Wednesday, October 31, 2018
COMET 64P & M31 Taken by michael jäger on October 30, 2018 @ Weißenkirchen Austria
Zeiss Milvus 135/3.4
Moravian G3-16200
LRGB
EL FANTASMA ROJO ( HALLOWEEN 2018 ) /// POR: LICENCIADO EN FÍSICA JOSÉ LUIS LOMÁSCOLO
En la imagen superior se puede apreciar un par de figuras espectrales que no desentonan
con la celebración de Halloween.
Se podría esperar que tales imágenes sean solo el producto de la fértil imaginación del artista que las creo, que en el mundo real no es posible capturar una imagen fantasmal como las que allí se muestran, pero centren su atención en la siguiente fotografía.
Se puede llegar a notar una figura encapuchada similar a las mostradas en primer término, pero aquí con los brazos extendidos.
¿ Qué es lo que se está viendo ?, lo que se está viendo se encuentra a una distancia de 550 a 600 años luz cerca de la estrella Gamma Cassiopeiae, se trata de la nebulosa IC 63, también conocida como " The red ghost " ( El fantasma rojo ).
A la izquierda IC 63, a la derecha imagen retocada artísticamente para resaltar aún más la
figura del fantasma rojo.
En blanco y negro se refuerza aún más el aspecto tétrico de esta figura digna de una narrativa
gótica.
Constelación de Casiopea donde se muestra la ubicación dentro de la misma de la estrella Gamma Cassiopeiae.
La estrella muy brillante que aparece a la derecha es Gamma Cassiopeia, puede observarse abajo la nebulosa IC 63 ( el fantasma rojo ), la región extendida con tonalidades rojas y azules que se encuentra a la izquierda del fantasma rojo es la nebulosa IC 59.
Info:
Licenciado en Física José Luis Lomáscolo
..mil gracias Cachitus ! ..
R LEPORIS: A VAMPIRE'S STAR Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh
Better known as Hind's Crimson Star, R Leporis is a rare star in planet Earth's night sky. It's also a shocking shade of red. The star's discoverer, 19th century English astronomer John Russell Hind, reported that it appeared in a telescope "... like a drop of blood on a black field." Located 1,360 light-years away in the constellation Lepus the star is a Mira-type variable, changing its brightness over a period of about 14 months. R Leporis is now recognized as a carbon star, a very cool and highly evolved red giant with an extreme abundance of carbon. Extra carbon in carbon stars is created by helium fusion near the dying stellar core and dredged up into the stars' outer layers. The dredge-up results in an overabundance of simple carbon molecules, like CO, CH, CN, and C2. While it's true that cool stars radiate most of their energy in red and infrared light, the carbon molecules strongly absorb what little blue light is left and give carbon stars an exceptionally deep red color. R Leporis is losing its carbon-rich atmosphere into the surrounding interstellar material through a strong stellar wind though, and could be near the transition to a planetary nebula. Oh, and Happy Halloween from the folks at APOD.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
ORIONIDS METEORS OVER INNER MONGOLIA Image Credit & Copyright: Yin Hao
Meteors have been shooting out from the constellation of Orion. This was expected, as October is the time of year for the Orionids Meteor Shower. Pictured here, over two dozen meteors were caught in successively added exposures last October over Wulan Hada volcano in Inner Mongolia, China. The featured image shows multiple meteor streaks that can all be connected to a single small region on the sky called the radiant, here visible just above and to the left of the belt of Orion, The Orionids meteors started as sand sized bits expelled from Comet Halley during one of its trips to the inner Solar System. Comet Halley is actually responsible for two known meteor showers, the other known as the Eta Aquarids and visible every May. An Orionids image featured on APOD one year ago today from the same location shows the same car. Next month, the Leonids Meteor Shower from Comet Tempel-Tuttle should also result in some bright meteor streaks.
COMET 64P & ANDROMEDA GALAXY- M31 Taken by Roman Kulesza on October 29, 2018 @ Tiny Twp. Ontario , Canada
Unexpected clear skies after first snow . Now just single 120 sec shot /2 hours processing LOL/ with Canon 6Da and 200 mm L II lens taken before midnight last night.
PARKER SOLAR PROBE BREAKS RECORD, BECOMES CLOSEST SPACECRAFT TO SUN
Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about 1:04 p.m. EDT, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team.
The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976. As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million miles from the Sun's surface expected in 2024.
“It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history,” said Project Manager Andy Driesman, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter, which begins on Oct. 31.”
Parker Solar Probe is also expected to break the record for fastest spacecraft traveling relative to the Sun on Oct. 29 at about 10:54 p.m. EDT. The current record for heliocentric speed is 153,454 miles per hour, set by Helios 2 in April 1976.
The Parker Solar Probe team periodically measures the spacecraft's precise speed and position using NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN. The DSN sends a signal to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft's speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal. Parker Solar Probe's speed and position were calculated using DSN measurements made on Oct. 24, and the team used that information along with known orbital forces to calculate the spacecraft's speed and position from that point on.
Parker Solar Probe will begin its first solar encounter on Oct. 31, continuing to fly closer and closer to the Sun's surface until it reaches its first perihelion — the point closest to the Sun — at about 10:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 5. The spacecraft will face brutal heat and radiation conditions while providing humanity with unprecedentedly close-up observations of a star and helping us understand phenomena that have puzzled scientists for decades. These observations will add key knowledge to NASA’s efforts to understand the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds.
Banner image: Parker Solar Probe, shown in this animation, became the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun on Oct. 29, 2018, when it passed within 26.55 million miles of the Sun’s surface.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
SPACECRAFT MAKES RECORD CLOSE-APPROACH TO THE SUN
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is now closer to the sun than any other spacecraft in history, shattering the previous record of 26.6 million miles set by the Helios 2 spacecraft in 1976. The probe is now well inside the orbit of Mercury.
"It's a proud moment for our team," says Project Manager Andy Driesman of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Count to 3. Parker just broke the record again. The spacecraft is accelerating sunward for the mission's first perihelion on Nov. 5th. At closest approach, the solar disk will seem 6 times wider than it does on Earth as the probe is hit by "brutal heat and radiation" (NASA's words). Parker's carbon-composite heat shield is expected to heat up to a sizzling 2000 deg. F.
Parker's prime mission is to investigate the origin of the solar wind--a project best done uncomfortably close to the star. Parker will trace the solar wind back to its source and find out how it escapes the sun's gravity and magnetic confinement.
Russell Howard of the Naval Research Laboratory expects to learn a lot from this encounter. "We might detect magnetic islands in the solar wind, which have been theoretically predicted. And if a CME (solar explosion) happens or a comet passes through the sun's atmosphere while we are so nearby, it could be spectacular."
Howard is the principal investigator for WISPR, the probe's wide-field camera system. WISPR can actually see the solar wind, allowing it to image clouds and shock waves as they approach and pass the spacecraft. Other sensors on the spacecraft will sample the structures that WISPR sees, making measurements of particles and fields that researchers can use to test competing theories.
"We lose communication with the spacecraft during the perihelion period which begins next week," notes Howard. "This is because there isn't sufficient power to drive both the instruments and the transmitter. The first dump of data will occur in early December." Stay tuned for that.
Parker will plunge toward the sun 24 more times in the next 8 years, breaking many records en route. Here's the timeline.
"It's a proud moment for our team," says Project Manager Andy Driesman of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Count to 3. Parker just broke the record again. The spacecraft is accelerating sunward for the mission's first perihelion on Nov. 5th. At closest approach, the solar disk will seem 6 times wider than it does on Earth as the probe is hit by "brutal heat and radiation" (NASA's words). Parker's carbon-composite heat shield is expected to heat up to a sizzling 2000 deg. F.
Parker's prime mission is to investigate the origin of the solar wind--a project best done uncomfortably close to the star. Parker will trace the solar wind back to its source and find out how it escapes the sun's gravity and magnetic confinement.
Russell Howard of the Naval Research Laboratory expects to learn a lot from this encounter. "We might detect magnetic islands in the solar wind, which have been theoretically predicted. And if a CME (solar explosion) happens or a comet passes through the sun's atmosphere while we are so nearby, it could be spectacular."
Howard is the principal investigator for WISPR, the probe's wide-field camera system. WISPR can actually see the solar wind, allowing it to image clouds and shock waves as they approach and pass the spacecraft. Other sensors on the spacecraft will sample the structures that WISPR sees, making measurements of particles and fields that researchers can use to test competing theories.
"We lose communication with the spacecraft during the perihelion period which begins next week," notes Howard. "This is because there isn't sufficient power to drive both the instruments and the transmitter. The first dump of data will occur in early December." Stay tuned for that.
Parker will plunge toward the sun 24 more times in the next 8 years, breaking many records en route. Here's the timeline.
Monday, October 29, 2018
MANTENIMIENTO PLANETARIO CIUDAD DE ROSARIO - POR: GUSTAVO ARIAS //// FOTOS: ESMERALDA SOSA
.. hoy REEMPLAZANDO EL HISTÓRICO SPOT ( DESDE EL AÑO 1984 ) a PROYECTOR LED ( 2018 ) ..
.. tragando MUCHO POLVO, TIERRA y CALOR ..
.. nos acompañó musicalmente ..
SHELLS OF STARS IN ELLIPTICAL GALAXY PGC 42871 Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA; Processing & Copyright: Domingo Pestana
Explanation: How do galaxies grow? To help find out, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed to image the unusual elliptical galaxy PGC 42871. How this galaxy came to be surrounded by numerous shells of stars may give clues about how it evolved. Embedded in the diffuse shells are massive globular clusters of stars -- stars which analyses show were born during three different epochs. This and other data indicate that PGC 42871 has been in at least two galactic collisions, at least one of which might have been with a former spiral galaxy. The remaining spiral galaxy on the far left is at the same distance as PGC 42871 and may have been involved in some of the collisions. PGC 42871 spans about 20 thousand light years and lies about 270 million light years away toward the constellation of Centaurus.
COMET 38P/STEPHAN-OTERMA NEAR ALHENA Taken by Yasushi Aoshima on October 20, 2018 @ Ishikawa, JAPAN
Alhena (γGem).
Data: EF300mmF2.8L USM, CanonEOS6D, 12800 ISO, 28x60sec stacked (17:07-36 UT), North: upper, FOV: 4.7 x 7°
Sunday, October 28, 2018
COMET 46P WIRTANEN Taken by rolando ligustri on October 27, 2018 @ from Australia SSO, Itelescope.net
DK 500/2250 ccd PL9000 L=300sec
ORION Taken by david tonnesen on October 18, 2018 @ Anacortes, Washington
cloudy skies, got up early to avoid the moon, to find Orion. 5:57 am