Solar Filament Eruption

Solar Filament Eruption (source: NASA)

Solar Filament Eruption Creates 'Canyon of Fire' - A magnetic filament of solar material erupted on the sun in late September, breaking the quiet conditions in a spectacular fashion. The 200,000 mile long filament ripped through the sun's atmosphere, the corona, leaving behind what looks like a canyon of fire. The glowing canyon traces the channel where magnetic fields held the filament aloft before the explosion. In reality, the sun is not made of fire, but of something called plasma: particles so hot that their electrons have boiled off, creating a charged gas that is interwoven with magnetic fields. These images were captured on Sept. 29-30, 2013, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, which constantly observes the sun in a variety of wavelengths. . . . (source: NASA)


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Dying Star Helix Nebula photo

Helix Nebula (source: NASA)

The Helix Nebula: Unraveling at the Seams
"A dying star is throwing a cosmic tantrum in this combined image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core. This object, called the Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets. Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. These stars spend most of their lives turning hydrogen into helium in massive runaway nuclear fusion reactions in their cores. In fact, this process of fusion provides all the light and heat that we get from our sun. Our sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years. . . ." source

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Tarantula Nebula photo

Tarantula Nebula (source: NASA)

New View of the Tarantula Nebula - This composite of 30 Doradus, aka the Tarantula Nebula, contains data from Chandra (blue), Hubble (green), and Spitzer (red). Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula is one of the largest star-forming regions close to the Milky Way. Chandra's X-rays detect gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by stellar winds and supernovas. This high-energy stellar activity creates shock fronts, which are similar to sonic booms. Hubble reveals the light from massive stars at various stages of star birth, while Spitzer shows where the relatively cooler gas and dust lie. NASA

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Total Solar Eclipse LIVE

Total Solar Eclipse LIVE - Scheduled for Nov 3, 2013 - Join the Slooh Broadcast Team on November 3rd for complete coverage of the incredibly rare Hybrid Eclipse live from Kenya, Gabon, and the Canary Islands. Slooh Astronomer Paul Cox will be broadcasting live from the wilderness of Kenya to bring the clearest images of the Solar Totality, while live feeds from Gabon and the Canary Islands with show the Annular portion of the Eclipse as the Moon's shadow starts its path across the Earth's face.

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