M33: a galaxy in the Triangle

✨In the small northern Triangle Constellation lies a galaxy that is also called the "Helix" or simply the Triangle Galaxy.

M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter and is the third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and our Milky Way✨

#Galaxy
👉 @AstroMechanics

Radioactive isotopes on the ocean bottom

✨Scientists investigated a time span of 11 million years of our planet's life and in the process discovered 120 alien radioactive particles in the interior of the crust beneath the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

📌These particles came to Earth more than a million years ago as a result of supernovae exploding.

As an example, one supernova exploded around 2.3 million years ago and was about 9.2 times heavier than the Sun. A second star exploded about 1.5 million years ago and was about 8.8 times heavier than the Sun✨

#Radioactive
👉 @AstroMechanics

Solar Protoplanetary Disk

✨Roughly 4.6 billion years ago, a giant cloud of hydrogen and dust exploded under its own weight and formed the disk called the solar nebula.

Most of the substance concentrated in the center and created the Sun, while the rest of it formed the planets and other objects in the system✨.

#SolarProtoplanetaryDisk
👉 @AstroMechanics

This is not a photoshop😱

Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere

✨The photo was taken on Jupiter in the early morning hours when the Sun was illuminating the top of a massive thunderstorm.

📌And those three bright celestial bodies are the Galilean satellites.

#Jupiter'sAtomsphere
👉 @AstroMechanics

Webb Highlights the Velvet-Like Lining of Dust Throughout This Star-Forming Region, Including Shells Around Actively Forming Stars

✨As seen above the Pillars of Creation appear otherworldly in mid-infrared light. NASA’S James Webb Space Telescope has captured an incredible scene that is large and lofty – and appears lit by flickering lanterns. A “ghost” haunts the crag in the lower left, a gargoyle-like shape snarls toward the middle of the frame, and a dark horse’s head charges out of the edge of the second pillar.

Instead, dust in Webb’s image is like the dawn. It is an essential ingredient for star formation. Though cloaked, these pillars are bursting with activity. Newly forming stars hide within these dark gray chambers, and others, like red rubies, have jumped into view. Over time, Webb’s mid-infrared image will allow researchers to deeply explore the gas and dust in this region, and more precisely model how stars form over millions of years✨

#AstroInfo
👉 @AstroMechanics

'Planet killer' asteroid hiding in sun's glare could smash into Earth one day☄😱

✨Asteroids of this size are big enough to cause mass extinction events.
A "planet killer" asteroid that is hiding in the glare of the sun has finally been detected, and the giant space rock could smash into Earth one day.
The 0.9-mile-wide (1.5 kilometers) "potentially hazardous" asteroid, named 2022 AP7, is one of several large space rocks that astronomers recently discovered  near the orbits of Earth and Venus. 

Currently, 2022 AP7 crosses Earth's orbit while our planet is on the opposite side of the sun, but scientists say that over thousands of years, the asteroid and Earth will slowly start to cross the same point closer together, thereby increasing the odds of a catastrophic impact. The asteroid, discovered alongside two other near-Earth asteroids using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, was described in a study published Sept. 29 in The Astronomical Journal✨

#AstroNews
👉 @AstroMechanics

#ScienceFun😂
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Why can we sometimes see the moon in the daytime?

✨We sometimes see the moon during the day for the same reason we see it at night — it is reflecting light from the sun — After the sun, the moon is by far the brightest celestial object we can see. But the moon isn't always visible during the day. This is due to Earth's atmosphere and the orbital cycle of our natural satellite.

If our planet didn't have an atmosphere, the moon would be visible from Earth all the time. Meanwhile, the phases of the moon mean that, when it moves between Earth and the sun — such as during the new moon — the illuminated side faces away from us and the dark side of the moon faces Earth, making it basically invisible to skywatchers on Earth✨
#Moon
👉 @AstroMechanics

What time is the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse on Nov. 8🌑👀?

✨Here's an awesome timeline for the Beaver Blood Moon lunar eclipse of Nov. 8. The last total lunar eclipse until 2025 will turn the moon blood-red on Tuesday, Nov. 8, but exactly when you should look up depends on where you are.

The eclipse, dubbed the Beaver Blood Moon lunar eclipse since it occurs during November's Full Beaver Moon, will be visible across North America, the Pacific, Australia and Asia. During the eclipse, the full moon will pass through Earth's shadow as it moves behind our planet with respect to the sun, giving it a spectacular bloody color in the process. You can watch the total lunar eclipse on Space.com for free, courtesy of several webcasts from observatories across the United States. Tuesday's "blood moon" eclipse will begin at 3:02 a.m. EST (0803 GMT) when the moon begins to enter the outermost region of Earth's shadow✨

#MoonEclipse
👉 @AstroMechanics

Black hole announces itself to astronomers by violently ripping apart a star

✨The black hole is located in a dwarf galaxy a million light-years away and ripped apart an unlucky star in a brutal tidal disruption event.
A hitherto undiscovered black hole announced its presence to astronomers when it ripped apart and devoured a star that wandered too close to it.
Astronomers have discovered an intermediate-mass black hole that shredded a nearby star. The black hole blasted out a flare of radiation so powerful that it briefly outshone every star in its dwarf galaxy home. This TDE could help scientists better understand the relationship between galaxies and black holes. It also provides astronomers with another intermediate black hole to study✨

#Blackhole
👉 @AstroMechanics

Earth is encircled by a bubble 1,000 light years away🌎

So, how did it originate?

✨In recent research, astronomers succeeded in reconstructing the evolutionary history of our galactic region and showing how a chain of events dating back some 14 million years led to the creation of an enormous bubble around the Solar System.

Turns out that this bubble was formed by the birth of new stars currently surrounding our galactic region✨

#Earth
👉 @AstroMechanics

The Sun probably possessed a system of rings🌕

✨Scientists from U.S. Rice University have conducted simulations while trying to reconstruct the major stages in the evolution of the Solar System. One of the discoveries was a confirmation of the possible existence of rings in the Sun at the stage of our luminary's formation.

The assumption the Sun owned rings similar to those of Saturn emerged after studying other young stars in the Universe. They are present there, and therefore it is highly likely they could have originally formed around the Sun as well🌺✨

#Sun
👉 @AstroMechanics

InSight survived a massive dust storm on Mars

✨InSight has been in safe mode since Jan. 7, 2022, due to a major dust storm that severely limited the amount of light available to the solar panels.

For all this time, the station conducted no scientific research, but only transmitted data on its status to Earth.

On January 19, engineers took the station out of safe mode, determining that the storm had subsided✨.

#Astroinfo
👉 @AstroMechanics