ASTRONOMY - Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula

 2022 August 1

Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Proccessing: Javier Pobes

Explanation: It's stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillar's appearance is dominated by the dark dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. Dust pillars such as these are actually much thinner than air and only appear as mountains due to relatively small amounts of opaque interstellar dust. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights an interior region of Carina which spans about three light years. Within a few million years, the stars will likely win out completely and the entire dust mountain will evaporate.

ASTRONOMY - Starburst Galaxy M94 from Hubble

 2022 July 31

Starburst Galaxy M94 from Hubble
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Explanation: Why does this galaxy have a ring of bright blue stars? Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). A popular target for Earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years across M94's central region. The featured close-up highlights the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus, prominent inner dust lanes, and the remarkable bluish ring of young massive stars. The ring stars are all likely less than 10 million years old, indicating that M94 is a starburst galaxy that is experiencing an epoch of rapid star formation from inspiraling gas. The circular ripple of blue stars is likely a wave propagating outward, having been triggered by the gravity and rotation of a oval matter distributions. Because M94 is relatively nearby, astronomers can better explore details of its starburst ring.

ASTRONOMY - The Eagle rises

 2022 July 30

The Eagle Rises
Image Credit: Apollo 11, NASA - Stereo Image Copyright: John Kaufmann (ALSJ)

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo view from lunar orbit. The 3D anaglyph was created from two photographs (AS11-44-6633, AS11-44-6634) taken by astronaut Michael Collins during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. It features the lunar module ascent stage, dubbed The Eagle, rising to meet the command module in lunar orbit on July 21. Aboard the ascent stage are Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first to walk on the Moon. The smooth, dark area on the lunar surface is Mare Smythii located just below the equator on the extreme eastern edge of the Moon's near side. Poised beyond the lunar horizon is our fair planet Earth.

PHOTOGRAPHIE - Lever de lune à Socoa

 

Lever de la Lune le 20 octobre 2013 en Pays Basque

Emmanuel LINDEN

LA VOIE LACTEE SUR TERRE - Plateau de Valensole, France

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. 

FuturaSciences

© Delil Geyik

ASTRONOMY - SOFIA's Southern Lights

 2022 July 29

SOFIA's Southern Lights
Image Credit & Copyright: Ian Griffin (Otago Museum)

Explanation: SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry a large reflecting telescope into the stratosphere. The ability of the airborne facility to climb above about 99 percent of Earth's infrared-blocking atmosphere has allowed researchers to observe from almost anywhere over the planet. On a science mission flying deep into the southern auroral oval, astronomer Ian Griffin, director of New Zealand’s Otago Museum, captured this view from the observatory's south facing starboard side on July 17. Bright star Canopus shines in the southern night above curtains of aurora australis, or southern lights. The plane was flying far south of New Zealand at the time at roughly 62 degrees southern latitude. Unfortunately, after a landing at Christchurch severe weather damaged SOFIA requiring repairs and the cancellation of the remainder of its final southern hemisphere deployment.

ASTRONOMY - North Celestial Tree

 2022 July 28

North Celestial Tree
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)

Explanation: An ancient tree seems to reach out and touch Earth's North Celestial Pole in this well-planned night skyscape. Consecutive exposures for the timelapse composition were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod in the Yiwu Desert Poplar Forests in northwest Xinjiang, China. The graceful star trail arcs reflect Earth's daily rotation around its axis. By extension, the axis of rotation leads to the center of the concentric arcs in the night sky. Known as the North Star, bright star Polaris is a friend to northern hemisphere night sky photographers and celestial navigators alike. That's because Polaris lies very close to the North Celestial Pole on the sky. Of course it can be found at the tip of an outstretched barren branch in a postcard from a rotating planet.

LA VOIE LACTEE SUR TERRE - Suisse : le Cervin sommet mythique des alpinistes

Le Cervin culmine à 4478 mètres au-dessus du niveau de la mer, c'est l'une des plus hautes montagnes des Alpes valaisannes en Suisse. En raison de sa silhouette saisissante en forme de pyramide et de son histoire, le Cervin est l'une des montagnes les plus célèbres du monde. C'est le 14 juillet 1865, après diverses tentatives que le britannique Edward Whymper a réussi le premier son ascension.

© Delil Geyik

FuturaSciences

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHIE - La comète Catalina et ses deux queues

Gerald Rhemann, l'auteur de cette photo est un photographe chasseur de comètes plein de talents. Il nous fait découvrir ici la comète Catalina (C/2013 US10) et ses deux queues qui bifurquent. L'auteur rappelle combien ces petits corps célestes sont parmi les objets les plus difficiles à photographier du fait de leur déplacement rapide et des changements brusques de leur chevelure. La photo a été prise en Autriche, le 11 décembre 2015. 

© Gerald Rhemann, IAPY 2016

FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - Comet NEOWISE Rising over the Adriatic Sea

 2022 July 26

Comet NEOWISE Rising over the Adriatic Sea
Video Credit & Copyright: Paolo Girotti

Explanation: This sight was worth getting out of bed early. Two years ago this month, Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) rose before dawn to the delight of northern sky enthusiasts awake that early. Up before sunrise on July 8th, the featured photographer was able to capture in dramatic fashion one of the few comets visible to the unaided eye this century, an inner-Solar System intruder that has become known as the Great Comet of 2020. The resulting video detailed Comet NEOWISE from Italy rising over the Adriatic Sea. The time-lapse video combines over 240 images taken over 30 minutes. The comet was seen rising through a foreground of bright and undulating noctilucent clouds, and before a background of distant stars. Comet NEOWISE remained unexpectedly bright until 2020 August, with its ion and dust tails found to emanate from a nucleus spanning about five kilometers across.