Quarks to Quasars

In the Glare of Alpha Centauri  The glare of Alpha Centauri, one of the brightest stars in planet Earth’s night sky, floods the left side of this southern skyscape. A mere 4.3 light-years distant, Alpha Centauri actually consists of two component stars similar in size to the Sun, locked in a mutual orbit. Much smaller and cooler, a third member of the same star system, Proxima Centauri, lies outside this field of view. Still, the telescopic scene does reveal often overlooked denizens of the Milky Way’s crowded galactic plane that lie beyond the glare of Alpha Centauri, including a planetary nebula cataloged as Hen 2-111, an estimated 7,800 light-years away. The gaseous shroud of a dying star, the nebula’s brighter core and fainter halo of reddish ionized gas span over twenty light-years, seen just right of picture center. Farther right are two notable open clusters of stars, the compact Pismis 19 also nearly 8,000 light-years away whose light is reddened by intervening dust, and the looser, closer NGC 5617. Just visible in the glare of Alpha Centauri is the dim glow of a shell-like supernova remnant, above and right of the closest star system’s bright core.

In the Glare of Alpha Centauri 

The glare of Alpha Centauri, one of the brightest stars in planet Earth’s night sky, floods the left side of this southern skyscape. A mere 4.3 light-years distant, Alpha Centauri actually consists of two component stars similar in size to the Sun, locked in a mutual orbit. Much smaller and cooler, a third member of the same star system, Proxima Centauri, lies outside this field of view. Still, the telescopic scene does reveal often overlooked denizens of the Milky Way’s crowded galactic plane that lie beyond the glare of Alpha Centauri, including a planetary nebula cataloged as Hen 2-111, an estimated 7,800 light-years away. The gaseous shroud of a dying star, the nebula’s brighter core and fainter halo of reddish ionized gas span over twenty light-years, seen just right of picture center. Farther right are two notable open clusters of stars, the compact Pismis 19 also nearly 8,000 light-years away whose light is reddened by intervening dust, and the looser, closer NGC 5617. Just visible in the glare of Alpha Centauri is the dim glow of a shell-like supernova remnant, above and right of the closest star system’s bright core.

39 notes
Posted on Thursday, 28 June
Tagged as: astronomy   space   science   Alpha Centauri  
Next Post     Previous Post
  1. gracefuldescent reblogged this from thekuebes
  2. thekuebes reblogged this from expose-the-light
  3. raeannaa reblogged this from iamthetwev
  4. lockandkeyheartbeat reblogged this from expose-the-light
  5. mochilovesevery1butyou reblogged this from expose-the-light
  6. sleeping4rest reblogged this from expose-the-light
  7. shnozdude reblogged this from expose-the-light
  8. howdoyoulike-menow reblogged this from expose-the-light
  9. clitoroid reblogged this from expose-the-light
  10. sweenmachine reblogged this from expose-the-light
  11. ohjakeshere reblogged this from expose-the-light
  12. biognosis reblogged this from expose-the-light
  13. brokenpromise-dreams reblogged this from expose-the-light
  14. embrasse-le-ciel reblogged this from higgs-broson
  15. blue-ribbon-girl reblogged this from expose-the-light
  16. iamthetwev reblogged this from expose-the-light
  17. skills-on-toast reblogged this from expose-the-light
  18. hydri reblogged this from expose-the-light
  19. penguinplayingpingpong reblogged this from expose-the-light
  20. swirlycurly reblogged this from expose-the-light
  21. sexineverland reblogged this from expose-the-light
  22. thunder-nipples reblogged this from expose-the-light
  23. higgs-broson reblogged this from expose-the-light
  24. expose-the-light posted this
Theme Urban v3 by Max Davis
Back to top