Found images: 2015 December

[Sandgirl]

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Have you seen a great image or video somewhere that you think would make a great APOD? Nominate it for APOD! Please post as much information here as you have about the image/video with a link to any source(s) for it you know of here, and the editors will take a look.

When posting the image itself, please do not post anything larger than a thumbnail here; please honor the copyright holder's copyright.

Please keep hotlinked images under 400K.

Thank you!

[astroava]

NGC253 - The Sculptor Galaxy
http://www.astroava.org/foro3/images/im ... 3-caat.jpg

Copyright: CAAT - Centro Astronómico del Alto Turia - Gonzalo Fornas
Processing: Alvaro Fornas - Alfonso Carreño

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Vela Supernova Remnant
http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Vela-DSS.html
Copyright: Robert Gendler
Data: Digitized Sky Survey

[Ann]

Vela Supernova Remnant
http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Vela-DSS.html
Copyright: Robert Gendler
Data: Digitized Sky Survey

Vela.jpg

I absolutely love that image by Robert Gendler!

Ann

[novko]

IC 410 HST
Copyright: Robert Novotný

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)
http://astrophotography.aa6g.org/Astrop ... f8300.html
Copyright: Chuck Vaughn

[starsurfer]

LBN 603 and LDN 1295-6
http://www.alessandrofalesiedi.it/deep- ... dn-1295-6/
Copyright: Alessandro Falesiedi

[starsurfer]

NGC 1333 and IC 348
http://www.astrosurf.com/ilizaso/orriak ... Q_U16m.htm
Copyright: Iñaki Lizaso

NGC 1333 is the reflection nebula in the bottom right corner while IC 348 is a cluster associated with nebulosity near the top left corner. The pink nebula is Ced 18a and the dark nebula in front of it is catalogued as B3. This region is part of the Perseus Molecular Cloud.

[starsurfer]

Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009)
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/50
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

[Ann]

Click to view full size image

NASA's new Pluto closeups can be seen here.

Ann

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?p=251088#p251088

[bystander]

A Galactic View from the Observation Deck
ESO Picture of the Week | 2015 Dec 07

[img3="Credit: John Colosimo (colosimophotography.com)/ESO"]http://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1549a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This stunning panorama shows the Milky Way galaxy arching above the platform of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, Chile. At 2635 metres above sea level, Paranal Observatory is one of the very best astronomical observing sites in the world and is the flagship facility for European ground-based astronomy. The extent of our galaxy's cloudy and dusty structure can be seen in remarkable detail as a dim glowing band across the observation deck.

From Earth, we see the Milky Way as a band across the sky because from our vantage point in one of its spiral arms we are seeing its disc-shaped structure edge-on as we peer towards its centre. Our galaxy is surrounded by several smaller satellite galaxies. Prominent here, to the left, are the Small Magellanic Cloud and Large Magellanic Cloud — dwarf galaxies which are members of our Local Group of galaxies.

The VLT consists of four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) and four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) which can be used together to form the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). ...

[bystander]

Galactic Politics (Atoms for Peace, NGC 7252)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Dec 07

[img3="Credit: NASA & ESA/Hubble
Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.com)"]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/ ... w1549a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Only rarely does an astronomical object have a political association. However, the spiral galaxy NGC 7252 acquired exactly that when it was given an unusual nickname.

In December 1953, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech advocating the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. This “Atoms for Peace” speech was significant for the scientific community, as it brought nuclear research into the public domain, and NGC 7252, which has a superficial resemblance to an atomic nucleus surrounded by the loops of electronic orbits, was dubbed the Atoms for Peace galaxy in honour of this. These loops are well visible in a wider field of view image.

This nickname is quite ironic, as the galaxy’s past was anything but peaceful. Its peculiar appearance is the result of a collision between two galaxies that took place about a billion years ago, which ripped both galaxies apart. The loop-like outer structures, likely made up of dust and stars flung outwards by the crash, but recalling orbiting electrons in an atom, are partly responsible for the galaxy’s nickname.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the inner parts of the galaxy, revealing a pinwheel-shaped disc that is rotating in a direction opposite to the rest of the galaxy. This disc resembles a spiral galaxy like our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but is only about 10 000 light-years across — about a tenth of the size of the Milky Way. It is believed that this whirling structure is a remnant of the galactic collision. It will most likely have vanished in a few billion years’ time, when NGC 7252 will have completed its merging process.

[Ann]

Galactic Politics (Atoms for Peace, NGC 7252)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Dec 07

[img3="Credit: NASA & ESA/Hubble
Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.com)"]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/ ... w1549a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Only rarely does an astronomical object have a political association. However, the spiral galaxy NGC 7252 acquired exactly that when it was given an unusual nickname.

In December 1953, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech advocating the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. This “Atoms for Peace” speech was significant for the scientific community, as it brought nuclear research into the public domain, and NGC 7252, which has a superficial resemblance to an atomic nucleus surrounded by the loops of electronic orbits, was dubbed the Atoms for Peace galaxy in honour of this. These loops are well visible in a wider field of view image.

This nickname is quite ironic, as the galaxy’s past was anything but peaceful. Its peculiar appearance is the result of a collision between two galaxies that took place about a billion years ago, which ripped both galaxies apart. The loop-like outer structures, likely made up of dust and stars flung outwards by the crash, but recalling orbiting electrons in an atom, are partly responsible for the galaxy’s nickname.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the inner parts of the galaxy, revealing a pinwheel-shaped disc that is rotating in a direction opposite to the rest of the galaxy. This disc resembles a spiral galaxy like our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but is only about 10 000 light-years across — about a tenth of the size of the Milky Way. It is believed that this whirling structure is a remnant of the galactic collision. It will most likely have vanished in a few billion years’ time, when NGC 7252 will have completed its merging process.

Click to view full size image

I couldn't make that link work, bystander. But I think this is the image you wanted to show. A larger image is here.

I find the image very beautiful and extremely interesting. (Thank you, Geck.) Particularly interesting is the small spiral galaxy at the center of a large, lenticular disk. But this kind of galactic morphology is actual not that unusual. A fine example is M64, the Black Eye Galaxy.

Ann

[bystander]

...
I couldn't make that link work, bystander. But I think this is the image you wanted to show. A larger image is here. ...

I don't know to which link you are referring, but geckzilla's image is not the ESA Hubble POTW.

[Ann]

...
I couldn't make that link work, bystander. But I think this is the image you wanted to show. A larger image is here. ...

I don't know to which link you are referring, but geckzilla's image is not the ESA Hubble POTW.

Sorry about that, bystander. But your link to the NASA/ESA/Hubble/Geckzilla image still doesn't seem to work.

Ann

[geckzilla]

But the two do offer a good comparison of how the galaxy looks with very little sharpening applied (my version) and with quite a bit (ESA's version). ESA's loads fine for me. Probably just a temporary network issue for Ann.

[Ann]

Click to view full size image

Like I said, the link posted by bystander doesn't work for me. And the first image I posted wasn't the one processed by you, Geck. But could the image at left be yours?

Ann

[geckzilla]

The one you linked from my geckzilla.com website is mine. The one you just now posted is ESA's.

[starsurfer]

Galactic Politics (Atoms for Peace, NGC 7252)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2015 Dec 07

[img3="Credit: NASA & ESA/Hubble
Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.com)"]http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/ ... w1549a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Only rarely does an astronomical object have a political association. However, the spiral galaxy NGC 7252 acquired exactly that when it was given an unusual nickname.

In December 1953, the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech advocating the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. This “Atoms for Peace” speech was significant for the scientific community, as it brought nuclear research into the public domain, and NGC 7252, which has a superficial resemblance to an atomic nucleus surrounded by the loops of electronic orbits, was dubbed the Atoms for Peace galaxy in honour of this. These loops are well visible in a wider field of view image.

This nickname is quite ironic, as the galaxy’s past was anything but peaceful. Its peculiar appearance is the result of a collision between two galaxies that took place about a billion years ago, which ripped both galaxies apart. The loop-like outer structures, likely made up of dust and stars flung outwards by the crash, but recalling orbiting electrons in an atom, are partly responsible for the galaxy’s nickname.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the inner parts of the galaxy, revealing a pinwheel-shaped disc that is rotating in a direction opposite to the rest of the galaxy. This disc resembles a spiral galaxy like our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but is only about 10 000 light-years across — about a tenth of the size of the Milky Way. It is believed that this whirling structure is a remnant of the galactic collision. It will most likely have vanished in a few billion years’ time, when NGC 7252 will have completed its merging process.

Wow I have never seen this galaxy in such remarkable clarity and clear detail! I like the visual contrast posed by the inner dust and the outer tidal features, you really get a feeling of titanic forces at work in the interaction and merger of galaxies. This is why I love interacting and peculiar galaxies, they convey an incredible dynamic sense of incomprehensibly huge forces!

[starsurfer]

Sh2-187
http://www.astrobin.com/124916/D/
Copyright: Tero Turunen

[starsurfer]

Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070)
http://www.pbase.com/tango33/image/161272575
Copyright: Kfir Simon

[starsurfer]

NGC 2613
http://www.billionsandbillions.com/ngc_2613.html
Copyright: Warren Keller/SSRO

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

BBW 56
http://www.tvdavisastropics.com/astroim ... 000071.htm
Copyright: Thomas Davis

[Ann]

Adam Block has posted a beautiful new image of NGC 521.

Full size image is here.

Ann

[starsurfer]

Adam Block has posted a beautiful new image of NGC 521.

Full size image is here.

Ann

Wow that looks amazing! There's so many wonderful galaxies out there!