BlogHide Resteemsiotman (59)in science • 17 hours ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Messier 81 🪐One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81. Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th century discoverer…iotman (59)in science • 2 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula 🪐You'd think the Pacman Nebula would be eating stars, but actually it is forming them. Within the nebula, a cluster's young, massive stars are powering the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching…iotman (59)in science • 3 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: A Blue Banded Blood Moon 🪐What causes a blue band to cross the Moon during a lunar eclipse? The blue band is real but usually quite hard to see. The featured HDR image of last week's lunar eclipse, however -- taken from…iotman (59)in science • 5 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Ancient Ogunquit Beach on Mars 🪐This was once a beach -- on ancient Mars. The featured 360-degree panorama, horizontally compressed, was taken in 2017 by the robotic Curiosity rover that explored the red planet. Named Ogunquit…iotman (59)in science • 6 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: SuperCam Target on Ma'az 🪐What's the sound of one laser zapping? There's no need to consult a Zen master to find out, just listen to the first acoustic recording of laser shots on Mars. On Mars Rover Perseverance mission sol…iotman (59)in science • 7 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Leo Trio 🪐This popular group leaps into the early evening sky around the March equinox and the northern hemisphere spring. Famous as the Leo Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies found in the prominent…iotman (59)in science • 8 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Solar Eclipse Analemma Project 🪐Recorded from 2024 March 10, to 2025 March 1, this composited series of images reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of the Sun's daily motion through planet Earth's sky. Known to some as an…iotman (59)in science • 9 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Blue Ghost's Diamond Ring 🪐On March 14 the Full Moon slid through Earth's dark umbral shadow and denizens of planet Earth were treated to a total lunar eclipse. Of course, from the Moon's near side that same astronomical…iotman (59)in science • 10 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: LDN 1235: The Shark Nebula 🪐There is no sea on Earth large enough to contain the Shark nebula. This predator apparition poses us no danger as it is composed only of interstellar gas and dust. Dark dust like that featured here…iotman (59)in science • 12 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun 🪐This was a very unusual type of solar eclipse. Typically, it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. In 2012, though, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase…iotman (59)in science • 13 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Tololo Totality 🪐On March 14 the Moon was Full. In an appropriate celebration of Pi day, that put the Moon 3.14 radians (180 degrees) in ecliptic longitude from the Sun in planet Earth's sky. As a bonus for fans of…iotman (59)in science • 14 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Moon Pi and Mountain Shadow 🪐What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it is Pi radians (aka…iotman (59)in science • 15 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Protostars within Lynds 483 🪐Two protostars are hidden in a single pixel near the center of a striking hourglass-shaped nebula in this near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The actively forming star system…iotman (59)in science • 16 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy 🪐Why does this galaxy look like a curly vegetable? The Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance from a gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion…iotman (59)in science • 17 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: NGC 1672: Barred Spiral Galaxy from Hubble 🪐Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar. Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, featured here, was captured in…iotman (59)in science • 18 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: NGC 1499: The California Nebula 🪐Could Queen Calafia's mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of California, USA. Our Sun has its home…iotman (59)in science • 19 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Cyclones at Jupiter's North Pole 🪐Why are there so many cyclones around the north pole of Jupiter? The topic is still being researched. NASA's robotic Juno mission orbiting Jupiter took data in 2018 that was used to construct this…iotman (59)in science • 20 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Galaxies in Space 🪐The plane of our Milky Way galaxy extends beyond the limb of planet Earth in this space age exposure captured by astronaut Don Pettit. His camera, with low light and long duration settings, was…iotman (59)in science • 21 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Planetary Nebula Abell 7 🪐Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant. It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Lepus, The Hare. Surrounded by Milky Way stars…iotman (59)in science • 22 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 🪐Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based astronomers, the…
