Found Images: 2021 March

[bystander]

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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 500K.

Thank you!

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[bystander]

Another World
ESO Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 01

Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

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On occasion, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile experiences something you might not associate with an astronomical observatory — snow!

When snow falls and coats the landscape with a frosty glaze of cool white, the entire site is transformed. It becomes something almost subterranean or extra-terrestrial, reminiscent of a rebel base from Star Wars or a dystopian scene from Blade Runner.

A number of ALMA’s 66 high-precision radio antennas can be seen in this image, connected by cleared pathways. The array spends its time observing the cool Universe and its phenomena — star formation, molecular clouds, and the early Universe.

[bystander]

Big, Beautiful and Blue
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 01

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, V. Antoniou

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NGC 2336 is the quintessential galaxy — big, beautiful and blue — and it is captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The barred spiral galaxy stretches an immense 200 000 light-years across and is located approximately 100 million light years away in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).

Its spiral arms are glittered with young stars, visible in their bright blue light. In contrast, the redder central part of the galaxy is dominated by older stars.

NGC 2336 was discovered in 1876 by German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel, using a 28-centimetre telescope. This Hubble image is so much better than the view Tempel would have had — Hubble’s main mirror is 2.4 metres across, nearly ten times the size of the telescope Tempel used. In 1987, NGC 2336 experienced a Type-Ia supernova, the only observed supernova in the galaxy since its discovery 111 years earlier.

[starsurfer]

StDr Object 9
https://www.astrobin.com/8lnkug/B/
Copyright: Marcel Drechsler/Xavier Strottner/Chilescope

[starsurfer]

HDW 2
https://www.astrobin.com/3ddcdc/B/
Copyright: Chris Sullivan

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Kronberger 24
https://www.astrobin.com/5hbp3i/
Copyright: Boris Chausov

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Kronberger 50
https://www.imagingdeepspace.com/kn50.html
Copyright: Peter Goodhew

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Abell 62
https://pbase.com/skybox/image/171278232
Copyright: Kevin Quin

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NGC 2438
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/70
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

[starsurfer]

Dumbbell Nebula (M27)
http://www.capella-observatory.com/Imag ... Neroth.htm
Copyright: Josef Pöpsel, Stefan Binnewies and Frank Sackenheim

[Ann]

Pickett's Bell
https://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/portfoli ... te-nebula/
Copyright: Miguel Claro

Miguel Claro wrote:

A wide angle view pointing deep into the region of the sky near Orion constellation, reveals the faint dark nebulosity which seems to spread between Barnard´s Loop nebula, located on the left edge, Lambda Orionis nebula, as seen in the bottom, and Rosette nebula, shinning in to top right corner. All of these objects are red emission nebulae featuring colorful red-violet hues from the glowing hydrogen gas, but what highlights the image center, is the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. Surrounded by a faint dark ring with the shape of a Bell, this dark ring also known as “Pickett’s Bell”, was noticed for the first time by astrophotographer Tom Pickett in 2015. This strange bell shaped object was not listed nowhere, so Tom just called it the “Pickett’s Bell”. The blue bright star in the left corner, is Bellatrix, and Meissa, is the star shinning in the center of Lambda Orionis, both belonging to Orion constellation. Captured from Cumeada Observatory, official headquarter of Dark Sky® Alqueva Reserve, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal.

Click on the link to see Miguel Claro's original full size image.

Ann

[bystander]

From Sunlight to Starlight
ESO Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 08

Image Credit: ESO/Petr Horálek

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Even after the Sun has set over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, the site is not truly dark. Although light pollution is practically non-existent at the remote site high up in the Atacama Desert, as daylight disappears the flowing dunes are instead illuminated by the dazzling light streaming from the stars above. The only artificial illumination for miles around comes from Paranal’s facilities, including the telescopes themselves and the Residencia, photographed here.

A true oasis in the desert, the Residencia is a refuge from the harsh environment of the Atacama. The astronomers and other employees who work at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, located just a few kilometres down the road and home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope, can escape the arid environment after a long shift and enjoy a walk through the indoor garden or a dip in the swimming pool. The Residencia’s striking visual design is complemented by its world-leading environmental innovations, including careful power and waste management, and a huge 35-metre glass dome on the roof to allow natural star and sunlight into the building. As an added bonus, the view from the windows is pretty good too!

[bystander]

Through the Clouds
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 08

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan (Chalmers Univ & Univ of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Chalmers Univ); Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

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Nestled amongst the vast clouds of star-forming regions like this one lie potential clues about the formation of our own Solar System.

This week’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features AFGL 5180, a beautiful stellar nursery located in the constellation of Gemini (The Twins).

At the centre of the image, a massive star is forming and blasting cavities through the clouds with a pair of powerful jets, extending to the top right and bottom left of the image. Light from this star is mostly escaping and reaching us by illuminating these cavities, like a lighthouse piercing through the storm clouds.

Stars are born in dusty environments and although this dust makes for spectacular images, it can prevent astronomers from seeing stars embedded in it. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument is designed to capture detailed images in both visible and infrared light, meaning that the young stars hidden in vast star-forming regions like AFGL 5180 can be seen much more clearly.

[starsurfer]

Through the Clouds
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 08

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. C. Tan (Chalmers Univ & Univ of Virginia), R. Fedriani (Chalmers Univ); Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

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Nestled amongst the vast clouds of star-forming regions like this one lie potential clues about the formation of our own Solar System.

This week’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features AFGL 5180, a beautiful stellar nursery located in the constellation of Gemini (The Twins).

At the centre of the image, a massive star is forming and blasting cavities through the clouds with a pair of powerful jets, extending to the top right and bottom left of the image. Light from this star is mostly escaping and reaching us by illuminating these cavities, like a lighthouse piercing through the storm clouds.

Stars are born in dusty environments and although this dust makes for spectacular images, it can prevent astronomers from seeing stars embedded in it. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument is designed to capture detailed images in both visible and infrared light, meaning that the young stars hidden in vast star-forming regions like AFGL 5180 can be seen much more clearly.

This is really nice! I would love to see a Hubble image of AFGL 5173.

[starsurfer]

NGC 1566
http://www.azstarman.net/CDK/NGC1566.htm
Copyright: Bernard Miller

[starsurfer]

NGC 3953
https://www.flickr.com/photos/146686921 ... 046208993/
Copyright: Franz Klauser

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NGC 4725 and NGC 4747
https://www.astrobin.com/99jb5m/
Copyright: Kevin Morefield

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NGC 4945
https://www.astrobin.com/6rg90d/
Copyright: Xing Keyu/Chilescope

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NGC 7814
https://www.astrobin.com/9nxbop/
Copyright: Peter Csordas

[starsurfer]

PN G314.5-01.0
https://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/g314-5-01-0/
Copyright: Don Goldman

[bystander]

A Floating Telescope?
ESO Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 15

Image Credit: ESO/Yuri Beletsky (LCO)

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At first glance, this image may be more than a little confusing — is the domed telescope at the centre of the image part of a framed roadside photograph? Is it floating in mid-air? What, exactly, is going on?

Sadly, nothing as exciting as a levitating telescope — this is simply a trick of peculiar perspective and clever camerawork. Here, the Danish 1.54-metre telescope is perfectly framed and reflected in one of the many roadside mirrors around ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The telescope appears to point towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as if it were observing. The LMC is a small nearby galaxy that orbits the Milky Way and can be seen lurking in the upper left of the image.

Due to the extremely sensitive technique used, a soft green radiance known as airglow, caused by the faint emission of light in Earth’s atmosphere, can be seen sweeping across the sunset skies. In the distance, faint orange halos mark the locations of very distant towns and cities sitting beyond the mountainous horizon.

ESO's La Silla Observatory is located on the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert, at 2400 metres above sea level. La Silla has been an ESO stronghold since the 1960s, and currently operates two of the most productive four-metre-class telescopes in the world. This never-before-seen snapshot of La Silla was captured by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky.

[bystander]

A Flash of Life
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2021 Mar 15

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Guerrero

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Located around 5000 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), Abell 78 is an unusual type of planetary nebula.

After exhausting the nuclear fuel in their cores, stars with a mass of around 0.8 to 8 times the mass of our Sun collapse to form dense and hot white dwarf stars. As this process occurs, the dying star will throw off its outer layers of material, forming an elaborate cloud of gas and dust known as a planetary nebula. This phenomenon is not uncommon, and planetary nebulae are a popular focus for astrophotographers because of their often beautiful and complex shapes. However, a few like Abell 78 are the result of a so-called “born again” star.

Although the core of the star has stopped burning hydrogen and helium, a thermonuclear runaway at its surface ejects material at high speeds. This ejecta shocks and sweeps up the material of the old nebula, producing the filaments and irregular shell around the central star seen in this Picture of the Week, which features data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and PANSTARSS.

[Lefty's Astrophotography]

My photo of Abell 33 aka the Diamond Ring Nebula

Click to view full size image

This is 16 hours of narrowband exposure from my Bortle 6 driveway. Captured using a 6" f/4 newtonian, ASI1600, and Astronomik filters on an Orion Sirius mount.

Direct link to the full res image: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/510 ... 8af5_o.png
Full acquisition/processing details can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/leftysast ... 033724511/

[starsurfer]

LBN 248
http://www.capella-observatory.com/Imag ... LBN248.htm
Copyright: Frank Sackenheim, Josef Pöpsel and Stefan Binnewies

[starsurfer]

DWB 18
https://www.hansonastronomy.com/dwb8
Copyright: Mark Hanson