Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Over 500,000 light years across, NGC 6872 (bottom left) is a truly enormous barred spiral galaxy. At least 5 times the size of our own large Milky Way, NGC 6872 is the largest known spiral galaxy. About 200 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock, the appearance of this giant galaxy's stretched out spiral arms suggest the wings of a giant bird. So its popular moniker is the Condor galaxy. Lined with massive young, bluish star clusters and star-forming regions, the extended and distorted spiral arms are due to NGC 6872's past gravitational interactions with the nearby smaller galaxy IC 4970, visible here below the giant spiral galaxy's core. Other members of the southern Pavo galaxy group are scattered through this magnificent galaxy group portrait, with the dominant giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876, above and right of the soaring Condor galaxy.

Photo by Adam Block

Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning 'place of Ganga' in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva.

UnpetitproleX, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

This galaxy is not only pretty -- it's useful. A gorgeous spiral some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about 30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core. Not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's two recent supernovas and multiple Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in this sharp image from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Flower buds of a Agapanthus praecox Snow White. A pure white dwarf, 45 cm. Focus stack of 50 photos.

Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What kind of clouds are these? Although their cause is presently unknown, such unusual atmospheric structures, as menacing as they might seem, do not appear to be harbingers of meteorological doom. Formally recognized as a distinct cloud type only last year, asperitas clouds can be stunning in appearance, unusual in occurrence, and are relatively unstudied. Whereas most low cloud decks are flat bottomed, asperitas clouds appear to have significant vertical structure underneath. Speculation therefore holds that asperitas clouds might be related to lenticular clouds that form near mountains, or mammatus clouds associated with thunderstorms, or perhaps a foehn -- a type of dry downward wind that flows off mountains. Clouds from such a wind called the Canterbury arch stream toward the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. The featured image, taken above Hanmer Springs in Canterbury, New Zealand in 2005, shows great detail partly because sunlight illuminates the undulating clouds from the side.

Photo by Witta Priester

Position light (with image of St. Christopher) of a Rolls-Royce Phantom II.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

"Earth’s atmosphere contains carbon dioxide, which is good for life on Earth – in moderation." ..."The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has risen by more than 50% since industries began burning coal and other fossil fuels in the late 1700s, reaching concentrations that haven’t been found in the Earth’s atmosphere in at least a million years. And the concentration continues to rise..." More at The Conversation➜

Eruption of Strokkur (Icelandic for "churn") a fountain geyser located in the Haukadalur geothermal area, southwest of Iceland.

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.