ASTRONOMY - Little Planet South Pole

 2022 August 26

Little Planet South Pole
Image Credit & Copyright: Aman Chokshi

Explanation: Lights play around the horizon of this snowy little planet as it drifts through a starry night sky. Of course the little planet is actually planet Earth. Recorded on August 21, the digitally warped, nadir centered panorama covers nearly 360x180 degrees outside the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. The southernmost research outpost is near the horizon at the top where the light of dawn is approaching after nearly six months of darkness. Along the bottom is the ceremonial pole marker surrounded by the 12 flags of the original signatories of the Antarctic treaty, with a wild display of the aurora australis above.

ASTRONOMY - Tiangong Space Station Transits the Moon

 2022 August 25

Tiangong Space Station Transits the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Lucy Yunxi Hu

Explanation: The rugged lunar south polar region lies at the top of this colorful portrait of a last quarter Moon made on August 20. Constructed from video frames and still images taken at Springrange, New South Wales, Australia it also captures a transit of China's Tiangong Space Station. The transit itself was fleeting, taking the space station less than a second to cross the shadowed and sunlit lunar disk. The low Earth orbiting Tiangong is at an altitude of about 400 kilometers, while the Moon is some 400,000 kilometers away. Subtle color differences along the bright lunar surface are revealed in the multiple stacked frames. Not visible to the eye, they indicate real differences in chemical makeup across the lunar surface.

ASTRONOMY - The Cartwheel Galaxy from Webb

 2022 August 24

The Cartwheel Galaxy from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Explanation: To some, it looks like a wheel of a cart. In fact, because of its outward appearance, the presence of a central galaxy, and its connection with what looks like the spokes of a wheel, the galaxy on the right is known as the Cartwheel Galaxy. To others, however, it looks like a complicated interaction between galaxies awaiting explanation. Along with the two galaxies on the left, the Cartwheel is part of a group of galaxies about 500 million light years away in the constellation Sculptor. The large galaxy's rim spans over 100,000 light years and is composed of star forming regions filled with extremely bright and massive stars. The Cartwheel's ring-like shape is the result of gravitational disruption caused by a smaller galaxy passing through a large one, compressing the interstellar gas and dust and causing a star formation wave to move out like a ripple across the surface of a pond. The featured recent image of the Cartwheel Galaxy by the Webb Space Telescope reveals new details not only about where stars are forming, but also about activity near the galaxy's central black hole.

ASTRONOMY - Meteor & Milky Way over the Mediterranean

 2022 August 23

Meteor & Milky Way over the Mediterranean
Image Credit & Copyright: Julien Looten

Explanation: Careful planning made this a nightscape to remember. First, the night itself was chosen to occur during the beginning of this year's Perseid Meteor Shower. Next, the time of night was chosen to be before the bright Moon would rise and dominate the night sky's brightness. The picturesque foreground was selected to be a rocky beach of the Mediterranean Sea in Le Dramont, France, with, at the time, île d’Or island situated near the ominously descending central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Once everything was set and with the weather cooperating, all of the frames for this seemingly surreal nightscape were acquired within 15 minutes. What you can't see is that, on this night, the astrophotographer brought along his father who, although unskilled in modern sky-capture techniques, once made it a point to teach his child about the sky.

MERVEILLEUX MONDE SOUS-MARIN - Poissons-clowns de Clark dans leur anémone

Atoll de Fakarava, passe de Tetamanu. Réserve de la biosphère.

Poissons-clowns de Clark (Amphipirion clarkii) au-dessus de l'anémone magnifique (Heteractis magnifica) dans laquelle ils habitent. Immunisés contre ses toxines, ils profitent de l'abri offert par l'anémone contre les prédateurs, qui eux craignent son poison.

© Photographe Alexis Rosenfeld

FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - Earth's Recent Climate Spiral

 2022 August 22

Earth's Recent Climate Spiral
Video Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Explanation: Is our Earth warming? Compared to the past 250 million years, the Earth is currently enduring a relative cold spell, possibly about four degrees Celsius below average. Over the past 120 years, though, data indicate that the average global temperature of the Earth has increased by nearly one degree Celsius. The featured visualization video depicts Earth's recent global warming in graphic terms. The depicted temperatures are taken from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies' Surface Temperature Analysis. Already noticeable by many, Earth's recent warming trend is causing sea levels to rise, precipitation patterns to change, and pole ice to melt. Few now disagree that recent global warming is occurring, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that we humans have created a warming surge that is likely to continue. A continuation could impact many local agricultures and even the global economy. Although there seems to be no simple solutions, geoengineering projects that might help include artificial cloud creation to reduce the amount of sunlight heating the Earth's surface.

ASTRONOMY - The Spinning Pulsar of the Crab Nebula

 2022 August 21

The Spinning Pulsar of the Crab Nebula
Image Credit: NASA: X-ray: Chandra (CXC), Optical: Hubble (STScI), Infrared: Spitzer (JPL-Caltech)

Explanation: At the core of the Crab Nebula lies a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second. Known as the Crab Pulsar, it is the bright spot in the center of the gaseous swirl at the nebula's core. About twelve light-years across, the spectacular picture frames the glowing gas, cavities and swirling filaments near the Crab Nebula's center. The featured picture combines visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope in purple, X-ray light from the Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue, and infrared light from the Spitzer Space Telescope in red. Like a cosmic dynamo the Crab pulsar powers the emission from the nebula, driving a shock wave through surrounding material and accelerating the spiraling electrons. With more mass than the Sun and the density of an atomic nucleus,the spinning pulsar is the collapsed core of a massive star that exploded. The outer parts of the Crab Nebula are the expanding remnants of the star's component gasses. The supernova explosion was witnessed on planet Earth in the year 1054.

MACROPHOTOGRAPHIE - Le pissenlit jamais imaginé

 

Chez le pissenlit, l'ovaire de chaque fleur donne un akène, un fruit sec qui contient une graine.

Chaque akène est surmonté d'un pappus en forme de parachute. Un coup de vent -- ou le passage d'un animal -- et les akènes mûrs se détachent pour être disséminés, parfois sur de longues distances.

Une stratégie poétique mise en œuvre par la nature et magnifiée ici par la photographe japonaise Miki Asai. Une légère brume créée avec les moyens du bord -- un spray usagé pour cheveu -- et une belle goutte d'eau bien ronde délicatement déposée au centre à l'aide d'un compte-goutte. Laissez ensuite simplement agir la magie du reflet arrondi de cette fleur dans l'eau. 

© Miki Asai

MERVEILLEUX MONDE SOUS-MARIN - Banc de poissons dans l'atoll de Fakarava

 

© Photographe Alexis Rosenfeld
FuturaSciences

ASTRONOMY - Stardust and Comet Tails

 2022 August 20

Stardust and Comet Tails
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri (CARA Project, CAST)

Explanation: Heading for its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, on December 19 comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) remains a sight for telescopic observers as it sweeps through planet Earth's skies in the constellation Scorpius. The comet currently sports a greenish coma, long whitish dust tail, and short ion tail in this deep image from August 18. The 2x3 degree wide field of view includes part of the dusty nebula IC 4592 reflecting blue starlight. Also known as the Blue Horsehead Nebula, IC 4592 is about 400 light-years distant while the comet is just under 17 light-minutes away. First spotted at a distance well beyond the orbit of Saturn C/2017 K2 is on its maiden voyage to the inner solar system, a pristine visitor from the remote Oort cloud.