Archive for December, 2009
Galactic Fireworks
by CritterKeeper on Dec.31, 2009, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, and K. McQuinn (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis)
Watching fireworks is always enjoyable but seeing bursts of star–making light up a galaxy caps a great year of astronomy.
Martian Polar Horse
by CritterKeeper on Dec.30, 2009, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Flying across the ice fields of Mars, we find all sorts of strange and familiar shapes. I imagine this horse leaping in the thin ice layers in the southern polar region shown in this image from NASA’s HiRISE camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Horse Bubbles
by CritterKeeper on Dec.29, 2009, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Whether you see horses, dolphins or a jellyfish, the green and blue bubble of NGC 2371 catches the eye in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.
Holiday Ribbon
by CritterKeeper on Dec.24, 2009, under General
Credit: NASA & ESA
Tying up this starry present is the Boomerang Nebula. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope took this image of twin reflecting clouds of gas and dust being ejected from this star. Astronomers call these bi-polar nebulae, butterfly nebulae or bow-tie nebulae. Scientists aren’t sure why the material from the star is being ejected in this way. Perhaps denser material at the equator is forcing the star to eject gas and dust at the star’s poles. Or, maybe magnetic fields are funneling material toward the poles.
Glittering Sky
by CritterKeeper on Dec.23, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
A glittering sky of lights greets us in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster Omega Centauri. This image shows just a small part of the massive star cluster with 10 million suns. Globular star clusters are groups of millions of stars bound together by gravity. Omega Centauri is very old too. Stars in this cluster were among the first stars to form in the Milky Way Galaxy more than 10 billion years ago. By contrast, our Sun arrived on the scene only 4.6 billion years ago.
Ringing Ornament
by CritterKeeper on Dec.22, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
Wouldn’t it be great to put glowing ornaments like this on your Christmas tree?
Martian Gingerbread Man
by CritterKeeper on Dec.21, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
The Gingerbread Man can run but he can’t hide, even on Mars. In this image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera, we find the shape of a cookie-cutout person in a Martian dunefield.
Spinning Lights
by CritterKeeper on Dec.18, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
We need some bright lights for the holidays. The colors in this image of the Cartwheel Galaxy fits perfectly.
Football Ornament
by CritterKeeper on Dec.17, 2009, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA/ESA, Bruce Balick (University of Washington), Jason Alexander (University of Washington), Arsen Hajian (U.S. Naval Observatory), Yervant Terzian (Cornell University), Mario Perinotto (University of Florence, Italy), Patrizio Patriarchi (Arcetri Observatory, Italy)
Here is a new ornament for the Christmas tree. NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, glows with holiday light in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 7009 is a planetary nebula. When a Sun-like star reaches the end of its life and has used up all of its hydrogen fuel, it plumps up to become a red giant. Eventually, however, the star throws off its outer layers into space, creating a bubble around a hot white dwarf. These bubbles are called planetary nebula because in early telescopes they had a round shape like planets. The bubble will keep on expanding and facing into space over time. The white dwarf, just a hot cinder, will also cool into a dark, warm lump of ash.
Ornaments
by CritterKeeper on Dec.16, 2009, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)
Like a hollowed out ornament, NGC 6357 glows red in the constellation Scorpius. Or, maybe, what I see in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is a Christmas tree reaching for the stars of the open star cluster Pismis 24.
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Welcome to Starry Critters!
Thanks for dropping by! This site combines incredible imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and other great observatories with the imagination of children. Explore and share the patterns you see in the nebula, galaxies and star clusters.Note to Parents and Educators:
The main focus of the site are the images of space. We believe the explanations are best suited for parents, educators and upper grade students. Parents may find it helpful to view the site with their children and explore the universe together using the explanatory text as a guide. Background text is provided to let you know the real story behind the image. Links, very useful for parents and teachers, include definitions and will take you to other sites for even more detail.
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