July 27, 2015 - Infrared Lobster

Infrared Lobster  This infrared image of a stellar nursery known as NGC 6357 is part of a survey of the Milky Way being conducted by the European Southern Observatory to map our galaxy’s structure and explain how it formed. Known as the Lobster Nebula because of its appearance in visible light images, NGC 6357 is located 8,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. A bright point of light that can be seen near the center of this picture is known as Pismis 24-1. For a long time, astronomers believed this was the most massive star in the entire sky, with about 300 times as much material as our Sun. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope within just the last decade revealed it was actually not one, but three stars, all of which are among the biggest known in our galaxy.

Image credit: ESO / VVV Survey / D. Minniti / Acknowledgment: Ignacio Toledo

Weekly Calendar

July 27 - August 2, 2015

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 27

Tuesday 28

Delta Aquarid meteor shower

1851: First photo of total solar eclipse
1964: Ranger 7 lunar probe launched
1973: Skylab 3 crew launched on 59-day mission

Wednesday 29

Delta Aquarid meteor shower

1985: STS-51F Challenger launched

Thursday 30

1965: SA-10 launched, last Saturn 1 vehicle
1971: Apollo 15 lands on Moon

Friday 31

Full Moon 6:43 AM ET
Venus 6° south of Jupiter

1969: Mariner 6 flies by Mars
1971: First vehicle driven on Moon by Apollo 15 astronauts Scott & Irwin
1992: STS-46 Atlantis launched
1999: Lunar Prospector mission ends

Saturday 1

1818: Maria Mitchell born
1967: Lunar Orbiter V launched
1968: Saturn V production ends
1973: First X-24B lifting body glide test

Sunday 2

Moon at perigee
Neptune 3° south of Moon
Saturn appears stationary

1971: Apollo 15 lunar module Falcon leaves Moon in first televised lunar liftoff
1991: STS-43 Atlantis launched