Venus, The Moon and Jupiter - triple conjunction time

Although I went for an evening walk about one day late for the actual alignment of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, it still looked pretty spectacular. I've put together some footage I captured on my walk. You'll see the Sun sets before I turn to the Moon and planets. Venus below and Jupiter above the crescent Moon.



Since this recording the Moon has 'departed' from the scene leaving Venus and Jupiter shine alone. Well, there's alway all the rest of the Universe present of course. :-) If you want to know what else to expect from the skies this month you should check out Our Night Sky by Carolyn Collins Peterson over at Astrocast.TV.


Here you see Venus and Jupiter early evening this week-end. Photo: Bente Lilja Bye


You hear Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No 2 played by my niece the violinist Sarah-Erin Bye with David Meier, Germany on piano. See and hear the entire concerto here.

Antennae Assembly

Antennae Assembly


The Antennae galaxies are among my favorite astronomical objects. I have even given this blog the nick name 'Science Antenna' with a lovely portray of the - Antennae. I was of course delighted today, when I saw that ESO's new ALMA telescope chose to publish images of the elegant galaxies dancing as the first result - the inauguration of the most impressive and highest lying! telescope on this planet.

The object consist of two galaxies merging. As they are smashing together they create billions of new stars, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. You'll even find some super star clusters as a result of this collision.

I will celebrate these events, the lovely collision AND the inauguration of ALMA, here with a series of images that I have collected over the years, starting with the latest - Antennae by ALMA! Enjoy!



Antennae Galaxies, NGC4038, NGC4039

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Visible light image: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope




The Hubble telescope registered the sharpest image of the Antennae galaxies until now. It is expected that a complete ALMA will provide much sharper images than today, so to better match these taken by Hubble.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.



Antennae Galaxies as seen by around one third of the total 66 antennas comprising the ALMA telescope.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO).




Antennae Galaxies as seen by around one third of the total 66 antennas comprising the ALMA telescope.

Credit: B. Saxton, (NRAO/AUI/NSF), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Visible light image: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

And now some other images of the Antennae Galaxies.



This is a composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold and brown), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red).

Credit: NASA, ESA, SAO, CXC, JPL-Caltech, and STScI.



Credit: NRAO/AUI and J. Hibbard

Colliding Galaxies - SU Transitions

SU Colliding With Its Users



Colliding Galaxies
by Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA
Arp 272

SU is going to make significant changes to their service, so much so it looses its main character all together. This means that I cannot make comments illustrated by visuals, like in this very post, communicating quite effectively across cultures and languages (at least overcoming some difficulties for those who do not master the English language to perfection). SU is on a colliding course with its own original idea - and more devastating, with its customers/users.

I do not see how I can maintain the interactions with my audience without the html I right now am using. The power of visuals seems unknown to those in power at SU.

For those who'd like to follow my discoveries on net, however reduced that will be compared to on this service, can join my circle at Google + and/or join my group Beyond Sustainability on Facebook

My more lengthy 'popular' science articles will still be published on Science 2.0. In fact there will be a weekly series of articles about Extreme Geohazards there starting next week.

I will continue to update my PlanetBye on Blogspot also, where you actually can find most of my posts here on SU + some more stuff.


Bente Lilja Bye aka Stellare

Solar Flare

Solar Flare



In blue of course!!

Atronomical Gold

Astronomical Gold



Neutron stars to blame?

Smoke Rings In Space

Smoke Rings In Space



Wh00t? No smoking bans in space? Must have been a glitch by the authorities...

Grazing Cows and Galaxies

Grazing Cows and Galaxies



by Meteorologists! :-)

You know you have to read this story then.

Neptune

Happy Birthday, Neptune!



1 - ONE - whole year it is, then. :-)

4th Of July Celebrations Of Astronomical Proportions

4th Of July Celebrations Of Astronomical Proportions


The Crab Nebula was once SN1054 - a supernova that exploded on 4th of July. Hence the American Independence Day....Yes? ;-)

Ulas The Quasar

Ulas The Quasar



The very distant one...

Star Birth

Star Birth



Credit: ESA/Herschel/SPIRE/PACS/D. Arzoumanian (CEA Saclay) for the 'Gould Belt survey' Key Programme Consortium


Not surprisingly it appears in BLUE! ;-)

Apart from the obvious blue, there are more interesting reading here.

April is Global Astronomy Month

April is Global Astronomy Month 2011



And what a lovely excuse to showcase yet another image of the lovely sisters - The Pleiades! See how nice and blue they all are. :-)

It's Gravitational!

It's Gravitational!



Look out for the waves! ;-)

Moon Map

Moon Map



a rough version

Solar Flare II

Solar Flare



Credit: NASA / Goddard / SDO AIA Team

This flare (bright white) was directed straight towards Earth. What a spectacle! :-)

Solar Flare

Flare, Flare!



Huge eruption on the Sun the other day hits our atmosphere now. Do not depend on GPS. I repeat, DO NOT DEPEND ON GPS. You will get lost. :-)

This is what space weather is about, warning us about the swarm of electrically charged particles heading our way from the Sun.

I Eat You!

I Eat You, I Eat You!



Jupiter Said To The Asteroid...:-)

Galactic Fountains

Galactic Fountains



Why?! Why haven't I heard about these fabulous fountains before? I want one in MY Milky Way Garden. :-)

Bubble

Bubble



Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J.Hughes et al, Optical: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Pretty, pretty bubble in space. :-) It's a supernova remnant.

Lunar Eclipse 2010

Lunar Eclipse on Canary Islands



Credit: Itahisa N. González

Still compensating for the overcast that arrived exactly when the lunar eclipse started... :-)