Anne’s Image of the Day: NGC 2997

By Annelies Rhemrev November 5, 2012 NGC 2997, a grand design spiral galaxy in Antlia Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/) Click here for a larger image. NGC 2997 is a bright, unbarred grand-design [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: The Spirograph Nebula

By Annelies Rhemrev November 4, 2012 The Spirograph Nebula, a planetary nebula in Lepus Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgement: R. Sahai (JPL) et al. Click here for a larger image. The Spirograph Nebula [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: Galaxy ESO 243-49

By Annelies Rhemrev November 3, 2012 ESO 243-49, a large spiral galaxy in Phoenix Image Credit: NASA, ESA and S. Farrell (University of Sydney) Click here for a larger image. ESO 243-49 is a large edge-on spiral galaxy, located about 290 million [...]

Asteroid Belts at the Right Place Needed for Complex Life?

By Annelies Rhemrev Solar systems with life-bearing planets may be rare if they are dependent on the presence of asteroid belts of just the right mass, according to a study by Rebecca Martin, a NASA Sagan Fellow from the University of Colorado [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: NGC 1579

By Annelies Rhemrev November 2, 2012 NGC 1579, a reflection and emission nebula in Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (http://www.caelumobservatory.com/index.html) Click here for [...]

More Clues to Mars’ Wet Past

By Annelies Rhemrev On 6 June, the high-resolution stereo camera on ESA’s Mars Express revisited the Argyre basin, this time aiming at Nereidum Montes, some 380 km northeast of Hooke crater. The stunning rugged terrain of Nereidum Montes [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: Saturn’s moon Rhea

By Annelies Rhemrev November 1, 2012 Saturn’s moon Rhea Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Click here for a larger image. Rhea is, at 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across, the second-largest moon of Saturn and the ninth largest [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: The Ghost Nebula

By Annelies Rhemrev October 31, 2012 The Ghost Nebula, a reflection nebula in Cepheus Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (http://www.caelumobservatory.com/index.html) Click here for a larger [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: The Fireworks Galaxy

By Annelies Rhemrev October 30, 2012 The Fireworks Galaxy, a spiral galaxy in Cepheus and Cygnus Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (http://www.caelumobservatory.com/index.html) Clich here [...]

Blazars Still Mysterious Cosmic Objects

By Annelies Rhemrev A blazar is a galaxy with an intensely bright central nucleus containing a supermassive black hole, much like a quasar. The difference is that a blazar can emit light with extremely high energy gamma rays that are sometimes [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: Messier 69

By Annelies Rhemrev October 29, 2012 Messier 69, a globular cluster in Sagittarius Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Click here for a larger image. Messier 69 (also known as NGC 6637) is a globular cluster of roughly 85 light-years across, [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: NGC 2787

By Annelies Rhemrev October 28, 2012 NGC 2787, a lenticular galaxy in Ursa Major Image Credit: M. Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Click here for a larger image. NGC 2787 [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: IRAS 13208-6020

By Annelies Rhemrev October 27, 2012 IRAS 13208-6020, a protoplanetary nebula in Centaur Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Click here for a larger image. IRAS 13208-6020 is a bipolar protoplanetary nebula in the constellation Centaur, formed [...]

The Revival of a ‘Dead’ Exoplanet: Zombie Fomalhaut B

By Annelies Rhemrev A second look at data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reanimating the claim that the nearby star Fomalhaut hosts a massive exoplanet. The study suggests that the planet, named Fomalhaut b, is a rare and possibly [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: The Cartwheel Galaxy

By Annelies Rhemrev October 26, 2012 The Cartwheel Galaxy, a ring galaxy in Sculptor Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Click here for a larger image. The Cartwheel Galaxy (ESO 350-40) is a ring galaxy of some 150,000 light-years across (which [...]

Mysterious Infrared Background Glow Comes From Stray Stars

By Annelies Rhemrev A new study using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope suggests a cause for the mysterious glow of infrared light seen across the entire sky. It comes from isolated stars beyond the edges of galaxies. These stars [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: LH 72

By Annelies Rhemrev October 25, 2012 LH 72, a small group of stars embedded in a nebula in the LMC Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA and D. A. Gouliermis Click here for a larger image. LH 72 is a young and bright OB association embedded in a [...]

Quasar Without Host Galaxy?

By Annelies Rhemrev Hubble astronomers have looked at one of the most distant and brightest quasars in the Universe and are surprised by what they did not see: the underlying host galaxy of stars feeding the quasar. The best explanation is that [...]

Anne’s Image of the Day: NGC 1398

By Annelies Rhemrev October 24, 2012 NGC 1398, a large, barred spiral galaxy in Fornax Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Sean & Renee Stecker/NOAO/AURA/NSF (http://www.caelumobservatory.com/obs/bestofaop.shtml) For a larger image [...]

The Milky Way’s Black Hole is Ready for Lunch

By Annelies Rhemrev Get ready for a fascinating eating experience in the center of our galaxy. The event involves a supermassive black hole that may devour much of an approaching cloud of dust and gas known as G2. Simulations of the dust and [...]