Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

Astronomy Images and Video

Beautiful and interesting images and video of the night sky including stars, planets, the Milky Way, and deep-sky objects taken through a camera lens or through a telescope.

The Jellyfish Nebula

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

The Jellyfish Nebula (IC443) at upper left is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini. It lies adjacent to the emission nebula Sharpless 249 at lower right. Image credit: Jeff Johnson at jeffjastro.com/
The Jellyfish Nebula (IC443), upper left, is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini. It lies adjacent to the emission nebula Sharpless 249, a star forming region, at lower right in this image. Image credit: Jeff Johnson at jeffjastro.com

The Jellyfish Nebula, also called IC 443, is the sprawling remnant of a massive star that exploded as a supernova some 3,000 to 30,000 years ago in a gas-strewn patch of the Milky Way in the constellation Gemini. As you can see in the above image by Jeff Johnson, the shock wave from the explosion produced the particularly intricate lacework of nebulosity that makes up the Jellyfish. The nebula, which is about 5,000 light years away, is adjacent to a rich region of star formation called Sharpless 249. [Read more…] about The Jellyfish Nebula

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M33 – The Triangulum Galaxy

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

Image of the Triangulum Galaxy (Messier 33) by Terry Hancock and Ron Brecher.
Image of the Triangulum Galaxy (Messier 33) by Terry Hancock and Ron Brecher. The star-forming region NGC 604 is at one o’clock in this image.

The tiny northern constellation Triangulum contains the gorgeous face-on spiral galaxy Messier 33, also known as the Triangulum Galaxy. A photogenic target for expert astrophotographers, the Triangulum Galaxy is a next-door neighbor of our Milky Way Galaxy and the most distant object you can see with your unaided eye. As you can see in the above image by Terry Hancock and Ron Brecher, the spiral arms of M33 are festooned with pink star-forming nebulae. The largest, NGC 604, is some 100x the size of the Orion nebula and hosts more than 200 massive stars at its center.

The spiral arms of M33 are loosely bound, and the galaxy is a type-Sc spiral using Hubble’s galaxy classification system.  The galaxy spans a diameter of 50,000 light years, about half the diameter of the Milky Way. Indeed, M33 belongs to the so-called Local Group of Galaxies which includes the Andromeda Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, and our own Milky Way. M33 may itself be a large satellite of the much larger Andromeda galaxy, Messier 31.

(Note: The Triangulum Galaxy is one of the dozens of deep-sky sights featured in The Armchair Astronomer, a collection of astoundingly beautiful images of clouds of gas and dust where new stars are born. If you haven’t yet downloaded this e-book, you can find it here…)

 

 

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Best Nightscape Images of 2015

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video


This video shows the best images of the 6th International Earth and Sky Photo Contest, a program by The World at Night (TWAN) in collaboration with the Global Astronomy Month and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The contest aims to show the natural beauty of starry sky and help preserve the dark skies which are not yet polluted by artificial lights. The images in this video are copyrighted by the photographers. Click on the video, maximize the window size, switch on HD, and enjoy…

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The Southern Pinwheel – M83

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video, Deep Sky

Messier 83, the "Southern Pinwheel", imaged at the Star Shadows Remote Observatory. Courtesy
Messier 83, the “Southern Pinwheel”, imaged at the Star Shadows Remote Observatory. Courtesy of Warren Keller, Steve Mazlin, Steve Menaker, and Jack Harvey

Today, let’s look at the spiral galaxy M83, a lovely cosmic lotus blossom and one of the showpieces in the southern deep sky.

Barely visible from northern latitudes, M83 lies roughly 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It’s one of the 25 brightest galaxies in the sky, and one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies. At magnitude 7.6, it’s easily visible with binoculars and small telescopes about 18° due south of the bright star Spica, in Virgo, and just north of the star Menkent in the constellation Centaurus [Read more…] about The Southern Pinwheel – M83

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Secrets of Nightscape Imaging – Interview with Alan Dyer

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Images and Video

Nightscape of stargazers and the Milky Way through Scorpius and Sagittarius at the Texas Star Party in 2015 (by Alan Dyer)
Nightscape of stargazers and the Milky Way through Scorpius and Sagittarius at the Texas Star Party in 2015 (by Alan Dyer)

I had the great pleasure of recently interviewing the master astrophotographer Alan Dyer of AmazingSky.com to discuss the basics of nightscape imaging with a digital camera. This sort of imaging, which combines elements of landscape photography and astrophotography, has become extremely popular over the last few years thanks to the advent of large, low-noise sensors in digital SLR cameras. Alan is the author most recently of the multi-media guide called Nightscapes and Timelapses which gives a comprehensive introduction to the art and craft of nightscape imaging.

As you listen to my interview with Alan, you will discover: [Read more…] about Secrets of Nightscape Imaging – Interview with Alan Dyer

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