NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Oct 13 2022

Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb

What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are likely 3D shells but how they were created remains a topic of research. Where they were created is well known: in a binary star system that lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) a system dominated by the Wolf-Rayet star WR 140. Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, bright, and known for their tumultuous winds. They are also known for creating and dispersing heavy elements such as carbon which is a building block of interstellar dust. The other star in the binary is also bright and massive but not as active. The two great stars joust in an oblong orbit as they approach each other about every eight years. When at closest approach, the X-ray emission from the system increases, as, apparently, does the dust expelled into space creating another shell. The featured infrared image by the new Webb Space Telescope resolves greater details and more dust shells than ever before.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221013.html

>>17692937

Catching up.

Oct 7 2022

In Ganymede's Shadow

At opposition, opposite the Sun in Earth's sky, late last month Jupiter is also approaching perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in its elliptical orbit, early next year. That makes Jupiter exceptionally close to our fair planet, currently resulting in excellent views of the Solar System's ruling gas giant. On September 27, this sharp image of Jupiter was recorded with a small telescope from a backyard in Florence, Arizona. The stacked video frames reveal the massive world bounded by planet girdling winds. Dark belts and light zones span the gas giant, along with rotating oval storms and its signature Great Red Spot. Galilean moon Ganymede is below and right in the frame. The Solar System's largest moon and its shadow are in transit across the southern Jovian cloud tops.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221007.html

>>17692948

Oct 8 2022

Two Comets in Southern Skies

Heading for its closest approach to the Sun or perihelion on December 20, comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) remains a sight for telescopic observers as it sweeps through planet Earth's southern hemisphere skies. First time visitor from the remote Oort cloud this comet PanSTARRS sports a greenish coma and whitish dust tail about half a degree long at the upper left in a deep image from September 21. It also shares the starry field of view toward the constellation Scorpius with another comet, 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, seen about 1 degree below and right of PanSTARRS. Astronomers estimate that first time visitor comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) has been inbound from the Oort cloud for some 3 million years along a hyperbolic orbit. Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 is more familiar though. The periodic comet loops through its own elliptical orbit, from just beyond the orbit of Jupiter to the vicinity of Earth's orbit, once every 5.4 years. Just passing in the night, this comet PanSTARRS is about 20 light-minutes from Earth in the September 21 image. Seen to be disintegrating since 1995, Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 was about 7.8 light-minutes away.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221008.html

>>17692950

Oct 9 2020

Auroras over Northern Canada

Gusting solar winds and blasts of charged particles from the Sun resulted in several rewarding nights of auroras back in 2014 December, near the peak of the last 11-year solar cycle. The featured image captured dramatic auroras stretching across a sky near the town of Yellowknife in northern Canada. The auroras were so bright that they not only inspired awe, but were easily visible on an image exposure of only 1.3 seconds. A video taken concurrently shows the dancing sky lights evolving in real time as tourists, many there just to see auroras, respond with cheers. The conical dwellings on the image right are tipis, while far in the background, near the image center, is the constellation of Orion. Auroras may increase again over the next few years as our Sun again approaches solar maximum.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221009.html

>>17692952

*2022

Oct 10 2022

A Double Lunar Analemma over Turkey

An analemma is that figure-8 curve you get when you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day for one year. But the trick to imaging an analemma of the Moon is to wait bit longer. On average the Moon returns to the same position in the sky about 50 minutes and 29 seconds later each day. So photograph the Moon 50 minutes 29 seconds later on successive days. Over one lunation or lunar month it will trace out an analemma-like curve as the Moon's actual position wanders due to its tilted and elliptical orbit. Since the featured image was taken over two months, it actually shows a double lunar analemma. Crescent lunar phases too thin and faint to capture around the New moon are missing. The two months the persistent astrophotographer chose were during a good stretch of weather during July and August, and the location was Kayseri, Turkey

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221010.html

>>17692955

Oct 11 2022

Stars, Dust, Pillars, and Jets in the Pelican Nebula

What dark structures arise within the Pelican Nebula? On the whole, the nebula appears like a bird (a pelican) and is seen toward the constellation of a different bird: Cygnus, a Swan. But inside, the Pelican Nebula is a place lit up by new stars and befouled by dark dust. Smoke-sized dust grains start as simple carbon compounds formed in the cool atmospheres of young stars but are dispersed by stellar winds and explosions. Two impressive Herbig-Haro jets are seen emitted by the star HH 555 on the right, and these jets are helping to destroy the light year-long dust pillar that contains it. Other pillars and jets are also visible. The featured image was scientifically-colored to emphasize light emitted by small amounts of heavy elements in a nebula made predominantly of the light elements hydrogen and helium. The Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and IC 5070) is about 2,000 light-years away and can be found with a small telescope to the northeast of the bright star Deneb.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221011.html

>>17692959

Oct 12 2022

Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula

A mysterious squid-like cosmic cloud, this nebula is very faint, but also very large in planet Earth's sky. In the image, composed with 30 hours of narrowband image data, it spans nearly three full moons toward the royal constellation Cepheus. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue-green emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a more recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over 50 light-years across.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221012.html

>>17692953

>Yoda speak

>Q+

o7

>>17692982

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is calming fears of shots fired at the bureau's headquarters heard Tuesday night. Video captured the sound of rapid bangs that sound like rifle fire coming from the building in Northwest D.C.

In the video, provided to WUSA9 from a person who wished to remain anonymous, several bangs are heard in quick succession. After each burst, steam is seen escaping from the building's roof. The person who provided the video said the banging noises started around 8:30 p.m. and continued until around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

A spokesperson for the FBI said despite the frightening noises, no one was in danger.

"The FBI is aware of reports of loud noises coming from mechanical piping within the J. Edgar Hoover building on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. This noise was due to steam release from a properly functioning pressure relief valve. At no time were FBI employees or the general public at risk," the FBI said in a statement.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/fbi-headquarters-gunfire-noises-blamed-on-steam-release-system/65-77bddf62-1c6e-42c2-829b-dd06db8da74e

https://youtu.be/rx5ZRY7axcw