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It's a Gas, Gas, GasCredit: ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2 and Joe DePasqualeFriday, May 20, 2011: Nebula NGC 3582 contains giant loops of gas that resemble solar prominences. Researchers think dying stars ejected the loops, but this stellar nursery also produces new stars. The young stars emit ultraviolet radiation that causes the gas in the nebula to glow, producing the fiery display. To make this image, Joe DePasquale combined a variety of datasets acquired by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Tom Chao |
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EruptionCredit: NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen, Robert SimmonFriday, May 13, 2011: A landscape that looks eerie and remote is really Russia's Bezymianny volcano rendered in a false-color image. The volcano erupted on April 14, 2011. In this infrared photo, lava appears red on the summit and to the south-east. Bare rock and ash are gray, and snow and ice appear cyan. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired this image on April 22, 2011.Tom Chao |
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Keep Your DistanceCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE TeamThursday, May 12, 2011: The three nebulae in this image may appear close together, but in actuality they reside at different distances from the Earth. Nebula NGC 1491 glows on the right side of the image, SH 2-209 sits on the left side and BFS 34 lies in between. NGC 1491 and BFS 34 are part of the same cloud complex at distance of about 10,700 light-years away in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. SH 2-209 lives farther away at about 16,000 light-years distance, located in the outer arm of the Milky Way. Tom Chao |
Blazin'
Credit: TRACE Project, NASATuesday, May 10, 2011: This ultraviolet image of the sun shows large sunspot group AR 9169 as the bright area near the horizon. The relatively cool dark regions have temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, in contrast to the bright glowing gas flowing around the sunspots, which have a temperature of over one million degrees Celsius. Large sunspot group AR 9169 moved across the sun during September 2000.
Tom Chao
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Eyes on New Zealand Credit: NASA via Ron Garan/Astro_RonThis photo of New Zealand from space was taken by NASA astronaut Ron Garan, who has been blogging about the planet's beauty on his website Fragile Oasis. This image, taken on April 15, 2011, was Garan's first photo sent via Twitter from the International Space Station. |
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
Monday, April 4, 2011: The distinctive sky feature LBN 114.55+00.22, seen here, emits light, and therefore astronomers class it as an emission nebula. LBN stands for "Lynds Bright Nebula," named after the astronomer who published a catalogue of nebulae in 1965. 114.55+00.22 indicates the nebula’s coordinates in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Tom Chao
Credit: ESA/NASA
Friday, April 1, 2011: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli took this image of the Sinai Peninsula from the International Space Station on March 19, 2011.
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA/SDO
Thursday, March 31, 2011: Magnetic field lines arc high above the surface of the sun in this image obtained Feb. 23-27, 2011, by the Solar Dynamics Laboratory. In extreme ultraviolet light the multitude of lines are revealed because charged particles are spinning along them.
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team
Wednesday, March 30, 2011: The star Alpha Camelopardalis (center) speeds through the universe at somewhere between 1.5 and 9.4 million miles per hour (680 and 4,200 kilometers per second). Considered a runaway star by astronomers, it creates a bow shock, seen as the red swath in the image.
Tom Chao
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Tuesday, March 29, 2011: The cramped quarters in globular clusters like Messier 12, shown here, makes them home to binary star systems where two stars tightly orbit each other, and one sucks up matter from its companion, releasing X-rays.
Tom Chao
Credit: ESA, Hubble, NASA
Friday, March 25, 2011: Dust in nebula NCG 2174 appears in mountain-like formations, though the structures have no more substance than air. Nearby bright, newly formed stars emanate light and winds that disperse the "mountains." NCG 2174 lies in the constellation Orion.
Tom Chao
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
Thursday, March 24, 2011: Saturn's moon Hyperion possesses many craters, most of which contain an unknown dark material. This 2005 Cassini image shows the strangely-textured surface. Hyperion measures about 150 miles (250 km) across, rotates chaotically and might contain a vast system of caverns.
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Riess (STScI/JHU), L. Macri (Texas A&M University), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Tuesday, March 22, 2011: Blue young stars shine in the spiral arms of galaxy NGC 5584, as shown by this Hubble Space Telescope image. Thin, dark dust lanes flow from the yellowish core, filled with older stars. The reddish dots throughout the image are largely background galaxies. Several exposures taken in visible light between January and April 2010 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 combine to make this image.
Tom Chao
Credit: ESA/NASA
Monday, March 21, 2011: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli took this photo of the "supermoon" aboard the International Space Station on March 20, 2011.
Tom Chao
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum
Friday, March 18, 2011: The Elephant's Trunk Nebula sits in star cluster IC 1396, in the constellation of Cepheus. A cloud of high-temperature gas warmed up by newly born stars forms the emission nebula. Hydrogen, the most common element in space, glows intensely in red light when heated by hot, young stars seen inside the "trunk."
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team, Jeff SchmaltzThursday, March 17, 2011: Lacy clouds encircled Ireland a few months ago on December 22, 2010, while a heavy covering of snow lay upon the land. NASA's Terra satellite used its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument to capture this true-color image of the snow. The overnight arrival of 6 in. (15 cm.) of snow at the Dublin airport forced its closure, and severe weather disrupted air, road and rail travel, closed schools and businesses and caused power outages.
Tom Chao
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA/SDO/HMIWednesday, March 16, 2011: It was just a few weeks back that the sun was often free of spots. But on March 9, 2011, it had four separate sunspot groups, part of an increase in activity in recent weeks. Sunspots are cool, magnetically active regions on the sun that act like caps on a soda bottle. Sometimes the caps pop off, releasing a torrent of solar energy in the form of light and charged particles. Such a flare was released on March 9. The groups are numbered 1169 (left), 1166 (center), 1164 (upper right) and 1170 (lower right).
Robert Roy Britt
Credit: NASA
Tuesday, March 15, 2011: This night view from space shows city lights of Sendai, Japan, in 2003, before the destructive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. One of the Expedition 6 crew members onboard the International Space Station took this picture, 220 miles above the Earth.
Tom Chao
Credit: STS-133 Shuttle Crew, NASA
Friday, March 11, 2011: Space shuttle Discovery's crew took this image of the International Space Station (ISS) after departing to return to Earth on March 9, 2011. During their STS-133 mission, Discovery's crew added components including the Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module, again changing the appearance of the ISS. Construction of the ISS began in 1998.
Tom Chao
Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Thursday, March 10, 2011: Space shuttle Discovery's 39th and final flight concluded on March 9, 2011. Here, the "towback" vehicle pulls the spacecraft into Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a well-deserved rest. NASA will now prepare Discovery for future public display.
Tom Chao
Sun Unleashes X1.5-Class Flare
Credit: NASA/SDO/GSFCThe sun unleashed a powerful Class X1.5 solar flare on March 9, 2011, a solar storm that could supercharge Earth's auroras. The flare was recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and other spacecraft. Here, it appears in white at the upper right of the sun as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory
The Young Onesay,
Credit: ESOWednesdMarch 9, 2011: ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile captured this image of many galaxies, as part of the COMBO-17 project (Classifying Objects by Medium-Band Observations in 17 Filters). Some of the most distant flecks of light visible in this photo represent galaxies whose light has been traveling towards us for about nine or ten billion years, revealing what the universe was like when it was much younger.
by : Tom Chao
Lunar Transit Authority
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDOTuesday, March 8, 2011: NASA's SDO satellite photographed the moon passing in front of the sun, March 2-4, 2011.
by: Tom Chao
Horse in the sky
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/CoelumFriday, March 4, 2011: The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope produced this stunning image of the well-known Horsehead Nebula. It is part of an enormous cloud of molecular gas and dust obscuring background light from nearby
emission nebula IC 434, producing the silhouette. by : Tom Chao
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/CoelumFriday, March 4, 2011: The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope produced this stunning image of the well-known Horsehead Nebula. It is part of an enormous cloud of molecular gas and dust obscuring background light from nearby
emission nebula IC 434, producing the silhouette. by : Tom Chao
The Other One
Credit: ESA/Hubble&NASA
Wednesday, March 2, 2011: This Nasa/ESA Hubble space Telescope image shows an outer
part of the Orion Nebula's little brother, Messier 43, sometimes referred to as De Mairan's
Nebula after its discoverer. Only a dark lane of dust separates it from the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). by: Tom Chao
Wednesday, March 2, 2011: This Nasa/ESA Hubble space Telescope image shows an outer
part of the Orion Nebula's little brother, Messier 43, sometimes referred to as De Mairan's
Nebula after its discoverer. Only a dark lane of dust separates it from the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). by: Tom Chao
The planet is a celestial body which has the following characteristics:
Planets orbiting around a star or star remnants.At a sufficient mass to have its own gravity to overcome rigid body so that the pressure has the form of a celestial body hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round shape.) Planet is not too large to cause thermonuclear fusion of deuterium in its core.
then have a "clean environment" (cleaning up the environment, empty orbit to objects large enough free space in addition to the satellite itself) in the area around its orbit
Based on the above definition, then the system there are eight planets of the solar system. Up to date August 24, 2006 before the International Astronomical Union IAU (International Astronomical Union) announced a change in the definition of "planet" so that as mentioned above, there are nine planets, including Pluto, even celestial bodies found recently also can be regarded as new planets, such as: Ceres, Sedna, Orcus, Xena, Quaoar, UB 313. Pluto, Ceres and UB 313 is now changing its status to "dwarf planet / dwarf."
Planet taken from the Greek word for wanderer Planetai Asteres Stars. So named because unlike ordinary stars, planets from time to time be seen wandering (move) from one constellation to another constellation. This mobility is (currently) can be understood because the planets circulating around the sun. But in the days of ancient Greece who are not familiar with the concept of a heliocentric, the planet is considered as a representation of god in the sky. At that time the meaning of the planets are seven celestial bodies: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Modern astronomy to remove the Sun and Moon from the list because it does not comply with current definitions. Previously, the planets in the solar system there are 9, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter / Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. However, on August 26, 2006, scientists agreed to remove Pluto from the list of planets, so the system will be only 8 the number of planets in solar planets by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) are:
1. Merkurius
Mercury there are a variety of interesting photos one look at her picture there are also photos of the hidden planet Mercury.
and finally the image is sent the day after the Messenger spacecraft of the U.S. space agency (NASA) flew toward him. With these photographs, scientists hope to uncover more distant planet closest to the Sun's.
Messenger flew within the closest distance at a distance of about 200 kilometers from the planet Mercury, in 2010 messenger 7 years, for the second time in three times a similar mission. Received initial image showed a broad view of the area to the east.
The researchers also hope to use that image to map the surface of Mercury. Expected to obtain images with the number of nearly 1,200 pieces of flying across it.
The first mission was conducted earlier this year and next year's third mission. Data from Messenger's first fly-in last January showed a large lava flows have shaped the planet and provide the first information on 20 percent of Mercury's surface.
In addition to photographing areas that are still foreign, fly near Mercury is also designed to obtain the gravitational pull for the Messenger to be bouncy. Spacecraft will enter Mercury's orbit in 2011 in order to provide the most detailed picture of the planet.
2. Venus
Composition similar to that of Neptune and Uranus both have a different composition than the larger giants, Jupiter and Saturn. As such, astronomers sometimes place them in a different category, "ice giants". The atmosphere of Uranus, which is similar to Jupiter and Saturn in being composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, contains a lot of ice, such as water, ammonia and methane, together with traces of hydrocarbons. Atmosphere it is the coldest in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (-224 ° C). Planet's atmosphere has a layered structure of clouds and complex and is considered the lowest clouds composed of water and a layer of cloud top is estimated to consist of methane. The contrast with the interior of Uranus is mainly composed of ice and rock.
Uranus has a system of rings, magnetosphere and many months. The Uranian system has a unique configuration among the planets because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its revolution around the Sun. Thus, the north and south poles are located in places that on many other planets is their equator. Viewed from Earth, the ring encircling the planet Uranus is sometimes visible as the target arrow and its moons around it like the needles hours, although in 2007 and 2008 the ring was visible from the edge. In 1986, pictures from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as a planet that appears virtually featureless in visible light without the cloud bands or storms associated with the other giants. However, observers on Earth see the signs of the changing seasons and weather events are increasing in recent years along with Uranus approached ekuinoksnya wind speeds on Uranus can reach 250 meters per second (900 km / hour, 560 miles per hour)
8. Neptunus
Neptune is the farthest planet (eighth) if monitored or reviewed from the sun.
The planet Neptune has an average distance to the Sun at 4450 million km. Neptune has a diameter reaches 49 530 km and has a mass of 17.2 Earth masses. Planet's rotation period is 16.1 hours, while the revolution period is 164.8 years. The form of this planet with a surface similar to the Moon there is a thin layer of silicate. The composition of the planet is a constituent of iron and other heavy elements. The planet Neptune has 8 satellites fruit, including Triton, Proteus, Nereid, and Larissa.
