A Stellar Fingerprint - An Emission-line Star Known As IRAS 12196-6300

The icy blue wings of Hen 2-437

The patterns and symmetries in space never cease to amaze. Hen 2-437 is a planetary nebula which has spectacularly symmetrical wings. It was first identified in 1946 by Rudolph Minkowski, who later also discovered the famous and equally beautiful M2-9, otherwise known as the Twin Jet Nebula:

Hen 2-437 was added to a catalogue of planetary nebula over two decades later by astronomer and NASA astronaut Karl Gordon Henize. If you’re interested in how planetary nebulae form, go here

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Solarbeat

This is magical. whitevinyldesign.com/solarbeat

via wired

Because every planet has its own orbital period, “it ends up generating this unending, interesting pattern,” Twyman says. For example, Mercury, which has an orbit of 88 Earth days, is the backbeat to the sound, while Pluto, which takes approximately 248 years to orbit the sun, rarely makes an appearance in the music. “It really lends itself to generating ambient music,” he says. You can tweak the speed of orbit, slowing it down to make a soothing tinkle of a child’s mobile or speeding it up to orchestrate a chaotic planetary choir. New features allow you to add sound effects like echo, flutter and bass, and you can choose from eight different chords to personalize the sound. READ MORE

The Pinwheel Galaxy - this giant disk of stars, dust and gas is 170,000 light-years across; nearly twice the diameter of the Milky Way. It is estimated to contain at least one trillion stars, approximately 100 billion of which could be like our Sun in terms of temperature and lifetime [6000x4690]

js

I realized why the idea of constellations has always swayed me. constellations are so very human.

our wonder of the stars is bone-sunk; we’ve been thinking and dreaming and watching and watching and watching since the beginning of time, and we looked for so long that we started making connections. 

we played a celestial game of connect-the-dots; trying to find order in something so vast and trying to show that the stars are in everything and everything is in the stars.

we plucked pictures out of the infinite; there’s a dog, there’s a bear, there’s a lion, see? look, right there; the stars hold and mirror back everything we see. 

but then it went a step further. instead of everyday things, we stopped picking out the cups and the bears, and instead we saw stories. 

look, Andromeda, chained to a rock and waiting to be devoured by Cetus. there’s Orion, and Hercules, and do you see Orpheus’ lyre? Zeus sent an eagle to retrieve it after Orpheus’ death and he placed it in the sky. 

we did the most human thing imaginable: we wrote our stories into the stars. we filled the night sky; previously so vast, so unknowable; with our history. we forged connections to the stars and made it so our children will always know where they come from. 

Comet ISON

js

FUCKING NASA

I’m fucking pissing myself. You know how all of Jupiter’s moons are named after his lovers and affairs? Yeah. NASA is sending a craft to check up on Jupiter. You know what the craft is called?

JUNO.

Who’s Juno?

JUPITER’S WIFE.

NASA IS SENDING JUPITER’S WIFE TO CHECK ON JUPITER AND HIS AFFAIRS AND LOVERS.

FUCKING NASA

Hubble captures stunning image of Messier 94 Galaxy showing a starburst ring.

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NASA astronaut films lightning from ISS

Astronaut Reid Wiseman posted a Vine from the International Space Station today showing lightning over Houston. Tornado warnings were issued in the Houston area earlier this afternoon but have since expired.

TODAY IN HISTORY: Planet Neptune is observed by the Voyager 2 space probe on August 24, 1989. (via)

lesbians in space