nebulae

Philip Plait Bad Astronomy Metsavainio Cygnus

A deep, deep photographic dive into the Cygnus the Swan

By Phil Plait 10 months ago

The spectacular star-forming nebula W51 seen in infrared by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Star formation is beautiful and terrifying

By Phil Plait 11 months ago

The dark dust clouds of vdB31, illuminated by and reflecting the light of the bright blue star AB Aurigae. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

The delicate beauty of illuminated dust

By Phil Plait 12 months ago

Polar stratospheric clouds over Sweden on December 31, 2019. Credit: Göran Strand, used by permission, from the video

The eerie, unearthly sight of polar stratospheric clouds

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

StDr 56, a possible planetary nebula in the constellation of Triangulum. It’s about the same size as the full Moon on the sky. Credit: Robert Pölz, Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner

So what the heck is StDr 56?

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

A close-up of the Hubble image of the galaxy IC 342 reveals a mysterious, round, red gas cloud (arrowed, and inset at 5X size). It’s unclear what it might be. NASA / ESA / Paul Sell / Judy Schmidt

The beautiful spiral galaxy IC 342 and the mysterious huge bubble

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Stars and gas seen by Hubble (red and yellow) together with long filaments of cold gas by ALMA (purple) start to show a complete picture of star formation. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Y. Cheng et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello; NASA/ESA Hubble.

The spectacular ins and outs of starbirth

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

The planetary nebulae NGC 6302 (left) and 7027 (right), dying stars casting off their outer layers, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

Hubble sees the spectacular deaths of stars like the Sun

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

A cluster of stars is forming the nebula NGC 2014, located about 160,000 light years from Earth in a neighboring galaxy.

Cosmic beauty and terror mark the 30th anniversary of Hubble Space Telescope

By Phil Plait 2 years ago

Detail of Hubble image of the globular cluster M22. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

How to make a massive star cluster: Start with a lot of gas. A lot.

By Phil Plait 2 years ago