Found images: 2016 December

[starsurfer]

NGC 1579
http://www.astrobin.com/231085/
Copyright: Dean Schwartzenberg

[starsurfer]

Southern Owl Nebula (K1-22)
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1532/
Copyright: ESO

Click to view full size image

This planetary nebula is also known as ESO 378-1.

[starsurfer]

Sh2-54 and NGC 6604
http://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/ ... jVQ8Z3z/X3
Copyright: Marco Lorenzi

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NGC 6946
http://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/ngc- ... ks-galaxy/
Copyright: Don Goldman

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47 Tucanae (NGC 104)
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/212
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Volker Wendel

[bystander]

Astro-Pointillism (NGC 4707)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2016 Dec 19

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA"]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives ... w1651a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

On a clear evening in April of 1789, the renowned astronomer William Herschel continued his unrelenting survey of the night sky, hunting for new cosmic objects — and found cause to celebrate! Lengthening his impressive list of cosmic discoveries yet again, the astronomer spotted this bright spiral galaxy, named NGC 4707, lurking in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dog). NGC 4707 lies roughly 22 million light-years from Earth.

Over two centuries later, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is able to view the same galaxy in far greater detail than Herschel could, allowing us to appreciate the intricacies and characteristics of NGC 4707 as never before. This striking image comprises observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), one of a handful of high-resolution instruments currently aboard the space telescope.

Herschel himself reportedly described NGC 4707 as a “small, stellar” galaxy; while it is classified as a spiral (type Sm), its overall shape, centre, and spiral arms are very loose and undefined, and its central bulge is either very small or non-existent. It instead appears as a rough sprinkling of stars and bright flashes of blue on a dark canvas, as if a pointillist painter had dotted the cosmos with small pinpricks of bright paint.

The blue smudges seen across the frame highlight regions of recent or ongoing star formation, with newborn stars glowing in bright, intense shades of cyan and turquoise.

[Ann]

I'm always very happy to see a new galaxy image from Hubble! I like the description "astronomical pointillism", too. The sharp, star-resolving image of NGC 4707 is like the astronomical version of pointillist paintings like this floral portrait by Angelo Franco.

But I must point out that NGC 4707 is obviously not a "bright spiral". Clearly it is not bright, since it lacks a bight center. And it is not very spiral-shaped, either.

But it is a fine image!

Ann

[starsurfer]

IC 5201
http://www.astrophoton.com/IC5201.htm
Copyright: CEDIC
Processing: Markus Blauensteiner

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Pre 8
http://www.karelteuwen.be/photo_page.ph ... 1&album=15
Copyright: Karel Teuwen

This planetary nebula candidate was discovered by the Deep Sky Hunters member Trygve Prestgard.

[starsurfer]

Fe 8
http://www.pbase.com/jshuder/image/164714578
Copyright: Jim Shuder

This candidate planetary nebula was discovered by the French amateur astronomer Laurent Ferrero in October 2014.

[bystander]

A Cosmic Megamaser (IRAS 16399-0937)
ESA Hubble Picture of the Week | 2016 Dec 26

[img3="Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)"]https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives ... w1652a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This galaxy has a far more exciting and futuristic classification than most — it is a megamaser. Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like the Milky Way. The entire galaxy essentially acts as an astronomical laser that beams out microwave emission rather than visible light (hence the ‘m’ replacing the ‘l’).

This megamaser is named IRAS 16399-0937, and is located over 370 million light-years from Earth. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image belies the galaxy’s energetic nature, instead painting it as a beautiful and serene cosmic rosebud. The image comprises observations captured across various wavelengths by two of Hubble’s instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).

NICMOS’s superb sensitivity, resolution, and field of view gave astronomers the unique opportunity to observe the structure of IRAS 16399-0937 in detail. They found that IRAS 16399-0937 hosts a double nucleus — the galaxy’s core is thought to be formed of two separate cores in the process of merging. The two components, named IRAS 16399N and IRAS 16399S for the northern and southern parts respectively, sit over 11 000 light-years apart. However, they are both buried deep within the same swirl of cosmic gas and dust and are interacting, giving the galaxy its peculiar structure.

The nuclei are very different. IRAS 16399S appears to be a starburst region, where new stars are forming at an incredible rate. IRAS 16399N, however, is something known as a LINER nucleus (Low Ionization Nuclear Emission Region), which is a region whose emission mostly stems from weakly-ionised or neutral atoms of particular gases. The northern nucleus also hosts a black hole with some 100 million times the mass of the Sun!

[bystander]

Planets in the Making (HD 163296)
ESO Picture of the Week | 2016 Dec 26

[img3="Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); A. Isella; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)"]https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/potw1652a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Our Solar System formed out of a huge, primordial cloud of gas and dust. The vast majority of that cloud formed the Sun, while the leftover disc of rotating material around it eventually coalesced into the orbiting planets we know — and live on — today.

Astronomers can observe similar processes happening around other stars in the cosmos. This splendid Picture of the Week shows a disc of rotating, leftover material surrounding the young star HD 163296. Using the observing power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, astronomers have been able to discern specific features in the disc, including concentric rings of material surrounding the central star. They were even able to use ALMA to obtain high-resolution measurements of the gas and dust constituents of the disc. With these data they could infer key details of the formation history of this young stellar system.

The three gaps between the rings are likely due to a depletion of dust and in the middle and outer gaps astronomers also found a lower level of gas. The depletion of both dust and gas suggests the presence of newly formed planets, each around the mass of Saturn, carving out these gaps on their brand new orbits.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=36638

[starsurfer]

Phoenix Dwarf Galaxy
http://www.chart32.de/index.php/component/k2/item/221
Copyright: CHART32
Processing: Johannes Schedler

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

NGC 3532, NGC 3576 and NGC 3603
http://www.astrostudio.at/1_Deep%20Sky% ... 7dbf9abae3
Copyright: Gerald Rhemann

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

NGC 5371
http://astro-koop.de/?attachment_id=1617
Copyright: Stefan Heutz, Wolfgang Ries and Michael Breite

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

LDN 951
http://afesan.es/Deepspace/slides/LDN%2 ... ebula.html
Copyright: Antonio Sánchez

[Ann]

NGC 5371 by Adam Block

Just because you just posted a picture of NGC 5371, starsurfer, I felt compelled to remind people here of Adam Block's stunning photo of this galactic looker. Unfortunately, the only version I have found of it is far, far too big to post here as a picture. Therefore I'll just post a link to Adam Block's gallery and his fantastic portrait of NGC 5371.

Oh, and... I'll include this appreciative whistling sound that you could whistle in NGC 5371's direction! The catwalk galaxy is in Canes Venatici, well placed for google-eyed northerners!

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

[starsurfer]

ESO 121-3
http://members.pcug.org.au/~stevec/ESO1 ... 3_RC14.htm
Copyright: Steve Crouch

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NGC 1999
http://www.astro-austral.cl/imagenes/ne ... n/info.htm
Copyright: José Joaquín Pérez

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Owl Nebula (M97)
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/M97.html
Copyright: Eric Africa

Click to view full size image

[starsurfer]

Abell 56
http://www.capella-observatory.com/Imag ... bell56.htm
Copyright: Stefan Binnewies and Josef Pöpsel