Dr Bee
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beebabin.bsky.social
Dr Bee
@beebabin.bsky.social
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Reposted by Dr Bee
astronomers.bsky.social
Taken Under the "Wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors. Even though it is a small or so-called dwarf galaxy, the SMC is so bright that it is visible to the unaided eye from the Southern Hemisphere and near the equator. Many navigators, including Ferdinand Magellan who lends his name to the SMC, used it to help find their way across the oceans. Modern astronomers are also interested in studying the SMC (and its cousin, the Large Magellanic Cloud), but for very different reasons. Because the SMC is so close and bright, it offers an opportunity to study phenomena that are difficult to examine in more distant galaxies. Credits NASA, ESA, CXC and the University of Potsdam, JPL-Caltech, and STScI
December 5, 2024 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Bee
astrojaz.bsky.social
galaxies are so beautiful 🌌
A massive spiral galaxy fills the image. A bright, yellow galactic core glows at the center, surrounded by spiral arms studded with pink stars and dark lanes of dust. A spiral galaxy, seen face-on to the viewer. The bright center of the galaxy is crossed by a glowing bar, and it is surrounded by tightly wound spiral arms, forming a circular shape with relatively clear edges. Faraway galaxies are visible around it, along with a few bright stars, on a dark background. One star to the right of the galaxy is very large and extremely bright with long diffraction spikes. Slightly oblique view of a spiral galaxy with a glowing yellow central core and two spiral arms that wind clockwise from the center. The arms consist of dark reddish-brown dust trails that are vein-like and hazy clouds of blue stars. The outer regions of the galaxy appear bluer, with bright clusters of blue stars sparsely lining the outer edges of the spiral arms. There are a few foreground stars that have bright white or blue cores with colorful fuzzy halos and four diffraction spikes radiating from their centers. Scattered across the dark background are thousands of faint objects that vary in size, shape, and color. Most appear as small dots, ovals, or lines in different shades of orange, red, and blue. A bright, white galactic core shines near the center of the image with a faint bar of stars extending from it, diagonally to the right. Faint, hazy spiral arms encircle the core, with several distant stars and bright blue foreground stars with diffraction spikes scattered throughout the image, all against black space.
December 5, 2024 at 2:40 AM
beebabin.bsky.social
November 17, 2024 at 3:41 PM
beebabin.bsky.social
November 17, 2024 at 3:41 PM