General
Ones and Zeroes
by CritterKeeper on Mar.08, 2010, under General
NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI)
Our brains try to find order in the extraordinary images we see from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and create patterns in the night sky. In this image of Arp 147, we see what looks like a one and a zero, or a ten.
A Giant Fuzzball
by CritterKeeper on Mar.05, 2010, under General
NASA, ESA and Michael West (ESO)
Occasionally, I find huge furballs tucked away in the far corners of my house. They sit all by themselves, alone, after rolling around gathering up other furballs and assorted smaller pieces of fuzz. Like my huge fuzzballs, ESO 306–17 dominates its area of the universe. Explore the image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and you’ll see plenty of other galaxies. Count up all those spiral galaxies. Those galaxies, however, are either farther away or, like the two bright galaxies at the bottom of the image, much closer than the giant elliptical galaxy.
Cosmic Burger
by CritterKeeper on Feb.24, 2010, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Would you like fries with that giant cosmic hamburger? Gomez’s Hamburger is a strange planetary nebula that looks like a hamburger but it’s actually a sun-like star nearing the end of its life. The central star, which we cannot see in this image, expelled large amounts of gas and dust and may one day develop a more familiar colorful, glowing planetary nebula.
A Glowing Pencil
by CritterKeeper on Jan.25, 2010, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
A stellar shockwave from a supernova 11,000 years ago forms a line in space reminding many observers on Earth of a pencil.
Galaxy Blasting
by CritterKeeper on Jan.11, 2010, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University), K. Noll (STScI), and J. Westphal (Caltech)
Like the Millenium Falcon blasting out of an exploding second Death Star, Arp 148 shows the stunning results of a galaxy smashup. The collision, shown in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, produced a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion. Astronomers believe that this is a unique view of a collision in progress. Shockwaves from the collision first drew material into the center and then caused it to fly out in a ring of new star formation.
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.
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.
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.
Starry Sisters
by CritterKeeper on Dec.11, 2009, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA and AURA/Caltech
High in the winter sky, the Pleiades look like a tiny dipper. Those with sharp eyes can see seven stars in the open star cluster M45, or the Seven Sisters. Some people report seeing up to 14 stars under the best conditions. But most, including myself, can see six at best. In this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, we see hundreds of stars.
Dancing Galaxies
by CritterKeeper on Dec.10, 2009, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Locked in a graceful dance with gravity, the interacting pair of galaxies known as Arp 87, swing past one another.
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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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