via House of Eratosthenese:

The Scale of the Universe

One Small Step

Revisiting the first Lunar landing.

Flare

From FoxNews:

...A preliminary inspection of SOHO/STEREO imagery suggests that the CME will deliver a strong glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 24-25 as it sails mostly north of our planet," SpaceWeather’s bulletin read.

 

It could also affect navigation and the power grid.

The solar flare spat out late Sunday, Jan. 22, at 10:59 p.m. EST was rated an M9-class eruption -- nearly an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm.

NASA spokeswoman Kelly Humphries told Space.com the six spaceflyers currently living and working on the orbiting outpost are not in any danger.

"The flight surgeons have reviewed the space weather forecasts for the flare and determined that there are no expected adverse effects or actions required to protect the on-orbit crew," Humphries told SPACE.com in an email.

More here and here.

Intelligent Design

I link quite a lot to Mr Vanderleun's American Digest, and with good reason.

He is an accomplished writer of prose and poetry, and has wide-ranging interests.


This a a "must-read" post about Intelligent Design.
Beautiful.

Via KaCHING, Mr Vanderleun's collection:

Few butterflies have a wingspan this big. The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth’s night sky are often named for flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of this particular planetary nebula is exceptionally hot though — shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. This dramatically detailed close-up of the dying star’s nebula was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope soon after it was upgraded in 2009. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star’s dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

That's what it looked like 4,000 years ago. I wonder what it looks like today.

Just for the wonder of it all

Another photo of the Milky Way...

...and a short article about mapping it.

Don't miss American Digest's post about it, too: Amazing Grace. Go, now. You won't regret it.

Safe holiday weekend to all.

Orion's Sword

This is a shot from the Hubble; it is so beautiful, it takes my breath away.

Read more about it here (also more photos)

Beauty to make the heart ache

The center of our Milky Way galaxy can easily be seen due to the always clear skies of the Atacama 

In Canada

 

This ring around the Milky Way Galaxy discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey may be what's left of a collision between our Galaxy and a smaller, dwarf galaxy that occurred billions of years ago. It's an indication that at least part of our galaxy was formed by a lot of smaller or dwarf galaxies mixing together, explained investigators Heidi Jo Newberg of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Brian Yanny of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Experimental Astrophysics Group. CREDIT: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (www.sdss.org) 

 

  ³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
³² “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
³³ “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth? 

Book of Job, Chapter 38

 

Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

 +++

Here is a photo of the "Sombrero" galaxy, from this site.

Just take a moment to look at it. See all the points of light surrounding the Sombrero?

Now look closer. All those points of light are other galaxies. There are some that look like streaks of light; those are galaxies like our own Milky Way, with arms.

Look at the bottom left, you can see two galaxies that look like they are merging. Astronomers say they just look that way, and that they are probably very far apart.

Click on the image to see a large version.

the Sun

Here is the commentary from Piers Corbyn, regarding impact to the Earth.

Humble and small

Incredible photos of the sun, the moon, and man-made flying objects.

Here's one: