December 12, 2016 - A Cosmic Crash Diet
A Cosmic Crash Diet Located about 8,000 light-years away within the constellation Scorpius is an emission nebula known as NGC 6357. It is a vast stellar nursery where some of the most massive stars ever discovered in our galaxy have recently been born. One of these, a stellar behemoth called Pismis 24-1 (seen here near the center of the image) was once thought to contain over 200 times the mass of our Sun. But more detailed observations with the Hubble Space Telescope cut the star’s supersized mass in half. Using the telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, it was discovered that the brilliant light from Pismis 24-1 is in fact coming from two—if not three or more—separate stars. But although Pismis 24-1 may not be as big as we thought, each of its stars could still be a hefty 100 times as massive as the Sun.
Image credit: NASA / ESA / Jesœs Maz Apellÿniz (Instituto de astrofsica de Andaluca, Spain)
Weekly Calendar
December 12-18, 2016
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 12
Moon at perigee
1961: OSCAR 1 launched, first amateur radio satellite
1970: Italian ground crew becomes first to launch satellite for America, Explorer 42
Tuesday 13
Full Moon 7:05 PM ET
Geminid meteor shower
Aldebaran 0.5° south of Moon
2001: Final drop test of the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle prototype
Wednesday 14
Geminid meteor shower
1546: Tycho Brahe born
1962: Mariner 2 first planet flyby (Venus)
1972: Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan becomes last human to walk on Moon
2013: Chang'e-3 spacecraft lands on Moon, deploys Yutu rover
Thursday 15
Ceres appears stationary
1965: Gemini VI launched
1970: Venera 7 makes first landing on Venus
1984: Vega 1 launched to study Venus and Halley’s Comet
2003: National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center opens
2010: Soyuz TMA-20 launched carrying ISS Expedition 26/27 crew
2015: Soyuz TMA-19M launched carrying ISS Expedition 46/47 crew
Friday 16
1857: E. E. Barnard born
1965: Pioneer 6 launched
1976: Last two Saturn V moon rockets donated to museums
Saturday 17
1903: First powered flight, by Orville Wright
1979: First successful test of all three Space Shuttle main engines
2012: GRAIL A & B spacecraft impact Moon
Sunday 18
Regulus 1° north of Moon
1999: Terra spacecraft launched