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Shell Galaxies in Pisces

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2411/NGC474_S1_Crop1024.jpg Shell Galaxies in Pisces This spectacular
intergalactic skyscape features Arp 227,
a curious system of galaxies from the 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

Some 100 million light-years distant
within the boundaries of the constellation Pisces,
Arp 227 consists of the two galaxies prominent
above and left of center, the shell galaxy NGC 474
and its blue, spiral-armed neighbor NGC 470.

The readily apparent shells and star streams of NGC 474 are likely tidal features
originating from the accretion
of another smaller galaxy during close gravitational encounters
that began over a billion years ago.

The large galaxy on the bottom righthand side of the deep image,
NGC 467, appears to be surrounded by faint shells and streams too,
evidence of another merging galaxy system.

Intriguing background galaxies are scattered around
the field that also includes spiky foreground stars.

Of course, those stars lie well within our own Milky Way Galaxy.

The telescopic field of view spans 25 arc minutes or just under 1/2 degree on the sky.

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APOD: 2024 November 6 – Comet Tsuchinshan Atlas over the Dolomites

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2411/CometA3Dolomites_Masi_960.jpg APOD: 2024 November 6 – Comet Tsuchinshan Atlas over the Dolomites Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now headed back to the outer Solar System.

The massive dusty snowball put on quite a show during its trip near the Sun,
resulting in many impressive pictures from planet Earth during October.

The featured image was taken in mid-October and shows a
defining visual feature of the comet -- its impressive anti-tail.

The image captures Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) with impressively long dust and ion tails pointing up and away from the Sun, while the strong anti-tail --
composed of more massive dust particles --
trails the comet and points down and (nearly) toward the recently-set Sun.

In the foreground is village of Tai di Cadore, Italy,
with the tremendous Dolomite Mountains in the background.

Another comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), once a candidate to
rival Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas in brightness, broke up last week during its close approach to our Sun.

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Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/Strega_apod_1024r.jpg Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula

By starlight, this eerie visage shines in the dark
with a crooked profile evoking its popular name, the Witch Head Nebula.

In fact, this entrancing telescopic portrait
gives the impression that
a witch has fixed her gaze on Orion's bright supergiant star Rigel.

More formally known as IC 2118,
the Witch Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years and
is composed of interstellar dust grains reflecting Rigel's starlight.

The color of the Witch Head Nebula is caused not only by Rigel's
intense blue light, but because the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red.

The same physical process
causes Earth's daytime
sky
to appear blue, although the scatterers in
Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.

Rigel and this dusty cosmic crone are about 800 light-years away.

You may still see a few witches in your neighborhood tonight though,
so have a safe and Happy Halloween!

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Though I can’t offer shelter to the man sleeping on the footpath,
Nor hand a book to the child working in a nearby mill,
Though I can’t feed the disabled man who lost his hand and family in an accident,
Or bring color to the life of the blind child living nearby,

I can’t console the rickshaw driver struggling to support his family,
Nor buy all the balloons from the woman selling them with her sick child on her hip.
I can’t give sweets to the child outside the shop, watching me buy treats.

So, is Diwali truly happy?
Is it, if I can’t bring joy to those who truly need it?

Where is my humanity, my empathy, my community?
What does it mean to celebrate even a single day of happiness if I ignore suffering the rest?

Is Diwali really happy?

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NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/NGC7293_preview1024.png NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula

A mere seven hundred light years from Earth toward the constellation Aquarius,
a star is dying.

The once sun-like star's last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula.

Also known as NGC 7293,
the cosmic Helix is
a well studied and nearby example of a Planetary Nebula,
typical of this final phase of stellar evolution.

Combining narrow band data from emission lines of hydrogen atoms
in red and oxygen atoms in blue-green hues,
this deep image shows tantalizing details
of the Helix, including its bright inner region
about 3 light-years across.

The white dot at the Helix's center is this Planetary Nebula's hot, dying central star.

A simple looking nebula at first glance,
the Helix is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry.

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APOD: 2024 October 23 – Caught

APOD: 2024 October 23 – Caught What if a rocket could return to its launch tower -- and be caught?

This happened for the first time 10 days ago, after a SpaceX Starship rocket blasted off from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas, USA.

Starship then split, as planned,
with its upper stage landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The big difference was the lower stage, Super Heavy Booster 12, was caught by its launch tower about 7 minutes later.

Catching a rocket for reuse is a new and
innovative way to help reduce the cost of rocket flight by making rockets more easily reusable. Starship rockets may be used by NASA in the
future to send spacecraft to Earth orbit, the Moon, and even other planets.

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The Clipper and the Comet

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/EuropaComet_cooper3.jpg The Clipper and the Comet NASA's Europa Clipper
is now headed toward an ocean world beyond Earth.

The large spacecraft is tucked into the payload fairing atop the
Falcon Heavy rocket in this photo, taken at Kennedy Space Center
the day before the mission's successful October 14 launch.

Europa Clipper's interplanetary voyage will first take it to Mars,
then back to Earth, and then on to Jupiter on gravity assist trajectories
that will allow it to enter orbit around Jupiter in April 2030.

Once orbiting Jupiter, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times, exploring a Jovian moon
with a global subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life.

Posing in the background next to the floodlit rocket
is Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS, about a day after the comet's closest approach to
Earth.

A current darling of evening skies,
the naked-eye comet is a vistor from the distant Oort cloud

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