Some of the most beautiful things in the world are not of this world at all, but rather are part of outer space. This image is of the Sombrero Galaxy. The red ring is a band of dust that encircles the entire galaxy.
This site also has a wonderful, ultraviolet video of the sun, taken by NASA‘s SOHO spacecraft, which offers a fantastic, not often seen view of the rotating sun -- complete with its solar flares and whirling magnetic loops. It‘s a must see !
V838 Monoceroti Expansion (Hubble)
http://orbitingfrog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/V838_Monocerotis_expansion.jpg
In this series of images you can see how the star’s outer layers were first expelled and then cut away by the powerful radiation from the star. The event was made even more interesting by the fact that a ‘light echo‘ was seen. During the expansion the object appeared to expand faster than the speed of light - the effect was however merely an astronomical optical illusion.
The Egg Nebula (Hubble)
http://orbitingfrog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/opo9603a.jpg
The surface of the Sun is far more active than most people would think. This ultraviolet video taken by NASA’s SOHO spacecraft gives brilliant detail. It allows us to see one full revolution of the Sun on its axis, which normally takes about 25 days. In this video you can make out large flares erupting from the surface and the striking magnetic loops that seem to whirl about them as they go. (Full 512×512 MPEG Here)
Red Square Nebula Nebula (Hale/Keck)
http://orbitingfrog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/600px-Redsquarenebula.jpg
Discovered in 2007, this ruby-like nebula may be the result of two interacting stars. If one star is dying then the material from it may be dragged into a disc around the orbits of both objects. Material can then only escape from the system along the poles of the disc, resulting in two cones leading out of the stars. When viewed from the edge these cones seem like two triangles. Here the system is seen in the infrared. Structures like this are rarely seen in nebula but there is in fact a Red Rectangle Nebula which is less symmetric but still quite interesting to look at.
Abell 39 (NOAO)
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Here we see an almost perfect planetary nebula that sits about 7,000 light years away in the constellation Hercules. The dot at the centre is the original star, which - as it died - released the expanding gas shell also seen clearly here. The ghostly appearance of the shell is due to the blue-green filter used to take the image, which picks out the oxygen emitted light at 500.7nm.
Saturn’s Rings (Cassini)
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The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared (Spitzer)
By looking at things in different wavelengths we can see much more than meets the eye. This image is a perfect example. Just as with the Horsehead image above we are seeing cooler material. This time it is dust in the Sombrero galaxy. The red ring is a thick band of dust encircling the whole galaxy. In the optical, this dust ring is what gives the Sombrero its distinctive black, obscuring line.
http://orbitingfrog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Sombrero%20Spitzer%20Big.jpg
Source: Orbiting Frog July 25, 2007, http://www.space.com/bestimg/?guid=4499b332885af&cat=strangest
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