fyeahuniverse:

^{The Pinwheel Galaxy | M101}

^{Composite image by four of NASA’s space telescopes: Chandra X-Ray Telescope gathered the x-ray data, while Spitzer the infrared, Hubble trace dust and starlight, and GALEX ultraviolet.}

^{The Pinwheel Galaxy sits around 21 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major and what we’re seeing is M101 millions of years before we walked the Earth.}

^{(Image credit: NASA/Chandra X-Ray Telescope/JPL-Caltech)}

NASA APOD 2012 May 18

fyeahuniverse:

^{Supernova Cocoon Breakthrough}

^{NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Telescope observed this supernova, UGC 5189A, on November 10, 2012, and since then I has been studied intensely. The supernova was ten times brighter than any previously detected, and a few theories have been floated as to why. 1: the interaction of the supernova shockwave with the matter around the pre-supernova star. 2: radioactivity resulting from pair-instability supernova. 3: emission powered by a neutron star with an unusually powerful magnetic field.}

^{While no agreement has been reached, it is hoped that this discovery will aid in the understanding of why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.}

^{(Image credit: Chandra X-Ray Telescope/NASA)}

fyeahuniverse:

^{Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope}

^{On April the 25th, 1990, the glorious Hubble Space Telescope was deployed by the STS-31 crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The Hubble Space Telescope is responsible for much of the beautiful astrophotography that we see here at fyeahuniverse.}

^{(Image credit: NASA)}

fyeahuniverse:

^{NGC 1232 and its odd companion}

^{NGC 1323 is around two times as big as the Milky Way (200,000ly across), and the immense spiral arms are distorting the small companion galaxy on the left.} 

^{(Image credit: ESO/ Danish 1.5m/R.Gendler and A. Hornstrup.)}

fyeahuniverse:

^{SDSS J1254+0846 | Quasar Pair In Galaxy Collision}

^{This double quasar is thought to be likely the result of a collision of galaxies. This quasar is powered by the ingestion of stellar matter falling into supermassive black holes.}

^{(Image credit;X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO/P. Green et al.), Optical (Carnegie Obs./Magellan/W.Baade Telescope/J.S.Mulchaey et al.))}

fyeahuniverse:

^{PKS 1127-145 | Double Quasar by Chandra X-Ray Telescope}

I have studied absorption along the line of sight to this quasar!

jtotheizzoe:

1859’s “Great Auroral Storm” — The Week the Sun Touched the Earth

These days, with constant high-tech astronomical observation and our detailed knowledge of solar physics, solar storms are something we have come to expect, and rarely fear (remember this?).

But in 1859, a solar storm was unleashed with such power that you could read a book at midnight under the resulting aurora. Telegraph operators across the U.S. were forced to shut off their batteries, and sent messages across the wires using the current provided by the storm alone.

Painters like Frederic Edwin Church were inspired by the celestial fireworks, as shown in his 1865 painting above. Matthew Lasar has a gripping tale of that week in 1859 at Ars Technica.

Here’s a taste:

“Two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out.” … [Richard Christopher] Carrington puzzled over the flashes. “My first impression was that by some chance a ray of light had penetrated a hole in the screen attached to the object-glass,” he explained, given that “the brilliancy was fully equal to that of direct sun-light.”

The astronomer checked his gear. He moved the apparatus around a bit. To his surprise, the intense white patches stayed put. Realizing that he was an “unprepared witness of a very different affair,” Carrington ran out of his studios to find a second observer. But when he brought this person back, he was “mortified to find” that the bright sections were “already much changed and enfeebled.”

“Very shortly afterwards the last trace was gone,” Carrington wrote. He kept watch on the region for another hour, but saw nothing more. Meanwhile, the explosive energy that he had seen rushed towards him and everyone else on Earth.

(↬ Ars Technica)

scipsy:

Cosmic dust clouds in Messier 78

This image of the region surrounding the reflection nebula Messier 78, just to the north of Orion’s belt, shows clouds of cosmic dust threaded through the nebula like a string of pearls. (via ESO)

jtotheizzoe:

smithsonianmag:

Never-Before-Seen Photos From the Early Days of Space Exploration

The Gemini astronauts also took some of the most memorable photos in NASA history. You’d think we would have seen them all by now. But with Nasa’s help and funding, a team of researchers at Arizona State University led by lunar scientist Mark Robinson has retrieved from the archives dozens of outtakes that never made it into wide circulation.

Photos: NASA

Ed note: Check out our friends at Air & Space for more stunning photos from the Gemini mission.

These are an absolute treasure. I don’t know if it was the tight quarters, lack of illumination, or the particular light characteristics of the Hasselblad 70mm cameras used on these missions, but they are equal parts spooky and beautiful. They capture the sort of terrifying, dramatic excitement that I imagine being one of the first men in orbit felt like. 

A little extra tidbit about spacewalk photos from this era: Those gas canisters you see in their hands as they exit the spacecraft? Those are called “zip guns”, and they were used to maneuver while outside the capsule. Sort of like when Wall-e rides the fire extinguisher through space.

animalstalkinginallcaps:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’VE CANCELED THE ASTRONOMERS-ONLY DANCE-OFF AND EMCEE BATTLE?

I’VE BEEN PRACTICING FOR MONTHS. MY MOVES ARE TIGHT. MY BODY LOOSE AS A COMET’S ION TAIL. I INTENDED TO STEP OUT OF THE BOOTH SMELLING LIKE BURBERRY COLOGNE, THEN GRIP THE MIC AND SERVE THOSE BASTARDS FROM OBSERVATIONAL COSMOLOGY.

This simulation shows the future behaviour of a gas cloud that has been observed approaching the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed and it is expected to break up completely during 2013.

socially-insane:

womenaregifts:

biancavirina:

CLICK THE SQUARES.

THE WHOLE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS.

THIS THIS THIS THIS!

i just made the dopest fucking beat ever