long Man, est un géoglyphe d'Angleterre tracé sur les coteaux pentus de Windover Hill dans le comté de Sussex de l'Est, sur la côte sud de l’Angleterre. C'est une silhouette humaine de presque 69 mètres de hauteur, avec une anamorphose qui donne des proportions correctes lorsque l'on regarde la figure depuis le bas de la colline. Son origine et sa date de réalisation sont inconnues.

© Cupcakekid, CC by-sa 3.0

Astronomy - SUPERMOON VERSUS MICROMOON

2026 May 30

Supermoon Versus Micromoon
Image Credit: Soumyadeep Mukherjee

Explanation: What is so micro about tonight's blue micromoon? Just after sunset, a full moon will appear slightly smaller and dimmer than usual. The reason is that the Moon's fully illuminated phase occurs within a short time of apogee - when the Moon is farthest from the Earth in its elliptical orbit. In fact, tonight's micromoon will be the farthest, smallest, and dimmest Moon this year. But tonight's micromoon is notable for yet another reason: it is also a blue moon, meaning that it is the second full moon in the same month (moon-th). Pictured here, a supermoon -- when the full moon appears near its largest -- is compared to a micromoon as photographed from Kolkata, India in May and December of 2021. Although the next micromoon occurs next month, and the next blue moon at the end of 2028, the next blue micromoon will not occur until 2053. 

Vulcanologie - POPOCATAPL (MEXIQUE)

Avec 5,458 mètres, c'est le deuxième plus grand volcan d'Amérique du nord.

©Getty Images

Astronomy - MESSIER 104

 2026 May 29

Messier 104
Image Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA;
Image Processing: T. A. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF, NOIRLab)

Explanation: A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Still, the spiky foreground stars in this field of view lie well within our own Milky Way. This broad view of the well-known galaxy was processed to reveal M104's extended halo, as well as a faint tidal stellar stream. It was captured by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

Musique - JAKUB NIEWIADOMSKI - BACH - 5 MINI-PIECES

Astronomy - NGC 1514 : THE CRYSTAL BALL NEBULA

 2026 May 28

NGC 1514: The Crystal Ball Nebula
Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: What do you see in this crystal ball? The featured image shows NGC 1514, known as the Crystal Ball Nebula, observed by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, in Hawai'i. NGC 1514 is 1,500 light-years away and was discovered by William Herschel in 1790. This planetary nebula is formed when a star becomes a red giant and ejects its outer gas layers. The ejected shell of gas is heated up by the core of the star to temperatures hotter than the surface of our Sun: that makes the gas shine, creating beautiful images like this one. The slightly asymmetrical shape of the Crystal Ball Nebula reveals a secret: the bright star in the center has a companion. As the two stars orbit each other with a period of about nine years, they shape the gas around them. In about 10,000 - 25,000 years the nebula will be dissipated by their stellar winds.

Géoglyphes - LE CHANDELIER DE PARACAS AU PEROU

Le Chandelier de Paracas (en espagnol : el Candelabro de Paracas) est un géoglyphe à flanc de colline, à 150 mètres de la côte nord de la péninsule de Paracas, une péninsule désertique dans le sud du Pérou à près de 200 km de la capitale Lima.

Quasiment orienté nord-sud, il a la forme d'une sorte de candélabre d'environ 180 mètres de long pour une largeur de 70 mètres. Il a été réalisé en creusant des tranchées dans un sol sableux sur 50 cm de profondeur et en plaçant des pierres sur son pourtour. L'époque de construction du Chandelier n'est pas connue, pas plus que les auteurs du géoglyphe ni leurs motifs.

© Alex Zanuccoli, CC by-sa 2.0 ; abogawat, CC0

Astronomy - PK 164 + 31.1: THE HEADPHONE NEBULA

 2026 May 27

PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller
Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: What is a pair of headphones doing in the sky? Today’s image features the Headphone Nebula, also known as PK 164 +31.1 or Jones-Emberson 1. This planetary nebula, the remnant of a dying Sun-like star, faintly occupies an angular region of the Lynx constellation about 1/5^th the diameter of the full moon. The red and blue-ish green colors trace hydrogen and oxygen atoms, respectively, that have been excited and ionized by the nebula's central white dwarf. The headphone shape, where two lobes of hydrogen puncture the inner region of oxygen, adds this object to a long list of oddly shaped nebulae. The morphology of such strange nebulae hint at the presence of a stellar or planetary companion, which can stir the material flowing out from the dying star. You can listen to Hubble and JWST sonifications of planetary nebulae through your very own headphones!

Astronomy - NGC 3360 AND BURCIN'S GALAXY

 2026 May 26

NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, El Sauce Obs.

Explanation: The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660, a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has several bright blue spiral arms and a central bar of stars, dust, and gas. Captured by chance in the featured deep and colorful image, surprisingly, is SN 2026cff, a supernova found just to the right of the central bar. Farther in the distance is the bottom galaxy, known informally as Burçin’s galaxy, but formally cataloged as LEDA 1000714. The center of this galaxy appears to be an old elliptical galaxy, but it is strangely surrounded by not one but two rings of stars. What created Burçin's galaxy is a mystery and remains a continuing topic of research, but it likely involves the accretion of one or more smaller galaxies.