ASTRONOMY - Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Fragments

 2023 September 3

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Fragments
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU / APL), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI)

Explanation: Periodic comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 has broken up at least twice. A cosmic souffle of ice and dust left over from the early solar system, this comet was first seen to split into several large pieces during the close-in part of its orbit in 1995. However, in the 2006 passage, it disintegrated into dozens of fragments that stretched several degrees across the sky. Since comets are relatively fragile, stresses from heat, gravity and outgassing, for example, could be responsible for their tendency to break up in such a spectacular fashion when they near the hot Sun. The Hubble Space Telescope recorded, in 2006, the featured sharp view of prolific Fragment B, itself trailing a multitude of smaller pieces, each with its own cometary coma and tail. The picture spans over 3,000 kilometers at the comet's distance of 32 million kilometers from planet Earth.

ASTRONOMY - NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula

 2023 September 2

NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

Explanation: These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminescence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years.

ASTRONOMY - The Crew-7 Nebula

 2023 August 31

The Crew-7 Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Seeley

Explanation: Not the James Webb Space Telescope's latest view of a distant galactic nebula, this illuminated cloud of gas and dust dazzled early morning spacecoast skygazers on August 26. The snapshot was taken about 2 minutes after the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on the SpaceX Crew-7 mission, the seventh commercial crew rotation mission for the International Space Station. It captures drifting plumes and exhaust from the separated first and second stage illuminated against the still dark skies. Near the center of the image, within the ragged blueish ring, are two bright points of light. The lower one is the second stage of the rocket carrying 4 humans to space in a Crew Dragon spacecraft. The bright point above is the Falcon 9 first stage booster orienting itself for the trip back to Landing Zone-1 at Cape Canaveral, planet Earth.

ASTRONOMIE - Les plus beaux astres de la voie lactée - Mars

Planète externe la plus proche de notre Terre, Mars passionne les astronautes. Cette représentation de la Planète rouge est une mosaïque assemblée à partir d'images prises par l'orbiteur Viking 1 le 22 février 1980. Il s'agit du deuxième vaisseau à se poser sur Mars et à réussir sa mission. On peut apercevoir Valles Marineris, qui fait presque 4.000 km de long.

© Nasa, Wikimedia Commons, DP

VEGETAUX - Cyprès dans la brume - Cyprès chauve - Texas - USA

 

Le sud-est des États-Unis compte de nombreux marais, lacs et bayous où de grands cyprès chauves émergent de l'eau. La photo a été prise depuis un kayak à l'aube brumeuse sur un lac à l'est du Texas.

© Doron Talmi 

ASTRONOMY - Full Moons of August

 2023 August 30

Full Moons of August
Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Tumino

Explanation: Near perigee, the closest point in its almost moonthly orbit, a Full Moon rose as the Sun set on August 1. Its brighter than average lunar disk was captured in this dramatic moonrise sequence over dense cloud banks along the eastern horizon from Ragusa, Sicily. Illuminating night skies around planet Earth it was the second supermoon of 2023. Yet again near perigee, the third supermoon of 2023 will also shine on an August night. Rising as the Sun sets tonight this second Full Moon in August will be known to some as a Blue Moon, even though scattered sunlight gives the lunar disk a reddened hue. Defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, blue moons occur only once every 2 or 3 years. That's because lunar phases take 29.5 days, almost a calendar month, to go through a complete cycle. Tonight an August Blue Moon will find itself beside bright planet Saturn.

ASTRONOMY - Unusual Spiral Galaxy M66 from Webb

 2023 August 29

Unusual Spiral Galaxy M66 from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, JWST; Processing: Brian Tomlinson

Explanation: Why isn't spiral galaxy M66 symmetric? Usually, density waves of gas, dust, and newly formed stars circle a spiral galaxy's center and create a nearly symmetric galaxy. The differences between M66's spiral arms and the apparent displacement of its nucleus are all likely caused by previous close interactions and the tidal gravitational pulls of nearby galaxy neighbors M65 and NGC 3628. The galaxy, featured here in infrared light taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, spans about 100,000 light years, lies about 35 million light years distant, and is the largest galaxy in a group known as the Leo Triplet. Like many spiral galaxies, the long and intricate dust lanes of M66 are seen intertwined with the bright stars and intergalactic dust that follow the spiral arms.

MUSICA - Chris Botti - Ave Maria / Caruso

"Ave Maria / Caruso"

MUSIC - Chris Botti & Yo-Yo Ma - Cinema Paradiso

"Cinema Paradiso"

ASTRONOMY - Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula

 2023 August 28

Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks

Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590. Formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and dense Bok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through narrow-band filters. It combines emission from the nebula's hydrogen and oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and blue colors. The scene spans well over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.