Stars End http://scott-logan.org Sun, 20 May 2012 05:52:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Annular Solar Eclipse http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120519.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120519.html#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 05:52:37 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=f502b7d71ba808e28c47637257370d6a Annular Solar Eclipse is a post from: Stars End

]]> Annular Solar Eclipse Annular Solar Eclipse


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/20/annular-solar-eclipse-2/feed/ 0 A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 05:52:36 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=3b82b6ea512fb1a32d60bba959278e8f A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay is a post from: Stars End

]]> What's happened to the setting Sun? What's happened to the setting Sun?


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/20/a-partial-eclipse-over-manila-bay/feed/ 0 GALEX: The Andromeda Galaxy http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120518.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120518.html#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 06:08:22 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=a27a5cc6289296412ec38df10b31d0ae GALEX: The Andromeda Galaxy is a post from: Stars End

]]> A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy really is A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy really is


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/19/galex-the-andromeda-galaxy-2/feed/ 0 Annular Solar Eclipse http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 06:08:22 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=eb7659339b8d44600cc94165177d5b37 Annular Solar Eclipse is a post from: Stars End

]]> Annular Solar Eclipse Annular Solar Eclipse


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/19/annular-solar-eclipse/feed/ 0 Herschel’s Cygnus X http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120517.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120517.html#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 05:18:41 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=c3c99fa8526b464ad20350ff1b0a438c Herschel’s Cygnus X is a post from: Stars End

]]> The Herschel Space Observatory's The Herschel Space Observatory's


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/18/herschels-cygnus-x/feed/ 0 GALEX: The Andromeda Galaxy http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 05:18:40 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=4265b3730b6b9c860cdc2a4f096a07c2 GALEX: The Andromeda Galaxy is a post from: Stars End

]]> A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy really is A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy really is


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/18/galex-the-andromeda-galaxy/feed/ 0 Star Formation in the Tarantula Nebula http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120516.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap120516.html#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 05:03:43 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=9639aee7e3ec71954268eb3b670e300c Star Formation in the Tarantula Nebula is a post from: Stars End

]]> The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/17/star-formation-in-the-tarantula-nebula-2/feed/ 0 Herschel s Cygnus X http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 05:03:35 +0000 APOD http://scott-logan.org/?guid=0c1563afa7e3cb06ef4219afb31fb7e9 Herschel s Cygnus X is a post from: Stars End

]]> The Herschel Space Observatory's The Herschel Space Observatory's


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/17/herschel-s-cygnus-x/feed/ 0 Prairie Light: Alberta Aurora http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/AckpejA0Nvg/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/AckpejA0Nvg/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 16:57:18 +0000 Phil Plait http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=48257 Prairie Light: Alberta Aurora is a post from: Stars End

]]> Every now and again my work piles up and I can feel that edge of panic start to set in.

Then I saw a video and my brain let out a nice long sigh (brains are remarkable that way): Alberta Aurora – Prairie Light, a lovely time lapse that has better-than-usual resolution and color, taken as the April 23/24 solar storm swept over the Earth.

What you see in an aurora depends in part on the angle of the Earth’s magnetic field relative to the air; the geomagnetic field guides particles from the Sun’s outbursts into our atmosphere. If you are seeing this from far enough away, you get those sheets and ribbons, the interaction seen from the side. But at 1:50 into the video the perspective changes. The camera is underneath the point where the particles are streaming in, so you’re looking up, right into the barrel of the magnetic field. It’s a remarkable change in view that must be awesome to see in person.

I’ve never seen a full-on aurora, but some day I will. I hope it’s as pretty as this one was.

Related Posts:

- The green fire of the aurora, seen ...


]]> http://scott-logan.org/2012/05/16/prairie-light-alberta-aurora/feed/ 0 The long reach of the Centaur’s dark heart http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/r7J5QsRUzEU/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/r7J5QsRUzEU/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 13:21:28 +0000 Phil Plait http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=49013 The long reach of the Centaur’s dark heart is a post from: Stars End

]]> Every now again I get surprised by a photo, showing me something I didn’t know about. And I love it even more when that surprise is from an object I thought I knew!

So check out this incredible image of the nearby galaxy Centaurus A, a nearby galaxy harboring a whole slew of surprises:

[Click to galactinate, or get the 4000 x 4000 pixel version, or, if you're feeling frisky, cram this onto your hard drive: an image that's 8500 x 8400 pixels and 29 Mb in size! And trust me: you want to.]

Isn’t that stunning? This picture was taken by the MPG/ESO 2.2 meter telescope in Chile, and once you get over its beauty you’ll realize this galaxy is, frankly, seriously messed up.

Cen A is about 12 million light years away and has roughly the same mass as our Milky Way, containing a few hundred billion stars. The underlying glow of those stars is what makes that round background fuzz in the image, and takes on the familiar elliptical shape of many such galaxies. [Note: All the individual stars you see here are in our on galaxy, since we're inside ...


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