Astronomy Picture of the Day

INDEX

•At the Heart Of Orion

•The Toby Jug Nebula

•Nauset Light Star Trails

•Orbiting Astronaut Self-Portrait

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each title

• Made with: Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT).

• Photography by: David Malin.• Explanation: The unusual thing about this nebula

it's not only its shape. It's a reflection nebula surrounding a normal red giant star that appears to have been created from the current phase of mass-loss from the central star which made the nebula shine by light reflected.

• Personal opinion: I’ve chosen this photo because it was made the day I was born and I thought it would be interesting. You can appreciate the differences in the quality between the photos made sixteen years ago and the one’s made nowadays.

The Toby Jug Nebula (IC 2220) - January 5, 1996

• Made with: Hubble Space Telescope.• Astrophotography by: Robert Gendler.• Explanation: At the heart of the Orion Nebula, there are

four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. A recent dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun. The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars. It would be the closest known black hole to planet Earth.

• Personal opinion: What attracted my attention about this photo were the colours and that it was Orion. In Summer I read a young people’s novel about the future and it’s related to the Universe. One of the character was called Orion, the Hunter, and I didn’t know why. It was kind of interesting.

At the Heart of Orion – October 6, 2012

• Made with: a camera fixed to a tripod.• Photography by: Chris Cook.• Explanation: This is a composite of 30 one minute

exposures, records star trails in the northern sky, reflecting the daily rotation of planet Earth. Hidden behind the top of the Nauset Lighthouse, the North Celestial Pole is at the center of all the star trail arcs. Making a complete circle, 360 degrees, in 24 hours, the star trail arcs cover 15 degrees each hour or 7.5 degrees in thirty minutes.

• Personal opinion: I’ve chosen this photo because I had already seen that efect in some photos of El Teide.

->To see an example

Nauset Light Star Trails - October 10, 2012

• Image credit:  Expedition 32 Crew, International Space Station, NASA.

• Explanation: Space station astronaut Aki Hoshide (Japan) recorded this striking image while helping to augment the capabilities of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS). This image joins other historic self-portraits taken previously in space. The Expedition 32 mission has already ended.

->Other Self-Portrait

• Personal opinion: In the NASA web page, someone asks: Is it art? I think it really is. I don’t even know how you can take a picture of yourself, the Earth and the Sun at the same time, and in the Space! I really like it.

Orbiting Astronaut Self-Portrait - September 18, 2012

Apollo 12: Self-Portrait 

Eloísa Frutos Moreno nº8 1ºBTO B