Notices by Kelly Lepo (kellylepo@astrodon.social), page 4

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) was able to observe the April 8 partial solar eclipse from Maui.

https://nso.edu/blog/the-eclipse-as-seen-by-the-daniel-k-inouye-solar-telescope-in-maui/

#eclipse #eclipse2024

This interview with Benjamin Fernando about the follow up on claims by a certain Harvard astronomer of recovering an alien technology meteor is great.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/science/meteor-avi-loeb.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b00.0QFN.Ne8pbHks9G3p&smid=url-share

PSA for folks in North America. There is a solar eclipse coming up on April 8. Get your eclipse glasses now, so you are not left scrambling.

https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/viewers-filters

@cosmos4u I'm glad this suggestion was accepted!

Also worth checking out, the Radiolab podcast on Zoozve: https://radiolab.org/podcast/zoozve

Today @spacetelescope released 19 images of face-on spiral galaxies from #JWST and #Hubble. The new JWST images were taken as part of the PHANGS program, a survey of nearby galaxies taking high-resolution observations with ALMA, the VLT, Hubble and JWST.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-105

This is now a #PHANGS galaxy stan account. Over the next 19 days, I’ll post a short thread about each one of the galaxies featured in today’s release.
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This is completely on-brand.

The door plug from the #AlaskaAirlines #737max lands in physics teacher Bob Sauer's yard. He uses the opportunity to give a lesson on impulse and momentum to a reporter from the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/us/portland-alaska-airlines-plane-door.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MU0.2ywZ.C5PQ6Pj7dxMj&smid=url-share

I’m starstruck by this new #JWST image of one of my favorite astronomical objects 🤩

Herbig-Haro 46/47 is a pair of jets launched by young stars, embedded in a dark nebula.

The binary stars responsible for the jets shine brightly in the middle of the image, seen as one point of light with red diffraction spikes.

The two-sided orange lobes were created by earlier outflows. More recent ejections appear as a blue line in the center of the lobes.

More: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-131
#Astronomy #Space

To celebrate #Hubble's 27th anniversary in 2017, @spacetelescope released this image of a pair of spiral galaxies, NGC 4302 and NGC 4298.

From our view on Earth, NGC 4302 (left) has an inclination of 90 degrees, which is exactly edge-on. NGC 4298 (right) is tilted at about 70 degrees.

While these galaxies may look different because we see them at different angles, their structure and contents are actually very similar.

Learn more: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2017/news-2017-14.html

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#Astronomy #Galaxy

Another #Hubble favorite.

NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, is a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets. Instead, they are created at the end of the lifetime of a Sun-like star, as it puffs off its outer layers.

The pinched waist, hourglass-shaped outflows, and symmetrical patterns of the Butterfly Nebula were likely created by interactions between a dying star and its binary star companion in the heart of the nebula.

More: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-31
#Astronomy #Nebula

Today's #Hubble favorite is M51. It's a pair of two interacting galaxies, NGC 5194, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and its companion galaxy NGC 5195. The image was taken to celebrate Hubble's 15th anniversary in 2005.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a grand design spiral. Its arms may be so prominent because of a series of close encounters with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy behind the outermost tip of one of its arms.

More: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2005/12/1677-Image.html
#Astronomy #Galaxy #Space

The official NASA/ESA version of the Ring Nebula, as seen by #JWST.

The Ring is a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulas got their name because they look like fuzzy planets through small telescopes. They were believed to be simple, round objects with a single dying Sun-like star at their centers. However, modern observations like this show a variety of intricate and complex structures.

How does a spherical star create a non-spherical nebula?

More: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/early-highlights/webb-reveals-intricate-details-in-the-remains-of-a-dying-star
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#Astronomy #Nebula

Jupiter is actually quite difficult to observe with #JWST's large mirror. The planet is so bright that researchers had to use clever techniques to avoid saturating the telescope's detectors.

The result of those efforts is this NIRCam image of Jupiter. The white areas are very high-altitude cloud tops. The dark ribbons north of the equatorial region have little cloud cover. Auroras, extending to high altitudes above the planet's north and south poles, are seen in red.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-147

Check out this new #JWST image of the Crab Nebula 🤩

The milky smoke-like glow in the nebula's center comes from synchrotron radiation, light produced by charged particles, like electrons, moving around magnetic fields at relativistic speeds.

Curvy wisps outline the structure of the pulsar’s magnetic field, which sculpts and shapes the nebula. A faint ring of white material encircles the pulsar, a tiny white dot, at the very center.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-137

#astronomy #space #SupernovaRemnant

Earlier this week, we saw a new #JWST image of Cassiopeia A. Cas A has been observed with many other telescopes over the years. Let's take a multi-wavelenght tour of the supernova remnant across different types of light.

📷 https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2023/149/01HGH0SBY44A8SM23AGB1H06F7

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Uranus is an oddball planet — it spins on its side, tilted about 98 degrees so that its rotational axis is almost parallel to the plane of its orbit. This means that for about a quarter of its 84-year-long orbit, one pole gets all of the sunlight (summer), and the other is plunged into darkness (winter). Uranus is approaching its northern summer solstice, which will happen in 2028.

In this image, we can see the bright white northern polar cap and bright storms at lower latitudes.

Here is a new 4-color #JWST image of the planet Uranus, along with its rings and moons, adding two filters to the 2-color version released earlier this year.

The labeled blue, star-like things are Uranus' moons, including its five major moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. We also see a smattering of the smaller moons near the rings, named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

More: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-150

NASA's Winter 2024 Astrophoto challenge, featuring the Crab Nebula, is now on. Make your own images with real NASA data using a simple, online tool. Then, submit your image. Standout entries are featured on the website and get comments from expert judges.

I've been a guest expert in the past, and I find all of your technicolor space images delightful. Please go make some weird space pictures: https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/astrophoto/index.html

A video introduction to NASA's Winter 2024 Astrophoto Challenge:
https://youtu.be/qtkHA2wBr0c

Here is my own psychedelic Crab Nebula image that I made in 5 minutes using the online Astrophoto Challenge tools.

#astronomy #nasa #NASAAstrophotoChallenge

From xkcd's What If?:
What if we aimed the Hubble Telescope at Earth?
https://youtu.be/2LSyizrk8-0