September 30, 2013 IC 5052, a barred spiral galaxy in Pavo Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA Acknowledgement: S. Meunier IC 5052 is an edge-on barred spiral galaxy that lies some 25 million light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Pavo (the Peacock), while it is receding from us at about 584 kilometers per [continue reading]
September 29, 2013 LDN 673, a dark cloud complex in Aquila Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (http://skycenter.arizona.edu/gallery/nebulae/LDN673) LDN 673 (Lynds’ Dark Nebula 673) is a highly fractured and very dense dark cloud complex of about 7 light-years across, located in the center of the Aquila Rift, some 300 – 600 [continue reading]
September 28, 2013 Serpens South, a star cluster in Serpens Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) & Gould’s Belt Legacy Team Serpens South is a relatively dense star cluster of about 7 x 10 light-years in diameter, located approximately 848 light-years away from Earth in the southern portion of the Serpens cloud, a star-forming molecular [continue reading]
The first scoop of soil analyzed by the analytical suite in the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover reveals that fine materials on the surface of the planet contain several percent water by weight. The results were published today in Science as one article in a five-paper special section on the Curiosity mission. The Sample Analysis at Mars [continue reading]
September 27, 2013 VdB 152, a reflection nebula in Cepheus Image Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) VdB 152 (also known as Cederblad 201) is a blue reflection nebula that glows atop of a dark Bok globule (1) called Barnard 175. This complex, also called Wolf’s Cave, spans [continue reading]
September 26, 2013 NGC 1023, a lenticular galaxy in Perseus Image Credit: Jeff Johnson (http://jeffjastro.com) NGC 1023 (also known as Arp 135) is a barred lenticular galaxy of more than 50,000 light-years across, located roughly 34 million light-years away from Earth in the northern constellation of Perseus, while it is receding from us at about [continue reading]