This circular feature on the left side of this image is an interstellar bubble called N44F. It is being inflated by a torrent of fast-moving particles from an exceptionally hot star once buried inside this cold, dense cloud.
(Check out what the Hubble Telescope captured on your birthday here : link)
Spectacular image of the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s located around 45 million light-years from Earth, residing in the constellation Pegasus.
I don’t know about you, but this is one of the sexiest pictures of a galaxy I’ve ever seen. This galaxy knows it’s fine af—showing off its lovely and colorful swirling arms. Fuck me.
The James Webb telescope successfully launched this morning, roughly 31.5 years after Hubble. In the following six months it will open up like a giant origami eye and begin to peer into the distant and early universe, trying to catch a glimpse of the birth of galaxies. It will drink infrared light like wine, light emitted by some of the very first stars—now long dead—so old it has stretched past the lower limits of the visible spectrum. There’s a clever comparison in there about a “new star in the sky” this Christmas Day, or, moving outside the Christian paradigm into the older and deeper imagery of light returning to the northern hemisphere, some additional poetic parallels, but it’s been days of prepping for the holiday, and I’m too exhausted to spin the words to do it. I can only hope that when those first images come in, they reveal wonders as awe-inspiring as Hubble did 25 years before.
The sun shield has successfully deployed on the first try! Mirrors should unfold by the end of the week. Pins and needles here.
I’m not sure why, but I can’t help but think of the “wine dark sea” every time I imagine the search for infrared remnants of long dead stars in the vastness of space.
The James Webb telescope successfully launched this morning, roughly 31.5 years after Hubble. In the following six months it will open up like a giant origami eye and begin to peer into the distant and early universe, trying to catch a glimpse of the birth of galaxies. It will drink infrared light like wine, light emitted by some of the very first stars—now long dead—so old it has stretched past the lower limits of the visible spectrum. There’s a clever comparison in there about a “new star in the sky” this Christmas Day, or, moving outside the Christian paradigm into the older and deeper imagery of light returning to the northern hemisphere, some additional poetic parallels, but it’s been days of prepping for the holiday, and I’m too exhausted to spin the words to do it. I can only hope that when those first images come in, they reveal wonders as awe-inspiring as Hubble did 25 years before.
Alexander wept when he heard Anaxarchus discourse about an infinite number of worlds, and when his friends inquired what ailed him, “Is it not worthy of tears,” he said, “that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?”
- “On Tranquility of Mind,” from Plutarch’s Moralia
TheVeil Nebula is a cloud of heated ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus, and makes up the visible portion of the Cygnus Loop, a large but faint supernova remnant, which exploded 5,000-8,000 years ago.
“Located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), this giant cloud of glowing interstellar gas is a stellar nursery that is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. Although the name definitely suits the beauty of this object, “lagoon” does suggest tranquillity and there is nothing placid about the high-energy radiation causing these intricate clouds to glow. The massive stars hiding within the heart of the nebula give off enormous amounts of ultraviolet radiation, ionising the gas and causing it to shine colourfully, as well as sculpting the surrounding nebula into strange shapes. The result is an object around four to five thousand light-years away which, on a clear night, is faintly visible to the naked eye.”
TheEagle Nebula is a region of star formation, ranging at about 90 trillion kilometers long. To put to scale, that’s the equivalent of approximately 2,250,000,000 Earth’s. One of the large regions inside of the nebula is a star forming region referred to as “The Pillars of Creation” (seen above), which evidence suggests may have already been destroyed by a supernova that exploded some eight to nine thousand years ago. However, the light from this massive event will not reach Earth for another millennium.
The Carina Nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the sky, and contains several open star clusters within it’s boundaries. Measuring at nearly four times the size of the Orion Nebula, it is located in the Southern region of the Sky. Inside lies Eta Carinae, a luminous hypergiant star with a mass ranging from 100 to 150 times that of out Sun, and four million times as bright.
TheTarantula Nebula, also known as NGC 2070, was thought to be a star until in 1751 when Nicolas Louis de Lacaille recognized its nebular nature. As an extremely luminous non-stellar object, it is so bright that if it were as close as the Orion Nebula, it would cast shadows on Earth.
TheCrab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula found in the constellation of Taurus. At it’s center lies a neutron star 28-30km across, that emits radiation from gamma rays to radio waves. It is not visible to the naked eye, but can be seen using a telescope or binoculars.
TheHelix Nebula is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation of Aquarius. Sometimes referred to as the “Eye of God”, it is one of the closest planetary nebula to Earth.
TheOrion Nebula, seen in the photos above, is one of the most photographed and scrutinized objects in the night sky. Visible to the naked eye, it’s located just south of Orion’s Belt in the Constellation of Orion.
