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DE-ALE COSMOSULUI...

Creat de pri3st3ss, 13 Aprilie 2007, 21:07:59

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pri3st3ss

A fost descoperitã o planetã "bebeluº"

O planetã embrion, aflatã încã în primele stadii de formare, a fost descoperitã închisã într-un "uter de gaz" în vecinãtatea unei stele tinere, au anunþat astronomii britanici.
Protoplaneta, cunoscutã sub numele de HL Tau b de la numele stelei-pãrinte, HL Tau, ar putea avea doar câteva sute de ani, fiind astfel cea mai tânãrã planetã observatã vreodatã. Este posibil sã ajungã un gigant gazos, similar cu Jupiter ºi Saturn, ºi va oferi o nouã perspectivã asupra modului în care planetele formeazã cercuri de gaz ºi praf în jurul stelelor.
Descoperirea a fost fãcutã în timp ce o echipã de cercetãtori studia steaua HL Tau, aflatã în constelaþia Taurus, la o distanþã de 520 de ani luminã.

Sursa TimesOnline




M17 - bright nebula in Scutum

This image was created by median combining 7 x 90 second H alpha images taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 250 with SBIG ST-8XE CCD. The image has been cut down to be 30 x 30 arc minutes in size.M17 (NGC 6618) is a region of star formation and shines by excited emission that has been caused by the high energy radiation of the young stars embedded in the nebula.





Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

Solar System's 'look-alike' found

Almost 300 planets have now been found outside our Solar System


Astronomers have discovered a planetary system orbiting a distant star which looks much like our own.
They found two planets that were close matches for Jupiter and Saturn orbiting a star about half the size of our Sun.
Martin Dominik, from St Andrews University in the UK, said the finding suggested systems like our own could be much more common than we thought.
And he told a major meeting that astronomers were on the brink of finding many more of them.
The St Andrews researcher said this planetary system, and others like it, could host terrestrial planets like Earth. It was just a matter of time before such worlds were detected, he explained.
Dr Dominik told BBC News: "We found a system with two planets that take the roles of Jupiter and Saturn in our Solar System. These two planets have a similar mass ratio and similar orbital radius and a similar orbital period.
"It looks like this may have formed in a similar way to our Solar System. And if this is the case, it looks like [our] Solar System cannot be unique in the Universe. There should be other similar systems out there which could host terrestrial planets."
Dr Dominik presented his work at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.

Ultimate goal
The newfound planetary system, which orbits the star OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, is more compact than our own and is about five thousand light-years away.
Although nearly 300 extrasolar planets have been identified, astronomers have consistently failed to find planetary systems which resemble our own. Dr Dominik said only 10% of systems discovered so far are known to host more than one planet.
But he explained that all the techniques currently used to find exoplanets were strongly biased towards detecting gas giant planets orbiting at short distances from their parent stars.
The OGLE planets were found using a technique called gravitational micro-lensing, in which light from the faraway planets is bent and magnified by the gravity of a foreground object, in this case a another star.
"It's a kind of scaled-down version of our Solar System. The star the planets are orbiting is half as massive as the Sun and they orbit half as distant to their host star as Jupiter and Saturn orbit around the Sun," said Dr Dominik.
He said that the ultimate goal for exoplanet researchers was to find habitable Earth-like and Mars-like planets. This aim was achievable, he said, because technology was improving all the time.
"I think it will happen quite soon," he said, adding: "Micro-lensing can already go below Earth mass and it has detected more massive planets in the habitable zone. So in the next few years, we will see something really exciting."
Dr Dominik said there was competition between teams of astronomers using micro-lensing and those who favoured the transit technique, which seeks to detect new planets when, from our point of view, they pass directly in front of the parent star they are orbiting. The planet blocks a tiny fraction of the star's light, causing the star to periodically dim.
But he added that there was little chance to detect Earth-like worlds in OGLE-2006-BLG-109L because the system was too distant for current techniques to resolve planets the size of our own.



Mysterious White Rock Fingers on Mars    -im
What caused this unusual white rock formation on Mars? Intrigued by the possibility that they could be salt deposits left over as an ancient lakebed dried-up, detailed studies of these fingers now indicate that this is not correct. The light material appears to have eroded away from the surrounding area, indicating a very low-density composition, possibly consistent with volcanic ash or windblown dust. The stark contrast between the rocks and the surrounding sand is compounded by the sand's unusual darkness. This picture was taken from the Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars. Planetary scientist Emily Lakdawalla, among others, has followed her curiosity about this unusual Martian landform into a fascinating investigation that is eloquently described in the Planetary Society Weblog. The mysterious white rock spans about 15 kilometers across inside a larger crater that spans about 100 kilometers.

Credit: G. Neukum (FU Berlin)
Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

#32
Nasa probe pictures Phobos moon   - im 1

Nasa's Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured two stunning images of the Red Planet's biggest moon Phobos.
Stickney Crater, a 9km (5.5 mile) -wide depression that is the largest feature on Phobos dominates the pictures.
The images also show a series of grooves and crater chains; the formation of these features is the subject of debate among scientists.
MRO was launched from Florida in August 2005 and entered orbit around the Mars in March 2006.
It is mapping the Martian surface with high-resolution cameras with a view to choosing landing sites for future missions.
It will also study Mars' weather, climate, geology and atmosphere.
MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera acquired two dramatic views of Phobos on 23 March 2008, one at a distance of 6,800km (4,225 miles) from the Martian moon and another at 5,800km (3,603 miles).
The two images were taken within 10 minutes of each other and show roughly the same features, but from a different angle so they can be combined to yield a stereo view.

Get into the groove
Some scientists believe the grooves and crater chains that can be seen in the pictures are related to the formation of the Stickney impact crater.
However, others think they may have formed from ejecta from impacts on Mars that later collided with Phobos.
In the MRO images, surface rocks near the rim of Stickney appear bluer than the rest of Phobos. Based on analogy with rocks on our own Moon, this could mean this surface is fresher, and therefore younger, than other parts of Phobos.
Phobos was discovered in 1877 by the American astronomer Asaph Hall. Both Phobos and Mars' other moon Deimos are thought to be captured asteroids.
Phobos' orbit around Mars is dropping by about 1.8m (5.9ft) every 100 years. This means that in 50 million years it will either crash into Mars or break up into a ring.
Russia has been working on an unmanned spacecraft that will return samples of soil and rock from the surface of Phobos. The mission, called Phobos Grunt, has a provisional launch date of October 2009.
The unique, fist-sized Kaidun meteorite, which fell to Earth at a Russian military base in Yemen in 1980, is claimed by some researchers to be a piece of Phobos.




Cercetãtorii spanioli au identificat cea mai micã planetã din afara sistemul nostru solar
Oamenii de ºtiinþã spanioli au descoperit cea mai micã planetã din afara sistemului nostru solar identificatã pânã acum. Savanþii sunt convinºi cã acesta este un pas important cãtre descoperirea unor noi planete asemãnãtoare Pãmântului.
Botezatã GJ 436c, planeta este de aproximativ cinci ori mai mare decât Pãmântul ºi se aflã în Constelaþia Leului la o distanþã de 30 de ani luminã de Calea Lactee.
Pentru identificarea astrului cercetãtorii spanioli au folosit o metodã diferitã faþã de cea utilizatã în mod curent. Ei au analizat distorsiunile magnetice produse de o altã planetã, aflatã în acelaºi sistem solar. Metoda este similarã celei folosite acum un secol, când a fost descoperit Neptun.
Mare parte dintre cele 280 de corpuri cereºti descoperite pânã acum sunt giganþi gazoºi, asemãnãtori cu Jupiter. Tehnicile folosite la descoperirea planetei întãresc speranþele astronomilor în gãsirea altor civilizaþii.
Deºi diferenþele între GJ 436c ºi Pãmânt nu sunt foarte mari, spaniolii spun cã planeta nu prezintã condiþii prielnice dezvoltãrii vreunei forme de viaþã. GJ 436c este, deocamdatã, cea mai micã planetã din afara sistemului nostru solar descoperitã pânã în prezent.
Sursa: Realitatea TV



Astronomii au descoperit "geamãnul" sistemului nostru solar

Astronomii au descoperit un sistem solar îndepãrtat care seamãnã foarte mult cu sistemul nostru solar.
Pânã acum cercetãtorii au identificat, la o distanþã de circa 5.000 de ani luminã, douã planete, foarte asemãnãtoare cu Jupiter ºi Saturn, care orbiteazã în jurul unei stele având jumãtate din dimensiunile Soarelui.
Oamenii de ºtiinþã cred cã acesta ar putea fi începutul unei serii de descoperiri, care vor duce în final la identificarea unor planete pe care ar putea exista viaþã.

Sursa: Daily Mail


M80 - Globular Cluster in Scorpius  - im 2
This image was created by median combining 7 x 90 second unfiltered images taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 250 with SBIG ST-8XE CCD. The image has been cut down to be 20 x 20 arc minutes in size.Discovered in 1781 by Messier M 80 (NGC 6093) is one of the most densely packed globular clusters. At a distance of 32000 light years it has a diameter of about 95 light years


Omega Centauri Looks Radiant in Infrared  - im 3
A cluster brimming with millions of stars glistens like an iridescent opal in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Called Omega Centauri, the sparkling orb of stars is like a miniature galaxy. It is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so similar objects, called globular clusters, that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus.
Globular clusters are some of the oldest objects in our universe. Their stars are over 12 billion years old, and, in most cases, formed all at once when the universe was just a toddler. Omega Centauri is unusual in that its stars are of different ages and possess varying levels of metals, or elements heavier than boron. Astronomers say this points to a different origin for Omega Centauri than other globular clusters: they think it might be the core of a dwarf galaxy that was ripped apart and absorbed by our Milky Way long ago.
In this new view of Omega Centauri, Spitzer's infrared observations have been combined with visible-light data from the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Visible-light data with a wavelength of .55 microns is colored blue, 3.6-micron infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera is colored green and 24-micron infrared light taken by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer is colored red.
Where green and red overlap, the color yellow appears. Thus, the yellow and red dots are stars revealed by Spitzer. These stars, called red giants, are more evolved, larger and dustier. The stars that appear blue were spotted in both visible and 3.6-micron-, or near-, infrared light. They are less evolved, like our own sun. Some of the red spots in the picture are distant galaxies beyond our own.
Spitzer found very little dust around any but the most luminous, coolest red giants, implying that the dimmer red giants do not form significant amounts of dust. The space between the stars in Omega Centauri was also found to lack dust, which means the dust is rapidly destroyed or leaves the cluster.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ NOAO/AURA/NSF




im1 : This image of Martian moon Phobos was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. On the right, the photo provides a detailed view of the impact crater Stickney.The 9km-wide Stickney impact crater is the most prominent feature on Phobos

im 2 : M80 - Globular Cluster in Scorpius

im 3
Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

Natal Microcosm - im1
Spitzer's infared eyes reveal a star-forming region, hidden to regular telescopes by thick dust clouds. Astronomers study images like this to learn about star birth. A cluster of three young stars makes up the bright center. The reddish bowl, or arc, traces the outer surface of the cloud encasing the young stars.

Messier 31   - im 2
A galaxy is like an extended family of a star. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer studies these stellar families with ultraviolet light, which reveals young stars.
The blue regions in Messier 31 show where young, hot stars are forming along the galaxy's spiral arms. The central orange-white "bulge" of old, cooler stars formed long ago.
This image provides astronomers with a wonderful example of how galaxies develop.

The 'Terrible Twos' - im 3
Young stars, like toddlers, want to start showing their independence. This Spitzer view shows a stellar version of the "terrible twos" - the stars are beginning to move away from their formative cloud, seen in red and green. Jets can be seen coming off the young stars as they make their way into the cosmos.
This nebula is 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus.


Death Becomes Her - im 4
Knowing how stars die is just as important as knowing how they form and develop. This image shows the remnant of a once massive star that died in a violent supernova explosion more than 300 years ago. This false-color view of Cassiopeia A shows the dead star and a surrounding shell of material that was blasted off as the star died.
Images from Spitzer, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory were combined to create this view
Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

Cel mai rece obiect cosmic

Astronomii francezi ºi canadieni au descoperit cel mai rece obiect cosmic. Este vorba de o stea piticã maro, mult mai mare decât Jupiter ºi care se aflã la o depãrtare de 40 de ani-luminã depãrtare de noi. Rezultatul este cu atât mai important cu cât poate duce la o mai bunã înþelegere a diferenþelor între stele ºi planete.Descoperirea a fost posibilã prin observaþii care s-au realizat cu telescoape situate in Hawai si Chile. Este vorba de o stea piticã maro care are o temperaturã de aproape 350 de grade Celsius ºi o masã de aproape 15-30 de ori masa lui Jupiter. Se aflã la aproximativ 40 de ani-luminã de sistemul nostru solar ºi este un obiect izolat, adicã nu orbiteazã vreo stea. Corpul ceresc proaspãt descoperit seamãnã mai mult cu o planetã gigant decât cu stelele pitice maro; ºi asta din cauza temperaturii joase ºi din cauza prezenþei amoniacului. Este foarte posibil prin urmare sã reprezinte prototipul unei noi clase de pitice maro. Aceasta ar putea deveni clasa celor mai reci obiecte cosmice.
Rezultatul are implicaþii ºi în ceea ce priveºte studiul planetelor extrasolare, în special în modelarea atmosferei exoplanetelor.



Credit: Canada-France-Brown-Dwarf-Survey 2008
         EuropaFm
Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

O româncã a descoperit o fãrâmã din materia lipsã din Univers

Brãileanca Aurora Simionescu, de 24 de ani, doctorand la Institutul Max-Planck din Germania, a fãcut parte dintr-o echipã de astrofizicieni de la institutul german ºi de la alte douã institute olandeze care a detectat pentru prima datã un fragment din masa de "materie obiºnuitã" încã necunoscutã oamenilor.
Românca explicã pentru cotidianul.ro importanþa descoperirii. Universul este compus, în proporþie de 95%, din substanþe cu compoziþie încã necunoscutã: materie întunecatã (21%) ºi energie întunecatã (75%). Restul, circa 4 - 5%, este format din aºa-numita "materie obiºnuitã", barionicã (protoni, neutroni etc.), din care suntem fãcuþi ºi noi. "Dar, dacã numãrãm toate obiectele – de exemplu stele, galaxii º.a.m.d –, ºi adunãm toate masele acestor obiecte, nu ajungem la aceste procente, ci la jumãtate din ceea ce s-ar aºtepta. ªi atunci întrebarea este: unde e restul?", explicã Aurora Simionescu pentru cotidianul.ro.
Ideea din spatele descoperirii i-a venit tinerei românce în vara anului trecut, într-o discuþie cu colegii de cercetare. În plus, observaþia ei este ºi parte a tezei de doctorat pe care o va prezenta Universitãþii din München ºi a fost fãcutã cu ajutorul telescopului XMM-Newton, cu raze X, al Agenþiei Spaþiale Europene, folosit întâia oarã în 1999.
"Teoriile de pânã acum preziceau cã acest rest se aflã în diferite filamente, de densitate foarte redusã, ºi cã densitatea din univers este dispusã într-un fel de pânzã de pãianjen, nodurile acestei pânze fiind clustere de galaxii, zone foarte populate, foarte dense, ºi conectate între ele de filamente", ne explicã doctorandul român.
Acum, echipa din care ea a fãcut parte a detectat în premierã un asemenea filament, mai precis un "pod" de gaz cald ºi foarte puþin dens ce leagã douã grupuri de galaxii, Abell 222 ºi Abell 223, aflate la o distanþã de aproximativ 2, 3 miliarde de ani luminã de Pãmânt. "Existã foarte multe astfel de filamente care acoperã o suprafaþã mult mai mare decât nodurile, iar teoria era cã barionii care ne lipsesc sunt în astfel de gaze", spune Aurora Simionescu pentru cotidianul.ro.
Observaþia confirmã astfel teoriile anterioare ºi dã cercetãtorilor mai multã încredere în înþelegerea universului, precum ºi posibilitatea dezvoltãrii de noi teorii, întãreºte ea. Rãmân totuºi multe necunoscute, continuã doctorandul, cum ar fi proprietãþile exacte ale filamentelor cu pricina.
"Noi nu am putut identifica acum decât gazul cel mai dens ºi cel mai fierbinte din acest filament. Ceea ce vedem noi în emisie nu este tot gazul din filament, ci doar o parte a lui. Aceasta este o constrângere observaþionalã a modelelor pe care le vom folosi de acum încolo, pentru cã aceastã observaþie spune: în acest filament trebuie sã avem un model care prezice cã gazul cel mai fierbinte va avea aceastã temperaturã ºi aceastã densitate".
Aurora Simionescu ne prezintã ºi planurile de viitor ale institutului german în aceastã direcþie. "Trebuie sã existe foarte multe filamente în Univers, pentru cã altfel nu am ajunge la acei 50% de barioni care ne lipsesc. Primul pas va fi sã folosim acest telescop pentru a observa alte sisteme cu o geometrie asemãnãtoare cu cel pe care l-am observat acum ºi sã confirmãm cã ºi în alte sisteme vom detecta aceleaºi proprietãþi", completeazã ea.
Acesta pregãteºte ºi lansara de misiuni care sã caute exclusiv dupã astfel de filamente ºi care sã le poatã detecta, totodatã, ºi pe cele cu geometrie diferitã de cea a "podului" de gaz proaspãt descoperit.
Brãileanca a ajuns doctorand la Max Planck în septembrie 2002, dupã faze naþionale la olimpiadele de fizicã ºi sesiuni de comunicãri, dar mai ales dupã o bursã de un an în SUA, în clasa a XI-a, când rezultatele ei au intrat într-o bazã de date internaþionalã, fiind apreciate de Universitatea Internaþionalã Bremen. "Am primit materiale de la aceastã universitate, m-am înscris, am primit ºi o bursã de la ei. Mi-au acoperit taxa de ºcolarizare ºi costurile pentru cãmin".
Nimeritã în a doua promoþie a restrânsei universitãþi, tânãra ºi-a ales dublã specializare: fizicã, pe de o parte, ºi ºtiinþele pãmântului ºi astrofizicã, pe de altã parte. La prima specializare erau doar 12 studenþi înscriºi, la a doua în jur de zece. "Bineînþeles cã atunci e o relaþie cu totul altfel cu profesorii decât ne imaginãm la o facultate mai mare, cum ar fi Politehnica din Bucureºti. E foarte uºor sã-þi cunoºti profesorii".
Tocmai din acest motiv crede ea cã a fost recomandatã de decanul din Bremen, fost director al Institutului Max Planck, dupã absolvirea din 2005, pentru un doctorat la instituþia germanã. "La câþiva elevi care eram nici nu a fost relativ foarte greu", spune ea.
Aurora Simionescu a fost admisã direct la doctorat. "Neavând un master, a trebuit sã dau niºte examene la Universitatea din München pentru a fi admisã în mod oficial de cãtre ei ca doctorand. Cercetarea o fac la Institut, dar ei nu au autoritatea academicã de a conferi gradul de doctor. Dupã aceastã cercetare voi scrie o tezã de doctorat, pe care o voi preda universitãþii, iar profesorii de la universitate o vor evalua".
Teza de doctorat o va realiza în colaborare cu un coleg din Olanda, Norbert Werner, coordonator al studiului privind noua descoperire, publicat în revista americanã ,,Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters''.
Românca s-ar întoarce în þarã doar dacã vor fi pompate fonduri serioase în cercetare: "Mi-ar plãcea sã mã întorc în România. Din pãcate, în momentul acesta, condiþiile pentru studiul astrofizicii ºi pentru cercetare nu sunt tocmai optime, dar sper cã prin aderarea la Uniunea Europeanã vor exista investiþii ºi în acest domeniu. Când vor exista aceste investiþii ºi va fi nevoie de specialiºti, atunci bineînþeles cã va fi o posibilitate mult mai atractivã".


S-au descoperit încã trei Super-Terre

Planetele asemãnãtoare cu Terra ar putea deveni un lucru obiºnuit, sunt de pãrere cercetãtorii europeni.
Cele trei Super-Terre descoperite recent au de 4,2, 6,7, respectiv 9,4 ori masa planetei noastre. Ele se rotesc în jurul stelei HD 40307, cu perioade de 4,3, 9,6 ºi 20,4 zile. Aceasta este mai micã decât Soarele nostru, ºi se aflã la 42 de ani-luminã de constelaþiile Doradus ºi Pictor. Dacã ar fi orbitat în sistemul nostru solar, planetele ar fi fost situate mai aproape de Soare, decât de Mercur, scrie NewScientist.com.
Alãturi de grupul celor trei, Michel Mayor, de la Observatorul elveþian din Geneva, ºi colegii lui au mai descoperit alte douã sisteme solare, tot cu planete mici. Gemenii" Terrei ar putea deveni un lucru obiºnuit, a fost concluzia cercetãtorilor europeni, prezentatã la o conferinþã din Franþa.
Peste 300 de exoplanete au fost descoperite pânã acum. Cele mai multe sunt uriaºe, asemãnãtoare lui Jupiter sau Saturn. Cele mici, copii ale Pãmântului, au fost mai greu de observat însã. Cu noile tehnologii, astronomii le pot observa acum ºi pe acestea. "E clar cã, momentan, vedem doar vârful aisbergului în aceastã privinþã", spune Mayor.


sursa: http://cotidianul.ro/
         http://www.realitatea.net/
Ii invat si ei se indeparteaza,
Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.

pri3st3ss

Hubble has taken this stunning close-up shot of part of the Tarantula Nebula. This star-forming region of ionised hydrogen gas is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy which neighbours the Milky Way.

What looks like a cosmic wonderland to some resembles a spindly space spider to others. The Hubble Space Telescope has just captured a new close-up picture of the famous object, known as the Tarantula Nebula.
The nebula is a vast star-forming cloud of gas and dust in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. In this picture, we see a close-up of the Tarantula's central region, glowing brightly with charged gases and young stars.
The wispy arms of the Tarantula Nebula were originally thought to resemble spider's legs, giving the nebula its name. The part of the nebula visible in this image from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys is crisscrossed with tendrils of dust and gas churned up by recent exploding stars, called supernovas.
These supernova remnants include NGC 2060, visible above and to the left of the centre of this image, which contains the brightest known pulsing star, or pulsar.

The tarantula's bite goes beyond NGC 2060. Near the edge of the nebula, outside the frame, below and to the right, lie the remains of supernova SN 1987a, the closest supernova to Earth to be observed since the invention of telescopes in the 17th century.
Hubble and other telescopes have been returning to spy on this stellar explosion regularly since it blew up in 1987, and each subsequent visit shows an expanding shockwave lighting up the gas around the star, creating a pearly, necklace-like of glowing pockets of gas around the remains of the star.
Together with dying stars, the Tarantula Nebula is packed with young stars that have recently formed from the nebula's supply of hydrogen gas.
These toddler-stars shine forth with intense ultraviolet light that energizes the gas, making it light up red. The light is so intense that although it's around 170 000 light-years away, and outside the Milky Way, the Tarantula Nebula is nevertheless visible without a telescope on a dark night to Earth-bound observers.
This nebula might be far away, but it is the most luminous example of its type that astronomers have observed in the local universe.

A compact and extremely bright star cluster called RMC 136 lies above and to the left of this field of view, providing much of the radiation that powers the multi-colored glow. Until recently, astronomers debated whether the source of the intense light was a tightly bound cluster of stars, or perhaps an unknown type of super-star thousands of times bigger than the sun.



CREDIT: NASA



si inca ceva interesant   :  6 Everyday Things That Happen Strangely in Space    :wink:

   on Earth, flames rise. In space, they move outward from their source in all directions. Here's why:
The closer you are to the Earth's surface, the more air molecules there are, thanks to the planet's gravity pulling them there. Conversely, the atmosphere gets thinner and thinner as you move vertically, causing a gradual decline in pressure. The atmospheric pressure difference over a height of one inch, though slight, is enough to shape a candle flame.
That pressure difference causes an effect called natural convection. As the air around a flame heats up, it expands, becoming less dense than the cold air surrounding it. As the hot air molecules expand outward, cold air molecules push back against them. Because there are more cold air molecules pushing against the hot molecules at the bottom of the flame then there are at its top, the flame experiences less resistance at the top. And so it buoys upward.
When there's no gravity, though, the expanding hot air experiences equal resistance in all directions, and so it moves spherically outward from its source.


               mai multe aici   http://www.space.com/11054-weird-science-space-gravity.html
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pri3st3ss

pentru cei care nu au vazut minunata cometa.... "as seen from the STEREO Behind spacecraft. Following in Earth's orbit, the spacecraft is nearly opposite the Sun and looks back toward the comet and Earth, with the Sun just off the left side of the frame."


si un video:

ScienceCasts: Sunset Comet
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Ascult si ei se se apropie....
Puterea mea, este tacerea mea.