Official Space is Awesome Thread

[Argonne69]

The M82 X-2 pulsar, a fast spinning neutron star, is located 12 million light-years away in the galaxy M82. It's the brightest known pulsar, 10 times brighter than any other known pulsars of this type. A pulsar, the remnant of a collapsed supermassive star that exploded in a supernova, is roughly the size of Manhattan. This one spins once every 1.37 seconds.

 

 

Image: NASA

 

[Argonne69]

This isolated gas cloud in the Abell 1367 cluster has been puzzling astronomers for four years when it was spotted by the Japanese Subaru telescope. The cloud is larger than our Milky Way galaxy, and seems to be floating between galaxies in the cluster roughly 300 million light-years away. The ESA said in a statement that the cloud's unattached survival is surprising.

 

 

Image: Ge et al

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

Amateur astronomer Jose Luis Pereira captured this impact (white spot center left) of something slamming into Jupiter. He was photographing the moon Io's shadow on the right when the white flash appeared for ~2 seconds. The object was estimated to be approximately 100 meters in diameter. According to Sky and Telescope, at least eight impact flashes have been recorded on Jupiter over the past 27 years.

 

 

Image: Jose Luis Pereira

 

[Argonne69]

The annular eclipse of the Sun in June 2021 taken inTibet.

 

 

Image: Shuchang Dong

 

[Argonne69]

The Aurora Borealis, aka Northern Lights, as seen off the coast of Russia.

 

 

Image: Dmitrii Rybalka

 

[Argonne69]

An interesting take on our Milky Way galaxy. Astrophotographer Zhong Wu took two years to digitally stitch together this view of the Milky Way from images taken in China and New Zealand. The top of the ring is the galactic bulge at the center our galaxy.

 

 

Image: Zhong Wu

 

[Argonne69]

Astronaut Bruce Mccandless II was the first human to perform an untethered EVA when he ventured out from the Space Shuttle strapped to his Manned Maneuvering Unit on February 7th, 1984. 'Must have been a wild ride.

 

 

Image: NASA

 

[Argonne69]

Globular cluster ESO 520-21 (Palomar 6) is a densely packed spherical collection of stars that lies near the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

 

 

Image: ESA/Hubble and NASA, R. Cohen

 

[Argonne69]

NGC 5728 is a spiral galaxy with an active nucleus located in the southern constellation Libra. It is ~127 million light-years away. It is roughly 120,000 light-years wide, and weighs ~72 billion solar masses. The center region contains a supermassive blackhole that is feeding on matter falling into it. This produces a strong emission of high-energy radiation that is 37 billion times as bright as our Sun.

 

 

Image: ESA/Hubble, A. Riess et al., J. Greene

 

[Argonne69]

An amazing nebula surrounds the stellar nursery NGC 346. It lies at the center of the Small Magellanic Cloud. 

 

 

Image: NASA, ESA and A. Nota (STScI/ESA)

 

[Argonne69]

A cropped version of the first photo taken by the BepiColombo mission of the surface of Mercury from an altitude of 124 miles. The joint mission launched by the European and Japanese space agencies will make six flybys around the inner planet before settling into orbit by the end of 2025. The next flyby is scheduled for June of 2022.

 

 

Image: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

 

[Argonne69]

 

Photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux captured this cool image Venus rising from behind the Moon.

 

 

Image: Nicolas Lefaudeux

 

[Argonne69]

Photographer Frank Kuszaj was planning to take photos of some distant celestial objects when this meteor appeared. With a one minute exposure he captured the fireball's streak across the sky.

 

 

Image: Frank Kuszaj

 

 

[Argonne69]

Arp 91 is located ~113 million light-years away in the constellation of Serpens. Two galaxies, NGC 5953 (lower), and NGC 5954 (upper right) are in the process of merging.

 

 

Image: ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / J. Schmidt

 

[Argonne69]

NGC 1499, the California Nebula, is located ~1500 light-years away, and is ~100 light-years long. This is not a true color image. Some of the gases are mapped to specific colors (hydrogen - green, sulphur - red, doubly ionized oxygen - blue).

 

 

Image: Terry Hancock

 

[Argonne69]

A "family portrait" of our solar system (excluding Earth). The photos were taken over a period of six months.

 

 

Image: Zhipu Wang

 

[Argonne69]

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying a satellite in February 2021 is captured against the backdrop of the Moon. A few hours before the launch the photographer used a program to calculate the rocket's trajectory to determine where it would intersect with the Moon in the sky. 'Nice shootin'.

 

 

Image: Paul Eckhardt

 

[Argonne69]

NGC 1052-DF2, a strange "see-through" galaxy that appears to lack dark matter. The galaxy is roughly as wide as our Milky Way, but contains only 0.5% of the number of stars. It has no visible center or structure, and is so diffuse that more distant galaxies can be seen through it.

 

 

Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, Zili Shen (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale), Shany Danieli (IAS) IMAGE PROCESSING: Alyssa Pagan (STScI))

 

[Argonne69]

Two galaxies colliding 275 million light years away. Astronomers use a single name for the pair of galaxies, IC 1623, as they are in the advanced stages of merging into one new "starburst" galaxy.

 

 

Image: (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar)

 

[Argonne69]

Emission nebula NGC 2313 is located in the constellation Monoceros. The nebula is formed of ionized light-emitting gas centered around the star V565. It is ~3,700 light years away.

 

 

Image: (Image credit: ESA/Hubble, R. Sahai)
 

[Argonne69]

NASA technicians have mounted the Orion spacecraft onto the Space Launch System rocket inside NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The completed stacking of the SLS rocket has resulted in a structure that stands 332 feet (101 meters) tall. It’s a major milestone, as the space agency prepares for the upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon. The earliest that SLS could launch is February 12, 2022 
 

 

Image: NASA

 

[Argonne69]

Stormy weather on Jupiter.

 

 

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Rita Najm

 

[Argonne69]

The asteroid Bennu.

 

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/8f5f0ecc4c658e736dc73ec543aca127.mp4

 

Image: NASA

 

[driverwedge]

5 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

The asteroid Bennu.

 

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/8f5f0ecc4c658e736dc73ec543aca127.mp4

 

Image: NASA

 

This is amazing!  Thanks!

[Argonne69]

The scared face of Ceres, once an asteroid, and now classified as a dwarf planet, makes up ~25% of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
 

 

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

 

[Argonne69]

The asteroid Eros, first discovered in 1898, and visited in 1998.

 

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

 

[Argonne69]

The Necklace Nebula, consisting of a pair of stars orbiting only several million miles away from each other, so close that they appear as a single bright dot at the center of the image. It is located 15,000 light-years away.

 

Approximately 10,000 years ago, one of the stars exploded. Its gaseous envelope expanded into space, enveloping its companion star. The smaller star continues to orbit inside this gas envelope.

 

 

Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll
 

[Argonne69]

The asteroid Ida (left) and its small moon, Dactyl. Anyone a fan of "The Expanse" on Amazon Prime (previously SyFy)? One day in the near future we'll be living in the belt mining these precious rocks.

 

 

Image: NASA/JPL
 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

Another recent gem from Hubble. M61, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo located 55 million light-years away. M61 is a starburst galaxy, with glowing spots of new star formation visible in the reddish spots.

 

 

Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

[Argonne69]

Life magazine called it "The Picture of the Century". 55 years ago, Lunar Orbiter 2 snapped this photo of the Copernicus Crater from an altitude of 27 miles while it scouted for possible landing sites for the upcoming Apollo missions. Instead of looking down, the spacecraft looked sideways, giving us a first ever view of the topology of our nearest celestial neighbor. The image has been reprocessed to show details not visible when it was first released. Click on the image to zoom in on its stunning details.

 

 

Image: NASA