Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education.
NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the universe's most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat.
At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small telescopes. The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of galaxies and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion suns. The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 30 million light-years from Earth.
Credit: NASA/European Space Agency and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
View of The Running Chicken Nebula from South America | ESO
The most obvious deep-sky objects in this image include the Carina Nebula, glowing intensely red in the middle of the image. The Carina Nebula lies in the constellation of Carina (The Keel), about 7,500 light-years from Earth. This cloud of glowing gas and dust is the brightest nebula in the sky and contains several of the brightest and most massive stars known in the Milky Way, such as Eta Carinae. The Carina Nebula is a perfect test-bed for astronomers to unveil the mysteries of the violent birth and death of massive stars.
Below the Carina Nebula, we see the Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532). This open cluster of young stars was named because, through a telescope’s eyepiece, it looks like a handful of silver coins twinkling at the bottom of a wishing well. Further to the right, we find the Running Chicken Nebula (IC 2944), from a bird-like shape that some people see in its brightest region. Above this nebula and slightly to the left we find the Southern Pleiades (IC 2632), an open cluster of stars that is similar to its more familiar northern namesake.
In the foreground, we see three of the four Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Using the VLTI, the ATs—or the VLT’s 8.2-meter Unit Telescopes—can be used together as a single giant telescope which can see finer details than would be possible with the individual telescopes. The VLTI has been used for a broad range of research including the study of circumstellar discs around young stellar objects and of active galactic nuclei, one of the most energetic and mysterious phenomena in the Universe.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/B. Tafreshi
This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope shows the Running Chicken Nebula, a cloud of gas and newborn stars that lies around 6,500 light-years away from us in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Officially called IC 2944, or the Lambda Centauri Nebula, its strange nickname comes from the bird-like shape of its brightest region. The star Lambda Centauri itself lies just outside the field of view.
Thackeray's Globules in The Running Chicken Nebula | Hubble
Strangely glowing dark clouds float serenely in this remarkable and beautiful image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. These dense, opaque dust clouds—known as 'globules'—are silhouetted against nearby bright stars in the busy star-forming region, IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula.
Astronomer A.D. Thackeray first spied the globules in IC 2944 in 1950. Globules like these have been known since Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok first drew attention to such objects in 1947.
However, astronomers still know very little about their origin and nature, except that they are generally associated with areas of star formation, called 'HII regions' due to the presence of hydrogen gas. IC 2944 is filled with gas and dust that is illuminated and heated by a loose cluster of massive stars. These stars are much hotter and much more massive than our Sun.
Credit: NASA/European Space Agency and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
A Close-up Look at The Running Chicken Nebula & Thackeray's Globules | ESO
This video gives us a close-up look at the spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. This image also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely
Distance: 6,500 light years
This image was released to celebrate a milestone—15 years of the European Southern Observatory's VLT.
Zooming in on The Running Chicken Nebula & Thackeray's Globules | ESO
This zoom runs from a very wide view of the Milky Way all the way into a very close-up view of the spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula. This image from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules, silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely that Thackeray's globules will be destroyed before they can collapse and form new stars.
Distance: 6,500 light years
This image was released to celebrate a milestone—15 years of the European Southern Observatory's VLT.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Nick Risinger/Hiro
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, the Lambda Centauri Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri. This image also shows a group of thick clouds of dust known as the Thackeray globules silhouetted against the pale pink glowing gas of the nebula. These globules are under fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young stars. They are both being eroded away and also fragmenting, rather like lumps of butter dropped onto a hot frying pan. It is likely that Thackeray’s globules will be destroyed before they can collapse and form new stars.
Distance:6,500 light years
This intriguing view of a spectacular stellar nursery IC 2944 was originally released to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in 2013.
A Black Hole Stellar Delivery Service Found in Galaxy NGC 4424 | NASA Chandra
One galaxy is acting as a black hole delivery service for another galaxy.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found clues in data from NGC 4424.
This spiral galaxy is located about 54 million light-years from Earth.
Astronomers use such results to better understand how galaxies and black holes grow.
Astronomers may have witnessed a galaxy’s black hole delivery system in action. A new study using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope outlines how a large black hole may have been delivered to the spiral galaxy NGC 4424 by another, smaller galaxy.
NGC 4424 is located about 54 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The main panel shows a wide-field view, about 45,000 light-years wide, of this galaxy in optical light from Hubble. The center of this galaxy is expected to host a large black hole estimated to contain a mass between 60,000 and 100,000 Suns.
Astronomers examining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found an elongated object, which they determined is a cluster of stars. They refer to this object as “Nikhuli,” a name relating to the Tulini festive period of celebrating and wishing for a rich harvest. This name is taken from the Sumi language from the Indian state of Nagaland. The Chandra data shows a point source of X-rays.
The researchers determined Nikhuli is likely the center of a small galaxy that has had most of its stars stripped away as it collides with the larger galaxy NGC 4424. Nikhuli has also been stretched out by gravitational forces as it falls towards the center of NGC 4424, giving it an elongated shape. Currently, Nikhuli is about 1,300 light-years from the center of NGC 4424, or about 20 times closer than the Earth is to the Milky Way’s giant black hole.
After considering other possibilities, the researchers determined that these results imply that Nikhuli is likely acting as a delivery system for NGC 4424’s supply of black holes, in this case bringing along a massive one. If the center of NGC 4424 contains a massive black hole, Nikhuli’s massive black hole should end up orbiting it. The separation of the pair should then shrink until gravitational waves are produced and the two massive black holes merge with each other.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 4424 and its Modern Counterpart | Hubble
Some astronomical objects have endearing or quirky nicknames, inspired by mythology or their own appearance. Take, for example, the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the Sombrero Galaxy, the Horsehead Nebula, or even the Milky Way. However, the vast majority of cosmic objects appear in astronomical catalogs, and are given rather less poetic names based on the order of their discovery.
Two galaxies are clearly visible in this Hubble image, the larger of which is NGC 4424. This galaxy is catalogued in the New General Catalog of Nebulae and lusters of Stars (NGC), which was compiled in 1888. The NGC is one of the largest astronomical catalogues, which is why so many Hubble Pictures of the Week feature NGC objects. In total there are 7840 entries in the catalog and they are also generally the larger, brighter, and more eye-catching objects in the night sky, and hence the ones more easily spotted by early stargazers.
The smaller, flatter, bright galaxy sitting just below NGC 4424 is named LEDA 213994. The Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database (LEDA) is far more modern than the NGC. Created in 1983 at the Lyon Observatory it contains millions of objects. However, many NGC objects still go by their initial names simply because they were christened within the NGC first. No astronomer can resist a good acronym, and “LEDA” is more appealing than “the LMED”, perhaps thanks to the old astronomical affinity with mythology when it comes to naming things: Leda was a princess in Ancient Greek mythology.
Lightning is a major public safety threat. It can strike at any time, but it is most common in the summer months. Lightning kills about 20 people each year in the United States and hundreds more are injured.
Recent severe thunderstorm activity has highlighted the dangers associated with lightning strikes. In the span of less than a week in early August, lightning led to several injuries and fatalities.
Credits: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
Additional imagery courtesy of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS)
Earth Moonrise over Nile Delta & Planet Venus | International Space Station
Moonrise seen from the International Space Station taken by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy from orbit during her Minerva mission. It is a sight rarely seen: Earth’s natural satellite appearing over the horizon above the always-distinctive Nile delta at night—taken from 400 km above our planet. The brighter dot in the middle is the planet Venus.
The Moon is the only place that has been seen by every human being on our planet, but only around 600 astronauts have seen the Moon from Earth orbit.
Roscosmos Flight Engineers: Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov (Russia)
NASA Flight Engineers: Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins (USA)
European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy)
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope provides a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which resembles a baleful orange eye glaring from behind a shroud of smoke.
The bright beams of light radiating outwards from CW Leonis are one of the most intriguing parts of this image, as they have changed in brightness within a 15 year period—an incredibly short span of time in astronomical terms, which is demonstrated in this timelapse. Astronomers speculate that gaps in the shroud of dust surrounding CW Leonis may allow these beams of starlight to pierce through and illuminate dust further from the star. However the exact cause of the dramatic changes in their brightness is as yet unexplained.
Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA, J. Trauger, P. Seitzer, T. Ueta, H. Kim, M. Zamani
The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope provides a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which resembles a baleful orange eye glaring from behind a shroud of smoke.
CW Leonis glowers from deep within a thick shroud of dust in this image. Lying roughly 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, CW Leonis is a carbon star—a luminous type of red giant star with a carbon-rich atmosphere. The dense clouds of sooty gas and dust engulfing this dying star were created as the outer layers of CW Leonis itself were thrown out into the void.
Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA, T. Ueta, H. Kim
The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope provides a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which resembles a baleful orange eye glaring from behind a shroud of smoke.
CW Leonis glowers from deep within a thick shroud of dust in this image. Lying roughly 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, CW Leonis is a carbon star—a luminous type of red giant star with a carbon-rich atmosphere. The dense clouds of sooty gas and dust engulfing this dying star were created as the outer layers of CW Leonis itself were thrown out into the void.
Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble, NASA, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Slawik, N. Risinger, M. Zamani
The NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope provides a striking observation of the carbon star CW Leonis, which resembles a baleful orange eye glaring from behind a shroud of smoke.
CW Leonis glowers from deep within a thick shroud of dust in this image. Lying roughly 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, CW Leonis is a carbon star—a luminous type of red giant star with a carbon-rich atmosphere. The dense clouds of sooty gas and dust engulfing this dying star were created as the outer layers of CW Leonis itself were thrown out into the void.
Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA, T. Ueta, H. Kim
.jpg)
