April 25th, 2013 at 12:21PM
This is an illustration of a galaxy undergoing bursts of star formation. The winds from a galaxy with this much star formation blast out 650,000 light-years from the galactic center. Credit: ESA, NASA, L. Calcada

This is an illustration of a galaxy undergoing bursts of star formation. The winds from a galaxy with this much star formation blast out 650,000 light-years from the galactic center. Credit: ESA, NASA, L. Calcada

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February 27th, 2013 at 3:28PM
This is a really cool picture when you realize what you’re looking at. This is a Polar Planet Effect image, where and entire panorama is turned into an image that looks like a planet. This is a photo of an aurora in Finland, taken in early 2013 by Martin Stojanovski. You can see the trees, the aurora and even other people in the scene if you look close. Clever. Image credit: Martin Stojanovski

This is a really cool picture when you realize what you’re looking at. This is a Polar Planet Effect image, where and entire panorama is turned into an image that looks like a planet. This is a photo of an aurora in Finland, taken in early 2013 by Martin Stojanovski. You can see the trees, the aurora and even other people in the scene if you look close. Clever. Image credit: Martin Stojanovski

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February 27th, 2013 at 3:01PM
This looks like a Spirograph image, but it’s actually the path taken by the Vela Pulsar, as seen by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope over the course of 51 months in orbit. Fermi orbits the Earth every 95 minutes, sweeping across the entire sky every 3 minutes. The Vela pulsar spins 11 times a second, and it’s the brightest gamma ray source for the spacecraft to see. Image credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

This looks like a Spirograph image, but it’s actually the path taken by the Vela Pulsar, as seen by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope over the course of 51 months in orbit. Fermi orbits the Earth every 95 minutes, sweeping across the entire sky every 3 minutes. The Vela pulsar spins 11 times a second, and it’s the brightest gamma ray source for the spacecraft to see. Image credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

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February 8th, 2013 at 11:23AM
This is a photo of the Seagull Nebula captured by the European Southern Observatory’s 2.2 meter telescope. This is a vaguely bird-shaped region of gas and dust between the constellations Canis Major and Monoceros. Image credit: ESO

This is a photo of the Seagull Nebula captured by the European Southern Observatory’s 2.2 meter telescope. This is a vaguely bird-shaped region of gas and dust between the constellations Canis Major and Monoceros. Image credit: ESO

4 notes
February 8th, 2013 at 11:16AM
This is an image of the Sun, obviously, with a surprising amount of activity on the surface. This picture was taken by Paul Stewart from New Zealand (also known as the Upside Down Astronomer). Paul used a H-Alpha solar scope and DMK41 camera.

This is an image of the Sun, obviously, with a surprising amount of activity on the surface. This picture was taken by Paul Stewart from New Zealand (also known as the Upside Down Astronomer). Paul used a H-Alpha solar scope and DMK41 camera.

2 notes
January 23rd, 2013 at 6:03PM
These are noctilucent clouds photographed by astronaut Chris Hadfield, while on board the International Space Station. These are clouds that sit right at the layer between the mesosphere and thermosphere. Image credit: NASA/Chris Hadfield

These are noctilucent clouds photographed by astronaut Chris Hadfield, while on board the International Space Station. These are clouds that sit right at the layer between the mesosphere and thermosphere. Image credit: NASA/Chris Hadfield

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January 23rd, 2013 at 4:42PM
The star forming nebula NGC 1999 as seen by the ESO’s APEX instrument. Astronomers were surprised to discover that a dark region in the nebula was actually a cavity of material carved out by the star V380 Orionis. Image credit: ESO

The star forming nebula NGC 1999 as seen by the ESO’s APEX instrument. Astronomers were surprised to discover that a dark region in the nebula was actually a cavity of material carved out by the star V380 Orionis. Image credit: ESO

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January 23rd, 2013 at 3:11PM
Check out this cool montage photograph of the Sun seen in different wavelengths by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). You can see how different wavelengths highlight different aspects of the Sun’s atmosphere and surface. Image credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center

Check out this cool montage photograph of the Sun seen in different wavelengths by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). You can see how different wavelengths highlight different aspects of the Sun’s atmosphere and surface. Image credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center

9 notes
January 23rd, 2013 at 3:04PM
This is a beautiful image of a region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 200,000 light-years away. You can see vast clouds of gas and dust which will form regions of furious star formation. Image credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble

This is a beautiful image of a region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 200,000 light-years away. You can see vast clouds of gas and dust which will form regions of furious star formation. Image credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble

2 notes
January 21st, 2013 at 5:10PM
Someone requested NGC 2169 in the Virtual Star Party last night, also known as the “37 Cluster”. And wow! It really does look like the number 37. We do our Virtual Star Parties every Sunday night when it gets dark on the West Coast, just find us on Google+. Photo by Stuart Forman.

Someone requested NGC 2169 in the Virtual Star Party last night, also known as the “37 Cluster”. And wow! It really does look like the number 37. We do our Virtual Star Parties every Sunday night when it gets dark on the West Coast, just find us on Google+. Photo by Stuart Forman.