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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
23.06.10- Swift Spies Black Holes Feeding on Galaxy Mergers.
NASA’s orbiting Swift telescope is in the news again, this time providing a key link between energetic nuclei and active galaxy mergers. The findings come after a survey conducted since 2004 by Swifts’ Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) of active galactic nuclei. A small percentage of these (less than 1 %) are extremely active, emitting 10 billion times the equivalent solar output. While theories have long posited that galaxy mergers feed and create galactic mass black holes, the observations carried out by Swift catch these monsters switching on in their energetic youth, and thus provide insight into their evolution. Only instruments such as BAT can penetrate the thick layers of gas and dust masking these massive black holes, which emit copious amounts of radiation in the hard x-ray spectrum. In fact, Swift has built the first ever comprehensive all sky survey in hard x-rays, with sensitivity to active galactic nuclei (AGN) 650 million light years distant. In the process, Swift has also uncovered numerous unknown AGN. The picture emerging will no doubt force scientists to rethink galaxy evolution; about 25% of the galaxies that BAT sees are potential close mergers, and 60% of those are destined to merge in the next 1 billion years or so. As we fill in the galaxy “family scrapbook,” key information will be deduced about how common (or rare) our own Milky Way galaxy is. And yes, our galaxy does harbor a galactic mass black hole of its own! And we’re also due for a collision of our own with the Andromeda galaxy in about 3 billion years, with the resulting merger tentatively dubbed Milkomeda… will whatever we evolve into, (or get replaced by) be blogging then? Imagine the views as the Andromeda closes in!