How Big are Galaxies? - Galaxy Size Comparison Charts by Astrophysicist Rhys Taylor
Arecibo astrophysicist Rhys Taylor selected 25 galaxies and illustrated the relative sizes beautifully using images made from NASA and ESA observation missions, including a rendering of our own ordinary little Milky Way at the center for comparison.
Also check out a zoomable chart of the giant galaxy IC 1101, the largest known galaxy — created by scaling up an image of M87, another supersized elliptical galaxy that just happens to be considerably closer to our own and has had clearer images taken of it. But the size is right — IC 1101 really is a beastly galaxy, at an estimated 5.5 billion light-years wide, over 50 Milky Ways could fit across it!
There will be a separate embedded post of the zoomable IC 1101 galaxy chart.
The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
27 years ago today, one of the most tragic events in the history of the United States space program occurred. The Space Shuttle Challenger, on what would have been its 10th mission to space, broke apart 73 seconds after takeoff, ending the mission and the lives of all 7 crew members aboard. But what exactly caused the space shuttle to explode?
The Challenger Space Shuttle (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation OV-099) went on nine successful space flight missions before the disaster that occurred on January 28, 1986. A little over one minute after takeoff, the shuttle began breaking apart. The issues compounded, and eventually the spacecraft reached complete structural failure and crashed.
While several variables ultimately led to the disaster, the originating cause is believed to be due to an o-ring on the right solid-fuel booster. Such o-rings are used to form seals between the various fuel compartments on the boosters. The failure of such an o-ring and the volatility of the fuels surrounding it caused fire to erupt at incorrect places, causing more failures on the Challenger. More fires erupted and explosions occurred, eventually causing the spacecraft to change course in its upward flight. At mach 1.92, it is essential that the space shuttle fly at the proper angle to handle the aerodynamic forces being undertaken. Unfortunately, the correct angle was eventually lost, causing the Challenger to ultimately and catastrophically break apart.
Image Credit: NASA
A remnant of a supernova (SNR1987A) first observed in 1987. This thing is 166,000 light years away and hence that many years old.
Astronomers believe a neutron star was left behind, but are still searching for evidence.
Control room. Text on the left side monitor: NASA Lewis Research Center 9X15 LOW SPEED WIND TUNNEL. 11:19:28 3/6/1989
Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center via archive.org
Cosmic Avenger
Before he joins the Avengers , Thor may need to retrieve his helmet—which is floating in space 15,000 light-years away.
Also known as NGC 2359, Thor’s Helmet is a nebula found in the constellation Canis Major. As seen in this recently released picture from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, the cosmic cloud of dust and gas is being shaped like a winged helm by outpourings of radiation from the massive stars inside.
Image courtesy SSRO/PROMPT/CTIO
Jupiter may have just saved Earth from a devastating impact event
Something just went down on Jupiter. Monday morning, at 11:35:30 UT, amateur astronomers glimpsed a brief but blazing flash of light in the upper reaches of the planet’s cloudy atmosphere. If past observations are any indication, Jupiter may have just sustained a major impact event. If that’s the case, the gas giant may have just saved Earth from a devastating cosmic collision.
Bitches please. That was the USS Enterprise coming out of warp.
Bless you Jupiter.
Thank you, Jupiter!
Jupiter/Earth
OTP.I ship it
Volcano Shoots Geyser Of Water Up Into Space
What we have here is a moon — a small one (slightly wider than the state of Arizona) —circling Saturn.
If you look closely, you will see a small splay of light at its top, looking like a circular fountain.
That’s because it is a fountain — of sorts. A bunch of volcano-like jets are sending fantastically high geysers of water vapor up into the sky, so high that you can see them in this remarkable print by Michael Benson, back lit by light bouncing off of Saturn.
It turns out this moon, called Enceladus, is a snowball containing what may be a sea of liquid water, warmed by the squishes and stretches of Saturn and other moons that pass nearby (plus it may have a hot, rocky core.) All that gravity pushing and pulling on this little ball squeezes the liquid inside so it shoots up through some fissures at the top.
Nobody knew these fountains were there until the Cassini spacecraft flew near enough to Enceladus to find them. But now comes the amazing part.
Some of that water vapor turns into ice and the crystals fall like snow back onto the moon at a rate of 0.02 inches a year; but some ice is thrown so high, it joins a ring around Saturn, one of the outer rings, labeled “E.”
Take a look at this image of the same moon, Enceladus — it’s the dark spot inside the bright flare — getting real close to the E ring. According to Sascha Kempf of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, this moon is “feeding” water crystals into Saturn’s ring.
Who knew that a moon could spray ice onto a planetary ring? Before these photos were taken, scientists thought teeny meteorites, called micrometeoroids, would slam into Saturn’s moons kicking up dust (adding to dust from a long exploded moon) and that’s how the rings were formed.
Nobody imagined that the rings would be fed by geysers. But that seems to be what’s happening to the E ring. According to Kempf, the ring will carry those ice nuggets around Saturn for an orbit or two, until they meet the moon again and are recaptured. But some crystals just keep circling and circling for 50, maybe 400 years.
The E ring is astonishingly thin. Its debris is thousands of miles across, but often only 3 meters (about 9.3 feet) high. A giraffe traveling on this ring would poke out like a giant.
(Source:NPR)
They used a toothbrush to repair one of mankind’s most ambitious science projects ever.
Astronauts are boss.
Spacewalking Astronaut ‘Touches’ the Sun
In legend, the bright sun was a dazzling temptation for Icarus and so, too, it is for NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who appears to touch our closest star in a photo snapped during a spacewalk this week.
Astronauts Williams and Hoshide spent six hours and 28 minutes working to remove a stuck bolt using improvised tools made from spare parts, including a toothbrush.
