Starship Asterisk*

[quote="thewon"]I propose that the Medusa Nebula be renamed The Farrah Fawcett Nebula [img]http://resizing.flixster.com/nHGT6inZSz4Z7BGKsB9Nt9QTs7k=/270x333/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/photo/10/67/83/10678376_ori.jpg[/img][/quote]
i second that motion !

Also other deep sky objects that have the same name include the Helix Nebula and the Helix Galaxy as well as the Owl Nebula and the Owl Cluster.

[quote="Ann"]I take it back, starsurfer. You were right.

Ann[/quote]
I will admit, it feels nice to be told I'm right after everyone is always telling me I'm wrong, especially when some people in my life say astronomy is a waste of time.

I take it back, starsurfer. You were right.

Ann

[url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/medusa/][b][i]NGC 4194: A Black Hole in Medusa's Hair[/i][/b][/url]
NASA | MSFC | SAO | CXC | 2009 Mar 11
[float=left][size=85][img3="[b][i]Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Iowa/P.Kaaret et al.;
Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/Univ of Iowa/P.Kaaret et al.[/i][/b]"]http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/medusa/medusa.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr][/size][/float]
[quote="starsurfer"]The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.[/quote][quote="Ann"]I don't think so, starsurfer. ...[/quote][quote="CXC"]This composite image of the Medusa galaxy (also known as NGC 4194) shows X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue and optical light from the Hubble Space Telescope in orange. Located above the center of the galaxy and seen in the optical data, the "hair" of the Medusa -- made of snakes in the Greek myth -- is a tidal tail formed by a collision between galaxies. The bright X-ray source found towards the left side of Medusa's hair is a black hole[/quote]
Please note starsurfer said [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_Galaxy_Merger][b][i]Medusa Galaxy[/i][/b][/url] not [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_Nebula][b][i]Medusa Nebula[/i][/b][/url].

[quote="starsurfer"]The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.[/quote]

I don't think so, starsurfer. My software Guide says that NGC 4194 is in Ursa Major, quite far from the constellation Gemini. And [url=http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=NGC+4194&submit=SIMBAD+search]Simbad's astronomical database[/url] describes [url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/medusa/]NGC 4194[/url] as an active galactic nucleus.

Also I doubt that the fascinating barred galaxy tangled in the Medusa Nebula's hair is bright enough to earn an NGC designation.

Ann

The galaxy NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Galaxy.

Obviously this is a beautiful picture,but you know what I love most about pictures like this.That you can blow them up and see galaxies like salt & pepper sprinkled throughout the cosmos.
What a molecularly small blue marble we live on!

This is beautiful!

[quote="dlw"][quote="Galactic Wonderer"][quote="NCTom"]Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?[/quote]

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo![/quote]

Also very simple (apparently) spirals. Should be an interesting case study of barred galaxy dynamics.

[attachment=0]Big Bar galaxy.jpg[/attachment][/quote]

Thanks, dlw! That 's a fine galaxy, but this kind of morphology isn't that unusual. [url=http://www.astronoo.com/images/galaxies/galaxie-ngc-7331.jpg]A barred galaxy in the Deer Lick Group[/url] is relatively similar, and other interesting barred galaxies are [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131114.html]NGC 1097[/url] and [url=http://astroforum.gr/forum/files/thumbs/t_ngc2523_sbbr_103.jpg]NGC 2523[/url]. Of course, the one you found looks quite one-armed, which is interesting and unusual.

Ann

[quote="Galactic Wonderer"][quote="NCTom"]Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?[/quote]

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo![/quote]

Also very simple (apparently) spirals. Should be an interesting case study of barred galaxy dynamics.

[attachment=0]Big Bar galaxy.jpg[/attachment]

I propose that the Medusa Nebula be renamed The Farrah Fawcett Nebula [img]http://resizing.flixster.com/nHGT6inZSz4Z7BGKsB9Nt9QTs7k=/270x333/dkpu1ddg7pbsk.cloudfront.net/photo/10/67/83/10678376_ori.jpg[/img]

[quote="NCTom"]Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?[/quote]

Yes, I see it and many others as well throughout the photo though only that one looks barred to me. This is a most interesting APOD. Bravo!

No, to Medusa and barred galaxy, but I do see a jellyfish just right of center. :wink:

Anyone else see Medusa*s head in the centre at the top. Its in profile. The forehead, the eye, the nose and gaping mouth. . . .

Question: Is there any similarity or connection between the stage of 'shedding outer layers' and a sustained all-encompassing CME ?

Right of center appears to be a barred galaxy with a HUGE bar or do my eyes deceive me?

[quote="starsurfer"]This is a really strange image of a really strange planetary nebula. It is actually of fairly old age and is interacting with the interstellar medium although this phenomenon has been observed in young planetary nebula. The Medusa Nebula also has a halo, which can be seen in [url=http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Nebulae/Medusa/Medusa.htm]this image by Ken Crawford[/url] and [url=https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1054.html]this NOAO image[/url].[/quote]
Would NEVER have guessed from the APOD image that this was a planetary! Wow!

This is a really strange image of a really strange planetary nebula. It is actually of fairly old age and is interacting with the interstellar medium although this phenomenon has been observed in young planetary nebula. The Medusa Nebula also has a halo, which can be seen in [url=http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Nebulae/Medusa/Medusa.htm]this image by Ken Crawford[/url] and [url=https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1054.html]this NOAO image[/url].

A wondrous visage indeed.

:---[===] *

Who spilled the paint?

This is a beautiful image of "star stuff".

Best regards
Very interesting image.

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150612.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_150612.jpg[/img] [size=150]The Medusa Nebula[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old [url=http://messier.seds.org/planetar.html]planetary nebula[/url] some 1,500 light-years away along the southern border of the constellation [url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1520b/]Gemini[/url]. Like its [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa]mythological[/url] namesake, the nebula is associated with a dramatic transformation. The [url=http://www.noao.edu/jacoby/pn_gallery.html]planetary nebula[/url] phase represents a final stage in [url=http://casswww.ucsd.edu/public/tutorial/StevI.html]the evolution[/url] of low mass stars [url=http://www.astro.washington.edu/balick/WFPC2/]like the sun[/url], as they transform themselves from [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant]red giants[/url] to hot white dwarf stars and in the process shrug off their outer layers. Ultraviolet [url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/ems1.html]radiation[/url] from the hot star powers the nebular glow. An unrelated, bright, foreground star is near center in this [url=http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1520/]close-up, telescopic view[/url], while the Medusa's transforming central star is actually the dimmer star below center and toward the right-hand part [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1506/eso1520aMedusaJ.jpg]of the frame[/url]. The Medusa Nebula is estimated to be over 4 light-years across.

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