August 28, 2017 - Stellar Ornaments

Stellar Ornaments  In the strikingly colorful emission nebula LHA 120-N55 (or N55 for short), blazing blue stars are adorned with a mantle of glowing gas left over from their recent formation. Astronomers study these beautiful displays to learn about the conditions in places where new stars develop. N55 is a glowing gas cloud in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 163,000 light-years away. It is situated inside a supergiant shell, or superbubble, called LMC 4. Superbubbles, often hundreds of light-years across, are formed when the fierce winds from newly formed stars, and shockwaves from supernova explosions, work in tandem to blow away most of the gas and dust that originally surrounded them and create huge bubble-shaped cavities.

Image credit: ESO

Weekly Calendar

August 28 - September 3, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 28

1789: William Herschel discovers Enceladus, moon of Saturn
1993: Galileo spacecraft flies by asteroid Ida
2009: STS-128 Discovery launched

Tuesday 29

First Qtr Moon 4:13 AM ET

Wednesday 30

Moon at apogee
Saturn 4° south of Moon

1963: Lunar Orbiter program approved by NASA
1983: STS-8 Challenger launched; first night shuttle launch
1984: STS-41D Discovery launched

Thursday 31

Friday 1

1964: First Titan IIIA launched
1979: Pioneer 11 becomes first spacecraft to fly past Saturn

Saturday 2

2015: Soyuz TMA-18M launched carrying ISS Expedition 45/46 crew

Sunday 3

1970: NASA cancels last two planned lunar landings
1976: Viking 2 lands on Mars
2006: SMART-1 spacecraft intentionally crashed into Moon