China Jon's Syncretic Journal

The Hubble has given us a beautiful, thought provoking picture for this winter season.



Read the story and see the full sized image here:
http://spacespin.org/article.php/hubble-massive-star-system-pismis-24-1
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Look up this date: 2006 December 19

Read more...

From APOD:
The Outskirts of M77
Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)
Explanation: Face-on spiral galaxy M77 lies a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatic constellation Cetus. Also known as NGC 1068, its very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of super-massive black holes in active galaxies. While M77 is also seen at x-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio wavelengths, this visible light image highlights another remarkable aspect of the galaxy. In the picture, the data has been enhanced to show outer faint details, following spiral arms and structures that reach far beyond the galaxy's brighter central regions. Including the fainter outskirts, the galaxy's diameter is well over 100 thousand light-years at M77's estimated distance, making it larger than our own spiral Milky Way.

Read more...

In school, most of us were taught the Earth is in orbit around the Sun, and the Moon is in orbit around the Earth, sort of like little circles on the chalk board or a piece of paper.

But the Earth and Sun and Moon, in fact all the pieces of the Solar System are zooming through space together, in orbit around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy!

Can you guess how fast they are traveling in one second?

Well, let me tell you ....

Read more...