Tag Archives: Cosmos

A 34 image digital composite of the skyscape from Auriga to Orion- the fruit of a total of 430 hours of exposure. But what are we seeing? Many old friends of this series of posts, certainly. To wit:

Starting on the far upper left, toward the constellation of Auriga (the Chariot driver), is the picturesque Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405). Continuing down along the bright arc of our Milky Way Galaxy, from left to right crossing the constellations of the Twins and the Bull, notable appearing nebulas include the Tadpole, Simeis 147, the Monkey’s Head, the Jellyfish, the Cone and Rosette nebulas. In the upper right quadrant of the image, toward the constellation of Orion (the hunter), you can see Sh2-264, the half-circle of Barnard’s Loop, and the Horsehead and Orion nebulas. Famous stars in and around Orion include, from left to right, orange Betelgeuse (just right of the image center), blue Bellatrix (just above it), the Orion belt stars of Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak, while bright Rigel appears on the far upper right. This stretch of sky won’t be remaining up in the night very long — it will be setting continually earlier in the evening as mid-year approaches.

(Image: Alistair Symon)

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A 2018 audio-visual work by Belgian artist Joanie Lemercier that explores the vastness of the Cosmos using 3D orbs and morphing geometries projected onto water particles over a rippling water surface with an accompanying soundscape provided by Paul Jebanasam.

Currently on a tour of the Universe, starting on Earth.

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A TED-Ed animation voiced by University of Hawaii Physics prof Veronica Bindi who explains how cosmic rays may help us understand the Universe. To wit:

We only know 4% of what the universe is made up of. Can we also know what lies beyond our galaxy … and if there are undiscovered forms of matter? Luckily, we have space messengers — cosmic rays — that bring us physical data from parts of the cosmos beyond our reach.

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PBS Off Book sez:

Space presents a fantastic mystery to human life. Unfathomably large, with characteristics that defy our experience and understanding, the stars have perplexed and amazed humanity for our entire recorded history, and likely before. In the present, astrophysicists and astronomers are aggressively studying the universe in an attempt to solve critical scientific and philosophical questions. One of the primary tools for measurement and observation is imaging using cameras connected to powerful telescopes on Earth and in space. And although it’s not the primary motivation for photographing space, beauty is one of the most intriguing byproducts.

Full screen HD for full effect.

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NASA Explorer sez:

This cosmological simulation follows the development of a single disk galaxy over about 13.5 billion years, from shortly after the Big Bang to the present time. Colors indicate old stars (red), young stars (white and bright blue) and the distribution of gas density (pale blue); the view is 300,000 light-years across. The simulation ran on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and required about 1 million CPU hours. It assumes a universe dominated by dark energy and dark matter.

awesomer/theverge