# The Heavens - Nebulas, Quasars, Norther Lights, and other delights



## Paco Dennis

Eagle Nebula


----------



## Paco Dennis

*An international team of astronomers has discovered the second most distant quasar ever found. Named Pōniuā`ena and designated J100758.264+211529.207 (J1007+2115), the object is around 13.1 billion light-years away, and contains a huge black hole with the mass equivalent to about 1.5 billion Suns, about twice as massive as that in the most distant known quasar ULAS J134208.10+092838.61. The existence of such a massive black hole just 700 million years after the Big Bang significantly challenges models of the growth of the earliest supermassive black holes.




*


----------



## Paco Dennis

Northern Lights


----------



## Aunt Marg

I love nebulas!

The Orion Nebula


----------



## Gaer

Paco Dennis said:


> Northern Lights


Northern lights viewed from Alaska.  The most beautiful sight I've ever seen, next to my babies when they were toddlers and thorougbred horses running through snow!  Wow!


----------



## Aunt Marg

Crab Nebula

Taken by Hubble, is the most detailed view of the entire Crab Nebula ever.


----------



## Gaer

Marg already answered my question.

but,

Dennis, This is an incredible thread!  Thanks!


----------



## Ruthanne

Aunt Marg said:


> Crab Nebula
> 
> Taken by Hubble, is the most detailed view of the entire Crab Nebula ever.


Gorgeous photo!


----------



## Aunt Marg

Ruthanne said:


> Gorgeous photo!


Isn't it something?

I find space (in general) so captivating.


----------



## Aunt Marg

Bubble Nebula

The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7653, is an emission nebula located 8,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia.


----------



## SetWave

Psychedelic


----------



## Aunt Marg

SetWave said:


> Psychedelic


They really are. 

I find it all so fascinating.


----------



## Paco Dennis

The North Star: Polaris​

*Constellation:* Ursa Minor
*Star Type:* F-Class Supergiant
*Mass:* 4.5 times the mass of the Sun
*Luminosity:* 2,500 times brighter than the Sun
*Diameter:* 70 million km (50 x the Sun)
*Temperature:* 5,700 Celcius
*Distance From Earth:* 430 light-years
*Rotation Period:* 119 days
*Alternate Names:* Polaris A, Alpha Ursae Minoris, Pole Star, North Star


----------



## Aunt Marg

Paco Dennis said:


> The North Star: Polaris​
> 
> *Constellation:* Ursa Minor
> *Star Type:* F-Class Supergiant
> *Mass:* 4.5 times the mass of the Sun
> *Luminosity:* 2,500 times brighter than the Sun
> *Diameter:* 70 million km (50 x the Sun)
> *Temperature:* 5,700 Celcius
> *Distance From Earth:* 430 light-years
> *Rotation Period:* 119 days
> *Alternate Names:* Polaris A, Alpha Ursae Minoris, Pole Star, North Star


Do you know what amazes me, Paco?

Light years. It's just so hard to fathom how far away (distance wise) one light year is, need alone dozens or hundreds of light years.

*One light-year is approx. 9 trillion km (6 trillion miles).*


----------



## Paco Dennis

Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights Live Cam​right now :

http://www.explore.org/livecams/zen-den/northern-lights-cam


----------



## Aunt Marg

Just reposting the link so that it's highlighted for ease of use.

https://www.explore.org/livecams/zen-den/northern-lights-cam


----------



## Paco Dennis

I love to journey in my mind far from Earth...even to the "edge" of our universe sometimes. I find doing this puts so much of the melodrama we humans make in perspective. How very small we are in the BIG picture. 

Our home Galaxy, The Milky Way, 100,000 light years diameter!


----------



## Aunt Marg

Infrared image taken of Saturn by Hubble


----------



## Dana

*Flight Through Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light*


----------



## Paco Dennis

Have fun on your virtual ride threw space.


----------



## Aunt Marg

Recorded by NASA, typical solar flares (on the sun), keeping in mind that flares are hundreds, even thousands of times larger than planet earth itself.


----------



## Paco Dennis

Electric ‘jellyfish’ spotted flashing above storm in night sky​
https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/lightning-sprite-thunderstorm-china/945103


----------



## Paco Dennis

Short vid 1 minute...spectacular.


----------



## David777

Note those colorful nebula images do not represent colors one would see with one's eyes but rather are the result of pseudo colors being assigned during image processing to different spectral elements.

Spent a recent week re-reading several chapters in this college introductory astronomy textbook I'd bought cheap a decade ago that was >$100 new and because it is a wee dated can be picked up used for less than $15, well recommended.  600 large pages full of photos and graphics including those from the Hubbel Space Telescope.

https://www.amazon.com/Voyages-Galaxies-Astronomy-AceAstronomy-Paperback/dp/B010EW8LGS/ref=sr_1_4


----------



## Devi

David777 said:


> Note those colorful nebula images do not represent colors one would see with one's eyes but rather are the result of pseudo colors being assigned during image processing to different spectral elements.


Thanks — I did not know this.


----------

