ASTRONOMICALPICTURE OF THE DAY

Manuel González Gómez 1º Bachillerato B

Index-Introduction-Shuttle Enterprise Over New York-Halo of the Cat's Eye-The Snowflake Cluster versus the Cone Nebula -Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 6559-My Personal Opinion-Bibliography

Introduction Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer in NASA’s webpage. I have choosen four of all of this photos for this work.

09/05/2012

Shuttle Enterprise Over New York Photographer: Bill IngallsExplanation: Two famous New York City icons stand tall in the above photo. On the left looms the Statue of Liberty, a universal symbol of freedom, while on the right rises the Empire State Building, now the second largest building in the city. What's unique about this once-in-a-lifetime photograph, though, is the third icon that appears to Lady Liberty's left. High in the air and far in the background flies the space shuttle Enterprise on the way to its new home. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple can visit the test space shuttle at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on the West Side of Manhattan starting July 19.

09/05/2010

Halo of the Cat's Eye Machine with which the photo has been taken: Nordic Optical Telescope.Explanation: The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture, processed to reveal the enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material, over three light-years across, which surrounds the brighter, familiar planetary nebula. Made with data from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands, the composite picture shows extended emission from the nebula. Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a sun-like star. Only much more recently however, have some planetaries been found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier active episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years.

09/05/2007

The Snowflake Cluster versus the Cone Nebula  Machine with which the photo has been taken:  Spitzer Space Telescope. Explanation: Strange shapes and textures can be found in the neighborhood of the Cone Nebula. These patterns result from the tumultuous unrest that accompanies the formation of the open cluster of stars known as NGC 2264, the Snowflake cluster. To better understand this process, a detailed image of this region was taken in two colors of infrared light by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope. Bright stars from the Snowflake cluster dot the field. These stars soon heat up and destroy the gas and dust mountains in which they formed. One such dust mountain is the famous Cone Nebula, visible in the above image on the left, pointing toward a bright star near the center of the field. The entire NGC 2264 region is located about 2,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

09/05/2005

Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 6559  Machine with which the photo has been taken: Hawaiian Starlight TelescopeExplanation: When stars form, pandemonium reigns. A textbook case is the star forming region NGC 6559. Visible above are red glowing emission nebulas of hydrogen, blue reflection nebulas of dust, dark absorption nebulas of dust, and the stars that formed from them. The first massive stars formed from the dense gas will emit energetic light and winds that erode, fragment, and sculpt their birthplace. And then they explode. The resulting morass can be as beautiful as it is complex. After tens of millions of years, the dust boils away, the gas gets swept away, and all that is left is a naked open cluster of stars.

My Personal Opinion I have chosen this date, 9th of may, because it’s the day of my birthday and I think it’s interesting to know what happens whenever it is your birthday. It’s a good way to learn more about our fascinating universe.

Bibliography-http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html