Credit & Copyright: Suprime-Cam, Subaru Telescope, NAOJ

Sprawling spiral arms dotted with bright red emission nebulas highlight this new and detailed image of nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2403. Also visible in the photogenic spiral galaxy are blue open clusters, dark dust lanes, and a bright but relatively small central nucleus. NGC 2403 is located just beyond the Local Group of Galaxies, at a relatively close 10 million light years away toward the constellation of the Giraffe (Camelopardalis). NGC 2403 has a designated Hubble type of Sc. In 2004, NGC 2403 was home to one of the brightest supernovas of modern times. The above image, the highest resolution complete image of NGC 2403 ever completed, was taken by the Japan's 8.3-meter Subaru telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA.

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Credit & Copyright: Daniel Verschatse (Antilhue Observatory)

Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies have collided. But stars in the two galaxies - NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - don't collide in the course of the ponderous, billion year or so long event. Instead, their large clouds of molecular gas and dust do, triggering furious episodes of star formation. Spanning about 500 thousand light-years, this stunning view reveals new star clusters and matter flung far from the scene of the accident by gravitational tidal forces. Of course, the visual appearance of the far-flung arcing structures gives the galaxy pair its popular name - The Antennae. Recorded in this deep image of the region at the tip of the upper arc is a tidal dwarf galaxy NGC 4038S, formed in the cosmic debris.

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Credit & Copyright: Gemini Obs., AURA, NSF

How did a star form this beautiful nebula? In the middle of emission nebula NGC 6164-5 is an unusually massive star nearing the end of its life. The star, visible in the center of the above image and catalogued as HD 148937, is so hot that the ultraviolet light it emits heats up gas that surrounds it. That gas was likely thrown off from the star, possibly by its fast rotation, like a rotating lawn sprinkler. Expelled material might have been further channeled by the magnetic field of the star, creating the symmetric shape of the bipolar nebula. Several cometary knots of gas are also visible on the lower left. NGC 6164-5 spans about four light years and is located about 4,000 light years away toward the southern constellation Norma.

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Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team

You Might Be Surprised at What You Find Out When Ya Go!

Hubble Space Telescope shows an optical image of NGC 5315, a planetary nebula located about 7,000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Circinus.

Planetary nebulas are gaseous clouds created in the last stages of the lifetime of a star like the sun. (Though the term "planetary nebula" is applied to this class of objects, it is a misnomer, like "English horn," as these objects have nothing to do with planets. But the objects looked like planets when viewed through early small optical telescopes.)

NGC 5315 became an X-ray source when powerful winds from a particularly young star at the center collided with the ejected material. This action rendered it visible to the Chandra X-ray telescope, which does not always see planetary nebulas in X-ray light.

Interestingly, astronomers discovered NGC 5315 inadvertently, while searching for the object Hen 2-99 in the same region of space. Although Hen 2-99 was too faint to be detected, the researchers noticed planetary nebula NGC 5315 a large distance away from the aimpoint of the Chandra telescope, where the image is not as sharp.

more: space.com

This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows nebula NGC 3603, a young star cluster surrounded by a vast region of dust and gas. Thousands of dazzling young stars nestle within one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

This prominent star-forming region lies in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way, about 20,000 light-years away.

Ultraviolet radiation and winds from the bluest and hottest stars have pushed nebular gas away. Pillars of dense gas, embedded in the walls of the nebula, stretch a few light-years in height, and might incubate new stars.

At the top right lies a relatively small cluster of dark clouds called "Bok globules." These clouds are composed of dense dust and gas, and are about 10 to 50 times more massive than the Sun. A Bok globule may be undergoing a gravitational collapse on its way to forming new stars.

Sir John Herschel first discovered the nebula in 1834. This image spans roughly 17 light-years.

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A mere 20,000 light-years from the Sun lies NGC 3603, a resident of the nearby Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603 is well known to astronomers as one of the Milky Way's largest star-forming regions. The central open star cluster contains thousands of stars more massive than our Sun, stars that likely formed only one or two million years ago in a single burst of star formation. In fact, nearby NGC 3603 is thought to contain a convenient example of the massive star clusters that populate much more distant starburst galaxies. Surrounding the cluster are natal clouds of glowing interstellar gas and obscuring dust, sculpted by energetic stellar radiation and winds. Recorded by the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the image spans about 17 light-years.
Acknowledgment: J. Maiz Apellaniz (Inst. Astrofisica Andalucia) et al., & Davide de Martin (skyfactory.org)

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Credit & Copyright: Mischa Schirmer

What's happening to galaxy NGC 474? The multiple layers of emission appear strangely complex and unexpected given the relatively featureless appearance of the elliptical galaxy in less deep images. The cause of the shells is currently unknown, but possibly tidal tails related to debris left over from absorbing numerous small galaxies in the past billion years. Alternatively the shells may be like ripples in a pond, where the ongoing collision with the spiral galaxy to the right of NGC 474 is causing density waves to ripple though the galactic giant. Regardless of the actual cause, the above image dramatically highlights the increasing consensus that the outer halos of most large galaxies are not really smooth but have complexities induced by frequent interactions with -- and accretions of -- smaller nearby galaxies. The halo of our own Milky Way Galaxy is one example of such unexpected complexity. NGC 474 spans about 250,000 light years and lies about 100 million light years distant toward the constellation of the Fish Pisces.

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Credit & Copyright: Brian Lula

Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Of course, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The false-color view was recorded through narrow band filters that transmit the light from hydrogen (in green), sulfur (in red), and oxygen (in blue) atoms in the region. The resulting composite highlights the bright swept-back ridges that outline pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas. Such embedded, dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within the obscuring cosmic dust. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning about 5 degrees. This dramatic close-up covers a 1/2 degree wide field, about the size of the Full Moon.

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Hi Syzygy,

I'm making arrangements to visit a customer in Budapest next month. Are you anywhere near there?

My e-mails are:

ppugh@alcatel-lucent.com,astrosaint_55@hotmail.co.uk

Its best to use both.

All the best,

Phil.

hi phil!
pretty cool off topic question! ...
well, i am not from Budapest, i am from H�dmez�v�s�rhely, cca. 180 kms far from the capital.
please tell me (next time in PrivateMessage!) if i can help you anyhow!
regards,
g

Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman

This amazing skyscape lies along a bright ridge of emission in IC 5067, also known as The Pelican Nebula. Appropriately, the Pelican Nebula itself is part of a much larger, complex star-forming region about 2,000 light-years away in the high flying constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Cosmic dust clouds that span light-years seem to rise like mountains in the mist in this natural color view, recorded through broadband filters to produce an analogy to human color vision. The fantastic shapes are sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive stars and the dominant red emission is due to atomic hydrogen gas. Placing your cursor on the image will bring up a false color image of the nebula made through narrowband filters that also map specific emission from sulfur and oxygen atoms. The mapped color image reveals even more details of the cosmic clouds and their composition.

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