the neverending story~♥

uraniaproject:

Massive Star Blows Fancy Hourglass Nebula

The image was captured using four narrow-band filters that have been tuned to see hydrogen as well as ionized helium, sulfur and oxygen. When combined in the top composite, helium is violent, sulfur blue, oxygen green and hydrogen red.

Image: Gemini Observatory/AURA

logicalterrestrial:

ikenbot:

Searchlight Beams from the Egg Nebula

Nebulae are the star factories. There is an unknown vast amount of nebulae in the universe. Nebulae produce stars and stars occasionally host planets. By experience we know that planets can host life. Just more reasons why we can never determine, no matter how far in the future from now, that there is no other life in the universe.

scienceisbeauty:

There are 22,000 pieces of useless space junk that are big enough to be tracked from earth. In addition to those, there are more than 100,000 pieces of stuff bigger than 1 cm. That might not seem big, but when it’s moving at hundreds or thousands of miles per hour, it can certainly do some damage. The European Space Operations Centre released the above image, of what space will look like if we curb the problem vs. if we continue on our current path.

Source: Our Junk Problem, The Science of Space, Temple University

itsfullofstars:

“Diamond” Planet Found; May Be Stripped Star
 
Exotic crystalline world orbits fast-spinning stellar corpse, study says.

An exotic planet as dense as diamond has been found in the Milky Way, and astronomers think the world is a former star that got transformed by its orbital partner.

The odd planet was discovered orbiting what’s known as a millisecond pulsar—a tiny, fast-spinning corpse of a massive star that died in a supernova.

Astronomers estimate that the newfound planet is 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers) across, or about five times Earth’s diameter.

In addition, “we are very confident it has a density about 18 times that of water,” said study leader Matthew Bailes, an astronomer at the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing in Melbourne, Australia.

“This means it can’t be made of gases like hydrogen and helium like most stars but [must be made of] heavier elements like carbon and oxygen, making it most likely crystalline in nature, like a diamond.”

Keep reading.

lickystickypickyme:

Real life Star Wars.

Laser Towards Milky Ways Center.

The color of the laser is precisely tuned to energize a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere — one can recognize the familiar color of sodium street lamps in the color of the laser.

This layer of sodium atoms is thought to be a leftover from meteorites entering the Earth’s atmosphere. When excited by the light from the laser, the atoms start glowing, forming a small bright spot that can be used as an artificial reference star for the adaptive optics. Using this technique, astronomers can obtain sharper observations. For example, when looking towards the center of our Milky Way, researchers can better monitor the galactic core, where a central super massive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust.

Taken with a wide angle lens, this photo covers about 180° of the sky.

scipsy:

MWC 922: The Red Square Nebula

Explanation: What could cause a nebula to appear square? No one is quite sure. The hot star system known as MWC 922, however, appears to be embedded in a nebula with just such a shape. The above image combines infrared exposures from the Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar in California, and the Keck-2 Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A leading progenitor hypothesis for the square nebula is that the central star or stars somehow expelled cones of gas during a late developmental stage. For MWC 922, these cones happen to incorporate nearly right angles and be visible from the sides. Supporting evidence for the cone hypothesis includes radial spokes in the image that might run along the cone walls. Researchers speculate that the cones viewed from another angle would appear similar to the gigantic rings of supernova 1987A, possibly indicating that a star in MWC 922 might one day itself explode in a similar supernova. (via Astronomy Picture of the Day)

homedesigning:

Lakewood House by Centerbrook Architects and Planners « KARMATRENDZ

fuckyeahtheuniverse:

Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse - others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are thought to be Jupiter and Saturn. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001.