by 4 people |
Astronomy Pictures
I have always enjoyed looking into the sky and wondering what kind of amazing things are in our universe. If you are here you probably have similar interests in astronomy. This is a collection of some of my favorite pictures i have found. Thanks for looking! I will add more pictures when i find them.
Kepler Supernova
Kepler's supernova was named after the astronomer Johannes Kepler who first saw this exploding star in 1604. It is visible to the naked eye and is located in the milky way galaxy approximately 20,000 light years away. Click on the image to view it larger.
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way at 2.5 million light years away. It is the largest galaxy (not the most massive though) in the group of galaxies that it and our Milky Way are part of. It is so large,in fact, that it can be easily seen by the naked eye, even with significant light pollution. It is one of the few blue-shifted galaxies, meaning that it is approaching Earth as opposed to traveling away from it, and will collied with the milky way in approximately 2.5 billion years.
Cat's Eye Nebula
The Cats Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Draco. It is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. The structure of this nebula is one of the most complex of any studied nebula. It is theorized that this is because there is a binary star, or two stars orbiting each other, at the center. Click the image to see it larger.
Cassiopeia A Neutron Star
The small dot in the middle of this picture is believed to a neutron star left over after a supernova. Neutron stars are very difficult since they are only about twenty to forty kilometers across. Although extremely small (compared to most stars), neutron stars are incredibly dense. What is incredibly dense? One teaspoon full of a nuetron star would weigh hundreds of tons! Click on the imgage to see it larger.
Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is a cloud of dust left over after a supernova. This particular nebula is located about 6,500 light years away in the Taurus constellation. At the center of the Crab Nebula is the Crab Pulsar. Pulsars are rotating neutron stars that give of bursts of electromagnetic radiation at set intervals of time. The Crab pulsar gives off bursts every 33 milliseconds.
Click the image to see it larger.
Ring Nebula
The Ring nebula is located about 2,300 light years away from Earth and is located in the constellation Lyra. It is a planetary nebula with a white dwarf star in the middle. Planetary nebulae get their name simply because when seen through a telescope they look like gigantic planets, and actually have little to do with planets.
Click the image to see it larger.
Eta Carinae
This is a 'hypergiant' star. This means that is is around 150 times more massive than the sun. It is also about four million times more luminous than the sun. This is a very rare star. Stars this large occur only a few times in a whole galaxy. That is only a few in a million billion stars are this large! Since it is so large, it is very possible that this star will explode in a super (or even hyper) nova.
Click on the image to see it larger.
Cat's Paw Nebula
The Cat's Paw nebula is in the constellation Scorpio and is approximately 5,500 light years away from earth. It is red because of ionized hydrogen atoms.
Click on the image to see it larger.
Dust Clouds in Orion
This nebula, M78, is located in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, in the Orion constellation. It is about 1600 light years away from Earth and is approximately 5 light years across. Click on the image to see it larger.
Cone Nebula
The Cone Nebula is located in the constellation Monoceros and is approximately 2,600 light years away from Earth.
Click on the image to see it larger.
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Ahhhh the Moon
Ahhhhh, the good 'ol moon. It's the closest celestial body to the Earth. It is also the fifth largest natural satellite in our solar system. But you probably know that. I thought it was a pretty picture thought.
Click the picture to see a larger image. (its a wallpaper too!)
Sombrero Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. The bulge in the center is a supermassive black hole!
Click on the image to see it larger.
Nova Cygni
This is a nova (exploding star) in the Cygnus Constellation. It may not be the mot impressive picture of them all but what is going on is incredible. Fusion is actually occurring here at such a high rate that a white dwarf star is exploding. The ring is the outer shell of this explosion. This nova was so bright it was visible to the naked eye!
Click on the image to see it larger.
Cigar Galaxy
The Cigar Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, meaning it has a shape that is neither spiral or elliptical. At the center of this galaxy is the first discovered 'intermediate mass' black hole.
click on the image to see it larger.
Centaurus A
Centaurus A is a lenticular galaxy (a cross between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy) about fourteen million light years away. It is in the constellation Centaurus.
Click on the image to see it larger.
Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth with the exception of our sun. It is 4.22 light years away. It takes 4.22 years your light to get to earth from this star! Thats crazy since this is the closest one. It kind of shows just how big our universe is. Click on the image to see it larger.
Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula is about 7,000 light years away from earth. This, like other nebulae, is the birthplace of stars. This photo, which shows the 'Pillars of Creation,' is one of the most famous pictures in astronomy.
Click on the image to see it larger.
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A few interesting books
The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet
Amazon Price: $17.54 (as of 12/05/2009) 
Chariots of the Gods
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/05/2009)
Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
Amazon Price: $16.34 (as of 12/05/2009)
These are some of my favorite places
- Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Here is a cool site that has a new picture every day.
- Hubble Heritage Gallery of Images
- Here are a ton of awesome pictures of all kinds of stuff in our universe.
- Astonomy Pictures
- Here are a few more good pictures
New Guestbook
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- Donnette Donnette Apr 21, 2009 @ 9:20 am
- Great lens. Featured it on my new page "universe-for-kids :o)
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- Donnette Donnette Apr 21, 2009 @ 9:20 am
- Great lens. Featured it on my new page "universe-for-kids :o)
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- lizjames lizjames Sep 15, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
- Cool pictures loopha! Thanks. I'm just getting into star astronomy. I observed the sky from the Australian desert a few years ago. It was awesome!
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- nheng nheng May 29, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
- All my life, I always remind myself that no matter how busy I am, I will always try to find some time to look up in the sky especially during at night and witness the wonder that a few people in this modern and busy world can enjoy! Everybody's too busy to even look up in the sky, would you agree? But I'm thankful for this lens because of the many awesome pictures that I know I will never see with my own eyes! These are great pictures! I would surely love to have some of them and put in my scrapbook, photo album or on my personalized photo checks ! Thank you once again!
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- LeslieBrenner LeslieBrenner May 17, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
- Hi Loopha,
I'd like to invite you to join my new space exploration group, Outer Space. Here's the link: http://www.squidoo.com/groups/outerspace
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- grassosalvato86 grassosalvato86 Mar 29, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
- Nice lens!! I love astronomy!!
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