This image from the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory shows the spectacular globular star cluster Messier 4. This great ball of ancient stars is one of the closest of such stellar systems to the Earth and appears in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion) close to…
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This beautiful annotated image of the summer Milky Way arching over the Great Wall of China was captured by Steed Yu. The bright star at centre far right is Antares. It’s little claw stars shine to its upper right. The dark dust patches and lanes are apparent. It was the NASA APOD for July 3,…
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The Dumbbell Nebula, imaged by Steve McKinney, is a large planetary nebula in Vulpecula (the Fox). It’s visible (without colour) in a backyard telescope. Planetary nebulae are the corpses of stars with mass similar to our sun. This one resembles and apple core! This image covers a patch of sky about as wide as a…
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A comparison of images of Stephan’s Quintet of galaxies in Pegasus, taken in infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2022 (left) and the visible and near-infrared wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 (right). The spiral galaxy at left is NGC 7320. It is only 40 million light-years away. The rest of…
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