These Colors Are Amazing!

Chemical flames.

30 Doradus, located in the heart of the Tarantula nebula, is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighborhood. The nebula resides 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

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Well you're not wrong

true space facts

if u look up there it is

Pluto (bottom image) with various other non-planets.

Since everyone has their knickers in a knot over Pluto not being a planet, here are various different celestial objects who are also not classified as planets. You’ll notice, just because it’s not called a “planet” doesn’t mean it isn’t cool.

Let us be reminded, there is no heirarchy of celestial bodies. It wasn’t necessarily “demoted” from planethood, it was simply reclassified as something else. There’s literally no reason to be emotionally attatched to the idea of Pluto’s planetary classifaction.

But what “classifies” a planet anyway?

According to the International Astronomical Union, there are 3 basic requirements that it must meet: 1) It orbits the sun 2) Sufficient mass to assume a “hydrostatic equilibrium” (meaning it’s mostly shaped like a globe) 3) Has “cleared its neighborhood” in its orbit.

The third one is where Pluto fails. What they mean by “clearing the neighborhood” is that the orbital path is good and clear. Every planet will still collide with something now and then but their orbital paths are not occupied by anything that is similar to the size of the planet itself. They’re not really in danger of running into much of anything except maybe an asteroid or a comet that might enter their path and collide.

In addition, here is an image showcasing the dwarf planets of the solar system. Pluto isn’t alone in it’s classification.

So don’t be sad over Pluto not being a planet, you’re just being melodramatic. Wipe your tears away with some scientific literacy. ;)

Courtney’s Big Space Book Recommendation Post

Okay, so, hi. It has come to my attention that I have gained a lot - a lot - of followers over the last few weeks due to hype for The Martian. Rad.

So, with that in mind, I’ve decided to put together a bunch of non-fiction space recommendations for y’all. Since an anon asked a few days ago, and I kindof want to do it more justice.

If you are new to me and my blog, you might not be aware that I am a gigantic fucking nerd for human space flight and exploration, and I have a boatload of dumbass blogs about it. So, uh, I’ve read a lot of books. Like, lots.

Keep reading

Mount Rainier shadow casts on the sky at sunrise. It only happens when the sun rises farther to the south and has to be in the exact position to where Rainier blocks the first rays of morning light. (Source)

The Hubble Space telescope just sent back a new photo of the Twin Jet Nebula. Here’s what it looked like in 1997:

And now …

Whoa. But wait, we also got an updated image of the merging galaxies NGC 6240. What it looked like in 2008:

And today:

Science, you’re the best. Oh, and the explanation behind those merging galaxies and their black holes is wild.

The stunning Sombrero galaxy (seriously, there should be a blog that’s just photos of the Sombrero galaxy)