Monday, December 17, 2007

Heavenly

Don't miss the Top 10 astronomy pictures of 2007, including these:

source: Bad Astronomy Blog

caption: Arp 87 is the name given to the system of two galaxies, NGC 3808A and NGC 3808B. They passed each other just as the age of dinosaurs was starting to get going on Earth, 200 million years ago. The gravity of B (the cigar-shaped galaxy on the left) drew out a long tentacle from the much larger A (the spiral on the right), and it appears as if the passage also wrapped the tendril around B, perhaps more than once. It’s also possible the tendril flared out, separating into streams that only appear to entwine the smaller galaxy.

source: Bad Astronomy Blog

caption: Jupiter is fantastically massive, and its fearsome gravity holds thrall over a retinue of moons that might otherwise be called planets in their on right. By far, the most interesting of its family are the moons Europa and Io. . . Europa is the crescent on the lower left, and Io (obviously) is the one on the upper right. The plume you see is from the volcano Tvashtar, which has been active for quite some time now. If you look right at the bottom of the plume, you can see molten sulfur glowing red.

(via Conservative Grapevine)

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