(Source: hemingerald)
Reblogged from Primordial Soup.
March 09, 2012, 4:31pm
364unbirthdays
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Hey, Who Ripped Open a Hole in the Universe?
This eerie patch of blackness in the middle of a busy star cluster may look like a rather misshapen black hole, but it’s actually something even stranger. It’s also quite possibly the loneliest, darkest, coldest place in the entire cosmos.
This is Barnard 68, and it’s what’s known as a dark molecular cloud. Basically, the dust and gas that makes up Barnard 68 is so tightly packed together that it blocks out all the light behind it. The result might look like some alien civilization tore apart the fabric of the universe and opening up a gateway to the howling void, but thankfully - or unfortunately, I guess, depending on how you feel about the howling void - it’s just gas. Make that a lot of gas.
Here’s some additional info on this particular patch of darkness:
Imagine the mythology of an alien race with something like that in their sky!
Reblogged from .
January 30, 2012, 4:00pm
The Expanding Light Echo of Red Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis
V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) is a red variable star in the constellation Monoceros about 20,000 light years (6 kpc) from the Sun, and possibly one of the largest known stars. The previously unknown star was observed in early 2002 experiencing a major outburst. Originally believed to be a typical nova eruption, it was then realized to be something completely different. The reason for the outburst is still uncertain, but several theories have been put forward, including an eruption related to stellar death processes and a merger of a binary star or planets.
Rapidly brightening objects like novae and supernovae are known to produce a phenomenon known as light echo. The light that travels directly from the object arrives first. If there are clouds of interstellar matter around the star, some light is reflected from the clouds. Because of the longer path, the reflected light arrives later producing a vision of expanding rings of light around the erupted object. In addition, the rings appear to travel faster than the speed of light.In the case of V838 Monocerotis, the light echo produced was unprecedented and is well documented in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Photos taken: May 20, 2002; September 2, 2002; October 28, 2002; December 17, 2002; February 8, 2004; October 24, 2004
Reblogged from Fuck Yeah The Universe.
March 08, 2011, 8:00pm
October 24, 2010, 6:48pm
