Water Creatures
Leaping Fish
by CritterKeeper on Aug.16, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University)
Strange shapes, leaping fish and pincers can be found in the colorful sea of gas and dust amid bright blue stars in the star–forming region of NGC 2467.
A tadpole swimming in a starry sea
by CritterKeeper on Jun.08, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA)
This tadpole, a galaxy called UGC 10214, has a tail made up of stars that’s 280,000 light years long. This odd spiral galaxy seems to be swimming through space. Long ago, the larger galaxy crashed with a smaller galaxy, seen above and to the left. The crash distorted and disrupted the Tadpole Galaxy leaving some stars behind.
Angry Fish
by CritterKeeper on Jun.07, 2010, under Water Creatures
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: Y.-H. Chu and R. M. Williams (UIUC)
To me, this image of what happens after a supernova blows up, has always looked like a piranha or some sort of angry fish. This image of N 63A from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope; that’s what astronomers call it, used to be a huge star, many times bigger than the sun. Stars like N 63A have violent lives. They live quickly and then explode with force that for a short time they outshine entire galaxies.
Glowing Angelfish
by CritterKeeper on Apr.20, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
The faint nebula known as Gum 19 shows a light and dark angelfish shape in this infrared image from the European Southern Observatory.
Nebular Octopus
by CritterKeeper on Apr.15, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)
An green octopus hides in the corner of this image of a nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Home to some of the most brilliant, most massive stars known to astronomers, Hodge 301 is an active starburst region.
Space Amoeba
by CritterKeeper on Mar.11, 2010, under Water Creatures
ESO/APEX/DSS2/ SuperCosmos/ Deharveng(LAM)/ Zavagno(LAM)
An expanding cloud of ionizing gas resembles a space amoeba. What stories do you see playing out in this nebula?
Starfish Arm Wrestling
by CritterKeeper on Feb.25, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and K. Noll (STScI)
These galaxies seem to me like starfish arm wrestling or tossing a ball. NGC 6050 and IC 1179 offer a stunning example of merging spiral galaxies in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Starfish
by CritterKeeper on Feb.19, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Six lobes of gas and dust outline the legs of a starfish in this image of planetary nebula He 2–47. The nebula puffed off material at least three times at the end of its life, firing off jets of gas in opposite directions.
Wobbly Jellyfish
by CritterKeeper on Feb.09, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Sometimes planetary nebula expand in what look like smooth bubbles. But others take on a wobbly appearance which in some cases are oddly symmetrical. In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 5307, each blob of gas seems to have a counterpart on the opposite side of the nebula. Astronomers call these spiral planetary nebula. It is thought that the bright central white dwarf star spews out wobbling jet of rapidly moving gas from both ends of the star, spinning around like a top that is about to topple over.
Veiled Fish
by CritterKeeper on Feb.08, 2010, under Water Creatures
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Wispy filaments of the Veil Nebula resemble a fish with multi-colored fins in this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The scattered pieces of the Veil Nebula are all that remains of a brilliant supernova that exploded 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. The entire nebula spans a huge area in the sky equivalent to six full moons.
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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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