APOD 4.8 Station and Shuttle Transit the Sun

In this image, there are two small dark spots on the sun. However, they aren't sun spots. They are actually the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting the Sun. The bigger object is the ISS and the smaller one is Atlantis. The ISS and Space Shuttles are often seen streaking across the sky together during the night, but it is much rarer to see images of the two objects on the disk of the Sun. The two objects are orbiting about 350 kilometers above the Earth's surface. This image was taken about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station and this mission should be Atlantis' last mission.

Apod 4.7 Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula

The Tarantula Nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud and is the largest, most violent region of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. It is also known as 30 Doradus. It is an emission nebula, indicated by its red and pink coloring which is caused by the Hydrogen Alpha line radiation. Supernova remnants and dark nebula also exist there. The brightest region, which is just left of center is called R136 and contains many of the most massive, hottest, and brightest stars known. This star forming region would take up half of our sky if it were at the distance of the Orion Nebula. This is the most detailed image of this region ever taken.

Apod 4.6 Iguaçu Starry Night

This image was taken at the Iguacu Falls National Park on the border of Brazil and Argentina in the Southern Hemisphere. Many prominent objects are visible in the night sky and in this image, including Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, the Coalsack, the Southern Cross, both Magellanic Clouds, the Carina Nebula, Sirius, and Canopus. From our location, only Sirius and Canopus are visible in the constellations Canis Major and Carina, respectively. It is nice to see this image because we have also studied Alpha and Beta Centauri, and both Magellanic Clouds, but have so far not been able to see them in the sky because our latitude is too high in the Northern Hemisphere. Another intriguing feature is the influence of light on the picture coming from Argentina's Iguazú Falls International Airport. The center of the image is very bright from the light coming from the airport, so either the airport must be very close and/or very bright. I didn't realize an airport could cause that much light and affect a region of the sky that is so large.

Apod 4.5 The Antennae

This image parallels with our study of galaxy interactions. This image shows two galaxies colliding in the constellation Corvus, some 60 million light years away. Their collision has triggered rapid star formation near the center of the collision. One of the most interesting features of the image is the presence of two tails extending from opposite sides of the collision. They were created by matter being flung from the scene of the collision by gravitational tidal forces. These two streaks give the constellation its name, The Antennae.

Interacting Galaxies

http://hyakutake1957.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/colliding-galaxies.png
http://cosmology.net/images/Collidinggalaxies5678.jpg
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/images/061019-galaxies_big.jpg
http://www.spacedaily.com/images/supernova-discovered-pair-colliding-galaxies-antennae-bg.jpg
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http://www.foxnews.com/images/366647/0_21_galaxies_hubble_6.jpg
http://talklikeaphysicist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/collidinggalaxy-1.jpg
http://physics.uwyo.edu/~stark/outreach/galaxy/colliding/
http://www.twinlitworlds.com/hubble/pix/jpgsfull/collision.jpg
http://mainland.cctt.org/biolab/images/Colliding_Galaxies_HST_Gif.gif
http://www.noao.edu/gateway/intergal2.gif
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http://www.spacedaily.com/images/arp-87-pair-interacting-galaxies-bg.jpg
http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/images/d5/vv150b.jpg
http://www.etsu.edu/physics/wars/arp107.jpg
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/learn_sirtf/images/interacting.gif
http://astro.uchicago.edu/~grodnick/gallery/galaxies/m51-irg_hogg.jpg
http://housefly.astro.princeton.edu/~rhl/PrettyPictures/M51-4x4.jpg