ASTRONOMY - Equinox Sunrise Around the World

 2022 September 30

Equinox Sunrise Around the World
Collage Image Copyright: Luca Vanzella

Explanation: A planet-wide collaboration resulted in this remarkable array of sunrise photographs taken around the September 2022 equinox. The images were contributed by 24 photographers, one in each of 24 nautical time zones around the world. Unlike more complicated civil time zone boundaries, the 24 nautical time zones are simply 15 degree longitude bands corresponding to 1 hour steps that span the globe. Start at the upper right for the first to experience a sunrise in the nautical time zone corresponding to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) + 12 hours. In that time zone, the photographer was located in Christchurch, New Zealand. Travel to the west by looking down the column and then moving to the column toward the left for later sunrises as the time zone offset in hours from UTC decreases. Or, you can watch a video of September 2022 equinox sunrises around planet Earth.

ASTRONOMY - DART Asteroid Impact from Space

2022 September 29

DART Asteroid Impact from Space
Image Credit: ASI / NASA

Explanation: Fifteen days before impact, the DART spacecraft deployed a small companion satellite to document its historic planetary defense technology demonstration. Provided by the Italian Space Agency, the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids, aka LICIACube, recorded this image of the event's aftermath. A cloud of ejecta is seen near the right edge of the frame captured only minutes following DART's impact with target asteroid Dimorphos while LICIACube was about 80 kilometers away. Presently about 11 million kilometers from Earth, 160 meter diameter Dimorphos is a moonlet orbiting 780 meter diameter asteroid Didymos. Didymos is seen off center in the LICIACube image. Over the coming weeks, ground-based telescopic observations will look for a small change in Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos to evaluate how effectively the DART impact deflected its target. 

PHOTOGRAPHIE SOUS-MARINE - Maison de glace

Le ballet des phoques crabiers dans le dédale des icebergs de l’Antarctique. Les phoques trouvent ici du krill en abondance, les eaux des icebergs étant particulièrement riches en nutriments et phytoplancton.

© Greg Lecoeur, UPY 2020
FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - Sea and Sky Glows over the Oregon Coast

 2022 September 4

Sea and Sky Glows over the Oregon Coast
Image Credit & Copyright: Rudy Montoya

Explanation: Every step caused the sand to light up blue. That glow was bioluminescence -- a blue radiance that also lights the surf in this surreal scene captured in mid-2018 at Meyer's Creek Beach in Oregon, USA. Volcanic stacks dot the foreground sea, while a thin fog layer scatters light on the horizon. The rays of light spreading from the left horizon were created by car headlights on the Oregon Coast Highway (US 101), while the orange light on the right horizon emanates from a fishing boat. Visible far in the distance is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, appearing to rise from a dark rocky outcrop. Sixteen images were added together to bring up the background Milky Way and to reduce noise.

MACROPHOTOGRAPHIE - Miki Asai - La patience récompensée

La probabilité est faible pour que deux fourmis se présentent ainsi, l'une face à l'autre, pour se délecter d'une gouttelette d'eau posée sur une tige, exactement au même moment. Pourtant Miki Asai, la photographe japonaise, y a cru. Et il lui aura fallu patienter plus de sept heures durant avant que le miracle de la nature se produise sous ses yeux. Ou plutôt, devant son objectif.

Un cliché qu'on peine à croire authentique tant il semble mis en scène. C'est peut-être là aussi l'un des secrets de Miki Asai. À force d'offrir sa persévérance à la nature en gage de reconnaissance, elle finit par obtenir d'elle les plus fabuleux des cadeaux. 

© Miki Asai

FuturaSciences

VOIE LACTEE SUR TERRE - Ile de La Palma : le Mirador du Roque de los Muchachos

Le Mirador du Roque de los Muchachos est situé au sommet de l'île de La Palma, aux îles Canaries, son altitude est de 2.428 mètres. C'est l'un des meilleurs endroits au monde pour observer les étoiles. Du somment, on peut découvrir un impressionnant paysage la « Caldera de Taburiente » déclaré Parc national, un gigantesque chaudron volcanique de 1.500 mètres de profondeur, parsemé de forêts, de formations rocheuses fascinantes, d'où l'on peut apercevoir Ténérife, El Hiero et La Goma. C'est également un superbe endroit pour les randonneurs. Cette photo a été réalisée avec la technique « Time-blending ».

© Delil Geyik
FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - DART: Impact on Asteroid Dimorphos

 2022 September 27

DART: Impact on Asteroid Dimorphos
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, DART

Explanation: Could humanity deflect an asteroid headed for Earth? Yes. Deadly impacts from large asteroids have happened before in Earth's past, sometimes causing mass extinctions of life. To help protect our Earth from some potential future impacts, NASA tested a new planetary defense mechanism yesterday by crashing the robotic Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into Dimorphos, a small asteroid spanning about 170-meters across. As shown in the featured video, the impact was a success. Ideally, if impacted early enough, even the kick from a small spacecraft can deflect a large asteroid enough to miss the Earth. In the video, DART is seen in a time-lapse video first passing larger Didymos, on the left, and then approaching the smaller Dimorphos. Although the video ends abruptly with DART's crash, observations monitoring the changed orbit of Dimorphos -- from spacecraft and telescopes around the world -- have just begun.

MACROPHOTOGRAPHIE - Miki Asai - Soudain... la Nature se fait abstraite

Des courbes harmonieuses et des nuances de couleurs apaisantes. Cette image a tout d'une œuvre d'art abstrait que l'on pourrait trouver dans un salon dédié à la détente. Pourtant, ce n'est autre qu'une scène offerte par la nature et immortalisée par l'objectif expert de la photographe japonaise Miki Asai.

Pour plonger dans le rêve, inutile de les reconnaître. Mais il ne s'agit là ni plus ni moins que de deux pétales morts et secs, s'enfonçant dans une étendue d'eau. Et pour arrière-plan, le fond d'un écran d'ordinateur. Certes moins poétique, mais d'une redoutable efficacité au moment de parfaire le raffinement qui émane de ce cliché. 

© Miki Asai

FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - All the Water on Planet Earth

 2022 September 26

All the Water on Planet Earth
Illustration Credit: Jack Cook, Adam Nieman, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Data source: Igor Shiklomanov

Explanation: How much of planet Earth is made of water? Very little, actually. Although oceans of water cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface, these oceans are shallow compared to the Earth's radius. The featured illustration shows what would happen if all of the water on or near the surface of the Earth were bunched up into a ball. The radius of this ball would be only about 700 kilometers, less than half the radius of the Earth's Moon, but slightly larger than Saturn's moon Rhea which, like many moons in our outer Solar System, is mostly water ice. The next smallest ball depicts all of Earth's liquid fresh water, while the tiniest ball shows the volume of all of Earth's fresh-water lakes and rivers. How any of this water came to be on the Earth and whether any significant amount is trapped far beneath Earth's surface remain topics of research.

ASTRONOMY - The Fairy of Eagle Nebula

2022 September 25

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Image Credit: Image Credit: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Featured here is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire. The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. This great pillar, which is about 7,000 light years away, will likely evaporate away in about 100,000 years. The featured image is in scientifically re-assigned colors and was taken by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. 

ASTRONOMY - September Sunrise Shadows

 2022 September 24

September Sunrise Shadows
Image Credit & Copyright: Donato Lioce

Explanation: The defining astronomical moment for this September's equinox was on Friday, September 23, 2022 at 01:03 UTC, when the Sun crossed the celestial equator moving south in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. That marked the beginning of fall for our fair planet in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere, when day and night are nearly equal around the globe. Of course, if you celebrate the astronomical change of seasons by watching a sunrise you can also look for crepuscular rays. The shadows cast by clouds can have a dramatic appearance in the twilight sky during any sunrise or sunset. Due to perspective, the parallel shadows will seem to point back to the rising Sun and a place due east on your horizon near the equinox date. Taken on September 15, this sunrise sea and skyscape captured crepuscular rays in the sky and watery specular reflections from the Mediterranean coast near the village of Petacciato, Italy.

ASTRONOMIA - Júpiter está no ponto mais próximo da Terra em 59 anos

Astrónomos calculam que Júpiter vai estar em oposição no final do mês de setembro, um movimento em que está no ponto completamente oposto ao Sol, quando visto da Terra. É a 26 de setembro que o maior planeta do Sistema vai estar também mais próximo do nosso, nos últimos 59 anos.

O fenómeno da oposição acontece em relação a Júpiter a cada 13 meses e as aproximações entre Terra e Júpiter acontecem sensivelmente uma vez por ano. A coincidência temporal destes dois movimentos é, assim, rara, mas irá verificar-se este ano dentro de uma semana, noticia o Space.com.

Com esta coincidência, vai ser possível ver a partir da Terra, com binóculos ou telescópios pequenos e idealmente num local alto, céu escuro e com tempo limpo o gigante gasoso de uma forma brilhante e iluminada. Adam Kobelski, astrofísico da NASA, afirma que “a vista vai ser espetacular durante alguns dias antes e depois do 26 de setembro. Tirem partido de boas condições meteorológicas em qualquer um destes dias para fazer a visualização. Sem ser a Lua, deve ser um dos maiores (se não o maior) objeto brilhante no céu noturno”.

Júpiter demora 4333 dias terrestres a completar uma volta ao Sol, mas as órbitas entre os dois planetas cruzam-se em várias distâncias, em diferentes momentos. Nesta aproximação de agora, o gigante vai estar a 590 milhões de quilómetros da Terra, o ponto mais próximo em 59 anos, em outubro de 1963. No seu ponto mais longínquo, Júpiter chega a distar 960 milhões de quilómetros.

Kobelski lembra que Galileu conseguiu ver Júpiter e as suas luas com instrumentos do século XVII, pelo que a observação a partir da Terra agora será possível mesmo com aparelhos mais modestos.

Visão

ASTRONOMY - NGC 7331 Close Up

 2022 September 22

NGC 7331 Close Up
Image Credit & License: ESA/Hubble & NASA/D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University)

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth. This Hubble Space Telescope close-up spans some 40,000 light-years. The galaxy's magnificent spiral arms feature dark obscuring dust lanes, bright bluish clusters of massive young stars, and the telltale reddish glow of active star forming regions. The bright yellowish central regions harbor populations of older, cooler stars. Like the Milky Way, a supermassive black hole lies at the core of spiral galaxy NGC 7331.

MACROPHOTOGRAPHIE - La rose et les gouttelettes

 

Une rose tout en nuances, mais à l'éclat affirmé. Une tige de fleur d'ail blanc pour la touche de verdure. Seulement cinq gouttelettes d'eau, bien rondes, sans pour autant afficher une forme parfaite. Le regard poétique que Miki Asai, la photographe japonaise, sait si bien porter sur la nature qui nous entoure. Et la magie opère. Le résultat est tout simplement féérique. Une rose, plusieurs fois reflétée, très coquette, aux pétales ajustés, dans le plein rayonnement de sa beauté.

L'occasion peut-être de se souvenir de ces quelques mots du Petit Prince : « Il ne faut jamais écouter les fleurs. Il faut les regarder et les respirer. »

© Miki Asai

FuturaScience

PHOTOMICROGRAPHY - Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans)

 

Composite image of three single-cell freshwater protozoans, sometimes called "trumpet animalcules.”  confocal microscopy was use to capture the detail of the cilia, tiny hairs used by the animals for feeding and locomotion.

NikonsMallworld

ASTRONOMY - The Horsehead Nebula in Infrared from Hubble

 2022 September 21

The Horsehead Nebula in Infrared from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Alexandra Nachman

Explanation: While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the featured gorgeously detailed image was taken in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by high energy starlight.

ASTRONOMY - Star Forming Region NGC 3582 without Stars

2022 September 20

Star Forming Region NGC 3582 without Stars
Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Willocks

Explanation: What's happening in the Statue of Liberty nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming and being liberated. The complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57, and besides the iconic monument, to some looks like a flying superhero or a weeping angel. By digitally removing the stars, this re-assigned color image showcases dense knots of dark interstellar dust, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. A detailed study of NGC 3576, also known as NGC 3582 and NGC 3584, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth.

ASTRONOMY - Star Trails and Lightning over the Pyrenees

 2022 September 19

Star Trails and Lightning over the Pyrenees
Image Credit & Copyright: Marc Sellés Llimós

Explanation: The beauty in this image comes in layers. On the bottom layer is the picturesque village of Manlleu in Barcelona, Spain. The six-minute exposure makes car lights into streaks. The next layer is a mountain -- Serra de Bellmunt -- of Europe's famous Pyrenees. Next up is a tremendous lightning storm emanating from a classically-shaped anvil cloud. The long exposure allowed for the capture of many intricate lightning bolts. Finally, at the top and furthest in the distance are stars. Here, the multi-minute exposure made stars into trails. The trailing effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth, and the curvature of the trails indicates their distance from the north spin pole of the Earth above. Taken after sunset in early June, the lightning storm soon moved off. The stars, though, will continue to circle the poll for as long as the Earth spins -- surely billions of years into the future.

ASTRONOMIA - O telescópio Inouye e o sol com elevado detalhe

 

Sethuraman Panchanathan, diretor da National Science Foundation, que subsidia este telescópio, explica que este “vai transformar a maneira como o planeta prevê e se prepara para eventos como as tempestades solares”.

O Inouye tem estado a enviar pequenas antevisões das imagens que consegue produzir já há algum tempo. O telescópio passou por uma fase de comissionamento de quase um ano, à medida que as equipas iam cooperando para deixar tudo preparado para iniciar a operacionalização. Agora, o telescópio está 100% funcional e deverá começar a enviar imagens com detalhe nunca conseguido com os instrumentos atuais.

VisãoPortugal

MACROPHOTOGRAPHIE - Quand l'aube nous envoie ses tendres pensées

D'un point de vue très prosaïque, les espèces de Gerbera sont parmi les groupes de fleurs les plus coupées -- et donc les plus vendues -- au monde. Certaines servent aussi d'organisme modèle aux biologistes. Mais dans le langage des fleurs, les gerberas symbolisent un amour profond et de tendres pensées.

Et c'est, à n'en pas douter, ce point de vue là que la photographe japonaise Miki Asai a voulu adopter ici. Trois gouttelettes de rosées naturellement posées sur un pétale. Un instant hors du temps immortalisé depuis la fenêtre de sa maison, à la faveur de la douce lumière de l'aube. 

© Miki Asai

FuturaSciences

METEO EXTREME - Orages en Vendée - (2/10)

Dans la nuit du mercredi 24 au jeudi 25 août, des orages se sont abattus sur le département de la Vendée. L’occasion pour les amateurs de photographie de capturer des images incroyables de ce phénomène.

Demotivateur

ASTRONOMY - Galaxy by the Lake

 2022 September 10

Galaxy by the Lake
Image Credit & Copyright: Gerardo Ferrarino

Explanation: This 180 degree panoramic night skyscape captures our Milky Way Galaxy as it arcs above the horizon on a winter's night in August. Near midnight, the galactic center is close to the zenith with the clear waters of Lake Traful, Neuquen, Argentina, South America, planet Earth below. Zodiacal light, dust reflected sunlight along the Solar System's ecliptic plane, is also visible in the region's very dark night sky. The faint band of light reaches up from the distant snowy peaks toward the galaxy's center. Follow the arc of the Milky Way to the left to find the southern hemisphere stellar beacons Alpha and Beta Centauri. Close to the horizon bright star Vega is reflected in the calm mountain lake.

ASTRONOMY - Perseverance in Jezero Crater's Delta

 2022 September 17

Perseverance in Jezero Crater's Delta
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, ASU

Explanation: The Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z captured images to create this mosaic on August 4, 2022. The car-sized robot was continuing its exploration of the fan-shaped delta of a river that, billions of years ago, flowed into Jezero Crater on Mars. Sedimentary rocks preserved in Jezero's delta are considered one of the best places on Mars to search for potential signs of ancient microbial life and sites recently sampled by the rover, dubbed Wildcat Ridge and Skinner Ridge, are at lower left and upper right in the frame. The samples taken from these areas were sealed inside ultra-clean sample tubes, ultimately intended for return to Earth by future missions. Starting with the Pathfinder Mission and Mars Global Surveyor in 1997, the last 25 years of a continuous robotic exploration of the Red Planet has included orbiters, landers, rovers, and a helicopter from planet Earth.

ASTRONOMY - Harvest Moon over Sicily

 2022 September 15

Harvest Moon over Sicily
Image Credit & Copyright: Dario Giannobile

Explanation: For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon was the Harvest Moon. Reflecting warm hues at sunset it rises over the historic town of Castiglione di Sicilia in this telephoto view from September 9. Famed in festival, story, and song Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox. According to lore the name is a fitting one. Despite the diminishing daylight hours as the growing season drew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a full moon shining on from dusk to dawn.

SANTé/MEDECINE - Encore trop de substances nocives dans les dentifrices

Une enquête de 60 millions de consommateurs a analysé la composition de douze produits de blanchiment des dents parmi les dentifrices les plus utilisés par les Français. Elle révèle que les deux tiers des produits en test sont à éviter et qu'aucune étude scientifique n'a validé l'efficacité des quatre autres.

Des substances utilisées pour éclaircir les dents sont pointées du doigt, toutes suspectées d'être cancérogènes. La principale utilisée, le peroxyde d'hydrogène, ne devrait pas représenter plus de 6 % de la composition des dentifrices de l'Union européenne. Cette substance pose entre autres des problèmes d'hypersensibilité dentaire, et présente le risque d'abîmer l'émail.

Plus de la moitié des dentifrices contenait du dioxyde de titane, pourtant interdit comme additif dans les denrées alimentaires depuis cette année. Sous forme de poudre, il est utilisé pour son caractère colorant blanc. Il est classé comme « cancérogène suspecté pour l'Homme de catégorie 2 par inhalation ».

Claire Manière

FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - Waves of the Great Lacerta Nebula

2022 September 14

Waves of the Great Lacerta Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Jarmo Ruuth, Telescope Live; Text: Ata Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic U., Astronomy Minute podcast)

Explanation: It is one of the largest nebulas on the sky -- why isn't it better known? Roughly the same angular size as the Andromeda Galaxy, the Great Lacerta Nebula can be found toward the constellation of the Lizard (Lacerta). The emission nebula is difficult to see with wide-field binoculars because it is so faint, but also usually difficult to see with a large telescope because it is so great in angle -- spanning about three degrees. The depth, breadth, waves, and beauty of the nebula -- cataloged as Sharpless 126 (Sh2-126) -- can best be seen and appreciated with a long duration camera exposure. The featured image is one such combined exposure -- in this case 10 hours over five different colors and over six nights during this past June and July at the IC Astronomy Observatory in Spain. The hydrogen gas in the Great Lacerta Nebula glows red because it is excited by light from the bright star 10 Lacertae, one of the bright blue stars just above the red-glowing nebula's center. The stars and nebula are about 1,200 light years distant. 

MERVEILLEUX MONDE SOUS-MARIN - Tortue verte

Mer Rouge - Egypte. Région de Marsa Alam.

Rencontre d'une plongeuse et d'une tortue verte (Chelonia mydas, green turtle), qui évolue sur de petits fonds sableux couverts d'un herbier de zostères dont elle se nourrit.

© Alexis Rosenfeld

FuturaSciences

VOIE LACTEE SUR TERRE - L'émerveillement du Plateau de Valensole

Des étendues infinies de champs de lavande, des fermes éparses très caractéristiques du plateau de Valensole et un parfum d'ambiance à couper le souffle. À l'est de la Durance, cette région naturelle, située dans les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, au sud-ouest de Digne-les-Bains, près des Gorges du Verdon et du lac de Sainte-Croix au sud, est unique au monde. Son altitude moyenne est de 500 m et il s'étend sur 800 km2. Ces champs de lavande offrent aux visiteurs le calme et la beauté de la nature. À visiter de début juillet à début août, c'est le moment idéal où la lavande fleurit et que les champs s'illuminent d'un bleu violet profond.

© Delil Geyik

FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - A Long Snaking Filament on the Sun

 2022 September 13

A Long Snaking Filament on the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination)

Explanation: Earlier this month, the Sun exhibited one of the longer filaments on record. Visible as the bright curving streak around the image center, the snaking filament's full extent was estimated to be over half of the Sun's radius -- more than 350,000 kilometers long. A filament is composed of hot gas held aloft by the Sun's magnetic field, so that viewed from the side it would appear as a raised prominence. A different, smaller prominence is simultaneously visible at the Sun's edge. The featured image is in false-color and color-inverted to highlight not only the filament but the Sun's carpet chromosphere. The bright dot on the upper right is actually a dark sunspot about the size of the Earth. Solar filaments typically last from hours to days, eventually collapsing to return hot plasma back to the Sun. Sometimes, though, they explode and expel particles into the Solar System, some of which trigger auroras on Earth. The pictured filament appeared in early September and continued to hold steady for about a week.

ASTRONOMY - Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic

 2022 September 12

Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Ščerba

Explanation: What are those red filaments in the sky? They are a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 35 years ago: red sprites. Research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the speed of light. They are quickly followed by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. The featured image was taken late last month from the Jeseniky Mountains in northern Moravia in the Czech Republic. The distance to the red sprites is about 200 kilometers. Red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.

ASTRONOMY - Planets of the Solar System: Tilts and Spins

 2022 September 11

Planets of the Solar System: Tilts and Spins
Video Credit: NASA, Animation: James O'Donoghue (JAXA)

Explanation: How does your favorite planet spin? Does it spin rapidly around a nearly vertical axis, or horizontally, or backwards? The featured video animates NASA images of all eight planets in our Solar System to show them spinning side-by-side for an easy comparison. In the time-lapse video, a day on Earth -- one Earth rotation -- takes just a few seconds. Jupiter rotates the fastest, while Venus spins not only the slowest (can you see it?), but backwards. The inner rocky planets, across the top, most certainly underwent dramatic spin-altering collisions during the early days of the Solar System. The reasons why planets spin and tilt as they do remains a topic of research with much insight gained from modern computer modeling and the recent discovery and analysis of hundreds of exoplanets: planets orbiting other stars.

ASTRONOMY - Interstellar Voyager

 2022 September 9

Interstellar Voyager
Poster Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Voyager

Explanation: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 on a grand tour of the outer planets of the Solar System. They have become the longest operating and most distant spacecraft from Earth. Both have traveled beyond the heliosphere, the realm defined by the influence of the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field. On the 45th year of their journey toward the stars Voyager 1 and 2 reached nearly 22 light-hours and 18 light-hours from the Sun respectively and remain the only spacecraft currently exploring interstellar space. Each spacecraft carries a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk with recordings of sounds, pictures and messages. The Golden Records are intended to communicate a story of life and culture on planet Earth, preserved in a medium that can survive an interstellar journey for a billion years.

ASTRONOMY - North America and the Pelican

 2022 September 8

North America and the Pelican
Image Credit & Copyright: Frank Sackenheim

Explanation: Fans of our fair planet might recognize the outlines of these cosmic clouds. On the left, bright emission outlined by dark, obscuring dust lanes seems to trace a continental shape, lending the popular name North America Nebula to the emission region cataloged as NGC 7000. To the right, just off the North America Nebula's east coast, is IC 5070, whose avian profile suggests the Pelican Nebula. The two bright nebulae are about 1,500 light-years away, part of the same large and complex star forming region, almost as nearby as the better-known Orion Nebula. At that distance, the 3 degree wide field of view would span 80 light-years. This careful cosmic portrait uses narrowband images combined to highlight the bright ionization fronts and the characteristic glow from atomic hydrogen, and oxygen gas. These nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location. Look northeast of bright star Deneb in Cygnus the Swan, soaring high in the northern summer night sky.

ASTRONOMY - Tarantula Stars R136 from Webb

 2022 September 7

Tarantula Stars R136 from Webb
Images Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Explanation: Near the center of a nearby star-forming region lies a massive cluster containing some of the largest and hottest stars known. Collectively known as star cluster NGC 2070, these stars are part of the vast Tarantula Nebula and were captured in two kinds of infrared light by the new Webb Space Telescope. The main image shows the group of stars at NGC 2070's center -- known as R136 -- in near-infrared, light just a bit too red for humans to see. In contrast, the rollover image captures the cluster center in mid-infrared light, light closer to radio waves. Since R136's brightest stars emit more of their light in the near infrared, they are much more prominent on that image. This LMC cluster's massive stars emit particle winds and energetic light that are evaporating the gas cloud from which they formed. The Webb images, released yesterday, shows details of R136 and its surroundings that have never been seen before, details that are helping humanity to better understanding of how all stars are born, evolve and die.

ASTRONOMY - An Iridescent Pileus Cloud over China

 2022 September 6

An Iridescent Pileus Cloud over China
Image Credit & Copyright: Jiaqi Sun （孙嘉琪）

Explanation: Yes, but how many dark clouds have a multicolored lining? Pictured, behind this darker cloud, is a pileus iridescent cloud, a group of water droplets that have a uniformly similar size and so together diffract different colors of sunlight by different amounts. The featured image was taken last month in Pu'er, Yunnan Province, China. Also captured were unusual cloud ripples above the pileus cloud. The formation of a rare pileus cloud capping a common cumulus cloud is an indication that the lower cloud is expanding upward and might well develop into a storm.

ASTRONOMY - Sea and Sky Glows over the Oregon Coast

 2022 September 4

Sea and Sky Glows over the Oregon Coast
Image Credit & Copyright: Rudy Montoya

Explanation: Every step caused the sand to light up blue. That glow was bioluminescence -- a blue radiance that also lights the surf in this surreal scene captured in mid-2018 at Meyer's Creek Beach in Oregon, USA. Volcanic stacks dot the foreground sea, while a thin fog layer scatters light on the horizon. The rays of light spreading from the left horizon were created by car headlights on the Oregon Coast Highway (US 101), while the orange light on the right horizon emanates from a fishing boat. Visible far in the distance is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, appearing to rise from a dark rocky outcrop. Sixteen images were added together to bring up the background Milky Way and to reduce noise.

METEO EXTREME - Un cyclone tropical anormal menacerait la Péninsule Ibérique et la France

Alors que la canicule a sévèrement frappé l’Europe occidentale ces dernières semaines, il n’y a pas que dans les terres que la température a fortement grimpé.

L’océan Atlantique a en effet été le théâtre d’un réchauffement significatif qui risque de ne pas être sans conséquence.

Ainsi, plusieurs experts et autres scientifiques tirent la sonnette d’alarme quant à l’éventualité d’assister à un phénomène naturel de grande ampleur provoqué par ce réchauffement.

C’est notamment le cas de Juan Gonzalez Aleman, météorologue au sein de l’Aemet (Agence espagnole de météorologie), qui affirme sur Twitter qu’un « ouragan » va se former à une « latitude inhabituelle » dans l'Atlantique nord et que celui-ci pourrait bien toucher la péninsule ibérique puis la France.

Le météorologue prévoit deux scénarios possibles. Le premier prédit que ce « cyclone tropical anormal » pourrait affecter l’Espagne. Une hypothèse confirmée par ailleurs par le centre National des Ouragans aux États-Unis. Quant au second, il mise sur un changement de trajectoire de l’ouragan qui cette fois remonterait vers le nord avec le risque de toucher la France.

Si l’expert reconnaît qu’il n’existe aucune certitude car « des processus complexes entrent en jeu », il estime néanmoins qu’il s’agit d’un « problème assez grave et suffisamment représentatif pour surveiller et être attentif ».

Démotivateur

ASTRONOMY - Sun and Moon and ISS

 2022 September 3

Sun and Moon and ISS
Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Letian (Eyes at Night), Jin Ma (Beijing Planetarium)

Explanation: On August 25 Sun and Moon could both be seen in planet Earth's daytime skies. And so could the International Space Station. The ISS crossed the disk of the waning crescent Moon as seen from Shunyi district, Beijing, China at about 11:02 am local time. Some 40 kilometers to the southwest, in Fengtai district, the ISS was seen to cross the Sun's disk too. The solar transit was observed only 29 seconds later. Both transits are compared in these panels, composed of processed and stacked video frames from the two locations. The coordinated captures were made with different equipment, but adjusted to show the Sun and Moon at the same scale. The ISS was at a calculated range of 435 kilometers for the lunar transit and 491 kilometers when passing in front of the Sun.

ASTRONOMY - M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy

2022 September 2

M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Fabian Neyer

Explanation: Find the Big Dipper and follow the handle away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you'll come upon this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. In direct telescopic views, M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye. But this remarkably deep image shows off details of the interacting galaxy's striking colors and galactic tidal debris. The image includes nearly 90 hours of narrowband data that also reveals a vast glowing cloud of reddish ionized hydrogen gas discovered in the M51 system.