“What In The World Is That?” That’s A Natural Reaction When You First See This Hubble Space Telescope

Wed. Nov. 8 - Observatory closed due to cloud cover. We'll try again next week.

Our supply of eclipse glasses is running very low.

Wonderous strange! This unusual arrangement in the sky was one of only 100 known polar-ring galaxies when it was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999. Officially known to astronomers as NGC 4650A, the polar-rings may be the result of two galaxies colliding. Gas from the smaller galaxy would have been stripped off and captured by the larger galaxy, forming a new ring of dust, gas, and stars, which orbit the inner galaxy almost at right angles to the old disk. In addition to learning about galaxy interaction, astronomers use polar-ring galaxies like this to study dark matter, which does not emit light or interact with normal matter (except through gravity), making it difficult to understand. Both the old, rotating disk and the dark matter surrounding this galaxy pull on its polar ring. The alignment of the ring along the pole of the inner disk's rotation allows scientists to probe this combination of tugs and thus the distribution of dark matter. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI. ALT TEXT: Two galaxies appear to intersect at right angles. Vertically there is a bright column of dust and stars, and horizontally there is a smaller hazy yellow band, brighter at its center, with no discernable stars. In the space around and behind the intersecting forms are smaller stars and distant galaxies colored yellow and red.

Rosette Nebula by space.by.jase

2023 October 17

PDS 70: Disk, Planets, and Moons Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); M. Benisty et al.

Explanation: It’s not the big ring that’s attracting the most attention. Although the big planet-forming ring around the star PDS 70 is clearly imaged and itself quite interesting. It’s also not the planet on the right, just inside the big disk, that’s being talked about the most. Although the planet PDS 70c is a newly formed and, interestingly, similar in size and mass to Jupiter. It’s the fuzzy patch around the planet PDS 70c that’s causing the commotion. That fuzzy patch is thought to be a dusty disk that is now forming into moons – and that had never been seen before. The featured image was taken in 2021 by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of 66 radio telescopes in the high Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Based on ALMA data, astronomers infer that the moon-forming exoplanetary disk has a radius similar to our Earth’s orbit, and may one day form three or so Luna-sized moons – not very different from our Jupiter’s four.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231017.html

Young Stars, Stellar Jets via NASA https://ift.tt/mUE9hQK

NASA

NASA’s Webb Snaps Supersonic Outflow of Young Star

This image of HH 211 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals an outflow from a Class 0 protostar, an infantile analog of our Sun when

Take-aways:

This is a baby star imaged in stunning detail

Stars are born violently - there's hot gas striking the other gas and dust around it, making these amazing patterns

This particular baby star will one day be like the Sun 💖

Wed. Aug. 21 - We'll be open to the public tonight from 8:30 - 9:30 pm!

Our Halloween event is Wednesday, Oct. 25 from 7:00-8:30pm, weather allowing! Check in the early afternoon that day to see if the weather will allow it to go on.

If not, we have a rain date planned for Thursday (and a 2nd rain date for Monday if neither work out).

NASA Science

How Gravity Warps Light - NASA Science

Gravity is obviously pretty important. It holds your feet down to Earth so you don’t fly away into space, and (equally important) it keeps y

Article of the Day!

"How Gravity Warps Light" from NASA Universe Web Team