Welcome to my site!!
When you are curious about the latest science results of Space exploration, you’re on the right address. I’m providing lots of news about the Universe, right from where it started up until today.
Cosmology, Astrophysics, Astrobiology & the Search for Life, Planetary Science, and so on, you’ll all find it here.
And while you’re on my site, don’t forget to check out the Picture of the Day and the Photo Galleries, you won’t be sorry!!
Anne
In most pictures of Arp273 (UGC 1810), at the botton of the pics ive seen, to the direct left of the lower galaxy, is a blue blob, that seems to maybe be a small dwarf galaxy or something. Your thoughts on it, please?
Hi Andreas,
You are right, this blue blob is probably a dwarf galaxy.
I’ve looked at it in a higher resolution:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/images/publicationjpg/heic1107a.jpg
and you can see it quite clearly.
I tried to find out which dwarf galaxy, but couldn’t find it.
Best regards,
Anne
Hi Anne,
Your article on Messier 80 was very helpful for a project I’m doing in school. However, I wasn’t sure how to cite it correctly because I could not find the date you last revised/published it or your last name anywhere on this site. Could you provide this information in a message or e-mail?
Best regards,
Fatima
Hi Fatima,
I’m very glad my information on Messier 80 was helpful to you!
I’ve added the photo and text on June 11, 2012, with the latest info known until then.
Somehow I forgot the credit line for the image (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), what I’ve adjusted right now.
Best regards,
Anne
I have a question. In your wonderful picture of ESO 69-6 (also known as ESO 069-IG006 and AM 1633-682), to the right of the two interacting galaxies, is a large elliptical galaxy. It is very white, and beneath it are two yellow elliptical galaxies. The picture seems to show a jet enamating from the large white eliptical to the right yellow eliptical. Is it really a jet, or maybe a spiral galaxy seen edge on? I dont have enough detail to make out for either possibility. could i get your response to it? Thanks
Hi Andreas,
I’ve looked at the image of ESO 69-6 in a higher resolution (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Hubble_Interacting_Galaxy_ESO_69-6_(2008-04-24).jpg), and to my opinion there is no jet, but a blue spiral galaxy that probably lies much further away than the right yellow elliptical. I don’t think any of these galaxies are physically related, even though the blue spiral seems to be disturbed.
Best regards,
Anne
Dear Anne,
I found your site in connection with my interest in a recent article published in “Physics Today” by Steven B. Giddings. I teach physics at UW-Stout in Menomonie, WI, U.S.A. (It was neat to see your “Most Recent Hits” orbiting world app show Menomonie, which is a town of only 16,000 people. What is that app?) I have signed up for your updates, so I look forward to reading more about astronomy, especially cosmology.
Regards,
Dr. Karland A. Kilian
Hi Dr. Karland,
Ah, you mean Steve Giddings “Black holes, quantum information, and the foundations of physics”.
But I don’t know an app called “Most Recent Hits” of which you think is mine. I don’t even know the town Menomonie (I’m not an American, but a Dutch woman).
However, I like it very much you’ve signed up for my updates, and I thank you for that :-)
Best regards,
Anne
Opps,
Your wonderful Pictures are always fascinating to gaze at. however, your Math seems to be off. In todays writing of Abell 31, you wrote:
“Abell 31 is such a very ancient nebula that its gas has already started to disperse into space.
Its central star is a tiny white dwarf of nearly ten light-years wide (about 4 times bigger than Earth or about 0.04 times the size of the Sun)”.
Now it seems to me, a white dwarf really isnt very tiny as you explained, if its 10 light years wide. That would make for alot of real estate.
Hey Andreas, you’re absolutely right, I’m really glad that you are so perceptive… while it makes me deeply ashamed.
The nearly ten light-years wide is the diameter of the full planetary nebula. It would indeed be a little bit too big for a white dwarf :-)
I’ve immediately made an adjustment!
Thanks again,
Anne
Anne, My father (89 years old) has been writing a book entitled “Mysteries of the Universe” that he is self publishing. Would he have your permission to use your image “Pillars of Creation” in his book? He would credit your website with the image.
Thank you so much,
Julie Green
Hi Julie,
It’s fantastic that your father is still able to write (such) a book at his age! And, I’m very honoured he wants to use one of the images on my website :-)
Since that image is taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope – and not been processed by an astrophotographer – it is free to use. The credit line should be: Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen, at the time both of Arizona State University.
Hereby I’m giving him my permission to also use (a part of) my text under the condition of crediting me as well, by: Anne’s Astronomy News (http://annesastronomynews.com/).
Best regards,
Anne
Hi Anne,
Thanks for the answer on the orbit of our solar system.And yes it required five black hole catagories to be percise. I heard the term
ultra mass and it sounds to much like a detergent or toothpaste.
THANX,
BOBBY
You’re very welcome Bobby :-)
Sorry to bother you again.This is something may you might be able to answer.
As our solar system orbits the milky way, it goes in and out the plain of the galaxy .When we pass back into the plain of the galaxy is it always
in the same area as the last orbit? Or might we be dropping into an area with a black hole in it?
Hi again, Bobby
Our Solar System orbits the Milky Way every time in about the same, roughly elliptical, way, although there can be small fluctuations. It takes the Solar System about 225–250 million years to complete one orbit of the galaxy, so it will complete 20–25 orbits during the lifetime of the Sun.
The Sun’s passage through the higher density spiral arms is sometimes thought to coincide with mass extinctions on Earth, perhaps due to increased impact events. However, it will never come close to the supermassive black hole (Sagittarius A*) in the center of our galaxy. But, during its journey there is a small probability that it will come in the proximity of a medium-sized or stellar black hole.
Best regards,
Anne
OK HERE’S MY CHART ON BLACK HOLES:
STELLAR MASS BLACK HOLES: 3 TO 10,000 SOLAR MASSES
INTERMEDIATE MASS BLACK HOLES:11,000 TO 100,000 SOLAR MASSES
SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES:100,000 TO 100 MILLION SOLAR MASSES
GALATIC MASS BLACK HOLES:101 MILLION TO 1 BILLION SOLAR MASSES
HYPER-MASS BLACK HOLES:OVER 1 BILLION SOLAR MASSES
Hey, you’ve come-up with five categories now.
Like I said, it not a bad idea, but I have no influence what so ever on the astronomical society that makes decisions like this.
Cheers,
Anne
Seem’s to me we need another catagory for black holes since we’re finding them in billions of solar masses now. HYPER MASS
BLACK HOLES is my candidate. Please bring this up to the big wigs in STELLAR ASTRONOMY the next time you see them.
AND tell if I’m correct on this. A QUASAR is the accretion disk of a very distant BLACK HOLE that is feeding like it is the last
meal.This is what I call a HYPER- MASS BLACK HOLE.
THANK YOU,
BOBBY WILLIAMS
Hi Bobby,
There are indeed black holes with a mass of billions of solar masses. Supermassive black holes have masses of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses.
Quasars are thought to be the very bright centers of some very distant galaxies, where some sort of energetic action is occurring, most probably due to the presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of that galaxy.
You might consider the supermassive black holes which are the most massive to be hyper-mass black holes, but at how many solar masses will you draw the dividing line? However, the idea is not bad :-)
Best regards,
Anne
your site is so amazing, ive found myself actually opening it first before my mail or news! How about that. your site, with the large photo gallery, really shows us how big and diversified the universe reaslly is. I do have a question that ive not quite figured out. In almost any picture of an eliptical galaxy, it seems like all we ever see in deep space pics is basically a point of light. Now i know that in elipticals there is little dust and gas or interstellar medium to form new stars, and most stars in them are quite old. When i see an eliptiucal, is the single point of light that point where all the stars are squished together? It has been stated that there are some elipticals that are quite large, but all of those pictures show is basically one point of light, with little detail around the point of light. I would think that there would be more to see, or do i need a large telescope to make out the residing structure around the point of light? Perhaps you could add a little bit as to how an eliptiucal galaxy looks like up close. Thanks.
Hi Andreas,
I’m very glad you like my site so much that you open it before your mail or news :-)
You are right about elliptical galaxies, one of their characteristics is that they are commonly very smooth, nearly featureless. They look a bit like globular clusters without the young, white-blue massive stars.
In spiral galaxies you can usually distinguish star clusters, star-forming regions and dust lanes. The ellipticals don’t have these features because they are made up of old stars. However, there are some elliptical galaxies that do have some dust lanes and star-forming regions. That is because they have swallowed another galaxy, what triggers new star formation.
One of these days I will create “Anne’s Picture of the Day” with an elliptical galaxy that does show some details, so keep on ckecking my site ;-)
Best regards,
Anne
I have a question. In today’s picture of Spiral Galaxy NGC 1614, i caught just a glimpse of what i might consider to be a ring galaxy. Its looks to be located in the upper tidal tail at the top of the picture on your web site. Am i right, or is it a spiral galaxy that just isnt showing all of its detail thru the tidal tail? Id like to hear your response. Thanks.
Andreas
Hi Andreas,
Thanks for your reaction!
In my opinion, when I look at the original image (3373 × 3373 pixels), it is a spiral galaxy with a long tidal tail almost all the way around it, see: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Hubble_Interacting_Galaxy_NGC_1614_%282008-04-24%29.jpg
Best regards,
Anne
Hi Anne. Extraordinary Website! Like you I’m an amateur astronomer and have spent the last fourty years at it.And more money than I want to
think about doing it.
Along with the great photos your discription of each subject is extremely accurate and detailed but easy to follow.I’m doing a series of cataloges for my own referance using the best photos and info on each object.Your website is one of the main ones I depend upon.Thank you.
If anyone is interested in doing your own be prepared to spend alot of time and money. It requires endless ink cartridges,printer paper,clear
paper protectors,index tabs and alot of binder notebooks.(the ones with clear outside paper inserts work good for a cover.Then you can make your
own cover!)
Thanks again,
Bobby W
PS: My cataloges are not for sell at any price!
Bobby W
Hi Bobby,
I’m glad you like my site, the photos on it and the accompanying descriptions. It also makes me very proud that you’re using my website for your hobby.
So, you’re making catalogs for yourself from every astronomical object with photos and descriptions. They must look wonderful! A great hobby, but like most hobbies rather expensive :-(
P.S. Many of the photos are copyrighted by astrophotographers; all descriptions are copyrighted by me. Both photos and texts are for personal use only!
Best regards,
Anne
Hi Anne, great selection of photographs and links. I specialise in converting Astrophotos into 3D using the anaglyph method, check out my website sometime, you will need red and blue glasses to view in 3D….hope you like. https://www.facebook.com/3DAstro
Keep up the good work.
Liam
Hi Liam,
Thanks a lot for complimenting me on the photographs and links on my site. (You did notice that none of the photos are created by me, right?)
I’ve seen the 3D images on your Facebook page and they look fantastic, even though I didn’t watch them in 3D. Now I’ve seen them, I’m definitely gonna get me a pair of red and blue glasses to view the images properly. Thank you for drawing my attention to your page.
Enjoy your evening,
Anne
Hi, Anne:
Thanks for providing this great resource of beautiful astronomical images on your site. I came across one, however, where the image and the associated caption refer to different objects, and you may want to correct this to avoid confusion.
I am referring to the image labeled as Red Rectangle. The image you are showing is actually the Red Square nebula, associated with the star MWC 922 in Serpens. The color of the Red Square is false since all exposures leading to this image were taken in the infrared, but in terms of its morphology is is the closest counterpart to the actual Red Rectangle. The true Red Rectangle can be found at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040513.html.
Best regards,
Adolf
Hi Adolf,
Thank you very much for your mindfulness and, even more, for taking the effort to let me know.
You are absolutely right about the two nebulae, I’ve totally mixed them up. I’m very glad you’ve given me the opportunity to correct this, otherwise this error would probably have remained for a long time. Within a few days, I’ll adjust the caption, and in the meantime I’ve removed the image with the wrong description.
Thanks again!
Best regards,
Anne
Hi,
Im new to your site, and i absolutely love all of the pics you have posted for people/ They are so very clear and sharp, and makes looking at them so very interesting. I do have a question for you. On a recent post you said:
“NGC 6642 is a good candidate as one of the few genuine metal-poor clusters, what means that the cluster has almost no other elements than hydrogen or helium, and is very primitive. It might be one of the oldest fossils in our galaxy.”
What confises me, is that for a cluster or star to be considered old, it would have to have gone thru burning all of its lighter elements (hydrogen and helium) to the heavier elements. So how can a star be of such an advanced stage, and still burning thru its light metals? If they are that old, why hasnt theree been any novae or super novae? Seems to me there is something missing here. Id like to hear your comments. Thanks.
Hi Andreas,
I’m glad you’ve found my site and love the pictures. I’m very lucky that lots of real good astrophotographers gave me their permission to use their photos, otherwise I could only have used the images from NASA, ESO, ESA etc.
About your question: A globular cluster is normally orbiting a galaxy and is likely being formed as part of the star formation of that parent galaxy, and in most globular clusters, the stars formed at about the same time. When the cluster is formed in the very early Universe, it is very metal-poor because that galaxy contained very little heavier elements in it than hydrogen and helium. Of some of the stars have died in the meantime via supernova explosions, what brought heavier elements in the interstellar medium and also outside the cluster. The relatively few newborn stars will contain some heavier elements, but overall the cluster is still metal-poor.
Younger clusters already contain more heavy metals because the younger galaxies that formed these clusters contained much more heavy elements from stars that went supernova.
Hopefully my answer is satisfying for you.
Best regards,
Anne
Dear Anne,
my best wishes to you in the new year, and furtherone many success and prosperity achieving your astronomynews !
Herzliche Grüße von Klauspeter
Thank you very much Klauspeter,
I’m also wishing you all the best for 2013!!
Greetings from Anne.
Hi Anne, enjoying your site and tweets. Couldn’t reply to your Twitter message as you aren’t following me. Not much astrophotography going on here right now due to moon & weather.
Hi Mark,
I’m really glad you like my site (and tweets)!
The weather hasn’t been good here either :-(
I’ll try to find you on Twitter…
Cheers,
Anne
il tuo sito è meraviglioso sono molto contento(i’m very happy)di averlo trovato!Thanks Anne best regards from Rome(Italy)Sorry for my English e da oggi è tra i miei preferiti anzi sull’argomento trattato è il mio preferito!ancora grazie Anne per il tuo impegno e la tua passione che condividi con noi Ciao da Roma Massimiliano.
Hi Massimiliano,
Thank you very much for your great compliments… thanks to Google Translate I could understand your very positive comment :-)
I’m really glad you have found my site and like it so much! You’re very welcome to visit the site as often as you like…
Greetings back from Holland!
Best regards,
Anne
Anne, What an amazing collection of pictures on your site and what a wonderful passion you have for science.
I got here by doing a search on the gas and dust our black hole is having for lunch.
Had a great time looking around, thank you.
I too like astronomy but not a professional so I built my self a little observatory in my back yard.
If you would like to see it http://www.featherriverwoodworks.com
Hi Dan,
Thank you very much for complimenting me with my site. I’m very glad you like it.
I want to thank you as well for drawing my attention to your website. I’m impressed, the photos are amazing! It is quite some “little” observatory you have in your backyard ;-)
With kind regards,
Anne
Anne, I hope you get well soon!
gute Besserung und freundliche Gruesse
von Klauspeter
Thank you very much Klauspeter!
Greetings,
Anne
http://www.astrotreff.de/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=143373
Hi Anne,
I see, on your website are only a very few users from Germany.
For this reason I posted to the greatest German astronomical board a notice
concerning your site.
freundliche Gruesse von Klauspeter
Hi Klauspeter,
That’s very kind of you, thanks a lot!!
Germans are (also) very welcome on my site ;-)
Kind regards,
Anne
Hi Anne,
thank you for the nice website, by chance I found it, and I will often come to here!
freundliche Gruesse
Klauspeter
Hi Klauspeter,
Thank you very much for your nice comment.
I’m very glad you like my website, and that you like to visit it regularly from now on!!
With kind regards,
Anne
Hello Anne,
I liked your website very much. The up to date news and info that you provide are very helpful to amateur astronomers like me. I also have a website. If you can visit it please do it and help me promote it.
Regards
Paresh
Hi Paresh,
I’m glad you like my site and the fact that my info is helpful to you.
You have a website as well, but didn’t give the URL. So, would you yet
give me the adress of the site, otherwise I can’t take a look at it ;-)
Best regards,
Anne
Hi there!
Great compilation of astrophotographies. Your awesome blog could be an amazing destination for avid sky gazers and amateur astronomers. By the way, back in Nepal (where I come from) we have a blog of similar capacity. We would be very glad if you could also visit the site on http://astronomy-nepal.blogspot.com/ .
with very best regards,
Pritisha
Hi Pritisha,
Thank you very much for the compliments :-)
A great deal of the photos are from NASA, ESO etcetera, but I’m so very glad some really good astrophotographers let me use their images too!!
I like your blog as well, and have already subscribed to your posts.
Kind regards,
Anne
Hi Anne,
Glad I found your site. I believe yesterday I was googling for nebula images and found your website. Awesome! Just wish I could order images from your website! :)
Have a great day filled with many of God’s blessings!
Sincerely
Kathleen
Sarasota FL
Hi Kathleen,
Thank you very much for your very positive comment.
If you just give me a few hundred bucks I’ll make a beautiful package with photos for you ;-)
No, I’m just kidding. When it’s for personal use only (so, not commercial) you can download them freely.
Best regards,
Anne
Very nice arrangement of images. You are correct concerning the usage for “personal” purposes…. however, since this is a public website might I suggest you include credits for the photographers that took the image(s)? Otherwise, people will copy from your website and the attribution for the work is lost….
-Adam
Hi Adam,
Thanks for your compliment and suggestion.
You’re absolutely right about including credits.
By far the most images I obtained from free downloadable websites like NASA, ESA, ESO, Wikimedia Commons and so on, long before I started my website. It will be a gigantic job now to figure out exactly where the images came from.
But I promise that I’ll include credits for newly obtained images in the future, like I already do in my articles.
Best regards,
Anne
Anne, got to your site through another science site. Love the astrophotography, and enjoy others comments concerning science, and Astronomy. I am an amateur astronomer learning much from your site and others. Good work, and god bless.
Hi John,
Thanks a lot for your very positive comment. I’m glad you like my site, for the articles as well as the photo’s with info.
I’m trying to be as informative as possible, and accessible for both amateurs and professionals.
When you like, you can subscribe to new posts by email or RSS.
Best regards,
Anne
Dear Anne, I am the happiest person today,because I am introduced to a site, I was longing for last ten years.Today’s news about Higgs boson made me to open this site accidently. I know English & four Indian languages. My interested Topics are Cosmic Energy,Universe,GOD PARTCLE etc. I hope & trust that your site will guide me to gain the knowledge of my interest & cotribute my EXPERIENCE, REALIZATIONS & PREDICTIONS. Your response will be highly respected.
THANK YOU
YOURS ALWAYS IN YOGA
MOHAN MANDAVI
DHARWAD 580 003 (400 km from Banglore)
KARNATAKA
INDIA
Hi Mohan,
Thanks a lot for your very positive reaction. I’m very pleased you found my site and like it so much.
My intention is to fulfil your expectations :-)
Thanks again!
Best regards,
Anne
Sad, but I just now found this site. Am I missing the place to subscribe?
You have a great site!
Hi Elaien,
Thanks you for the compliment!!
I’m glad you found my site… it’s running just a few months.
You can subscribe on my feeds: http://feeds.feedburner.com/AnnesAstronomyNews
Best regards,
Anne
Visitei este site e achei muito interessante, com notícias de qualidade e não quantidade. Fácil de entender e de se movimentar entre os assuntos. Adorei, parabéns Anne.
Observação: Para atrair visitantes de outras áreas acrescente um “título ” Curiosidades da Astronomia”
Hi Sérgio, thanks for your positive reaction!!
Comments surely are welcome, but because I don’t speak Portugese (just Dutch and English), I have to tranlate it with google and bing. That’s probably why I don’t understand your remark.
Of course I do want to attract a lot of people to my site. You suggest to give the site a title??
It has the title Anne’s Astronomy News, subtitled: All up-to-date news about astronomy & astrophysics; do you think that’s not enough?
With kind regards
Anne