Tag: supernova
Eight of Space
by CritterKeeper on Aug.09, 2010, under Eyes in the Sky
Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)
In 1987, astronomers witnessed a brilliant explosion. A massive star exploded, shining with more light than an entire galaxy. In a span of months it was gone. With the help of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers “re-found” SN 1987A hidden in a backdrop of glittering stars and shimmering wisps of gas.
Fireworks in D
by CritterKeeper on Jun.23, 2010, under Numbers/Letters
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The letter D is outlined in this celestial fireworks display. The colorful filaments seen in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of N49 are all that’s left of a supernova explosion that took place thousands of years ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova remnant is called N 49, or DEM L 190. Inside these sheets of glowing star debris lies a powerful, spinning neutron star called a pulsar. Pulsars give off regular pulses of energy like the ticking of a very precise clock. After the supernova blows off the outer layers of the star, it collapses under its own gravity. The star collapses so much that the protons and electrons spinning around the atoms of the star combine to form neutrons. A neutron star is very dense. Imagine our entire Sun packed into an area of just 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter! Gravity is very strong on a neutron star. On Earth, a spoonful of neutron star material would weigh billions of tons. The magnetic field of N 49 is super strong, trillions of times stronger than Earth’s, putting it in special class of bizarre celestial objects called magnetars.
Curling C
by CritterKeeper on Jun.17, 2010, under Numbers/Letters
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
Galaxy interactions create all sorts of curls and odd shapes. In this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of UGC 4881, the letter ‘C’ spirals out in deep space.
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.
Starship contrail
by CritterKeeper on Apr.21, 2010, under General
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
A delicate ribbon of gas floats through this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Is it a contrail left by a starship barreling through the area? Actually, this ribbon of gas is the thin edge of the supernova remnant SN 1006 in our galaxy that exploded more than 1,000 years ago.
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.
Flying Dust
by CritterKeeper on Mar.30, 2010, under General
NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Dust from the remains of a collapsed star flies past a nearby family of stars in this image from NASA’s Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes.
The Grasshopper
by CritterKeeper on Mar.25, 2010, under Bugs, birds and other animals
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
Some 500 million light-years from Earth, a seal plays in a cosmic sea.
The Little Man
by CritterKeeper on Mar.15, 2010, under Bugs, birds and other animals
J. Hester/Arizona state University NASA
Explore the image of Eta Carinae and you’ll see the little man, or homunculus, astronomers saw in their telescopes 150 years ago. Eta Carinae is a star on the brink of destruction. In 1841, the blue hypergiant-star suddenly became the second brightest star in the night sky. During the next 20 years, Eta Carinae, or Eta Car, ejected more mass than our Sun. Then the star faded. When astronomers searched out the star, they found the Homunculus Nebula. In Latin, homunculus means “little man.” Share with us the shapes and stories you see in this nebula.
Monkey Face
by CritterKeeper on Feb.10, 2010, under Bugs, birds and other animals
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Do you see a monkey face looking up? Or sparks and smoke left over from a fireworks display? The colorful filaments seen in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of N49 are all that’s left of a supernova explosion that took place thousands of years ago in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova remnant is called N 49, or DEM L 190. Inside these sheets of glowing star debris lies a powerful, spinning neutron star called a pulsar. Pulsars give off regular pulses of energy like the ticking of a very precise clock. After the supernova blows off the outer layers of the star, it collapses under its own gravity. The star collapses so much that the protons and electrons spinning around the atoms of the star combine to form neutrons. A neutron star is very dense. Imagine our entire Sun packed into an area of just 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter! Gravity is very strong on a neutron star. On Earth, a spoonful of neutron star material would weigh billions of tons. The magnetic field of N 49 is super strong, trillions of times stronger than Earth’s, putting it in special class of bizarre celestial objects called magnetars.
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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:
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