‘Image of the Week’ Archives
Starry Night of Alamut
A meteor's streak and the arc of the Milky Way hang over the imposing mountain fortress of Alamut in this starry scene. Found in the central Alborz Mountains of Iran, Alamut Castle was built into the rock in the 9th century. The name means Eagle's Nest. Home of the legendary Assassins featured in the adventure movie Prince of Persia, [...]
the Mexican hat
Image of the famous early-type spiral galaxy Messier 104, widely known as the "Sombrero" (the Mexican hat) because of its particular shape. The "Sombrero" is located in the constellation Virgo (The Virgin), at a distance of about 50 million light-years. Messier 104 is the 104th object in the famous catalogue of nebulae by French astronomer [...]
Heart and Soul Nebulae
The Heart and Soul nebulae are seen in this infrared mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The image covers an area of the sky over ten times as wide as the full moon and eight times as high (5.5 x 3.9 degrees) in the constellation Cassiopeia. Located about 6,000 light-years from Earth, the Heart and Soul nebulae form [...]
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3190
I find images of Spiral Galaxies stunning. Here is an image from the Hubble Legacy Archive of NGC 3190 which is not quite edge on. "Some spiral galaxies are seen almost sideways. NGC 3190, one such galaxy, is the largest member of the Hickson 44 Group, one of the nearer groups of galaxies to our own Local Group of galaxies. Pictured below, finely [...]
Wide Angle: The Cat’s Paw Nebula
Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's Paw is an emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. [...]
Never before seen stars in the Rosette Nebula
Another stunning image from Herschel reveals the formation of previously unseen large stars, each one up to ten times the mass of our Sun. These are the stars that will influence where and how the next generation of stars are formed. The image is a new release of ‘OSHI’, ESA’s Online Showcase of Herschel Images. The Rosette Nebula [...]
Spitzer’s Orion
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. Spanning about 40 light-years across the region, this new infrared image from the Spitzer Space Telescope was constructed from data intended to monitor the brightness of the nebula's young stars, many still surrounded by [...]
IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula
IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgement: R. Sahai (JPL) et al. Explanation: What is creating the strange texture of IC 418? Dubbed the Spirograph Nebula for its resemblance to drawings from a cyclical drawing tool, planetary nebula IC 418 shows patterns that are [...]
Protostar HH-34 in Orion
This is a three-colour composite of the young object Herbig-Haro 34 (HH-34), now in the protostar stage of evolution. It is based on CCD frames obtained with the FORS2 instrument in imaging mode, on November 2 and 6, 1999. This object has a remarkable, very complicated appearance that includes two opposite jets that ram into the surrounding [...]
The Milky Way over Ontario Canada
Taken over Ontario, Canada, when part of a spectacular sky is visible in a reflection off a lake. The brightest objects visible are bright stars and the planet Jupiter, seen as the brightest spot on the upper left. A distant town appears as a diffuse glow over the horizon. More faint still, the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy becomes apparent as a [...]
Barnard 30 Star Forming Region
This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows infant stars "hatching" in the head of the hunter constellation, Orion. Astronomers suspect that shockwaves from a supernova explosion in Orion's head, nearly three million years ago, may have initiated this newfound birth. The region featured in this Spitzer image is called Barnard 30. It [...]
ISS image in the X-band
Here is a cool picture of the International Space Station taken in the microwave spectrum by another satellite . The specific radio wavelength involved is the X-band, radio with wavelengths of a few centimeters. Check out the Planetary Society if you want more details. Nice image....