Carina, Clouds And Stardust

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2020 March 1

A Hole in Mars Image Credit: NASA, JPL, U. Arizona

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance in 2011 on images of the dusty slopes of Mars’ Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The hole, shown in representative color, appears to be an opening to an underground cavern, partly illuminated on the image right. Analysis of this and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across, while the interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep. Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern. Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life. These pits are therefore prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200301.html

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NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. [May 30th, 2020]

2020 March 25

Star Forming Region S106 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Processing & Copyright: Utkarsh Mishra

Explanation: Massive star IRS 4 is beginning to spread its wings. Born only about 100,000 years ago, material streaming out from this newborn star has formed the nebula dubbed Sharpless 2-106 Nebula (S106), featured here. A large disk of dust and gas orbiting Infrared Source 4 (IRS 4), visible in brown near the image center, gives the nebula an hourglass or butterfly shape. S106 gas near IRS 4 acts as an emission nebula as it emits light after being ionized, while dust far from IRS 4 reflects light from the central star and so acts as a reflection nebula. Detailed inspection of a relevant infrared image of S106 reveal hundreds of low-mass brown dwarf stars lurking in the nebula’s gas. S106 spans about 2 light-years and lies about 2000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200325.html

This is the Tarantula Nebula! 🕷🕸🕷🕸🕷🕸

This star forming region is so big that it is 160,000 light years across! At it’s center, there are a bunch of stars totalling 450,000 solar masses that produce the Tarantula Nebula’s high luminosity and will likely become a vibrant globular cluster. ✨✨✨

Taken by me (Michelle Park) using the Slooh Chile One telescope on November 16th, 2020 at 5:27 UTC.

Up for some virtual cloud watching? ☁️

What do you see in Jupiter’s hazy atmosphere?

Our NASA JunoCam mission captured this look at the planet’s thunderous northern region during the spacecraft’s close approach to the planet on Feb. 17, 2020.

Some notable features in this view are the long, thin bands that run through the center of the image from top to bottom. Juno has observed these long streaks since its first close pass by Jupiter in 2016.

Image Credits: Image data: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS Image Processing: Citizen Scientist Eichstädt

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

In Roman mythology, the god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. It was only Jupiter’s wife, the goddess Juno, who could peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter’s true nature. ⁣ ⁣ Our @NASAJuno spacecraft is looking beneath the clouds of the massive gas giant, not seeking signs of misbehavior, but helping us to understand the planet’s structure and history…⁣ ⁣ Now, @NASAJuno just published its first findings on the amount of water in the gas giant’s atmosphere. The Juno results estimate that at the equator, water makes up about 0.25% of the molecules in Jupiter’s atmosphere — almost three times that of the Sun. An accurate total estimate of this water is critical to solving the mystery of how our solar system formed. 

The JunoCam imager aboard Juno captured this image of Jupiter’s southern equatorial region on Sept. 1, 2017. The bottom image is oriented so Jupiter’s poles (not visible) run left-to-right of frame.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill ⁣ ⁣

Milky Way at Dowerin, Western Australia

Nikon d5500 - 35mm - ISO 4000 - f/2.5 - Foreground: 5 x 20 seconds - Sky: 11 x 30 seconds - iOptron SkyTracker