Eyes in the Sky
Eye in an Eye
by CritterKeeper on Feb.05, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Hot, blue stars form a halo around the yellow center of a galaxy known as Hoag’s Object. From Earth, we view this odd galaxy face-on in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Iridescent Eye
by CritterKeeper on Feb.02, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
Shining with iridescent hues of red and blue, the Helix Nebula resembles an eye in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Planetary nebula come in all shapes and sizes. In the case of the Helix Nebula, and the Ring Nebula, we are looking down a trillion-mile-long barrel of gas and dust; all that is left over when the central star shed its outer layers near the end of its life. A planetary nebula is the final stage of a Sun-like star’s life. As a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life, it balloons to a red giant star. While this gives the star new life, providing extra energy to burn it’s hydrogen and helium fuel for nuclear fusion, it cannot last forever. Eventually the star collapses on itself. The outer layers of the star are thrown into space creating a bubble around the star.
Hazy Eye
by CritterKeeper on Jan.28, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Colorful shapes and lines play in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the glowing planetary nebula IC 4593. Planetary nebula have nothing to do with planets. In the 17th and 18th centuries, astronomers peering through small telescopes looking for planets would find objects that resembled planets. Astronomers now know that these nebula are the last remains of dying Sun-like stars. As a star reaches the end of its life and the hydrogen fuel needed to sustain fusion in its core runs out, the star expands into a red giant. Eventually, however, the star collapses back on itself. This increases the temperature at its core and it explodes. Most of the star’s material is catapulted into space, forming a bubble around the star. This doesn’t happen all at once but in stages.
Grand Galaxy
by CritterKeeper on Jan.14, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Here on Earth, we have a perfect seat to look on at the sweeping, grand design of spiral galaxy M81.
Eight-Burst
by CritterKeeper on Jan.12, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)
Shaped like the number eight, astronomers in the southern hemisphere call this the Eight-Burst or the Southern Ring Nebula. NGC 3132 is a planetary nebula. The name “planetary nebula” refers to the shape of the nebula. Astronomers in the 17th and 18th centuries found many objects in the night sky that resembled planets. But the expanding shells of gas and dust are all that is left of a star that has reached the end of its life.
Green Eyes
by CritterKeeper on Jan.06, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
NGC 6826’s green eye stares across 2,200 light-years of space from the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. Most of the central star’s mass is now pushing out into space forming a bubble astronomers call a planetary nebula. Planetary nebula form in the last stages of a Sun-like star’s life. Planetary nebula got their name because they resembled the planets Uranus and Neptune in telescopes of the 18th century.
Window Seat on Forever
by CritterKeeper on Jan.05, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: NASA & ESA
This image will take you a while to explore and digest. Within this deep panorama from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, 12 billion years of cosmic history plays out with thousands of galaxies shown in various stages of development.
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.
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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.
Zoom in and out and pan around the images to find your own patterns in the stars. Be creative and think outside the box.Tell us your stories and let us know what you find! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed.
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