Stellar Shrapnel and other New Space shots! (coming in everyday it seems now)

Stellar Shrapnel

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May 24: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals evidence for a bullet-shaped object being blown out of debris field left over from an exploded star. In order to detect this bullet, researchers observed N49 for more than 30 hours. Using the new Chandra data, the age of N49 -- as it appears in the image -- is thought to be about 5,000 years and the energy of the explosion is estimated to be about twice that of an average supernova.

Testing a Scamjet Engine

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May 26: The X-51A successfully made the longest supersonic combustion ramjet-powered hypersonic flight to date off the southern California coast. The air-breathing scramjet engine, built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, burned for more than 200 seconds to accelerate the U.S. Air Force's X-51A vehicle to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. In this image from 2008, the SJX61-2 successfully completed ground tests simulating Mach 5 flight conditions.

Craters of Mars

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June 2: Martian terrain is blocky, fractured regions of flat-topped hills, plateaus, plains, and depressions thought to have formed by the collapse of the heavily cratered uplands. Large outflow channels appear to emerge from Aureum Chaos and other chaotic terrains -- leading researchers to posit that these large collapse regions were formed by the catastrophic release of ground water. The plateau slopes are steep and consist of a series of parallel bright, more resistant cliff forming layers and darker, less resistant slope material.

The Trappist Telescope

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June 8: The new robotic telescope saw first light at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) is devoted to the study of planetary systems through two approaches: the detection and characterization of planets located outside the Solar System (exoplanets) and the study of comets orbiting around the Sun. The 60-cm national telescope is operated from a control room in Liège, Belgium, 12,000 km away.

Trappist Sees First Light

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June 8: This first light image from the TRAPPIST national telescope at La Silla shows the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) — one of the galaxies closest to us. Also known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070, the nebula owes its name to the arrangement of bright patches that somewhat resembles the legs of a tarantula. Taking the name of one of the biggest spiders on Earth is very fitting in view of the gigantic proportions of this celestial nebula — it measures nearly 1000 light-years across!

Clear View of a Classic Spiral

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May 19: The nearby galaxy Messier 83 (eso0825) is located about 15 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (the Sea Serpent). It spans over 40,000 light-years, only 40 percent the size of the Milky Way, but in many ways is quite similar to our home galaxy, both in its spiral shape and the presence of a bar of stars across its center. Messier 83 is famous among astronomers for its many supernovae: vast explosions that end the lives of some stars.
Source: www.foxnews.com...=1

I hope you enjoy these shots and the topic as much as I do. Just amazing what is out there. I think my favorite-is the Classic Sprial. How cool is that one? Plain and simple but yet beautiful.

The source link is the main story on this stuff. You will see there are a lot more pics but many have been displayed and explained here already but if they are new to you--have at it.

As I said in the title. It is almost weekly that new stuff from Space is coming to us. Keep it up folks who bring us that stuff.

Does anyone else think it is odd that a telescope in the states is control from 12,000 miles away?

Love these types of posts! Thanks. The beauty and vastness of the universe is awe inspiring and truly makes me wonder at it's secrets. I wish that I could sit at my computer, coffee in hand and operate such a large telescope. Do you think that they have one guy that looks after it like a light house keeper? I wouldn't mind that job either. Nice job.

Here is a little more on the Trappist telescope, seems its another attempt at looking for life and how it began. some great pics there OP. S&F

I'm glad you both liked them. Yes, Space is truly awesome. You may have seen me comment before but honestly, it wasn't until ATS that I started getting past the normal stuff we all learn and/or see as kids.

From Science classes to Star Trek to the Twilight Zone.

But now, with all the recent releases of photos and data just sends it light years into the future. And, that is just what we know publically. One can just imagin what we have going on behind closed doors (so to speak).

Yeah, how cool would be able to sit around and operate a telescope like that. WAIT. There's an idea. Maybe ATS can fund a Telescope. Wouldn't that be something. Members could take turns opeating it. lol

S+F from me, I really enjoy these posts as well. It sure gives us something pretty to look at . It would be even more spectacular to see some of the worlds [when it becomes a possibility]. Even though some may look like Mars it would be nice to see other variations and landscapes.

P.S. I really like the Trappist sees first light picture

reply to post by Gigantea Rosa


I totally agree with you about getting to places and finding out what they are like (maybe total void of life but...) to see what it is all about. What makes that planet different from others (or the same).

reply to post by anon72


Yeah, especially with some objects that science is finding being about in the 'life-zone' of the solar system it kind of makes me wonder. What would it look like if it wasn't tampered with. We have theories and clues about some places, but to be able to see it on another planet would be wild and exciting.