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Observing Ceres in the Night Sky 🌃🔭⠀ ⠀ The dwarf planet Ceres reached opposition in May but remains conveniently placed in the evening sky this month. ⠀ ⠀ Ceres’ name is related to the word “cereal”, as both arise from the Greek Goddess of Agriculture. Originally considered the missing planet between Mars and Jupiter after its discovery by Giuseppe Piazzi (in 1801), Ceres was downgraded to an asteroid soon afterwards, and then upgraded to Dwarf Planet status in 2006 – at the same time Pluto was demoted to join the same family as Ceres.⠀ ⠀ This week, Ceres will be slowly moving eastward above the bright, reddish star Antares in Scorpius. With a visual magnitude of 8.9, Ceres will be readily seen in backyard telescopes. Binoculars will work, too – once the bright moon leaves the scene, the lucky ones with should be able to spot it through binoculars. Ceres is located about degrees (4 finger widths) to the upper right (or celestial north) of Antares. ⠀ ⠀ On Thursday night, it will pass very close above a double star named p Ophiuchi. That star is visible to unaided eyes.⠀ ⠀ Happy hunting! via Instagram https://ift.tt/2ZTnIF5

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Pluto in True Color⠀ Image Credit: NASA, JHU APL, SwRI, Alex Parker⠀ ⠀ Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure out. Even given all of the images sent back to Earth when the robotic New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these multi-spectral frames to approximate what the human eye would see was challenging. The result featured here, released three years after the raw data was acquired by New Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf-planet to have a surprisingly complex surface composed of many regions having perceptibly different hues. In total, though, Pluto is mostly brown, with much of its muted color originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by ultraviolet light from the Sun.⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2Aae3vf) via Instagram https://ift.tt/304XBHr

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Hubble spots a swarm of stars ✨⠀ ⠀ This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a dwarf galaxy named UGC 685. Such galaxies are small and contain just a tiny fraction of the number of stars in a galaxy like the Milky Way. Dwarf galaxies often show a hazy structure, an ill-defined shape, and an appearance somewhat akin to a swarm or cloud of stars—and UGC 685 is no exception to this. Classified as an SAm galaxy—a type of unbarred spiral galaxy—it is located about 15 million light-years from Earth.⠀ ⠀ These data were gathered under Hubble's LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey) program, the sharpest and most comprehensive ultraviolet survey of star-forming galaxies in the nearby universe.⠀ ⠀ LEGUS is imaging 50 spiral and dwarf galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood in multiple colors using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. The survey is picking apart the structures of these galaxies and resolving their constituent stars, clusters, groups and other stellar associations. Star formation plays a huge role in shaping its host galaxy. By exploring these targets in detail via both new observations and archival Hubble data, LEGUS will shed light on how stars form and cluster together, how these clusters evolve, how a star's formation affects its surroundings, and how stars explode at the end of their lives.⠀ ⠀ Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center⠀ Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; the LEGUS team, B. Tully, D. Calzetti; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2UKcAFA

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Get some nice views of Uranus during late evenings ✨🔭⠀ ⠀ Blue-green Uranus will be rising in the east just before 9:30 pm local time this week. It will remain visible all night long. Uranus is sitting below (celestial south of) the stars of Aries (the Ram) and is just a palm’s width above the head of Cetus (the Whale). At magnitude 5.8, Uranus is actually bright enough to see in binoculars and small telescopes, under dark skies – and it really does look light blue! You can use the three modest stars that form the top of the head of the whale (or sea-monster in some tales) to locate Uranus for months to come – that’s because that distant planet moves so slowly in its orbit. (Text Credit: Chris Vaughan)⠀ ⠀ Star Walk 2 will help you identify Uranus and other celestial objects in the sky above you. Find active link in bio. via Instagram https://ift.tt/2HZzsvx

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M31: The Andromeda Galaxy⠀ Image Credit & Copyright: Amir H. Abolfath (TWAN)⠀ ⠀ Explanation: How far can you see? The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy, over two million light-years away. Without a telescope, even this immense spiral galaxy appears as an unremarkable, faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. But a bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, luminous blue spiral arms, and bright red emission nebulas are recorded in this stunning six-hour telescopic digital mosaic of our closest major galactic neighbor. While even casual skygazers are now inspired by the knowledge that there are many distant galaxies like M31, astronomers seriously debated this fundamental concept only 100 years ago. Were these "spiral nebulae" simply outlying gas clouds in our own Milky Way Galaxy or were they "island universes" -- distant galaxies of stars comparable to the Milky Way itself? This question was central to the famous Shapley-Curtis debate of 1920, which was later resolved by observations favoring Andromeda being just like our Milky Way Galaxy -- a conclusion making the rest of the universe much more vast than many had ever imagined.⠀ ⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2ZUfUyY) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2N4BoqY

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We’re far from finished with the moon! This week, Luna will remain in the evening sky worldwide while it waxes towards full on the coming weekend.⠀ ⠀ The moon will spend most of this week exhibiting a waxing gibbous phase. The word “gibbous” means “more than half illuminated” – the range of shapes between a semi-circle and a full circle. It comes from the Latin word for “hump”. ⠀ ⠀ During this part of the moon’s monthly cycle, it rises in late afternoon, shines in the southern sky after dusk, and sets in the hours after midnight. Like last week, evenings between the first quarter and full phases are great for viewing the moon in binoculars and backyard telescopes. The topography along the terminator – the pole-to-pole line that divides the lit and dark hemispheres – is being lit by low-angled sunlight which produces breathtaking vistas of bright mountain peaks and crater rims, and the deep black shadows they cast. And new zones are highlighted every night. ⠀ ⠀ From Monday to Friday, the moon will pass through the dim constellations of Capricornus (the Sea-Goat) and then Aquarius (the Water-Bearer). But its increasing brightness will all but overwhelm their stars. On the weekend, the moon will pass below dim Pisces (the Fishes). (Text Credit: Chris Vaughan)⠀ ⠀ Keep looking up, and enjoy the sky when you do! via Instagram https://ift.tt/2zZGvA2

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The ice giant is coming! ✨ Neptune at Opposition⠀ ⠀ Never seen Neptune? Now is a good time to try, as the icy blue giant reaches opposition and appears at its biggest and brightest of the year.⠀ ⠀ On the night of September 10, Neptune will be directly opposite the sun in the sky. At opposition, the ice giant will be closest to Earth for the year and visible all night long. ⠀ ⠀ For skywatchers the opposition of Neptune means that they will have a chance to see the eighth planet of the Solar system at its bluest, largest and brightest. Tiny, blue planet will shine at magnitude 7.8, so even at its closest approach, it won't be possible to see Neptune with the naked eye. You will need a telescope to hunt the planet in the southern sky. ⠀ ⠀ Neptune will rise at dusk and sink below the horizon at dawn. You can find it among the stars of Aquarius (the Water-Bearer), just to the left (celestial east) of a medium-bright naked-eye star named Phi (φ) Aquarii. Being so close together, both the star and Neptune will appear together in the field of view of a backyard telescope at medium power. Blue Neptune’s light has been travelling for 4 hours to reach your eye, while the warmly-tinted light of Phi Aquarii has been journeying for 202 years. A bit later the distance between the two objects will increase due to Neptune’s eastward orbital motion.⠀ ⠀ You will never miss must-see sky events with our Star Walk 2 app.⠀ ⠀ Happy hunting!⠀ ⠀ (Text Credit:Chris Vaughan) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2ZQlF5F

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September Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks 🌠⠀ ⠀ Did you watch the Perseids in August? In case you missed the event, you should be excited to see another meteor shower. The September Perseids (ε-Perseids) meteor shower takes place from September 5 to September 21 annually. The peak is excepted on September 9.⠀ ⠀ Once the sky is dark, find the constellation Perseus in your sky. Use Star Walk 2 app to deal with this quickly (active link in bio). Perseus is the shower's radiant - the point from which the meteors appear to originate. Up to 5 meteors per hour expected to strike the sky at a speed of 65 km/s. ⠀ ⠀ Clear skies and happy stargazing! via Instagram https://ift.tt/316iiUG

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In Wolf's Cave ⠀ Image Credit & Copyright: Charlie Bracken, Mladen Dugec, Max Whitby⠀ ⠀ Explanation: The mysterious blue reflection nebula found in catalogs as VdB 152 or Ced 201 really is very faint. It lies at the tip of the long dark nebula Barnard 175 in a dusty complex that has also been called Wolf's Cave. At the center of this deep and widefield telescopic view, the cosmic apparitions are nearly 1,400 light-years away along the northern Milky Way in the royal constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star giving the the nebula its characteristic blue color. Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim reddish luminescence in the nebular dust. Though stars do form in molecular clouds, this star seems to have only accidentally wandered into the area, as its measured velocity through space is very different from the cloud's velocity. Another dense, obscuring dark nebula, LDN 1221, is easy to spot at the upper right in the frame, while the more colorful planetary nebula Dengel-Hartl 5 is just below center. Faint reddish emission from an ancient supernova remnant can also be traced (lower right to upper left) against the dust-rich complex in Cepheus. via Instagram https://ift.tt/2HVdn1o

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The Moon continues its meetings with the gas giant planets 🌓✨⠀ Find out how and when to see the Moon, Saturn and Pluto close in the sky tonight with Star Walk 2 app (active link in bio). via Instagram https://ift.tt/2LBu9Dt

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Stellar Feedback in a Barred Spiral Galaxy⠀ ⠀ In this new view of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3351, massive bubbles of hot gas are erupting from the galaxy's nucleus. Those gas bubbles will affect the formation of new stars in the interstellar medium, or the space between the stars in the galaxy. This process of redistributing mass and energy in star-forming galaxies is known as "stellar feedback," and it is a driving force in galactic evolution. ⠀ ⠀ Also known as Messier 95, this particular galaxy is location about 33 million light years away from Earth in the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Astronomers captured this image using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. ⠀ ⠀ Text Credit: Hanneke Weitering for space.com ⠀ (https://www.space.com/34-image-day.html)⠀ Image credit: ESO/R. Leaman/D. Gadotti/K. Sandstrom/D. Calzetti via Instagram https://ift.tt/2ZOQTVL

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Recycling Cassiopeia A⠀ Image Credit: X-ray - NASA, CXC, SAO; Optical - NASA,STScI⠀ ⠀ Explanation: Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After a few million years, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew. The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example of this final phase of the stellar life cycle. Light from the explosion which created this supernova remnant would have been first seen in planet Earth's sky about 350 years ago, although it took that light about 11,000 years to reach us. This false-color image, composed of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, shows the still hot filaments and knots in the remnant. It spans about 30 light-years at the estimated distance of Cassiopeia A. High-energy X-ray emission from specific elements has been color coded, silicon in red, sulfur in yellow, calcium in green and iron in purple, to help astronomers explore the recycling of our galaxy's star stuff. Still expanding, the outer blast wave is seen in blue hues. The bright speck near the center is a neutron star, the incredibly dense, collapsed remains of the massive stellar core.⠀ ⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2UCmWav) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2zXjhur

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The Large Cloud of Magellan ⠀ Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares⠀ ⠀ Explanation: The 16th century Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere skygazers are known as the Clouds of Magellan, now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. About 160,000 light-years distant in the constellation Dorado, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen here in a remarkably deep, colorful, image. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies and is the home of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A. The prominent patch below center is 30 Doradus, also known as the magnificent Tarantula Nebula, a giant star-forming region about 1,000 light-years across.⠀ ⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2PKTBMt) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2ZRVVRs

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Asteroid 135 Hertha at Opposition⠀ ⠀ Asteroid 135 Hertha will reach opposition on September 6, 2019, at 05:36 EDT. At around the same time it will also make its closest approach to Earth. It will shine at a magnitude 8.23. This means that you can observe the asteroid at its brightest in the sky with a telescope.⠀ ⠀ Asteroid 135 Hertha can be found in the sky among the stars that form the constellation Aquarius. To identify the exact position of the obtect in your sky, use our astronomy guide Star Walk 2. (Active link in bio) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2NQtUqZ

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The Moon shines with Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto this week 🌗✨⠀ ⠀ Let's find out how and when to observe them.⠀ ⠀ Thursday night will bring the First Quarter Moon phase and will also begin the moon’s dance with the gas giant planets. Here are some observing tips.⠀ ⠀ On the evening of Thursday, September 5, look for the moon in the southwestern sky, and positioned less than four finger widths to the right (or 4 degrees to the celestial northwest) of the bright planet Jupiter. The moon and Jupiter will both fit within the field of view of binoculars. If you watch the pair over several hours, starting at dusk, you will see the moon’s orbit carry it closer to the planet. On Friday night, the waxing gibbous moon will hop to sit on the east side of Jupiter. Bright planet is spending the rest of this year between Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer) and Scorpius (the Scorpion).⠀ ⠀ Yellow-tinted Saturn is prominent in the southern evening sky, too - but it is less bright than Jupiter. The ringed planet will be visible from dusk until about 2 am local time. Saturn’s position in the sky is just to the upper left (or celestial east) of the stars that form the teapot-shaped constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). To find Saturn, look about 3 fist diameters to the left (east) of Jupiter. The Milky Way is between them.⠀ ⠀ On Saturday night, the moon will land immediately above the stars of Sagittarius (the Archer), and a palm’s width the right (or celestial west) of Saturn. The Moon will also meet with Pluto at that time. As with Jupiter, the moon will hop to the other side of Saturn on Sunday night – and the ringed planet will stay near the Teapot for the rest of this year. Observers in northern and western Australia will see the lunar occultation of Saturn. You’ll be able to spot Saturn with your eyes, but you’ll need a telescope to spot Pluto.⠀ ⠀ Our Star Walk 2 app will help you identify celestial objects in the sky over your location and keep you up to date with the latest astronomical news. Find active link in bio.⠀ ⠀ Happy hunting!⠀ ⠀ Text Credit:Chris Vaughan via Instagram https://ift.tt/2zWrQpa

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Helicopter added to Mars 2020 rover⠀ ⠀ The Mars 2020 rover will be equipped with a helicopter, as seen in this artist's concept, that will fly above the Red Planet's surface like no craft before it.⠀ ⠀ The Mars 2020 rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. The Mars 2020 rover introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside in a "cache" on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. That would help scientists study the samples in laboratories with special room-sized equipment that would be too large to take to Mars. The mission also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.⠀ ⠀ The mission is timed for a launch opportunity in July 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. That is, it takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits. To keep mission costs and risks as low as possible, the Mars 2020 design is based on NASA's successful Mars Science Laboratory mission architecture, including its Curiosity rover and proven landing system.⠀ ⠀ Image Credit: NASA/JPL⠀ Text Credit: NASA (https://buff.ly/2K1gl3V) via Instagram https://ift.tt/34r51If

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The Spider Nebula in Infrared ⠀ Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Spitzer Space Telescope, 2MASS⠀ ⠀ Explanation: Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud on the left is actually an emission nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the right is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulas harbor young, open star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10 light-years across. The featured picture in scientifically-assigned, infrared colors combines images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Spitzer is celebrating its 16th year orbiting the Sun near the Earth.⠀ ⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2HIU9Mq) via Instagram https://ift.tt/2HKiZLy