NGC 6240 - a particularly beautiful butterfly galaxy (sometimes also known as "Lobster Galaxy"). It is composed of a pair of lesser galaxies, which are in the process of merging into each other. These visually enthralling galaxies are located in the Ophiuchus Constellation, at a distance of roughly 400 million light-years from Earth. Ophiuchius is other wise known as the "Serpent Holder". The galaxies will eventually merge completely together within some tens, to hundreds of millions of years. When this finally happens, it is thought that the two giant black holes within these galaxies will drift toward one another, formaing an even bigger black hole.
Arp 148, cutely nicknamed Mayall's object, is the remains of a collision between two galaxies, what followed, was the formation of a circular ring galaxy and a long streak which is the other galaxy. The collision between the two original galaxies cause a shockwave which pulled matter into the central core, which subsequently caused it to expand into the ring shape you can see before you. Arp 148 is situated in Ursa Major,otherwise known as "the Great Bear" (Ursa means bear in Latin, and Major means larger), Arp148 is approximately 500 million light-years from Earth.
Nov. 22. At CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida. – The crew of the Atlantis Shuttle are due for a other spacewalk today
Randolph Bresnik, a lieutenant Colonel in the US marine Corp and NASA astronaut, who is the Spacebound proud father of a newborn baby, is to make a spacewalk ouside the capsule for the second time within a three day period. He will be performing various minor tasks on the exterior of the International Space Station. He will be supported and assisted by Dr. Robert Satcher Jr.
They will be connecting a new full oxygen tank and various scientific experiments. The firstof the two spacewalks in this Atlantis mission were trouble free and a success, and were even able to perform extra worktasks, which left only a few minor tasks to finish up the mission criteria.
Bresnik is overjoyed after the birth of his new daughter Abigail Mae. She was born a mere few hours after his debut spacewalk on Saturday.
Atlantis will be undocked from the space station on Wednesday.
Randolph Bresnik is the 2nd ONLY man to becom a Father whilst in orbit, after Mike Finke, who became Father in the year 2004. The Atlantis crew were woken by mission control playing Butterfly Kisses which was chosen by the Bresnik's wife.
Hubble is back in action Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe-
Video: Hubble's Recommissioning Process
Scientists have concluded the checkout period for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and now are revealing images showcasing the power of the much-improved observatory. This video chronicles the checkout period after Hubble's Servicing Mission 4. Also included is the unexpected diversion from the usual calibration procedures to focus the telescope on a possible comet collision on the planet Jupiter.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the next orbiting observatory from NASA, destined to eventually take over the job from Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope is the size of a tennis court, and is to be placed in orbit well beyond the Moon. The Webb telescope will be capable of detecting infrared radiation wavelengths with great accuracy Some of the farthest away objects from our planet are detected and seen in the infrared wavelength, as well as many cooler heavenly bodies, whose light emission is not strong enough for us to see will be able to be detected by the Webb telescope uusing infrared light sensors. Dust clouds which normally obscure many objects from sight will be visible in the infrared frequency because the infrared light penetrates the dust clouds. With the lainching of Webb in 2014, it is expected that a host of new discoveries will flood in, increasing our awareness and understanding of the workings of our amazing Universe
Once launched and beginniing it's mission, we shall be able to see a myriad of objects which have till now been invisible to us, revealing some of our Universe's longest kept secrets Link; Hubblesite
NGC 1569 is a hive of star birth activity, emitting huge bubbles and super-bubbles that permeate the main mass of NGC 1569. These events are involved in the creation of new stars and superluminous blue star clusters. Approximately 25 million years ago, NGC 1569 galaxy had a sudden onset of star birth , subsiding about the time of Earths early Human Ancestors.
In this new image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the bubble structure is formed by the galactic super-winds and outflows. Thes are caused by an immense input of power from collective supernova explosions.
The structures that look like bubbles in this image are made of hydrogen gas that glows when coming into contact with the galactic winds and radiation from other hot young stars and is tormented with supernovae shocks. The first supernovae blew up as the most massive stars reached the end of their lifetimes. This occured about 20-25 million years ago.
The environment in NGC 1569 very turbulent and the supernovae which produce the gaseous raw material nnecessary for the formation of further stars and star clusters, triggering their birth in swirls of gas.
Credits: ESA, NASA and Peter Anders (Göttingen University Galaxy Evolution Group, Germany)
NGC 1569 is a peculiar dwarf galaxy, which experienced a very high rate of star formation in the past 150 million years. At the moment, the star formation rate seems to decline a bit. At a distance of only 2.2 Megaparsec, it is the nearest starburst galaxy (you might have though M 82 was the nearest!). The outflow of gas from NGC 1569 has been studied in great detail. In my thesis (Chapter 8), I present maps of the high-velocity NEUTRAL hydrogen in NGC 1569, as well as a previously unknown nearby cloud of atomic hydrogen which might be colliding with NGC 1569.
Here are a collection of pics from the Cygnus Loop Supernova
Source: Hubblesite.org Credit: J.J. Hester (Arizona State University), and NASA. Co-investigators: P.A. Scowen (Arizona State University), Ed Groth (Princeton University), Tod Lauer (NOAO), and the WFPC Instrument Definition Team.
Explanation: The shockwave from a 20,000 year-old supernova in the constellation of Cygnus supernova explosion is still expanding into interstellar space. The collision of this fast moving wall of gas with a stationary cloud has heated it causing it to glow in visible as well as high energy radiation, producing the nebula known as the Cygnus Loop (NGC 6960/95). The nebula is located about 2500 light-years away.
The colors used here indicate emission from different kinds of atoms excited by the shock: oxygen-blue, sulfur-red, and hydrogen-green. This picture was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Info Source; NASA
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