M2-9: Mgławica Skrzydła Motyla

2000-12-17

Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured above, the stars transform themselves from normal ...

Degas Ray Krater na Merkurym

2000-12-16

Like the Earth's Moon, Mercury is scarred with craters testifying to an intense bombardment during the early history of the Solar System. In 1974, the Mariner 10 spacecraft surveyed this innermost planet up close, producing the only detailed ...

Gwiazda neutronowa IC443

2000-12-15

Using x-ray data from the orbiting Chandra Observatory along with radio data from the Very Large Array, a team of researchers has discovered evidence for a new example of one of the most bizarre objects known to modern astrophysics -- a neutron ...

Szlakiem Międzynarodowej Stacji...

2000-12-14 Doug Murray

Still under construction, the International Space Station is becoming one of the brightest, fastest moving "stars" in the heavens. Despite illuminated clouds and bright light from a nearly full moon (lower left), this 5 minute time exposure ...

Krater uderzeniowy Manicouagan na Ziemi

2000-12-13

The Manicouagan Crater in northern Canada is one of the oldest impact craters known. Formed during a surely tremendous impact about 200 million years ago, the present day terrain supports a 70-kilometer diameter hydroelectric reservoir in the ...

Jowisz widzi Ganymede

2000-12-12

Who keeps an eye on the largest moon in the Solar System? This moon, visible on the lower right, is Ganymede, and the planet it orbits, Jupiter, seems to be keeping a watchful eye, as its Great Red Spot appears serendipitously nearby. This ...

Komponowanie Mgławicy Omega

2000-12-11 K. M. Merrill

The Omega Nebula is a massive, complex cloud of dust and gas from which new stars are continually forming. The similarity to the Greek letter capital Omega gives the molecular cloud its popular name, but the nebula is also known as the Swan ...

Zbyt blisko czarnej dziury

2000-12-10 Robert Nemiroff

What would you see if you went right up to a black hole? Above are two computer generated images highlighting how strange things would look. On the left is a normal star field containing the constellation Orion. Notice the three stars of ...

Apollo 17 Lunarscape: A Magnificent...

2000-12-09

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Lunar Module pilot and the second human to walk on the Moon, described the lunar landscape as "a magnificent desolation". Dramatic pictures from the Apollo missions to the lunar surface testify to this apt turn of phrase. ...

Abell 1795: Przepływ chłodzący...

2000-12-08

Throughout the Universe, galaxies tend to swarm in groups ranging from just a handful of members to casts of thousands. Astronomers have realized since the early 1970s that the larger swarms, immense clusters of galaxies millions of light-years ...