Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:1/4/2012
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
The smoky pink core of the Omega Nebula
The first hint of what will become of our
This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. Astrophotos: The Great Orion Nebula
M42 & M43 The Great Orion Nebulae & it’s Core Complex known as the Trapezium Region. Image Credit: John Chumack
The Great Orion nebula is one of the brightest nebulae visible in the night sky. It is located about 1300 light years away in the southern part of the Orion’s belt.
We’ve collected several amazing images of the Great Orion nebula submitted by readers online. Here’s hoping that you’ll enjoy them as much as we did!
The image above was obtained by John Chumack from the high res close-up image of Trapezium taken with his 10” scope ( 30 sec., 1 minute, & 5 minutes) in his backyard in Dayton combined with the image taken using his homemade 16” scope data (10 minutes) taken at his observatory in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
“My image Data was captured in 2010 & 2011 and was then combined. I used my Modified Canon Rebel Xsi (Baader Filter) @ ISO 400, dark frames subtracted, and post processing in Adobe. Total exposure time for all Data was 16.5 minutes.
I processed it for the Trapezium’s core, I wanted to show all the small dark nebula / Dusty Bok Globules buried in that bright Zone, which is often over exposed in most images of this region!
It came out very detailed, especially the Trapezium region and its bright core stars which are also individually visible!”
More images below!(…)
Read the rest of Astrophotos: The Great Orion Nebula (413 words)
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Strange shapes and textures can be found in neighborhood
The prominent ridge of emission featured inAstrophoto: The Heart Nebula by Tony Cellini
IC1805, also known as the Heart Nebula. Image Credit: Tony Cellini
This image of the Heart nebula was captured by Toni Cellini on November 10, 2011.
The Heart Nebula, also called IC1805, is an emission nebula located 7500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula spans 200 light years across.
“This image is presented in the CFHT (Canada France Hawaii Telescope) palette. Here the RGB colors are mapped to Ha, OIII, SII, respectively. This gives a bit more of a “natural” color appearance, although all the images here are false color images.”
Tony obtained this image using an Apogee U16M CCD camera attached to a Takahashi CCA-250 Astrograph. Each channel consists of four 15-minute exposures through Hydrogen Alpha, Sulphur II and Oxygen III filters.
Visit Tony’s website for more astrophotos.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
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Few butterflies have a wingspan this big.
What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula?PacMan Nebula Takes A “Bite” Out Of Space
n visible light, the star-forming cloud catalogued as NGC 281 in the constellation of Cassiopeia appears to be chomping through the cosmos, earning it the nickname the "Pacman" nebula after the famous Pac-Man video game of the 1980s. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
If you have a large telescope and an appetite for nebulae, then you’ve probably seen the Pac Man Nebula. Located 9,200 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, NGC 281 (RA 00 52 59.3 – Dec +56 37 19) is a seasonal favorite… and in this new image it’s showing a real “Halloween” face! (…)
Read the rest of PacMan Nebula Takes A “Bite” Out Of Space (218 words)
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The Pacman Nebula gets some teeth
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:10/27/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
What powers the Heart Nebula? 
What created the Waterfall Nebula?Astrophoto: The Prawn Nebula
The Prawn Nebula. Credit: Graham
This beautiful photo of the Prawn Nebula was submitted to us by Graham through the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum.
The Prawn Nebula, also known as IC 4628, is an emission nebula located south of Antares at an estimated distance of 6,000 light-years. The nebula is also cataloged as Gum 56 for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum.
Graham also provided us with some technical details about the image.
“Total time is about 4.5 hours in SII, OII and Ha captured through a Megrez 110 scope with a QHY9 mono camera and QHY filter wheel. Mounted on an EQ6 mount running PEC and guided over 15 mins for each exposure. Calibrated and stacked in CCDStack, post processing in Photoshop CS3 and PixInsight. Traditional Hubble palette used for base image.”
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
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It’s the bubble versus the cloud.
Cocoon Nebula Wide FieldSunny Side Up: New Image of the Fried Egg Nebula Reveals a Rare Yellow Hypergiant Star
An image from the Very Large Telescope of IRAS 17163-3907, which has a huge dusty double shell surrounding a rare hypergiant star. The star and its shells resemble an egg white around a yolky center, leading astronomers to nickname the object the Fried Egg Nebula. Credit: ESO/E. Lagadec
A new look at the Fried Egg Nebula has revealed one of the rarest classes of stars in the Universe, a yellow hypergiant. This “sunny-side-up” view shows for the first time a huge dusty double shell surrounding this huge star.
“This object was known to glow brightly in the infrared but, surprisingly, nobody had identified it as a yellow hypergiant before,” said Eric Lagadec from the European Southern Observatory, who led the team that produced the new images.
And there’s good reason to keep an eye on this star: it will likely soon die an explosive death, and will be one of the next supernova explosions in our galaxy.
(…)
Read the rest of Sunny Side Up: New Image of the Fried Egg Nebula Reveals a Rare Yellow Hypergiant Star (285 words)
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Astrophoto: The Great Orion Nebula by Arturo Montesinos
The Great Orion Nebula. Credit: Arturo Montesinos
Arturo Montesinos captured this photo of the Great Orion Nebula using 100 30-second exposures shot under computer control with a Nikon D40 camera at the prime focus of a Celestron NexStar 102 SLT 4-inch refractor.
“I used the astrometry.net software to solve each of the 100 photos, then the Swarp program to reproject and co-add the 100 red images, 100 green images, and 100 blue images in “SUM” mode.
The resulting three 32-bit FITS files (one per channel) were converted to a single 16-bit RGB TIFF file using ImageMagick convert, and then loaded into qtpfsgui to tone map as an HDR, using the Mantiuk algorithm with contrast 0.01, saturation 1.5, detail 4.0, and gamma 0.8. Some minor post-processing with The Gimp.”
Check out Arturo’s Flickr page for more interesting astrophotos.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
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An angry bird in the sky: New image of the Lambda Centauri Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:9/21/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
Can You Spot the Running Chicken in this Nebula?
The Running Chicken Nebula, a cloud of gas and newborn stars that lies around 6500 light-years away from us in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). It’s official name is IC 2944, or the Lambda Centauri Nebula. Credit:ESO
A brand new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope reveals the Lambda Centauri Nebula, a cloud of glowing hydrogen and newborn stars in the constellation of Centaurus. The nebula is also known as IC 2944. But it also has one of the most unique nicknames of any other nebula: The Running Chicken Nebula. Can you see a chicken shape in pictures of this red star-forming region? There is some disagreement over exactly which part of the nebula is chicken shaped, with various bird-like features showing up across the picture.
(…)
Read the rest of Can You Spot the Running Chicken in this Nebula? (156 words)
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Astrophoto: Cocoon Nebula by Gordon Haynes
Cocoon Nebula. Credit: Gordon Haynes
This photo of the Cocoon Nebula was submitted to us by Gordon Haynes through the Bad Astronomy/Universe Today forum.
The Cocoon Nebula is a star forming region located 4,000 light years away toward the northern constellation Cygnus. Also known as IC 5146, the Cocoon nebula spans 15 light years.
Gordon provided us with the details of his photo.
“It is a total of 4 hours of data per channel in 10 minute sub frames taken with an FSQ106ED at f5, Starlight Xpress SXVF H9 on a Paramount ME with auto guiding taken care of by a Lodestar and OAG. All raw frames were fully calibrated and stacked, then colour combined in Maxim DL with G2V star calibration. Processing was two iterations of levels followed by multiple contrast curves, this was followed by two iterations of shadows/highlights to bring out some of the fainter dusty areas. Final colour balancing was done and gradients were taken care of with gradient xterminator.”
Check out Gordon’s works at his website: http://www.imagingtheheavens.co.uk/
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
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The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. 
What happens when a star runs out ofHubble offers a dazzling view of the Necklace Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:8/12/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
The sands of time are running out for the central star
These clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomedGemini captures beauty of planetary nebula discovered by amateur astronomer
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:7/25/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
Kepler Drops In On Planetary Nebula
Gemini Observatory image of Kronberger 61 showing the ionized shell of expelled gas resembling a soccer ball. The light of the nebula here is primarily due to emission from twice-ionized oxygen, and its central star can be seen as the slightly bluer star very close to the center of the nebula. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA
Discovered by amateur Austrian astronomer, Matthias Kronberger, planetary nebula Kn 61 just happens to be in a relatively small piece of celestial real estate being monitored by NASA’s Kepler planet finding mission. Lucky for us, we’re able to take a look at the photographic results of the new nebula obtained with the Gemini Observatory. (…)
Read the rest of Kepler Drops In On Planetary Nebula (541 words)
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It’s the dim star, not the bright one, near the center of
The Great Carina NebulaFermi spots “superflares” in the Crab Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:5/12/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
Crab Nebula Erupts in a Superflare
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals the complex X-ray-emitting central region of the Crab Nebula. This image is 9.8 light-years across. Chandra observations were not compatible with the study of the nebula's X-ray variations. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/F. Seward et al.
From a NASA press release:
The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously seen from the object. On April 12, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days. Several other satellites also made observations, which has astonished astronomers by revealing unexpected changes in X-ray emission the Crab, once thought to be the steadiest high-energy source in the sky.
(…)
Read the rest of Crab Nebula Erupts in a Superflare (764 words)
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A Newly Discovered Planetary Nebula Teaches Us About Galactic Composition
Determining the chemical distribution of the galaxy is a tricky business. The ideal method is spectroscopy but since high quality spectroscopy takes bright targets, the number of potential targets is somewhat reduced. Stars seem like logical choices, but due to differential separation during formation, they don’t provide a true description of the interstellar medium. Clouds of gas and dust are the best choice, but must be illuminated by star formation. Another option is to search for newly formed planetary nebulae which are in the process of enriching the interstellar medium.
A new paper does just this, discovering a new planetary nebula in hopes of mapping the chemical abundance of the galaxy.(…)
Read the rest of A Newly Discovered Planetary Nebula Teaches Us About Galactic Composition (289 words)
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Stunning, Colorful New Look at the Lagoon Nebula
A portion of the Lagoon nebula imaged by the Gemini South telescope with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph. Credit: Julia I. Arias and Rodolfo H. Barbá Departamento de Física, Universidad de La Serena (Chile), and ICATE-CONICET (Argentina).
Wow, is this gorgeous or what?! Argentinean astronomers Julia Arias and Rodolfo Barbá used the Gemini South telescope in Chile to obtain this stunning new image, allowing us to dive right into part of the Lagoon Nebula (M8). This region of the Lagoon is sometimes called the “Southern Cliff” because it resembles a sharp drop-off. Beyond the cliff, light from a spattering of young background stars in the upper left of the image shines through the cloudscape.
(…)
Read the rest of Stunning, Colorful New Look at the Lagoon Nebula (269 words)
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Staring across interstellar space, the
Planetary Nebula NGC 2438
The yellowish star near center in this remarkable
What could cause a nebula to appear square?
AE Aurigae and the Flaming Star Nebula
What’s California doing in space? 
Cast off by dying sunlike stars,Reflected glory in nebula M78
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:2/16/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
Stunning New Look at Reflection Nebula Messier 78
A new image from ESO of the reflection nebula Messier 78. Credit: ESO and Igor Chekalin
Here’s another “Hidden Treasure” from the European Southern Observatory, from the astrophotography competition where amateurs create images from unused ESO data. In this new image of Messier 78, brilliant starlight ricochets off dust particles in the nebula, illuminating it with scattered blue light and creating what is called a reflection nebula. Almost like fog around a street light, a reflection nebula shines only with the light from an embedded source that illuminates the dust. This image was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Comparing this image with others previously taken of Messier 78 shows that remarkably, this object has changed significantly in the last ten years.
This beautiful image was the overall winner of ESO’s Hidden Treasures 2010 astrophotography competition created by Igor Chekalin, who was with his image of this stunning object.
(…)
Read the rest of Stunning New Look at Reflection Nebula Messier 78 (387 words)
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The North America Nebula in Infrared
The North America Nebula can do what most North Americans cannot — form stars.
Would theNew view of family life in the North America Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:2/11/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
Spitzer’s Stunning New View of the North American Nebula
This swirling landscape of stars is known as the North American nebula. In visible light, the region resembles North America, but in this new infrared view from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the continent disappears. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In visible light, the North American nebula resembles its namesake continent. But looking at it in the infrared spectrum, a whole new perspective explodes into view. Clouds of dust and gas come to life, as light from massive young star heats and shape the clouds, and dramatic clusters of baby stars which can only be seen in infrared burst into view.
(…)
Read the rest of Spitzer’s Stunning New View of the North American Nebula (485 words)
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The Orion Nebula is still full of surprises
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:1/19/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
NASA satellites find high-energy surprises in “constant” Crab Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:1/13/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
This broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presentsThe Cosmic Web of the Tarantula Nebula
It is the largest and most complex star forming region in the entire galactic neighborhood.
Fermi’s Large Area Telescope sees surprising flares in Crab Nebula
Astronomy Magazine News Article – Released:1/10/2011
Astronomy.com News – Presented by Astronomy Magazine
A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation
Of course, the Flame Nebula is not on fire.
Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas
Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula