Tag Archives: Hubble Space Telescope

In the Sky This Week – October 30, 2018

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This entry is part 67 of 87 in the series In the Sky This Week

The Moon will appear low in the eastern sky between the constellations Gemini and Orion during the early morning hours on Oct. 30th. That same Moon will appear high in the sky as dawn’s light begins to show. There will be a conjunction of the crescent Moon and the star Regulus low in the eastern sky, early in the morning hours on Nov. 2nd. A very thin crescent Moon will appear with the star Arcturus in the eastern predawn sky on Nov. 5th. Mars and Saturn continue to put on a show in the southern sky after sunset. Observing Target: The Dance of the Planets Over the next week, the positions of Jupiter and Mercury change drastically in southwestern sky at dusk! Mercury stays low but gets brighter – Jupiter makes a quick dive towards the horizon, and will soon to be hidden by the glare of the Sun. Comets Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the news: You can find Comet 46P/Wirtanen in … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – October 9, 2018

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This entry is part 64 of 87 in the series In the Sky This Week

The constellations Orion and Canis Major have migrated from the east to the south, and now appear high in the southern predawn sky. The constellation Leo with the bright star Regulus rise in the eastern predawn sky. Ursa Major (with the Big Dipper asterism) and Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) appear in the northern predawn sky. Mars and Saturn continue to be excellent viewing targets in the southern sky after sunset – this week the Moon will not be present to wash them out. Jupiter appears in the southwestern sky at dusk, and sets at 8:36 PM. Observing Target: Mizar and Alcor Mizar and Alcor are a naked-eye double star in the handle of the “Big Dipper” (in Ursa Major). In a small telescope, Mizar and Alcor can easily be “split” or resolved into individual stars: Mizar is actually quadruple star system, with two sets of double stars orbiting around their common center of gravity – also known as their barycenter. … Continue reading →

Stellar Thief Is the Surviving Companion to a Supernova

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Seventeen years ago, astronomers witnessed a supernova go off 40 million light-years away in the galaxy called NGC 7424, located in the southern constellation Grus, the Crane. Now, in the fading afterglow of that explosion, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured the first image of a surviving companion to a supernova. This picture is the most compelling evidence that some supernovas originate in double-star systems. “We know that the majority of massive stars are in binary pairs,” said Stuart Ryder from the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) in Sydney, Australia, and lead author of the study. “Many of these binary pairs will interact and transfer gas from one star to the other when their orbits bring them close together.” The companion to the supernova’s progenitor star was no innocent bystander to the explosion. It siphoned off almost all of the hydrogen from the doomed star’s stellar envelope, the region that transports energy from the star’s core to its atmosphere. Millions of … Continue reading →

3D Flight Through the Orion Nebula

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Astronomers and visualization specialists from NASA’s Universe of Learning program have combined visible and infrared vision of the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to create an unprecedented, three-dimensional, fly-through view of the picturesque Orion Nebula, a nearby star-forming region. Viewers experience this nearby stellar nursery “up close and personal” as the new digital visualization ferries them among newborn stars, glowing clouds heated by intense radiation, and tadpole-shaped gaseous envelopes surrounding protoplanetary disks. Using actual scientific imagery and other data, combined with Hollywood techniques, a team at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and the Caltech/Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) in Pasadena, California, has created the best and most detailed multi-wavelength visualization yet of this photogenic nebula. The fly-through enables people to experience and learn about the universe in an exciting new way. The three-minute movie, which shows the Orion Nebula in both visible and infrared light, was released to the public today. It is available to planetariums and … Continue reading →

Have You Seen a Satellite?

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Have you ever see a satellite pass overhead? Maybe the International Space Station, or the Hubble Space Telescope? I was at a friend’s home the other day, and mentioned that it was rare for me not to see a satellite during a nighttime observing session – typically within the first half hour. My friend said he’d only seen the International Space Station, once… I was floored! I mentioned this to my wife, and she pointed out to me what should have been obvious to me: that not everyone spends half hour sessions looking at the sky. (Actually, what she lovingly said was “You’re not normal.”) So, with that… there are a LOT of man-made satellites orbiting the Earth; the United States Space Surveillance Network is currently tracking more than 8,000 objects(1). Only seven percent of those objects are operational satellites, the rest is space junk: dead satellites, rocket bodies, and miscellaneous debris. If you go outside on a clear moonless night, … Continue reading →