Public Nights Are Here!

What is casting dark shadows across 36,000 light-years of space in this Hubble Space Telescope image?

The mysterious dark rays appearing to emanate from galaxy IC 5063 have intrigued astronomers, and there are a few different ideas about what is causing them. They could be like the shadows of clouds when light from the setting Sun pierces through them.

Astronomers have traced the rays back to the galaxy’s core, the location of an active supermassive black hole. One idea suggests that the shadows are being cast into space by an inner tube-shaped ring, or torus, of dusty material surrounding the black hole.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and W.P. Maksym (CfA).

ALT TEXT: Rust-colored view of space, with a bright, narrow purple region at the center, a galaxy. Background stars and galaxies are scattered sparsely—this is a dusty rather than starry scene. To the upper left of the bright central region are dark dust lanes. Opposite these to the lower right, one dark area extends from the central bright region and splits into two dark rays. Similar dark rays can be seen to the top left, behind the dust lanes. The edges of the entire image are dark, fading from the colored center.

I'm sure the visitors will arrive soon

Happy fun fact Friday!

Did you know that the largest canyon system in the solar system is Valles Marineris on Mars? The image shows the Valles Marineris compared to the US coast to coast and the Grand Canyon!

Source: NASA

Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA

Image taken by Alexandros Maragos

There was a supermoon yesterday (August 19th), which means that the moon appears larger and brighter than usual! Alexandros Maragos took this image as the blue supermoon was approaching its peak at the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. What an incredible image!

The 2023 Partial (Annular) Solar Eclipse as seen from Nevada // Brian Fulda

3/26: Public night is cancelled tonight due to clouds. We'll try again next week.

Wed. Aug. 14 - The weather looks good! We'll be open tonight 8:30-9:30 pm.

So gorgeous! Here's the NASA article to go with the pic.

Christmas Tree Cluster

NASA

The Dragon's Egg Nebula, NGC 6164 // Daniel Stern