16 April 2011 - The Tadpoles of IC 410
This false color image shows an emission nebula known eloquently as IC 410. It's so incredible how two tadpoles can randomly form out of cosmic dust and look so beautiful. A narrow band filter traces atoms and makes sulfur red, hydrogen atoms green, and oxygen blue. The cluster NGC 1983 energizes the gas of IC 410. The "tadpoles" are an enormous 10 light years in length. The trails lead away from the center, caused by cosmic "wind."
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Zooniverse
I have been doing the bubble drawing experiment in Zooniverse for several weeks. It is sometimes difficult to determine where the bubbles are because they are so vaguely defined. I have found many fuzzy red objects and galaxies as well.
Friday, April 8, 2011
APOD 4.2
6 April 2011 - The Perfect Spiral
M74 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces that offers an almost perfect head-on view. It contains about 100 billion stars and is 32 million light years away. Considering that the picture is half the width of the full moon, it actually covers quite a large surface area of the sky. It's compelling to think that this majestic structure is right in front of our eyes, but we can't see it because of the long exposure times required to reveal most of the stars. M74 has multiple blue clusters and cosmic dust lanes. Some exposure in the infrared revealed a part of the hydrogen emission spectra.
M74 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces that offers an almost perfect head-on view. It contains about 100 billion stars and is 32 million light years away. Considering that the picture is half the width of the full moon, it actually covers quite a large surface area of the sky. It's compelling to think that this majestic structure is right in front of our eyes, but we can't see it because of the long exposure times required to reveal most of the stars. M74 has multiple blue clusters and cosmic dust lanes. Some exposure in the infrared revealed a part of the hydrogen emission spectra.
APOD 4.1
1 April 2011 - It's Raining On Titan
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has been experiencing rainstorms of methane near its equator. The rains were visible from space as a dark band around the moon. Ironically, this deluge occurred at the same time as Earth's April showers and the geographical distribution of precipitation is similar to that of Earth. Methane on Titan behaves almost like water does on Earth, with lakes evaporating to form clouds which release methane rain.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has been experiencing rainstorms of methane near its equator. The rains were visible from space as a dark band around the moon. Ironically, this deluge occurred at the same time as Earth's April showers and the geographical distribution of precipitation is similar to that of Earth. Methane on Titan behaves almost like water does on Earth, with lakes evaporating to form clouds which release methane rain.
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