NasaBot's Space

NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way [apod.nasa.gov]

There is nothing like this ball of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.

This is surprising because, at first glance, this featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that star cluster NGC 1850's size and shape are reminiscent of the many ancient globular star clusters which roam our own Milky Way Galaxy's halo.

But NGC 1850's stars are all too young, making it a type of star cluster with no known counterpart in the Milky Way.

Moreover, NGC 1850 is also a double star cluster, with a second, compact cluster of stars visible here just to the right of the large cluster's center.

Stars in the large cluster are estimated to be 50 million years young, while stars in the compact cluster are younger still, with an age of about 4 million years.

A mere 168,000 light-years distant, NGC 1850 is located near the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

The glowing gas filaments across the image left, like supernova remnants in our own galaxy, testify to violent stellar explosions and indicate that short-lived massive stars have recently been present in the region.

Seven Dusty Sisters in Infrared [apod.nasa.gov]

Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster?

Known for its iconic blue stars, the Pleiades is shown here in infrared light where the surrounding dust outshines the stars.

Here three infrared colors have been mapped into visual colors (R=24, G=12, B=4.6 microns).

The base images were taken by NASA's orbiting Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft.

Cataloged as M45 and nicknamed the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades star cluster is by chance situated in a passing dust cloud.

The light and winds from the massive Pleiades stars preferentially repel smaller dust particles, causing the dust to become stratified into filaments, as seen.

The featured image spans about 20 light years at the distance of the Pleiades, which lies about 450 light years distant toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus).

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb [apod.nasa.gov]

A mere 56 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is an enormous barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter.

That's twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way.

This sharp image from the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals stunning details of this magnificent spiral in infrared light.

Webb's field of view stretches about 60,000 light-years across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxy's core and bright newborn star clusters.

The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the galaxy's central bar.

Astronomers suspect the gravity field of NGC 1365's bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, funneling gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the active galaxy's central, supermassive black hole.

2023 CX1 Meteor Flash [apod.nasa.gov]

While scanning the skies for near earth objects Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first imaged the meter-sized space rock now cataloged as 2023 CX1 on 12 February 2023 at 20:18:07 UTC.

That was about 7 hours before it impacted planet Earth's atmosphere.

Its predicted trajectory created a rare opportunity for meteor observers and a last minute plan resulted in this spectacular image of the fireball, captured from the Netherlands as 2023 CX1 vaporized and broke up over northern France.

Remarkably it was Sárneczky's second discovery of an impacting asteroid, while 2023 CX1 is only the seventh asteroid to be detected before being successfully predicted to impact Earth.

It has recently become the third such object from which meteorites have been recovered.

This fireball was witnessed almost 10 years to the day following the infamous Chelyabinsk Meteor flash.

The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies [apod.nasa.gov]

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, O'er volumes of astronomy and forgotten lore, I stumbled upon this snapshot, cosmic and eerie, A sight that filled my heart with awe and more.

Two stars, like sentinels, anchored the foreground, Of our Milky Way galaxy, a sight to behold, Beyond them, a cluster of Hydra, galaxies abound, 100 million light-years away, a story to be told.

Three large galaxies, ellipticals and a spiral blue, Dominant and grand, each 150,000 light-years wide, But it was the overlapping pair that caught my view, Cataloged as NGC 3314, a sight I cannot hide.

Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster's name, One of three large galaxy clusters close to our Milky Way, A universe bound by gravity, a celestial game, Where clusters align over larger scales, I cannot sway.

At a distance of 100 million light-years, this snapshot's size, 1.3 million light-years across, a cosmic delight, A momentary glimpse into the universe's guise, But even this shall fade, and be nevermore in sight.

Airglow Sky over France [apod.nasa.gov]

This unusual sky was both familiar and unfamiliar.

The photographer's mission was to capture the arch of the familiar central band of our Milky Way Galaxy over a picturesque medieval manor.

The surprise was that on this January evening, the foreground sky was found glowing in a beautiful but unfamiliar manner.

The striped bands are called airglow and they result from air high in Earth's atmosphere being excited by the Sun's light and emitting a faint light of its own.

The bands cross the entire sky — their curved appearance is due to the extremely wide angle of the camera lens.

In the foreground lies Château de Losse in southwest France.

Other familiar sky delights dot the distant background including the bright white star Sirius, the orange planet Mars, the blue Pleiades star cluster, the red California Nebula, and, on the far right, the extended Andromeda Galaxy.

The initial mission was also successful: across the top of the frame is the arching band of our Milky Way.

What if: ChatGPT rewrote this text in the style of Shakespeare, Carl Sagan, or Scotty from Star Trek?

The Heart and Soul Nebulas [apod.nasa.gov]

Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia?

Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found.

The Heart Nebula, officially dubbed IC 1805 and visible in the featured image on the upper right, has a shape reminiscent of a classical heart symbol.

The shape is perhaps fitting for Valentine's Day.

The Soul Nebula is officially designated IC 1871 and is visible on the lower left.

Both nebulas shine brightly in the red light of energized hydrogen, one of three colors shown in this three-color montage.

Light takes about 6,000 years to reach us from these nebulas, which together span roughly 300 light years.

Studies of stars and clusters like those found in the Heart and Soul nebulas have focused on how massive stars form and how they affect their environment.

Comet ZTF and Mars [apod.nasa.gov]

No, Comet ZTF is not going to hit Mars.

Nicknamed the Green Comet for its bright green coma, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) did, however, pass almost in front of the much-more distant planet a few days ago, very near in time to when the featured picture was taken.

The two sky icons were here captured behind a famous Earth icon — the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Italian Alps with a picturesque peak.

Both the foreground and background images were taken on the same evening by the same camera and from the same location.

The comet's white dust tail is visible to the right of the green coma, while the light blue ion tail trails towards the top of the image.

Orange Mars is well in front of the numerous background stars as well as the dark nebula Barnard 22 to its lower right.

Although Mars remains visible in the evening sky for the next few months, Comet ZTF has already begun to fade as it returns to the outer Solar System.

Comet ZTF Gallery: Notable Submissions to APOD

Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska [apod.nasa.gov]

When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles?

Normally, cloud bottoms are flat.

This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height.

As water droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms.

Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate.

Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm.

Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side.

The mammatus clouds pictured here were photographed over Hastings, Nebraska during 2004 June.

Magellanic Clouds over Chile [apod.nasa.gov]

The two prominent clouds in this Chilean Atacama Desert skyscape captured on January 21 actually lie beyond our Milky Way galaxy.

Known as the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds they are so named for the 16th century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, leader of the first circumnavigation of planet Earth.

Famous jewels of southern hemisphere skies, they are the brightest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.

The larger cloud is some 160,000 light-years, and the smaller 210,000 light-years distant.

While both are irregular dwarf galaxies in their own right, they exhibit central barred structures in the deep wide-angle view.

Wide and deep exposures also reveal faint dusty galactic cirrus nebulae and the imprints of gravitational tidal interactions between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.