15
May 13

Orion's Hidden Fiery Ribbon

Credit: ESO Photo Release eso1321

eso1321a

This dramatic new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion reveals what seems to be a fiery ribbon in the sky. This orange glow represents faint light coming from grains of cold interstellar dust, at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see. It was observed by the ESO-operated Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile. (read more)

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4
Dec 12

Voyager 1 Tastes Interstellar Space

Source: NASA Science

 

Eleven billion miles from Earth, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a "magnetic highway" that connects our solar system to interstellar space. This could be one of Voyager 1's last steps on its long journey to the stars.(learn more)

Voyager 1 Tastes Interstellar Space

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2
Aug 11

Herschel Telescope detects oxygen molecules in Space

Source: ESA/Herschel and NASA/Herschel


Herschel found oxygen molecules in the Orion nebula.
Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech.

ESA’s Herschel space observatory has found molecules of oxygen in a nearby star-forming cloud. This is the first undisputed detection of oxygen molecules in space. It concludes a long search but also leaves questions unanswered.

The oxygen molecules have been found in the nearby Orion star-forming complex. While atomic oxygen has been long known in warm regions of space, previous missions looking for the molecular variety – two atoms of oxygen bonded together – came up largely empty-handed.(read more)

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14
Apr 11

Herschel links star formation to sonic booms

Source: ESA


Dense filaments of gas in the IC5146 interstellar cloud.
Image credits: ESA/Herschel/SPIRE/PACS/D. Arzoumanian (CEA Saclay).

ESAs Herschel space observatory has revealed that nearby interstellar clouds contain networks of tangled gaseous filaments. Intriguingly, each filament is approximately the same width, hinting that they may result from interstellar sonic booms throughout our Galaxy. (read more)

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15
Nov 10

Buckyballs in Space

Source: Spitzer Space Telescope


Image credit: Spitzer Space Telescope

Astronomers have discovered bucket loads of buckyballs in space.  They used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to find the little carbon spheres throughout our Milky Way galaxy -- in the space between stars and around three dying stars. What's more, Spitzer detected buckyballs around a fourth dying star in a nearby galaxy in staggering quantities -- the equivalent in mass to about 15 of our moons. (read more)

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