Astronomy

This picture shows galaxy ESO 593-IG 008, or IRAS 19115-2124. The previously taken Hubble images shows that the object are colliding two galaxies — one a barred spiral, and the other is more irregular. But recent observation with ESO’s Very Large Telescope made clear identification of a third, separate component, an irregular, yet fairly massive [...]

An asteroid estimated to be 164-feet wide is expected to cross Mars’ orbital path early next year. Observations provided by the astronomers and analyzed by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., indicate the object may pass within 30,000 miles of Mars at about 6 a.m. EST on Jan. 30, [...]

This blog entry is about one of the most famed stars of the sky, Vega. As the luminary of the exquisite constellation Lyra, the Lyre, which represents the harp of the great mythical musician Orpheus, Vega also known as “Alpha Lyrae”. Its name derives from an Arabic phrase that means “the swooping eagle.” Vega has been [...]

This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy, the first time such an interaction has been found. X-rays from Chandra (colored purple), optical and ultraviolet (UV) data from Hubble (red and orange), and radio emission from the Very Large Array (VLA) [...]

Resembling festive lights on a holiday wreath, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the nearby spiral galaxy M74 is an iconic reminder of the impending season. Bright knots of glowing gas light up the spiral arms, indicating a rich environment of star formation. M74 (Messier 74), also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of [...]

Winter Solstice for this year will occur on December 22, 2007 at 6:08 AM UT (Universal Time), when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn. This event marks beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. At winter solstice, the sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, [...]

Do astronomy pictures look like the objects as if we saw them ourselves? First of all, astronomy picture itself not intended to be an artwork, since it created to reveal a lot of information needed by astronomer for their scientific work. Taking astronomy picture with ground-based or space-based telescope is much more complex than taking color [...]