Spaceblr - Blog Posts
it’s been a little over two years since i took a picture of ursa major while flying. it was a surreal experience and i lowkey want to travel again just so i can see that :)
really regret not getting my phone reflection out of it so if anyone has any tips to remove it i’d love to hear them!
Vela Supernova Remnant taken on February 6 2021 by jeff2011 on Astrobin
The supernova remnant resides within the Vela constellation, having exploded over ten thousand years ago. It is the closes supernova remnant to Earth. Observational data from this remnant provided proof that supernova’s can produce neutron stars.
Supernovas occur at the end of a star’s life. Stars with mass over eight solar masses finish burning the hydrogen in their core and become a red supergiant. Successive fusion then occurs until the core contains iron. Fusion can no longer occur at iron since it is not energetically favorable. Gravity then takes over leading to a supernova explosion— expelling a huge amount of stellar material.
Neutron stars can form as a result of this, as protons and electrons collide to combine into neutrons. The neutron stars are stable by neutron degeneracy pressure. This pressure is caused the Pauli Exclusion principal which prevents neutrons from having the same positions.
The Soul Nebula taken by Kurt Wallberg on Februrary 1 2024
This image depicts The Soul Nebula (IC 1848) on the left and Westhout 5 (IC 1848) on the right. Westhout 5 is part of the bigger Soul Nebula. It’s an emission nebula— consisting of the star forming regions with ionized hydrogen gas and dark nebula. Dark nebulas are when the stellar medium is so dense that the light from objects behind it cannot pass through.
As you can see in the image, there are cavities in the gas. These were carved out by stars due to radiation and stellar winds. There is a theory of triggered star formation, which describes that these cavities compress the gas around it to trigger star formation. Images such as these have been used to help prove this theory, showing that the closer the star is to the cavity, the younger it is.
NGC 2403 taken by John C. Yu on January 30 2024
NGC 2403 is a intermediate spiral galaxy. There are typically two types of spiral galaxies: barred and regular spirals. This galaxy falls between the two, denoted as SAB.
The bar in spiral galaxies forms due to gravitational instability. However, this bar can help with star formation as it funnels material to the center of the galaxy.
Interactions with neighboring galaxies or having greater instability can lead to a greater bar shape in the galaxy. However, dark matter halos also play a big role in having the opposite effect, often preventing the bar from forming. These combined factors lead to the median shape of this galaxy.
Intermediate spiral galaxies can eventually evolve into either regular spiral galaxies or barred spiral galaxies, but we won't be there to see the final form of NGC 2403.
Rosette Nebula taken by Suzanne Beers on January 29 2024
The Rosette Nebula is part of the Milky Way Galaxy and is located 5,000 light years away from Earth. The Rosette Nebula is an emission nebula (not to be confused with planetary nebula).
These kinds of nebula are formed around massive, hot stars, whose ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas. The excited atoms in the nebula also emit radiation, causing the nebula's glow.
The Rosette Nebula is also home to star forming regions, as observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These are especially concentrated in the bottom of the nebula, although it is difficult to see in this image. Note that this photo uses the Hubble color palette.
Messier 66 taken by Hubble Space Telescope on January 28 2021
In this picture, it showcases the star forming regions of the galaxies, which can be seen in red. Star forming regions are vulnerable to disturbances, which can cause the gas in the interstellar medium to collapse into dense clumps of material. These are called protostars.
During the formation of these protostars, gravitational energy is converted into thermal energy. If there is enough thermal energy produced, it is enough to spark nuclear fusion. The star then joins the main sequence.
Due to nature of the star forming regions, it often yields the creation of star clusters, since many stars are being created in close proximity. Large stars especially can emit radiation and produce stellar winds, which pushes the star away from these regions.
NGC 1316 taken by Hubble Space Telescope on January 26 2021
NGC 1316 is an elliptical galaxy formed by the collisions of multiple galaxies near the constellation Forax in the southern hemisphere. What makes this galaxy unique is the dark lanes of dust visible around the galaxy. These are indicative that they galaxies NGC 1316 was formed by were spiral galaxies.
What helped scientists determine that this galaxy was created due to a "recent" collision where different types of images taken of NGC 1316. Hubble's images helped to reveal huge collisional shells and a small number of globular clusters. Collisional shells are formed from debris of the parent galaxy, which under the effects of gravity and tidal forces. These tails last for a long time, before eventually being reabsorbed into the progenitor (object of origin). Globular clusters are a group of stars bound by gravity.
These two events were indicative of a merger that occurred within the past couple billion years.
Sirius A and B taken on 13th December 2005 by Hubble Space Telescope
Sirius A is well known for being the brightest star in the night sky and a part of the constellation Canis Major. However, its binary partner, Sirius B was only discovered in 1862.
Ever since the creation of Newton’s law of universal gravitation, star mechanics became not only descriptive, but also predictive. Sirius A’s path across the night sky was unexpected. It wasn’t a straight line, but rather oscillated across its path. This caused many scientists to suspect that Sirius A had a binary partner.
Sirius B was first observed by Alvan Clark, who was testing a new telescope at the time. This was later on confirmed by other telescopes.
Sirius B is a white dwarf, while Sirius A is a main sequence star, meaning it is much larger and much brighter. 1000x brighter than Sirius B, in fact.
In the photo, Sirius A is in the center (although there are some effects due to the instruments) and Sirius B can be seen in the lower left.