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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 15 June 2023: M15 Globular Star Cluster snapped by Hubble

Over the past few months, we've seen several amazing images of celestial objects as part of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, which is published on a daily basis featuring astrophotographers from around the world. Some of these include snapshots of fascinating celestial objects documented by Charles Messier. The French astronomer studied and catalogued these objects in Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles and the catalogue is today known as the Messier Objects which contains 110 objects. Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a breathtaking snapshot of M15, a globular star cluster that is located about 33600 light-years away towards the constellation of Pegasus. According to NASA, Messier 15 is one of the densest ever discovered, with hot blue stars and cooler orange s...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 14 June 2023: Stunning Shark Nebula

Nebulae are star-forming regions that have some of the most peculiar shapes, with some of the most fascinating examples being the Headphone Nebula, the Heart and Soul Nebula, and the Flying Ghost Nebula. These star nurseries are located in Interstellar space, which is the space between stars, and consist of gases, mainly hydrogen, and helium. Although most nebulae belong to just three types - spherical, elliptical, and bipolar, some of them might be irregularly shaped, so much so that they resemble objects on Earth. According to NASA, a Nebula can contain as few as ten stars or as many as millions of stars.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a fascinating snapshot of LDN1235, also known as the Shark Nebula, which is located about 650 light-years away towards the constellation ...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 13 June 2023: Moons crossing Great Red Spot on Jupiter

Jupiter has been shocking astronomers ever since astronomer Galileo Galilei started recording its mysteries as far back as 1610. Jupiter is also known as the Gas Giant as it has a dense atmosphere of hydrogen and helium with windy clouds of ammonia. It is the fifth planet in the solar system, and it is by far the biggest one. In fact, it is twice as big as all the other planets in our solar system combined. It also has the most moons in the solar system, with 92 confirmed moons with orbits, according to International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of Jupiter's two largest moons, Europa and Io, crossing the gas giant. With a radius of almost 1821 kilometers, Io is the third-largest of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. On the...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 9 June 2023: Webb Telescope snaps Pandora Cluster

Most galaxies exist in groups or clusters with dozens or hundreds of members, and these cluster galaxies are all in constant motion, pulled and twisted by their neighbour's gravity. Galaxies exist in the vastness of space, consisting of various celestial objects such as stars, clouds of dust, and gas, all of which are bound together by gravity. These galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the Universe bound by gravity and astronomers can use them to measure important cosmological properties, according to NASA.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of Abell 2744, also known as the Pandora's Cluster of galaxies which is located about 4 billion light-years away towards the constellation of Sculptor. This galaxy cluster formed when four smaller galaxy clusters piled up...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 8 June 2023: The amazing Elephant’s Trunk Nebula

Nebulas exist in the space between stars, known as the Interstellar space. In fact, there is a Nebula close to Earth which could possibly be the remnant of the dying star, according to NASA. It is called the Helix Nebula and is located approximately 700 light-years away from Earth. NASA captures the Nebulas with the help of its Spitzer Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and the new James Webb Space Telescope.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, located about 3000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation of Cepheus. This nebula resides in a young star cluster, given the designation of IC 1396. According to NASA, it has a magnitude of 3.5 and is visible to the unaided eye as a faint patch on a completely dark night. Beneath the nebula ar...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 7 June 2023: Breathtaking Double Ring Galaxy

Just a couple of days ago, we saw a breathtaking snapshot of the Trifid Nebula, the 20th object discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier. Similar celestial objects were studied and catalogued by Messier in Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles and the catalogue is today known as the Messier Objects which contains 110 objects. Over the past few months, we've seen several amazing images of celestial objects as part of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, which is published on a daily basis featuring astrophotographers from around the world.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of M94, also known as the Double Ring Galaxy that contains over 40 billion stars. According to NASA, the Double Ring Galaxy is located about 15 million light-years away towards t...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 6 June 2023: Planet destroyed by a star

Stars are fueled by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen to form helium deep in their interiors. While most stars live for billions of years, it is known that the bigger the star, the shorter its lifespan. When a star runs out of fuel, its core collapses, crushing together every proton and electron into a neutron. This resulted in the creation of the densest object known to man, a Neutron star – an object with the mass of a sun squished down to the size of a city, as per NASA. While this is how a star dies, these objects are rarely known to be the cause behind the end of the world, but that changed with the 2020 event.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is an animated illustration of the Sun-like star ZTF SLRN-2020 engulfing one of its own planets. While planets are known to meet their...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 5 June 2023: Breathtaking Trifid Nebula

Over the past few months, we've seen several amazing snapshots of celestial objects as part of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, which is published on a daily basis featuring astrophotographers from around the world. Some of these celestial bodies belong to the catalogue of Messier Objects, a set of 110 objects catalogued by French astronomer Charles Messier. Messier studied and catalogued these objects in Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles and the catalogue is today known as the Messier Objects. Although Messier was an avid comet hunter, some of his most amazing discoveries include several nebulae such as the Crab Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, and more.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of M20, also known as the Trifid Nebula. Th...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 2 June 2023: Pinwheel Galaxy Messier 101

French astronomer Charles Messier has been one of the most influential figures in the history of astronomy with major contributions in finding and studying comets, nebulae, and more. Although Messier was an avid comet hunter, some of his most amazing discoveries include several nebulae such as the Crab Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, and more. Messier studied and catalogued these objects in Catalogue des Nebuleuses et des Amas d'Etoiles and the catalogue is today known as the Messier Objects.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy which is located about 25 million light-years away towards the Northern constellation of Ursa Major. Messier 101 is one of the last objects catalogued by Charles Messier and...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 1 June 2023: Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A

Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation of Cassiopeia. When a star explodes, the subsequent explosion which takes place, known as a Supernova, is the largest explosion to occur in space. According to NASA, a supernova happens when there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. A change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova.Although a supernova occurs for only a short span of time, it can tell scientists a lot about the universe. By studying supernovas, scientists have also shed light on the fact that we're living in an ever-expanding universe. Tech used to capture the imageThe picture was captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory ...