iotman (49)in #science • yesterday🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Hickson 44 in Leo 🪐Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups.…iotman (49)in #science • 2 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Da Vinci Glow 🪐A 26 hour old Moon poses behind the craggy outline of the Italian Dolomites in this twilight mountain and skyscape. The one second long exposure was captured near moonset on…iotman (49)in #science • 3 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Jupiter and Ring in Infrared from Webb 🪐Why does Jupiter have rings? Jupiter's main ring was discovered in 1979 by NASA's passing Voyager 1 spacecraft, but its origin was then a mystery. Data from NASA's Galileo…iotman (49)in #science • 6 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: A Partial Solar Eclipse over Iceland 🪐What if the Sun and Moon rose together? That happened yesterday over some northern parts of planet Earth as a partial solar eclipse occurred shortly after sunrise. Regions that…iotman (49)in #science • 7 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Stereo Helene 🪐Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Helene, small, icy moon of Saturn. Appropriately named, Helene is a Trojan moon, so called because it orbits at a Lagrange point.…iotman (49)in #science • 8 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Lunar Dust and Duct Tape 🪐Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, eons of constant micrometeorite bombardment have blasted away at…iotman (49)in #science • 9 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Messier 81 🪐One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81. Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th…iotman (49)in #science • 10 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula 🪐You'd think the Pacman Nebula would be eating stars, but actually it is forming them. Within the nebula, a cluster's young, massive stars are powering the pervasive nebular glow.…iotman (49)in #science • 11 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: A Blue Banded Blood Moon 🪐What causes a blue band to cross the Moon during a lunar eclipse? The blue band is real but usually quite hard to see. The featured HDR image of last week's lunar eclipse…iotman (49)in #science • 14 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: SuperCam Target on Ma'az 🪐What's the sound of one laser zapping? There's no need to consult a Zen master to find out, just listen to the first acoustic recording of laser shots on Mars. On Mars Rover…iotman (49)in #science • 15 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Leo Trio 🪐This popular group leaps into the early evening sky around the March equinox and the northern hemisphere spring. Famous as the Leo Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies found…iotman (49)in #science • 16 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Solar Eclipse Analemma Project 🪐Recorded from 2024 March 10, to 2025 March 1, this composited series of images reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of the Sun's daily motion through planet Earth's sky. Known…iotman (49)in #science • 17 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Blue Ghost's Diamond Ring 🪐On March 14 the Full Moon slid through Earth's dark umbral shadow and denizens of planet Earth were treated to a total lunar eclipse. Of course, from the Moon's near side that…iotman (49)in #science • 18 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: LDN 1235: The Shark Nebula 🪐There is no sea on Earth large enough to contain the Shark nebula. This predator apparition poses us no danger as it is composed only of interstellar gas and dust. Dark dust like…iotman (49)in #science • 20 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun 🪐This was a very unusual type of solar eclipse. Typically, it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. In 2012, though, the planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by…iotman (49)in #science • 21 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Tololo Totality 🪐On March 14 the Moon was Full. In an appropriate celebration of Pi day, that put the Moon 3.14 radians (180 degrees) in ecliptic longitude from the Sun in planet Earth's sky. As…iotman (49)in #science • 22 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: Moon Pi and Mountain Shadow 🪐What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it…iotman (49)in #science • 23 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: The Protostars within Lynds 483 🪐Two protostars are hidden in a single pixel near the center of a striking hourglass-shaped nebula in this near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The actively…iotman (49)in #science • 25 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: NGC 1672: Barred Spiral Galaxy from Hubble 🪐Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar. Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, featured…iotman (49)in #science • 26 days ago🌌 SpacePicture of a Day: NGC 1499: The California Nebula 🪐Could Queen Calafia's mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of California, USA. Our…
