Tuesday, 18 December, 2018

The 7 Wonders of the Milky Way

Posted on Friday, 26 December, 2014Sunday, 20 August, 2017 by Zheluo Cai

From a survey of Astronomy subscribers, the 7 Wonders of the Milky Way are these must-see deep sky objects in the night sky that lie within the confines of our galaxy:

The Orion Nebula (M42)

The Pleiades (M45)

The Ring Nebula (M57)

The Crab Nebula (M1)

The Horsehead Nebula (B33)

The Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), and

The Eagle Nebula (M16).

The Orion Nebula (M42)

The Pleiades (M45)

The Ring Nebula (M57)

The Crab Nebula (M1)

The Horsehead Nebula (B33)

The Omega Centauri (NGC 5139)

The Eagle Nebula (M16)

The link below is a computer-generated image of the Milky Way, which shows the entire galaxy in one perspective of a 3-D model compiled specially for National Geographic. The model incorporates the positions of hundreds of thousands of stars and nebulae (including a few of the seven above-mentioned) within the galaxy, shows Earth’s location, and includes additional photographs, descriptions and locations of fascinating phenomena throughout the Milky Way:

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection/milky-way.html

Credit: Astronomy, National Geographic.

Vela Supernova Remnant.
Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi (Star Echoes). At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails), the four frame mosaic is over 10 degrees wide, centred on the glowing filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the supernova explosion that created the Vela remnant reached Earth about 11,000 years ago. In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense, rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar. Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely embedded in a larger and older supernova remnant, the Gum Nebula.

December 18: The Moon passes 5° south of Uranus (image above), 4h UT (11 PM EST).

December 20: Jupiter passes 5° north of Antares, 2h UT (9 PM EST).

December 21: Mercury passes 6° north of Antares, 8h UT (3 AM EST).

December 21: Mercury passes 0.9° north of Jupiter, 15h UT (10 AM EST).

December 21: Summer Solstice occurs at 22h23m UT (5:23 PM EST).

December 22: Full Moon occurs at 17h49m UT (12:49 AM EST).

December 24: The Moon is at perigee (361,061 km from Earth), 9h49m UT (4:49 AM EST).

Credit: Astronomy.

Sunflowers (Tournesols) is the name of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, executed a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. On March 30, 1987, Japanese insurance magnate, Yasuo Goto, paid the equivalent of US $39,921,750 for van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers at auction at Christie's London. The painting currently resides at Seiji Togo Yasuda Memorial Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.

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