Comet Pan-STARRS marches across the sky

NASA's NEOWISE mission captured a series of pictures of comet C/2012 K1, also known as comet Pan-STARRS, as it swept across our skies in May 2014.

The comet is named after the astronomical survey project called the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Hawaii, which discovered the icy visitor in May 2012.

Comet Pan-STARRS hails from the outer fringes of our solar system, from a vast and distant reservoir of comets called the Oort cloud.

The comet is relatively close to us, it was only about 143 million miles (230 million kilometers) from Earth when this picture was taken.

It is seen passing a much more distant spiral galaxy, called NGC 3726, which is about 55 million light-years from Earth, or 2 trillion times farther away than the comet.

Two tails can be seen lagging behind the head of the comet. The bigger tail is easy to see and is comprised of gas and smaller particles.

A fainter, more southern tail, which is hard to spot in this image, may be comprised of larger, more dispersed grains of dust.

Comet Pan-STARRS is on its way around the sun, with its closest approach to the sun occurring in late August. It was visible to viewers in the northern hemisphere through most of June.

In the fall, after the comet swings back around the sun, it may be visible to southern hemisphere viewers using small telescopes.

The image was made from data collected by the two infrared channels on board the NEOWISE spacecraft, with the longer-wavelength channel (centered at 4.5 microns) mapped to red and the shorter-wavelength channel (3.4 microns) mapped to cyan.

The comet appears brighter in the longer wavelength band, suggesting that the comet may be producing significant quantities of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide.

Originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the NEOWISE spacecraft was put into hibernation in 2011 after its primary mission was completed.

In September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE and assigned a new mission to assist NASA's efforts to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.

NEOWISE is also characterizing previously known asteroids and comets to better understand their sizes and compositions.

Hubble Captures a Dwarf Galaxy Shaped by a Grand Design

Image Credit: ESA/NASA

The subject of this Hubble image is NGC 5474, a dwarf galaxy located 21 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear).

This beautiful image was taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

The term "dwarf galaxy" may sound diminutive, but don't let that fool you, NGC 5474 contains several billion stars!

However, when compared to the Milky Way with its hundreds of billions of stars, NGC 5474 does indeed seem relatively small.

NGC 5474 itself is part of the Messier 101 Group. The brightest galaxy within this group is the well-known spiral Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101).

This galaxy's prominent, well-defined arms classify it as a "grand design galaxy," along with other spirals Messier 81 and Messier 74.

Also within this group are Messier 101's galactic neighbors. It is possible that gravitational interactions with these companion galaxies have had some influence on providing Messier 101 with its striking shape.

Similar interactions with Messier 101 may have caused the distortions visible in NGC 5474.

Both the Messier 101 Group and our own Local Group reside within the Virgo Supercluster, making NGC 5474 something of a neighbour in galactic terms.

Nearest supernova in 27 years explodes in M82 galaxy

Credit: UCL/University of London Observatory/Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew Wilde/Thomas Wright

A supernova has been spotted in the constellation Ursa Major (between the Big and Little Dipper in the night sky) in the M82 galaxy (affectionately known as the cigar galaxy) by a team of students at University College London.

The discovery was posted on the (CBAT) Central Bureau's Transient Object Confirmation Page which led to follow-up observations by other teams around the world.

It's real, and not only is it bright enough for amateur astronomer's to view, but it's the closet known supernova explosion since 1987.

Initial study has revealed the supernova to be classified as 1a, the type described by astronomers as "standard candles" because their brightness is uniform enough to allow for using them to measure distances across the universe.

Sometimes they start out as a white dwarf, pulling in material from around them until they reach a critical mass and explode. Other times they are the result of two such stars (binaries) colliding.

What's perhaps most exciting about this newest observation is that it's so close (just 11.4 million light years from us) that it's likely that images of the star that exploded have been previously recorded by different telescopes around the globe which means scientists might be able to watch the process that led to the supernova occurring, something that has never been seen before.

If that turns out to be the case, other space researchers note, the stage could be set for allowing for reducing uncertainties in measuring dark energy—standard candle observations are the means by which such theories first came to exist after all.

Also, while the explosion has undoubtedly unleashed a torrent of neutrinos, its unlikely monitors here on Earth will notice much of an uptic in activity due to distance and them getting lost in other sources.

Because of the timing of the discovery, it appears that there is more to come—it's going to get brighter over the next few days before growing dimmer and dimmer, eventually fading to black.

That means that anyone wishing to observe a supernova as its happening can do so—likely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Binoculars should be enough, though a telescope would be much better.

Universe Today has published a map to help those looking find it.

More information: www.astronomerstelegram.org/ remanzacco.blogspot.nl/2014/

When Galaxies Collide: Skater Galaxies

Connected via a long stellar bridge, the two galaxies in UGC 8335 are pulling one another gravitationally with all their might.

The collision is happening 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

When Galaxies Collide: Mayall's Object

Looking like one galaxy chomping another to bits, Mayall’s Object is a galactic collision located about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

The strange ring-and-tail shape likely happened when the two parent galaxies first collided, drawing matter into the object’s center.

A shockwave eventually propagated outward, creating the enormous ring.

Image: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University), K. Noll (STScI), and J. Westphal (Caltech)

NASA - The Pinwheel Galaxy

This image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as M101, combines data in the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-rays from four of NASA's space-based telescopes.

This multi-spectral view shows that both young and old stars are evenly distributed along M101's tightly-wound spiral arms.

Such composite images allow astronomers to see how features in one part of the spectrum match up with those seen in other parts.

It is like seeing with a regular camera, an ultraviolet camera, night-vision goggles and X-ray vision, all at the same time.

The Pinwheel Galaxy is in the constellation of Ursa Major (also known as the Big Dipper). It is about 70 percent larger than our own Milky Way Galaxy, with a diameter of about 170,000 light years, and sits at a distance of 21 million light years from Earth.

This means that the light we're seeing in this image left the Pinwheel Galaxy about 21 million years ago - many millions of years before humans ever walked the Earth.

Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; IR & UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: NASA/STScI

NASA ESA Hubble Image: Galaxies Collide in Ursa Major - Mayall's object

This interacting pair of galaxies is included in Arp's catalog of peculiar galaxies as number 148. Arp 148 is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion.

The collision between the two parent galaxies produced a shockwave effect that first drew matter into the center and then caused it to propagate outwards in a ring.

The elongated companion perpendicular to the ring suggests that Arp 148 is a unique snapshot of an ongoing collision. Infrared observations reveal a strong obscuration region that appears as a dark dust lane across the nucleus in optical light.

Arp 148 is nicknamed Mayall's object and is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, approximately 500 million light-years away.

This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on April 24, 2008, the observatory's 18th anniversary.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

The Cosmic Hand; Constellations and Galaxies of Stars

The ultra-dense remains of a massive star light up surrounding gas and dust to create what appears to be a cosmic hand. This pulsar, seen in bright blue at the base of the "palm", is called B1509. The star is so dense that the electrons and protons in its atoms have combined to form neutrons. B1509 spins some 7 times a second and measures just 19 kilometres in diameter. The magnetic field at its surface is 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. The field drives a wind of electrons and charged atoms that illuminates finger-like structures that extend north.

The pulsar's reach extends to a neighbouring gas cloud called RCW 89, where the wind lights up knots of gas, making them glow brightly in X-rays (visible in orange and red in the upper-right). The temperature in the cloud seems to vary in a circular pattern, which could mean the pulsar is precessing like a spinning top. B1509 sits some 17,000 light years away from Earth, and is estimated to be about 1700 years old. This image was captured by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory. (Image: NASA/CXC/SAO/P Slane et al)

The Cigar Galaxy, or M82, earns its name when viewed in optical and infrared light (left). But X-rays (right) paint a different picture. M82, which sits some 12 million light years away, is one of the most active nearby galaxies, making it a popular subject of study.

Violent starbursts, likely triggered by the gravitational tugs of a neighbouring galaxy, light up the starry disc near its centre. These intense bursts of new star formation blast out plumes of hot gas that glow in the X-ray part of the spectrum (blue). It took 52.5 hours of observing time to create these images, which were taken by the European Space Agency's orbiting XMM-Newton satellite. (Images: ESA)

The chaotic structure of the spiral galaxy NGC 7793 makes it difficult to identify individual spiral arms, though it is possible to discern some rotation. NGC 7793 sits some 12.5 million light years away from Earth. It is one of the brightest members of the Sculptor Group, a cluster of galaxies that is one of the closest neighbours to our Local Group of galaxies. The Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile snapped this image. (Image: ESO)

A nascent bar sits at the centre of NGC 3359, a delicate spiral galaxy that sits some 49 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Bars are elongated, rectangular bodies of stars, gas and dust that are often seen in spiral galaxies, though it is not yet clear how they fit into galaxies' evolution. Although NGC 3359 is several billion years old, this bar seems to be just 500 million years old.

The galaxy's arms are dotted with light-red patches, hydrogen-rich regions that are sites of intense star formation, similar to those seen in the Orion Nebula in the Milky Way. This image was taken by the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. NGC 3359 can be seen with amateur telescopes. (Image: Gemini Observatory Legacy Image)

A stellar nursery is not uniformly bright, a fact highlighted by this image of NGC 3582, a nebula that sits some 10,000 light years away in the constellation Carina. Here, dark dust clouds share space with glowing gas that is energised by the ultraviolet light of young stars. Wispy structures in the clouds are created by radiation from these young stars, as well as by the explosions of short-lived, massive neighbours. This image was taken by the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes. (Image: Gemini Observatory Legacy Image)

This trio of galaxies, which together form a system called Arp 274, seem to be heading toward a cosmic collision. In fact, the two large spirals (middle and right) already seem to be entangled. But their proximity is just an illusion – the galaxies lie at different distances from Earth and are far enough from one another that astronomers do not think they interact. Two foreground stars in the Milky Way can also be seen on the right.

All three galaxies show colourful evidence of new star formation. The energised gas of stellar nurseries (pink) and clusters of young, massive stars (blue) dot the arms of the two spiral galaxies and encircle their compact companion (left). Older stars appear yellow.

Arp 274 sits 400 million light years away in the constellation Virgo. The Hubble Space Telescope snapped the ensemble in early April, after it was chosen by the public from six candidate targets. (Image: NASA/ESA/M. Livio/Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA)

Organic molecules mixed with dust glow green in this infrared image of M33 captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. M33, also called the Triangulum Galaxy, sits some 2.9 million light years away from Earth. The spiral is a member of the Milky Way's Local Group, a band of dozens of galaxies that travel as an ensemble because they are gravitationally bound. Star-forming regions appear orange-red in this image. Cool material, possibly carried outwards by winds from giant stars or supernovae, glows at infrared wavelengths beyond what optical telescopes detect as the galaxy's edge. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer captured this ultraviolet image of the nearby planetary nebula NGC 3242, also called "Jupiter's Ghost" (blue and white region at centre). It may sit as little as 1400 light years away in the constellation Hydra. As sun-like stars run out of fuel, they swell into red giants. These bloated stars jettison their outer layers of gas, eventually exposing a dense core of carbon and oxygen called a white dwarf. The ultraviolet light released by the white dwarfs lights up the surrounding gas, creating planetary nebulae. Although sun-like stars live for billions of years, planetary nebulae only last some 10,000 years. Astronomers are not sure whether the wispy white cloud that curves around the blue nebula is a chance passerby or gas that was ejected while the star was still a red giant. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)