APOD 2.4

APOD 2.4

This is an artist's rendition of a dusk disk. It was made to discover what other solar systems look like. It could look like ours or the planets could be in a vertical row revolutionizing at the same time. Dusk disks are made from nearby stars and can only be seen when using infrared. The idea of making this picture was from the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. In this painting there are two dusk disks, one made by parent star other is farther out. You can see it in this picture, the bright golden dot is the parent star, while the outside is the other dust disk. They are made when planets repel and absorb dust from their gravity. The star here is the HD 95086, it is a blue star and is 60% more massive than our sun. You can see this star with binoculars if you look at the constellation Carina.

APOD 2.3

APOD 2.3

This is a snapshot from the Gemini North telescope. This amazing snapshot was of the Polar Ring Galaxy or NGC 660. The Gemini telescope has a sharp composite of broad and narrow band filter, making this image even more amazing than it is. A cool fact is that Polar Ring Galaxies are seldom and have a substantial population of starts, gas, and dust orbiting in rings close to the galactic disk. This looks soo amazing partly because of the bizarre-looking configuration caught materials from a nearby galaxy passing through this one. The polar ring component can also be used to explore the shape of the galaxy's that cant be seen such as the dark mater halo. Also the gravitational pull from this galaxy is the reason for the myriad pinkish star forming regions along the NGC 660.

Apod 2.2

APOD 2.2

This is an aurora in Norway. The people that were taking this photo had tried three times. The first two nights it was to cloudy, however the last night, there was an aurora with little clouds. This was surely a spectacular event for the people of Norway. I wish I could have been there with them. This was probably very dangerous because the man is standing on the pinnacle of the mountain. An aurora is created when the electromagnetic waves are disrupted creating a colorful display. The area this was taking place was the Austnesfjorden fjord, which is close to the town of Svolvear on  the Lofoten islands in the North. Also the sun has an eleven year magnetic cycle.