ASTRONOMY - NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula

 2024 October 30

NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Chad Leader

Explanation: What created this huge space bubble? Blown by the wind from a star, this tantalizing, head-like apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply as the Bubble Nebula. The featured striking view utilizes a long exposure to reveal the intricate details of this cosmic bubble and its environment. Although it looks delicate, the 10 light-year diameter bubble offers evidence of violent processes at work. Seen here above and right of the Bubble's center, a bright hot star is embedded in the nebula's reflecting dust. A fierce stellar wind and intense radiation from the star, which likely has a mass 10 to 20 times that of the Sun, has blasted out the structure of glowing gas against denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud. The intriguing Bubble Nebula lies a mere 11,000 light-years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.

MUSIC - Jean-Sébastien Bach - Magnificat - (Jordi Savall)

"Magnificat"

LES NUAGES DIEUX DU CIEL - La formation du nuage lenticulaire

L'altocumulus lenticularis, ou nuage lenticulaire, est un nuage stationnaire, en forme de profil d'aile d'avion, qui se forme sous le vent des montagnes, signant la présence d'un ressaut ou onde. En réalité, il se forme en permanence du côté du vent et se dissout de l'autre côté, réalisant un nuage stationnaire contrastant avec un vent fort. Il se trouve souvent en empilements de plusieurs exemplaires formant une pile d'assiettes. Il est apprécié des vélivoles (ceux qui pratiquent le vol à voile) car il montre la présence d'une ascendance stable et puissante. Il est parfois cité par les sceptiques comme un stimulus possible à l'origine de visions d'ovnis. Cependant, il semblerait qu'à l'heure actuelle aucun cas de la casuistique ufologique de ce type n'ait été identifié avec certitude.

Texte d'après Wikipédia © DR

ASTRONOMY - NGC 602: Stars Versus Pillars from Webb

2024 October 29

NGC 602: Stars Versus Pillars from Webb
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)

Explanation: The stars are destroying the pillars. More specifically, some of the newly formed stars in the image center are emitting light so energetic that is evaporating the gas and dust in the surrounding pillars. Simultaneously, the pillars themselves are still trying to form new stars. The whole setting is the star cluster NGC 602, and this new vista was taken by the Webb Space Telescope in multiple infrared colors. In comparison, a roll-over image shows the same star cluster in visible light, taken previously by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 602 is located near the perimeter of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a small satellite galaxy of our Milky Way galaxy. At the estimated distance of the SMC, the featured picture spans about 200 light-years. A tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible -- mostly around the edges -- that are at least hundreds of millions of light-years beyond. 

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - Coral Reef : un nouveau village pour Haïti

Après tous les désastres sismiques, Haïti est à reconstruire et le projet Coral Reef a pour objectif de bâtir un millier de logements préfabriqués en bord de mer, autonomes en énergie. À partir d'un module unique, l'ensemble prend la forme de deux vagues, inspirées des récifs coralliens, ménageant un espace central qui abrite un milieu naturel.

© Vincent Callebaut

ASTRONOMY - A Glowing River over France

 2024 October 28

STEVE: A Glowing River over France
Credit & Copyright: Louis LEROUX-GÉRÉ

Explanation: Sometimes a river of hot gas flows over your head. In this case the river created a Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE) that glowed bright red, white, and pink. Details of how STEVEs work remain a topic of research, but recent evidence holds that their glow results from a fast-moving river of hot ions flowing over a hundred kilometers up in the Earth's atmosphere: the ionosphere. The more expansive dull red glow might be related to the flowing STEVE, but alternatively might be a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc, a more general heat-related glow. The featured picture, taken earlier this month in Côte d'Opale, France, is a wide-angle digital composite made as the STEVE arc formed nearly overhead. Although the apparition lasted only a few minutes, this was long enough for the quick-thinking astrophotographer to get in the picture -- can you find him?

LES NUAGES DIEUX DU CIEL - Stratocumulus en Nouvelle-Zélande

Stratocumulus photographiés en Nouvelle-Zélande. 

© John Day, Cloudman's Gallery, www.cloudman.com

ASTRONOMY - LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula

 2024 October 27

LDN 43: The Cosmic Bat Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby; Text: Michelle Thaller (NASA's GSFC)

Explanation: What is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy? One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic bat flying amongst the stars on a dark Halloween night. Located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. Far from being a harbinger of death, this 12-light year-long filament of gas and dust is actually a stellar nursery. Glowing with eerie light, the bat is lit up from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars.

VILLES BIONIQUES DU FUTUR - Dragonfly : un projet bionique pour New York

Ces deux ailes de libellule forment un ensemble d'habitation, de travail et de production agricole. Conçu pour New York et ses fortes fluctuations de température, ce prototype ménage en son centre un immense volume fermé par un voile de verre et d'acier. Les lieux habités se trouvent sur la circonférence des ailes et l'espace entre les deux constitue une serre où prennent place des cultures variées. La moitié de l'énergie vient du bouclier photovoltaïque sur la proue sud et l'autre de trois éoliennes.

© Vincent Callebaut

ASTRONOMY - Phantoms in Cassiopeia

 2024 October 26

Phantoms in Cassiopeia
Image Credit & Copyright: Christophe Vergnes, Hervé Laur

Explanation: These brightly outlined flowing shapes look ghostly on a cosmic scale. A telescopic view toward the constellation Cassiopeia, the colorful skyscape features the swept-back, comet-shaped clouds IC 59 (left) and IC 63. About 600 light-years distant, the clouds aren't actually ghosts. They are slowly disappearing though, under the influence of energetic radiation from hot, luminous star gamma Cas. Gamma Cas is physically located only 3 to 4 light-years from the nebulae and lies just above the right edge of the frame. Slightly closer to gamma Cas, IC 63 is dominated by red H-alpha light emitted as hydrogen atoms ionized by the hot star's ultraviolet radiation recombine with electrons. Farther from the star, IC 59 shows less H-alpha emission but more of the characteristic blue tint of dust reflected star light. The field of view spans over 1 degree or 10 light-years at the estimated distance of the interstellar apparitions.