January 8, 2018 - Cosmic Winter Wonderland
Cosmic Winter Wonderland Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact, a region called NGC 6357, where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them. Located in our galaxy about 5,500 light years from Earth, NGC 6357 contains at least three clusters of young stars, including many hot, massive, luminous stars. The X-ray data (purple) reveal hundreds of point sources, which are the young stars, as well as diffuse X-ray emission from hot gas. Also visible are bubbles, or cavities, that have been created by radiation and material blowing away from the surfaces of massive stars, plus supernova explosions. Infrared data is shown in orange, and optical wavelengths appear as blue.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al; Optical: UKIRT; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Weekly Calendar
January 8 - 14, 2018
Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
Monday 8
Last Qtr Moon 5:25 PM
1587: Johann Fabricius born
1942: Stephen Hawking born
1973: Luna 21 & Lunokhod 2 launched
1987: Challenger debris buried
Tuesday 9
Venus in superior conjunction
Pluto in conjunction with Sun
1839: Thomas Henderson publishes distance to Alpha Centauri
1968: Surveyor 7 lands on Moon
1990: STS-32 Columbia launched
Wednesday 10
1946: U.S. Army bounces radar signal off the Moon
1969: Venera 6 launched
Thursday 11
Jupiter 4° south of Moon
Mars 5° south of Moon
Vesta 0.4° north of Moon
1787: William Herschel discovers Uranian moons Oberon and Titania
1978: First triple docking: Soyuz 26, Soyuz 27, Salyut 6
1996: STS-72 Endeavour launched
1998: Lunar Prospector arrives at Moon
Friday 12
1907: Sergei Korolev born
1986: STS-61C Columbia launched
1997: STS-81 Atlantis launched
2005: Deep Impact spacecraft launched
Saturday 13
Mercury 0.6° south of Saturn
1610: Galileo discovers Ganymede, moon of Jupiter
1978: NASA selects first women astronauts
1993: STS-54 Endeavour launched
Sunday 14
Moon at apogee
Saturn 3° south of Moon
1975: Earth Resources Technology Satellite is renamed Landsat
2005: Huygens probe lands on Titan
2008: MESSENGER spacecraft makes its first flyby of Mercury