IC 4406 or the Retina Nebula

IC 4406 is a dying star, a planetary nebula located about 2,000 light years away near the western border of the Lupus (or the Wolf) constellation. Gas and dust form a vast donut of material streaming outward from the dying star. From the Hubble Space Telescope, we are only seeing a side of the donut. It exhibits a high degree of symmetry; the left and right halves of the Hubble image are nearly mirror images of the other. 

Details: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2002/14/

High Resolution Image (1280 X 1000 px; 1.25 MB):http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2002-14-a-full_jpg.jpg

Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of The Universe

Zodiac mural in Megistis Lavras Monastery ~ Mount Athos, the "Holy Mountain" in Greece

 

The dome, depicting Jesus Pantocrator with the symbols of the 4 Evangelists and around him the 9 angelic orders. The outer circle with the zodiac signs, the sun and the moon has not any specific meaning but only "the heavens with the stars".

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Smithsonian Orrery

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Silver Coin GEMINI 2009 "Zodiac Signs-Belarus” Series

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Sagittarius ~ Royal Copenhagen Female Zodiac Sculptures

 

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AQUARIUS Horoscope Zodiac Swarovski Silver Coin Belarus 2009

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IRAS 21078+5211

This image shows an outflow of gas from a new star as it jets from a space object dubbed IRAS 21078+5211, among other designations. The reddish blob in its center, as picked up by Spitzer's 4.5 micron infrared band, contrasts nicely with the green PAHs that surround it. These telltale outflow features of young, hulking stars show up well even without the longer wavelengths available to the original GLIMPSE survey that ran during the "cold" segment of Spitzer's mission. These so-called shocked outflows ram into the hydrogen gas around them and make it glow - a bright beacon in the lonely outskirts of the Milky Way. This image is a combination of data from Spitzer and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). The Spitzer data was taken after Spitzer's liquid coolant ran dry in May 2009, marking the beginning of its "warm" mission. Light from Spitzer's remaining infrared channels at 3.6 and 4.5 microns has been represented in green and red, respectively. 2MASS 2.2 micron light is blue.

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Solar Fields - Insum ( Remix )

The Far Side of the Moon.

The Far Side of the Moon.

Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of The Universe

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of The Universe

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of The Universe

 

 

The Pinwheel Galaxy

The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101 or NGC 5457).

 

The Pinwheel Galaxy is located about 21 million light years away in the direction of the Ursa Major (Big Dipper) constellation. This vibrant astronomy picture combines data in the infrared, visible, ultraviolet and x-rays from four of NASAs space telescopes.

For details about what the various colors represent, 

see http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of the Universe

spiral galaxy

Beautiful Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300.

 

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a spiral within a spiral: the nucleus of this spiral galaxy has its own extraordinary and distinct, 'grand-design' spiral structure that is about 3,300 light-years long. Only galaxies with large-scale bars appear to have these grand-design inner disks. Unlike other spiral galaxies, NGC 1300 is not presently known to have a massive central black hole.
NGC 1300 is located about 61 million light-years away in the direction of the Eridanus constellation. Its total length is about 110,000 light-years.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)

Astronomy Pictures - Pictures of the Universe

We are here !

Star Cluster R136

Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, & F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O'Connell (U. Virginia), & the HST WFC3 Science Oversight Committee

Explanation: In the center of star-forming region 30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest, most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136, were captured above in visible light by the Wide Field Camera peering through the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, have been sculpted into elongated shapes by powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these hot cluster stars. The 30 Doradus Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and is located a mere 170,000 light-years away.

Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118)

Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118) is a faint reflection nebula located about 1000 light-years away in the direction of the Eridanus constellation. It is thought to be an ancient supernova remnant or gas cloud illuminated by Rigel, a nearby supergiant star located in the Orion constellation.

Image Credit: Noel Carboni, STScl Digitized Sky Survey, NASA

Tulip Nebula: colors made in Space'nCosmos

Tulip Nebula: colors made in Space'nCosmos

HD Image (1,270 × 1,522 pixels; 1.95 MB): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Hs-2009-18-a-full_jpg.jpg

Details: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/news/arp_194.html

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Atik 314L+ on Celestron CPC800XLT.
Taken by Anna Morris

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Aisha Mitchell. Photo by Richard Calmes

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