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Best cosmic pictures of May 2013 (19 photos)
Particularly striking cyclopean dimensions of the universe ...
Night Land
Right - New York City and Long Island. Of them stretches the left lane of the lights, to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington in the center of the image. On the left, also seen spacecraft "Soyuz».
Solar flare
In mid-April on the Sun that occurred while the most powerful in 2013 solar flare accompanied by a coronal mass ejection directed towards the Earth.
Emission nebula Soul
In Soul Queen of Ethiopia stars are born. Soul emission nebula (IC 1848), situated at a distance of about 6500 light-years away - home to several star clusters.
Spiral Galaxy Bode
Spiral Galaxy M81 Bode is in the constellation Ursa Major. M81 - an example of the structure of a spiral galaxy, with near perfect sleeves that extend almost to the center. Was first discovered by Johann Bode in 1774. This is one of the brightest galaxies in Earth's sky. It is similar in size to our own Milky Way and lies 11.8 million light-years from Earth.
Starry factory Messier 17
Created by stellar winds and radiation from hot, massive stars, the star factory is located at a distance of 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
Nebula NGC 1788 and Moustache Witch
This cosmic landscape, consisting of interstellar dust and gas, located on the outskirts of the Orion Nebula. Speaker bluish "chin" Witch Head Nebula (top left corner) reflects light the bright star Rigel in Orion or beta. Many reflection nebula NGC 1788 seems like a cosmic bat that is well suited to its environment.
Horsehead Nebula
Journey through gorgeous cloud of interstellar space has been exposed to the effects of stellar winds and radiation, and has taken a very recognizable shape. This Horsehead Nebula is part of the Orion Nebula (M42). Located at a distance of about 1500 light years from us.
Supernova remnant
This downy ball - in fact the rest of the brightest in the history of mankind supernova. It has a size of about 60 light years and is the residue of exploding white dwarf. Compact white dwarf gradually captured the substance of the companion star, and increasing mass led to a thermonuclear explosion, torn to pieces by a dwarf. Since the distance to this supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years away, the explosion itself occurred over 7000 years before the light reached Earth from him in 1006.
Hurricane on Saturn
In late April-early May, the most powerful hurricane on record for solar system raged on Saturn. Impressive images of this cosmic phenomenon managed to make the spacecraft Cassini-Huygens mission. This hurricane, a diameter of about 300 km, covering the north pole of Saturn, is equal to half the area of Australia. Clouds on the edge of moving at a speed of over 500 km / h.
Omega Centauri - the brightest globular cluster
This huge ball of stars appeared before our sun. Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and even before our planet was formed in general, there was a contraction of the ancient star clusters, and they revolve around a young Milky Way Galaxy. Of the approximately 200 globular clusters that have survived to the present, Omega Centauri is the largest: it consists of more than 10 million stars. In addition Omega Centauri - is the brightest globular cluster.
Horsehead: wide angle view
At a distance of Horsehead nebula is 1 600 light years, the field of view is more than 10 light years. In this image, the Horsehead Nebula, known as Barnard 33, located at the top left.
Moon, Venus, clouds and birds
This photo was taken in Spain. Here, on a dark blue evening sky posing month and Venus. Dark spots on a background of clouds of luxury - a flock of birds flying past.
Ring of Fire
May 10, 2013 in Australia and the southern part of the Pacific Ocean was one of the most unusual astronomical phenomena - "Ring of Fire" - so beautifully styled this year's first solar eclipse. Morning local time the moon has closed 95% of the solar disk: there was only a red-orange line. The next time you see a similar phenomenon can be only 22 years later.
M 77 - galaxy in the constellation Keith
Spiral galaxy M77 is located at a distance of 47 million light-years from Earth. Its diameter is about one hundred thousand light-years away. The spiral arms are twisted to the core of the galaxy.
Explosions on a blue sun
Our Sun can be photographed so that it will be similar to blueberries. To do this you need to remove it in harsh ultraviolet rays, and then invert the colors in the resulting image. And it is not just self-indulgence, is the image of the sun is of scientific importance because it shows the state of the solar chromosphere (the outer shell of the Sun and other stars thickness of about 10 000 km). In the picture the chromosphere of the Sun has a lot of features: the surface texture looks like cracked, cold sunspots look very bright and surrounding active regions - dark. Now the sun is approaching the maximum of its 11-year activity cycle.
Large Magellanic Cloud
Portuguese navigator of the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew made the first circumnavigation of the globe, there is enough time to study the southern sky. As a result, two similar cloud object became known as the Magellanic Clouds. Of course, it is now clear that these star clouds are dwarf galaxies - companions our huge spiral Milky Way galaxy. Large Magellanic Cloud is located approximately 160,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado. This is the most massive of all the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, its size - about 15 000 light-years.
Spiral galaxy NGC 4725
Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, there are two spiral arms, or even more, NGC 4725 is only one. The diameter of NGC 4725 is more than 100 000 light years and lies at a distance of 41 million light years from Earth.
The Eagle Nebula, Swan Nebula
Another beautiful space landscape, this time with the Eagle Nebula (M16) and Swan Nebula (M17). Eagle is on the left of center, and Swan - bottom right.
Witch's Broom Nebula
This nebula NGC 6960 - a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. Is part of the Veil Nebula (the west side). Located almost in the center of the star 52 Cygni, visible to the naked eye, but it has nothing to do with this ancient nebula. 10,000 years ago, before the birth of the known history of mankind, in the night sky of Earth has a new shining star, which gradually weakened and disappeared in a few weeks. Today we know that it was the light of a supernova explosion, and its fragments - a supernova remnant, recorded in the catalog under the name Veil Nebula ...
Night Land
Right - New York City and Long Island. Of them stretches the left lane of the lights, to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington in the center of the image. On the left, also seen spacecraft "Soyuz».
Solar flare
In mid-April on the Sun that occurred while the most powerful in 2013 solar flare accompanied by a coronal mass ejection directed towards the Earth.
Emission nebula Soul
In Soul Queen of Ethiopia stars are born. Soul emission nebula (IC 1848), situated at a distance of about 6500 light-years away - home to several star clusters.
Spiral Galaxy Bode
Spiral Galaxy M81 Bode is in the constellation Ursa Major. M81 - an example of the structure of a spiral galaxy, with near perfect sleeves that extend almost to the center. Was first discovered by Johann Bode in 1774. This is one of the brightest galaxies in Earth's sky. It is similar in size to our own Milky Way and lies 11.8 million light-years from Earth.
Starry factory Messier 17
Created by stellar winds and radiation from hot, massive stars, the star factory is located at a distance of 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
Nebula NGC 1788 and Moustache Witch
This cosmic landscape, consisting of interstellar dust and gas, located on the outskirts of the Orion Nebula. Speaker bluish "chin" Witch Head Nebula (top left corner) reflects light the bright star Rigel in Orion or beta. Many reflection nebula NGC 1788 seems like a cosmic bat that is well suited to its environment.
Horsehead Nebula
Journey through gorgeous cloud of interstellar space has been exposed to the effects of stellar winds and radiation, and has taken a very recognizable shape. This Horsehead Nebula is part of the Orion Nebula (M42). Located at a distance of about 1500 light years from us.
Supernova remnant
This downy ball - in fact the rest of the brightest in the history of mankind supernova. It has a size of about 60 light years and is the residue of exploding white dwarf. Compact white dwarf gradually captured the substance of the companion star, and increasing mass led to a thermonuclear explosion, torn to pieces by a dwarf. Since the distance to this supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years away, the explosion itself occurred over 7000 years before the light reached Earth from him in 1006.
Hurricane on Saturn
In late April-early May, the most powerful hurricane on record for solar system raged on Saturn. Impressive images of this cosmic phenomenon managed to make the spacecraft Cassini-Huygens mission. This hurricane, a diameter of about 300 km, covering the north pole of Saturn, is equal to half the area of Australia. Clouds on the edge of moving at a speed of over 500 km / h.
Omega Centauri - the brightest globular cluster
This huge ball of stars appeared before our sun. Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and even before our planet was formed in general, there was a contraction of the ancient star clusters, and they revolve around a young Milky Way Galaxy. Of the approximately 200 globular clusters that have survived to the present, Omega Centauri is the largest: it consists of more than 10 million stars. In addition Omega Centauri - is the brightest globular cluster.
Horsehead: wide angle view
At a distance of Horsehead nebula is 1 600 light years, the field of view is more than 10 light years. In this image, the Horsehead Nebula, known as Barnard 33, located at the top left.
Moon, Venus, clouds and birds
This photo was taken in Spain. Here, on a dark blue evening sky posing month and Venus. Dark spots on a background of clouds of luxury - a flock of birds flying past.
Ring of Fire
May 10, 2013 in Australia and the southern part of the Pacific Ocean was one of the most unusual astronomical phenomena - "Ring of Fire" - so beautifully styled this year's first solar eclipse. Morning local time the moon has closed 95% of the solar disk: there was only a red-orange line. The next time you see a similar phenomenon can be only 22 years later.
M 77 - galaxy in the constellation Keith
Spiral galaxy M77 is located at a distance of 47 million light-years from Earth. Its diameter is about one hundred thousand light-years away. The spiral arms are twisted to the core of the galaxy.
Explosions on a blue sun
Our Sun can be photographed so that it will be similar to blueberries. To do this you need to remove it in harsh ultraviolet rays, and then invert the colors in the resulting image. And it is not just self-indulgence, is the image of the sun is of scientific importance because it shows the state of the solar chromosphere (the outer shell of the Sun and other stars thickness of about 10 000 km). In the picture the chromosphere of the Sun has a lot of features: the surface texture looks like cracked, cold sunspots look very bright and surrounding active regions - dark. Now the sun is approaching the maximum of its 11-year activity cycle.
Large Magellanic Cloud
Portuguese navigator of the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew made the first circumnavigation of the globe, there is enough time to study the southern sky. As a result, two similar cloud object became known as the Magellanic Clouds. Of course, it is now clear that these star clouds are dwarf galaxies - companions our huge spiral Milky Way galaxy. Large Magellanic Cloud is located approximately 160,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado. This is the most massive of all the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, its size - about 15 000 light-years.
Spiral galaxy NGC 4725
Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. While most spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, there are two spiral arms, or even more, NGC 4725 is only one. The diameter of NGC 4725 is more than 100 000 light years and lies at a distance of 41 million light years from Earth.
The Eagle Nebula, Swan Nebula
Another beautiful space landscape, this time with the Eagle Nebula (M16) and Swan Nebula (M17). Eagle is on the left of center, and Swan - bottom right.
Witch's Broom Nebula
This nebula NGC 6960 - a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. Is part of the Veil Nebula (the west side). Located almost in the center of the star 52 Cygni, visible to the naked eye, but it has nothing to do with this ancient nebula. 10,000 years ago, before the birth of the known history of mankind, in the night sky of Earth has a new shining star, which gradually weakened and disappeared in a few weeks. Today we know that it was the light of a supernova explosion, and its fragments - a supernova remnant, recorded in the catalog under the name Veil Nebula ...
