Messier 45: The Pleiades
Nick Fritz on Instagram
an actual true color photograph showing Saturn, its rings, and one of its moons taken by the Cassini space probe orbiting 23.8k miles away, October 11, 2005
NGC 2403, Stardust
this morning NASA abandoned their mars rover Opportunity (aka Oppy) because it (she) got hit by a storm on Mars and it knocked her camera and wheels out and her last words to the team were “my battery is low and it is getting cold”. I know she’s a machine but I’m devastated. Oppy is the one who discovered water on Mars. RIP oppy ily space baby
Astronomical photographs, Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, 1890-1920
One of the most interesting areas of the night sky, Scorpius holds a myriad of nebula and beautifully contrasting coloured stars.
Moving towards the tail, you'll find Nu Scorpii a binary star system 7 stars.
If that alone isn't enough to get your mind wondering how all these stars are orbiting each other, the star system itself is the eye of a horses head ! Albeit a nebulous head.
IC 4592 is a reflective nebula, with the blue light reflected from fine dust, that blue light is coming from the Nu Scorpii system above.
Pull out and you'll see the whole region contains many star forming areas with reflective features.
Boo! Did we get you? 🎃
This solar jack-o-lantern, captured by our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in October 2014, gets its ghoulish grin from active regions on the Sun, which emit more light and energy than the surrounding dark areas. Active regions are markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere.
The SDO has kept an unblinking eye on the Sun since 2010, recording phenomena like solar flares and coronal loops. It measures the Sun’s interior, atmosphere, magnetic field, and energy output, helping us understand our nearest star.
Grab the high-resolution version here.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
★•Astronomy, Physics, and Aerospace•★ Original and Reblogged Content curated by a NASA Solar System Ambassador
204 posts