star cluster
esiegel | December 16, 2013"Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe." -Maria Mitchell
It's time again for Messier Monday, where we highlight the various wonderous deep-sky objects of the night, and show you how to find them against the expansive backdrop of stars. The (almost) full Moon is out tonight, polluting your night sky with as much light as a large-sized urban area, but that doesn't mean all of the 110 deep-sky objects that make up the Messier catalogue are off-limits!
Image credit: Mike Keith’s delightful (a)periodic table of Messier objects!
While extended…
esiegel | December 2, 2013"Give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not those fifty things I dabble in." -Dwight L. Moody
While star clusters may dabble in a number of physically interesting things, there's one thing that they do above all others, and that is shine. For today's Messier Monday, where we spotlight one of the 110 deep-sky wonders of the Messier catalogue, let's take a look at one of the brilliant open clusters of stars that's recently formed in our neighborhood of the galaxy and that will appear all winter long: Messier 50.
Image credit: Greg Scheckler, using the robotic telescopes of http://…
esiegel | August 5, 2013"Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Welcome back to another Messier Monday here on Starts With A Bang! Each Monday, we go through one of the 110 deep-sky wonders of the Messier Catalogue, some of the brightest and most prominent of the night sky wonders. Originally compiled by Charles Messier and his assistant, Pierre Méchain, in the late 18th Century, these telescopic wonders showcase the cosmic beauty and variety easily visible from our vantage point here on Earth.
Image credit: Alistair…
esiegel | April 29, 2013"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." -W. Shakespeare
Welcome to just another Messier Monday here on Starts With A Bang! Each Monday, we're taking a detailed look at a different one of the 110 deep-sky objects that compose the Messier Catalogue, each one a different semi-permanent wonder of the night sky for our viewing pleasure here on Earth.
Image credit: Alistair Symon, 2005-2009.
While we may not think of our galaxy as a hotbed of star formation -- and indeed it isn't compared to many, as it forms less than one Sun-like star per year…
esiegel | March 4, 2013"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will forever bubble up, if forever you dig." -Marcus Aurelius
Welcome back to yet another Messier Monday! Each week, we're taking a look at one of the 110 fixed, deep-sky objects -- not to be confused with comets -- that made up Messier's original catalogue.
Image credit: ScienceSouth - Tony's Astronomy Corner.
Today, we're going to take a look at Messier 52, one of the 33 open star clusters in Messier's catalogue, which happens to be right on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. It's one of the easiest Messier objects to find, as to get…
esiegel | December 3, 2012"Who is wise? He that learns from everyone.
Who is powerful? He that governs his passions.
Who is rich? He that is content.
Who is that? Nobody." -Benjamin Franklin
Welcome to Messier Monday, where each week we take a journey into one of the 110 objects in the Messier Catalogue of non-cometary deep-sky objects. Ranging from stellar remnants to star clusters to globular clusters to distant galaxies and more, the Messier objects tell a rich and varied story that you can share in yourself through even the simplest of astronomical instruments.
Image credit: Rich Richins, of all 110 Messier…
esiegel | November 5, 2012"I hate that expression, 'fusion.' What it means to me is this movement where nothing ever really fused." -Wayne Kramer
Welcome to another Messier Monday, where each week, I pick one of the 110 Messier Objects -- deep-sky objects catalogued to avoid confusion for comet hunters -- to highlight and detail.
Image(s) credit: SEDS -- http://messier.seds.org/.
This week, I'd like to highlight one of only two star-forming nebulae visible to the naked eye in the night sky, and I want to do it before it disappears completely for the year! Visible for just an hour or so after sunset right now towards…
esiegel | October 29, 2012"Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter,
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades." -Walt Whitman
Last week, we kicked off our very first Messier Monday by spotlighting M1: the Crab Nebula. But with 110 different objects to choose from, the Messier catalogue represents some of the brightest and most universally accessible wonders of the night sky.
Image(s) credit: SEDS -- http://messier.seds.org/.
Many of these…
esiegel | October 1, 2012"Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed." -Samuel Johnson
But the stars, as opposed to humans, are born shining, with hundreds (or more) of brothers and sisters, shine ever more brightly over their lifetimes, and die in spectacular fashion. As far as we can tell, here's the past, present and future story of all the Sun-like stars in our galaxy.
Bok Globule Barnard 175; image credit by Jerry Lodriguss of http://www.astropix.com/.
At some point in the far distant past, every star in our galaxy was once no more than a molecular cloud of gas, with gravity attempting…