27 outubro 2017

NGC 6369: The Little Ghost Nebula


Wraithlike NGC 6369 is a faint apparition in night skies popularly known as the Little Ghost Nebula. It was discovered by 18th century astronomer Sir William Herschel as he used a telescope to explore the medicinal constellation Ophiucus. Herschel historically classified the round and planet-shaped nebula as a Planetary Nebula. But planetary nebulae in general are not at all related to planets. Instead they are gaseous shrouds created at the end of a sun-like star's life, the dying star's outer layers expanding into space while its core shrinks to become a white dwarf. The transformed white dwarf star, seen near the center, radiates strongly at ultraviolet wavelengths and powers the expanding nebula's glow. Surprisingly complex details and structures of NGC 6369 are revealed in this tantalizing image composed from Hubble Space Telescope data. The nebula's main round structure is about a light-year across and the glow from ionized oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen atoms are colored blue, green, and red respectively. Over 2,000 light-years away, the Little Ghost Nebula offers a glimpse of the fate of our Sun, which could produce its own planetary nebula about 5 billion years from now.

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The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the most elusive...



The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the most elusive animals. It was believed to be extinct since the 1930s due to the loss of its natural habitat, but in 2004 and 2005 it was sighted in Arkansas and Florida. Attempts to confirm these sightings have not been successful.

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A photograph of three women and a girl by Bitolj Monastery at...



A photograph of three women and a girl by Bitolj Monastery at Smilevo, near Bitola. The photographer’s notes say they are in “urban costume.” It was taken in May, 1913, just before World War I.

Although the word “Macedoine” or “Macedonia” is written at the top, when the photograph was taken the area was part of Serbia. Today, Smilevo is again in Macedonia.

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Hubble Digs into Cosmic Archaeology


This Hubble infrared image is part of an observing program that imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters to find the brightest distant galaxies for theJames Webb Space Telescope to study.

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