STUNNING IMAGES FROM OUTER SPACE

IMAGES OF THE DAY
By Space.com

TWIN GALAXIES

Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Monday, January 23, 2012: M60 is a large elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster. NGC 4647 is M60’s companion spiral galaxy which lies visually close to M60. - Tom Chao

BEHIND THE SUN

Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

Thursday, January 19, 2012: On Jan. 2, 2012, the sun blasted forth a solar flare and coronal mass ejection from its far side. However, SDO spacecraft was able to photograph the strands of rising particle clouds in extreme ultraviolet light. Portions of the strands were unable to break free of the sun’s magnetic fields, and fell back to the sun, as seen here. The blast did not point at Earth. - Tom Chao

BLUISH SPIRAL GALAXY

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA

Tuesday, January 17, 2012: NGC 3259 is a bright barred spiral galaxy located approximately 110 million light-years from Earth. Its central bulge contains a supermassive black hole which emits intense radiation across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, including visible light, producing the bright central core. The spiral arms of the galaxy contain dark lanes of dust and gas, which spawn stars. Bright, young, hot stars appear in clusters in the galaxy's arms, giving the galaxy its bluish hue. - Tom Chao

COSMIC DEBRIS

Credit: Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)

Monday, January 16, 2012: Japan's Subaru telescope obtained an image of star HR 4796 A so detailed that it confirms the dust ring surrounding the star does not circle in an orbit precisely cantered on the star. Researchers suspect the gravitational force of one or more planets orbiting in the gap within the ring pulls at the dust, causing the offset. However, any potential planets causing the dust ring to wobble are too faint to detect with current instruments. HR 4796 A, a young star (8-10 million years old), lies only 240 light years away from Earth. - Tom Chao

SPOKES FOR THE WHEEL - CRATER APOLLODORUS ON MERCURY

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Friday, January 13, 2012: Crater Apollodorus on Mercury lies at the upper right of this image obtained by the MESSENGER spacecraft. The Pantheon Fossae structure, a complex system of extensional troughs located near the centre of the Caloris basin, appears to radiate from the crater. However, scientists do not believe the crater and trough system are related. North is located at the bottom of this image. - Tom Chao

CIGAR GALAXY

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Thursday, January 12, 2012: Messier 82 (M 82), also known as the Cigar Galaxy, looks very different in this new Hubble image, the most detailed view ever of the core of this galaxy. Previous images show a galaxy ablaze with stars. This image looks quite unlike them, dominated instead by glowing gas and dust. Filters transparent only to the wavelengths emitted by specific chemical elements isolated the light from glowing gas clouds, while blocking out much of the starlight. Thus the stars appear faint in this image, and the dust lanes are sharply silhouetted against the brightly glowing gas clouds. The starburst galaxy lies about 12 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). - Tom Chao

THE DOT AND THE LINE - SATURN'S MOON TETHYS

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Monday, January 9, 2012: Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera caught Saturn's moon Tethys in front of wide shadows cast by the planet's rings. Tethys, which measures 660 miles (1062 kilometres) across, appears just below the rings near image centre. This view shows the northern, sunlit side of the rings from less than one degree above the ring plane. Cassini took this picture on Dec. 7, 2011. - Tom Chao

PINK BUBBLES ON DWARF GALAXY

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Thursday, January 5, 2012: Object IC 2574, a dwarf irregular galaxy, contains pink bubbles blown by supernova explosions The colour of these shells derives from hydrogen gas irradiated by new-born stars. Shock waves from earlier supernova detonations that compressed material together triggered formation of the stars. IC 2574 is commonly known as Coddington's Nebula after the American astronomer Edwin Coddington, who discovered it in 1898. IC 2574 is located about 12 million light-years away, belonging to the Messier 81 group of galaxies. - Tom Chao

A HAZY SHADE OF SATURN

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Monday, January 2, 2012: NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the south polar region of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and sees a depression within the moon's orange and blue haze layers near the south pole. The moon's high altitude haze layer appears blue, while the main atmospheric haze has an orange colour. Particle size of the haze may explain the colour difference. The blue haze likely consists of smaller particles than the orange haze. Images taken using red, green and blue filters combined to create this natural colour view. Cassini obtained the images on Sept. 11, 2011 at a distance of approximately 83,000 miles (134,000 kilometres) from Titan. - Tom Chao

STRANGE BREW ON A COLOURFUL STAR-FORMING REGION

Credit: NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University)

Monday, November 1, 2010: A colourful star-forming region is featured in this stunning new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 2467. Huge clouds of gas and dust are sprinkled with bright blue, hot young stars. Strangely shaped dust clouds, resembling spilled liquids, are silhouetted against a colourful background of glowing gas.

[Source: Space.com]