For the other Astronuts out there

If you look to the right of the galaxy you can see three bright stars in a triangle and three little stars in a triangle. Between the little triangle and the upper right star in the long triangle is a galaxy "touching" the star in the right of the long triangle. (Looks like a tail on that star.)

 

Size matters!



ELT and the Milky Way​

Image Credit & License: European Southern Observatory - Courtesy: Jens Scheidtmann​

Explanation: The southern winter Milky Way sprawls across this night skyscape. Looking due south, the webcam view was recorded near local midnight on March 11 in dry, dark skies over the central Chilean Atacama desert. Seen below the graceful arc of diffuse starlight are satellite galaxies of the mighty Milky Way, also known as the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. In the foreground is the site of the European Southern Observatory's 40-metre-class Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Under construction at the 3000 metre summit of Cerro Armazones, the ELT is on track to become planet Earth's biggest Eye on the Sky.
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Tomorrow's picture: when galaxies collide​

 

NGC 7714: Starburst after Galaxy Collision​

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive;​

Processing & Copyright: Rudy Pohl​

Explanation: Is this galaxy jumping through a giant ring of stars? Probably not. Although the precise dynamics behind the featured image is yet unclear, what is clear is that the pictured galaxy, NGC 7714, has been stretched and distorted by a recent collision with a neighboring galaxy. This smaller neighbor, NGC 7715, situated off to the left of the frame, is thought to have charged right through NGC 7714. Observations indicate that the golden ring pictured is composed of millions of older Sun-like stars that are likely co-moving with the interior bluer stars. In contrast, the bright center of NGC 7714 appears to be undergoing a burst of new star formation. The featured image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 7714 is located about 130 million light years away toward the constellation of the Two Fish (Pisces). The interactions between these galaxies likely started about 150 million years ago and should continue for several hundred million years more, after which a single central galaxy may result.
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Tomorrow's picture: spiraling comet​

 

Comet Pons-Brooks' Swirling Coma
Image Credit & Copyright: Jan Erik Vallestad

Explanation: A bright comet will be visible during next month's total solar eclipse. This very unusual coincidence occurs because Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks's return to the inner Solar System places it by chance only 25 degrees away from the Sun during Earth's April 8 total solar eclipse. Currently the comet is just on the edge of visibility to the unaided eye, best visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the constellation of the Fish (Pisces). Comet Pons-Brooks, though, is putting on quite a show for deep camera images even now. The featured image is a composite of three very specific colors, showing the comet's ever-changing ion tail in light blue, its outer coma in green, and highlights some red-glowing gas around the coma in a spiral. The spiral is thought to be caused by gas being expelled by the slowly rotating nucleus of the giant iceberg comet. Although it is always difficult to predict the future brightness of comets, Comet Pons-Brook has been particularly prone to outbursts, making it even more difficult to predict how bright it will actually be as the Moon moves in front of the Sun on April 8.

Total Eclipse Info: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse from NASA
Tomorrow's picture: sunset road​

 

A Picturesque Equinox Sunset​

Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Dyer, Amazingsky.com, TWAN​

Explanation: What's that at the end of the road? The Sun. Many towns have roads that run east-west, and on two days each year, the Sun rises and sets right down the middle. Today, in some parts of the world (tomorrow in others), is one of those days: an equinox. Not only is this a day of equal night ("aequus"-"nox") and day time, but also a day when the sun rises precisely to the east and sets due west. Displayed here is a picturesque rural road in Alberta, Canada that runs approximately east-west. The featured image was taken during the September Equinox of 2021, but the geometry remains the same every year. In many cultures, this March equinox is taken to be the first day of a season, typically spring in Earth's northern hemisphere, and autumn in the south. Does your favorite street run east-west? Tonight, at sunset, you can find out with a quick glance.

Tomorrow's picture: the eyes of march​

 

The above is why you live east of where you work.

 

I've always wanted to get run over by a road train.

 

The Eyes in Markarian's Galaxy Chain​

Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby​

Explanation: Across the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster lies a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. Prominent in Markarian's Chain are these two interacting galaxies, NGC 4438 (left) and NGC 4435 - also known as The Eyes. About 50 million light-years away, the two galaxies appear to be about 100,000 light-years apart in this sharp close-up, but have likely approached to within an estimated 16,000 light-years of each other in their cosmic past. Gravitational tides from the close encounter have ripped away at their stars, gas, and dust. The more massive NGC 4438 managed to hold on to much of the material torn out in the collision, while material from the smaller NGC 4435 was more easily lost. The remarkably deep image of this crowded region of the universe also includes many more distant background galaxies.

Tomorrow's picture: three galaxies​

 

Astronomers have discovered a cavalcade of monster galaxy superclusters, incredibly massive collections of galaxies and galaxy clusters in the universe.


The most striking example of these 662 new superclusters is located around 3 billion light-years away from Earth and has been named the "Einasto Supercluster." This particular supercluster is named in honor of Estonian astrophysicist Jaan Einasto, one of the discoverers of the large-scale structure of the universe.
The Einasto Supercluster is staggering in terms of its sheer size and mass. It contains the same mass as around 26 quadrillion suns (26 followed by 15 zeroes). This supercluster is so vast, in fact, that it would take a light signal 360 million years to travel from one side of it to the other.

 

Part of the second paragraph failed to copy?

 

I’m on my phone but I think I’ve added it.

 

Yep, that looks copacetic.

 

The Universe is kinda big deal.

 

And that's just the part we're aware of. If you really want to blow your mind: Johnny Pez: "He Who Shrank" by Henry Hasse, part 1 (Not very long.)

 

“And I proved conclusively to my own mind what had theretofore been only a theory. I know now without doubt that this our planet, and other planets revolving about the sun, are but electrons of an atom, of which the sun is the nucleus. And our sun is but one of millions of others, each with its allotted number of planets, each system being an atom just as our own is in reality.”

ya hooked me ! Be so kind as to post your reading list of any such books pertaining to this subject. I’ve spent many an hour contemplating the same thing.

 

"He Who Shrank" was such a good take on the Macrocosm that few have tried to challenge it. Google "The Macrocosm" and poke around a bit? I saw the entries there but don't recognize any of the authors.

The "Antman" movies are starting to deal with the issues.