Starship Asterisk*

Young Suns of NGC 7129

Explanation: Young suns still lie within dusty NGC 7129, some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal constellation Cepheus. While these stars are at a relatively tender age, only a few million years old, it is likely that our own Sun formed in a similar stellar nursery some five billion years ago. Most noticeable in the sharp image are the lovely bluish dust clouds that reflect the youthful starlight. But the compact, deep red crescent shapes are also markers of energetic, young stellar objects. Known as Herbig-Haro objects, their shape and color is characteristic of glowing hydrogen gas shocked by jets streaming away from newborn stars. Paler, extended filaments of reddish emission mingling with the bluish clouds are caused by dust grains effectively converting the invisible ultraviolet starlight to visible red light through photoluminesence. Ultimately the natal gas and dust in the region will be dispersed, the stars drifting apart as the loose cluster orbits the center of the Galaxy. The processing of this remarkable composite image has revealed the faint red strands of emission at the upper right. They are recently recognized as a likely supernova remnant and are currently being analyzed by Bo Reipurth (Univ. Hawaii) who obtained the image data at the Subaru telescope. At the estimated distance of NGC 7129, this telescopic view spans over 40 light-years.

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This is a delightful image full of fantastic shapes and lovely colors.

Ann

It is indeed a delightful image! I've commented before that I am surprised at what 'appeals' to our human minds. Like everything else, that 'appeal' is produced by evolution. But it is only in recent years we've even HAD color (colour?) astronomical images to look at! I think it must be the resemblance of astronomical images to flowers that produces the result. But why do we humans like flowers so much? Flowers evolved to be 'attractive' to bees and to other insects, I think, not to humans. And that our minds, and insect minds, have tastes in common, seems unexpected.
Hmmmm! Why doesn't someone start a FSPOD (Flower-Show Picture of the Day)?

Are the circles around three of the yellowish stars results of the photo process?

NCTom wrote:Are the circles around three of the yellowish stars results of the photo process?

Halos around the stars are instrumental artifacts- some combination of diffraction from the aperture and scattered light in the optical system. They may be made more apparent in the final image by the way that the contrast is stretched to enhance dim structure.

This is awesome cool! Despite having many Herbig Haro objects, amateurs don't ever seem to take Ha for this region, it doesn't surprise me (but also surprises me at the same time) that there is something unknown. There is also a supernova remnant near vdB152. Ha exposures for the Iris Nebula would also show extra stuff.

heehaw wrote:Hmmmm! Why doesn't someone start a FSPOD (Flower-Show Picture of the Day)?

There are flower-of-the-day sites, aren't there?
http://dailyflower.yakohl.com
https://www.facebook.com/rvbridgemanflowers/
a bit broader, but features plenty of flowers:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photo ... alifornia/

At first, I thought this was M42, the Great Nebula in Orion.... it looks so similar.... there is even an intruding dust patch in the lower left side of the large nebula area.... like the Trapezium. And looks like some of the detailed wide angle images of M42.....

This is a very awesome image...
:---[===] *

Today's APOD image could be named as "Nyan Cat".

heehaw wrote:It is indeed a delightful image! I've commented before that I am surprised at what 'appeals' to our human minds. Like everything else, that 'appeal' is produced by evolution. But it is only in recent years we've even HAD color (colour?) astronomical images to look at! I think it must be the resemblance of astronomical images to flowers that produces the result. But why do we humans like flowers so much? Flowers evolved to be 'attractive' to bees and to other insects, I think, not to humans. And that our minds, and insect minds, have tastes in common, seems unexpected.
Hmmmm! Why doesn't someone start a FSPOD (Flower-Show Picture of the Day)?

However, the bees (upper image) and many other insects see the flowers very differently from us (lover image) using the ultraviolet spectrum of Sol.

https://www.visualnews.com/2013/04/08/h ... f-flowers/

That is what APOD is all about. If you haven't triple clicked this image please do...WOW !
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160829.html

In open clusters you wonder why some don’t form "really" close together. Maybe they merge at times?

MarkBour wrote:

heehaw wrote:Hmmmm! Why doesn't someone start a FSPOD (Flower-Show Picture of the Day)?

There are flower-of-the-day sites, aren't there?
http://dailyflower.yakohl.com

Wow, that cornflowers image by Rolf Kohl is just amazing!

Ann

Fred the Cat wrote:In open clusters you wonder why some don’t form "really" close together. Maybe they merge at times?

I think it takes unusual conditions for stars to form so close that their atmospheres touch, which is a requirement for them to merge. Stars tend to very quickly clear out the region around them of star-forming gas and dust, so unless the timing is nearly perfect, a pair of extremely close stars seems unlikely.

Fred the Cat wrote:In open clusters you wonder why some don’t form "really" close together. Maybe they merge at times?

Good point, Fred. Extremely massive stars are probably formed when two lesser but still very massive stars merge. A good example is R136a1, the most massive star known at 315 M_☉. Of course, such supermassive stars are typically formed in dense clusters, or which R136a is a perfect (and somewhat extreme) example.

There has been speculation that there is 200 M_☉ black hole in the Orion Nebula, which would have formed through the mergers of massive stars.
One of the most impressive young clusters I know of myself is the biggest cluster in NGC 6946. I used to be able to find a really fine picture of it, but now it's gone. This picture is nowhere near as good, but you can see the brilliance of the cluster heart. There should be some massive stars in there, and some amazing merger products!

Ann

Ann wrote:

Fred the Cat wrote:In open clusters you wonder why some don’t form "really" close together. Maybe they merge at times?

Good point, Fred. Extremely massive stars are probably formed when two lesser but still very massive stars merge. A good example is R136a1, the most massive star known at 315 M_☉. Of course, such supermassive stars are typically formed in dense clusters, or which R136a is a perfect (and somewhat extreme) example.

There has been speculation that there is 200 M_☉ black hole in the Orion Nebula, which would have formed through the mergers of massive stars.

Click to view full size image

Super star cluster in NGC 6946.
Photo: Adam Block. Inset: Gemini Telescope.

One of the most impressive young clusters I know of myself is the biggest cluster in NGC 6946. I used to be able to find a really fine picture of it, but now it's gone. This picture is nowhere near as good, but you can see the brilliance of the cluster heart. There should be some massive stars in there, and some amazing merger products!

Ann

I think this is Hodge's Complex?

starsurfer wrote:

Ann wrote:

Click to view full size image

Super star cluster in NGC 6946.
Photo: Adam Block. Inset: Gemini Telescope.

One of the most impressive young clusters I know of myself is the biggest cluster in NGC 6946. I used to be able to find a really fine picture of it, but now it's gone. This picture is nowhere near as good, but you can see the brilliance of the cluster heart. There should be some massive stars in there, and some amazing merger products!

Ann

I think this is Hodge's Complex?

Maybe, but I'm not sure. When I googled "Hodge's Complex cluster", I didn't find anything related to NGC 6946 at all. But when I wrote "Hodge's Complex cluster NGC 6946", I found it.

I also found the picture of this cluster that I have been looking for, but unfortunately I can't post it here. The best I can do is show you a small version of it on this page.

Ann