Official Space is Awesome Thread

[vaca22]

It's highly unlikely that any of the hundreds of billions of stars in the two galaxies will collide given the vast distances between them.

 

 

I had to think about that for a while. That's amazing.

[Argonne69]

In the heart of the Orion Nebula lies the Trapezium, four hot, massive stars within a region ~3 light-year across. Astronomers believe there is a black hole 100 times the mass of the Sun within the cluster. The stars orbit the black hole at very high velocities. The nebula is ~1500 light years away, which would make the black hole the closest known one to planet Earth.

 

 

Image: NASA/ESA

[Argonne69]

Comet 21P passing between the Rosette (upper left) and Cone (lower right) nebulas.

 

 

Image: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

[Argonne69]

NGC 1672, the Barred Spiral Galaxy. The galaxy is located 60 million light years away, and spans ~75,000 light years across. It's amazing to think that photons that left the stars in this galaxy shortly after the dinosaurs went extinct are reaching us now.

 

 

Image: NASA/ESA

[Argonne69]

Aurora: A Frog's Eye View

 

 

Image: Mia Stalnacke

[Argonne69]

The Falcon 9 Nebula. Taken ~3 miles north of Vandenburg Air Force Base, the image shows the plumes and exhaust from the first and second stage of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket launching in the early morning of October 7th.

 

 

Image: Brian Haidet

[Argonne69]

The Orion Nebula in red (hydrogen and sulfur) and blue (oxygen).

 

 

Image: David Lindemann

[Argonne69]

The surface of asteroid Ryugu taken by the lander MASCOT.

 

 

Image: DLR/CNES

 

During descent. Note the shadow of the lander in the upper right.

 

 

Image: German Aerospace Center (DLR)

[Argonne69]

The flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket viewed from Solana Beach near San Diego on 10/7/18.

 

 

Image: Jack Fusco

[bscinstnct]

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/huge-alien-planets-detected-around-baby-star-first-time-ever-ncna921196

 

Huge alien planets detected around baby star for first time ever

[Argonne69]

Jupiter taken in ultraviolet from Hubble. Ganymede is in the upper left.

 

 

Image: NASA, ESA

[Argonne69]

M15, a dense globular star cluster. Home of 100,000 stars, the 13 billion year old structure is located just outside the Milky Way ~35,000 light years away. It is ~200 light-years in diameter, but more than half of the stars are packed into the central area 10 light-years across, making it one of the densest concentrations of stars known.

 

By comparison, there are only 5 stars located within 5 light-years of Earth.

 

 

Image: Bernhard Hubl

[nogamejames]

Anyone who even has a slight interest in space you need to be watching John Michael Godier on YouTube. He's a sci-fi author that reports on astronomy news in a straightforward manner.

 

I always view this thread and thanks for posting so many pics

[Argonne69]

Apollo 12's mission commander, Pete Conrad, inspects the Surveyor 3 lander, a robot that had landed on the Moon three years earlier. The lunar module is visible in the distance.

 

 

Image: Apollo 12, NASA

[Argonne69]

NGC 6543, the Cat's Eye Nebula. The central region is ~3 light-years in diameter.

 

 

Image: Michael Joner, Romano Corradi, NASA

[Argonne69]

The Milky Way and Andromeda (upper left) taken in Moab, UT.

 

 

Image: Brad Goldpaint

[Argonne69]

The Big Dipper at the heart of an aurora taken in Sirkka, Finland.

 

 

Image: Nicolas Lefaudeux

[Argonne69]

The spiral galaxy NGC 3521, located ~26 million light-years from Earth.

 

 

Image: Steven Mohr

[Argonne69]

The August 2017 solar eclipse. Mars can be seen at the right, and the blue star Regulus is upper left of the Moon/Sun.

 

 

Image: Nicolas Lefaudeux

[Argonne69]

Corona Australis Dust Complex (NGC 6726-27-29)

 

 

Image: Mario Cogo

[Argonne69]

NASA's Kepler space telescope was retired on Tuesday after running out of fuel. It was launched in 2009, and discovered nearly 2,700 exoplanets in distant star systems. It was originally planned to be operational for 4 years. Rather than burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, the telescope will be put into a trailing orbit ~94 million miles behind the Earth.

 

The telescope's successor, the more powerful Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), was launched in April 2018, and is projected to discover over 20,000 new exoplanets.

 

[Argonne69]

Cygnus Shell Supernova Remnant W63

 

 

Image: J-P Metsavainio

[Argonne69]

Elliptical Galaxy PGC 42871 is located ~270 million light-years away, and is ~20,000 light-years across.

 

 

Image: NASA/ESA

[Argonne69]

NGC 1499, the California Nebula, is located ~1500 light-years away, and is ~100 light-years long.

 

 

Image: Bray Falls

[Argonne69]

Astronomers have discovered an ancient star that could be as old as 13.53 billion years old, making it one of the oldest stars ever found. It is believed to be a first generation star, one that formed early after the big bang (13.7 billion years ago). First gen stars have no heavy elements in them, as the heavier elements were created when the largest first gen stars exploded as supernova. The star is composes of hydrogen, helium, and a little bit of lithium.

 

The star, J1808-5104, is located in our home galaxy ~1,590 light-years from Earth. It's believed to be a red dwarf ~14% the size of the Sun. Unlike larger stars that will burn through their fuel quickly, smaller stars can have lifespans measured in trillions of years.

 

[Argonne69]

NGC 6188, The Dragons of Ara Nebula

 

 

Image: Tian Lee

[Argonne69]

 

The Lagoon Nebula, NGC 6523, is located ~5000 light-years from Earth, and spans 100 light-years across.

 

 

Image: Nelson Ortega

 

[Argonne69]

An Apollo 15 Panorama

 

 

Click on image to zoom and pan.

 

Image: NASA, USGS, Apollo 15 Crew

 

[Argonne69]

The Cave Nebula is located 2,400 light-years away in the northern constellation of Cepheus.

 

 

Image: Chuck Ayoub

[Argonne69]

Supergiant Gamma Cygni at the center of the Northern Cross. The pic also includes the emission nebula IC 1318, and the open star cluster NGC 6910.

 

 

Image: Mauro Narduzzi and Roberto Colombari