Sun’s Twin Discovered — the Perfect SETI Target?
There are 10 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy that are the same size as our sun. Therefore it should come as no surprise that astronomers have identified a clone to our sun lying only 200 light-years away.
Still, it is fascinating to imagine a yellow dwarf that is exactly the same mass, temperature and chemical composition as our nearest star. In a recent paper reporting on observations of the star — called HP 56948 — astronomer Jorge Melendez of the University of San Paulo, Brazil, calls it “the best solar twin known to date.”
North America Nebula Burns Bright in Skywatcher Photo
The gas and dust of the North America Nebula glow pink and red in this skywatcher photo.
The North America Nebula lies in the constellation Cygnus, and it takes its name from a supposed resemblence to the continent. It is an emission nebula — essentially, a cloud of high-temperature gas emitting light of various colors.
The image was taken by Jean-Luc Dauvergne in August 2007 from the observatory at the Pic du Midi mountain in the French Pyrenees. The skyscape in the image glowing most brightly is the most active part of the nebula, a region astronomers call the Cygnus Wall. Here, hydrogen gas burns where new stars are forming.
The North America Nebula, also known as NGC 7000, is roughly 1,800 light-years away and perhaps 100 light-years in diameter. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).
The Antennae Galaxies are a dramatic pair of colliding galaxies. In such a collision, the stars within each galaxy will pass by each other (virtually) without incident. This is due to the relatively large interstellar distances compared to the relatively small size of an individual star. Diffuse gas clouds, however, readily collide to produce shocks which in turn stimulate bursts of star formation. The bright, blue knots indicate the hot, young stars that have recently ignited as a result of the merger.
Hidden Secrets of Majestic Nebula Revealed in New Photo
The most detailed image yet of the well-known Carina nebula has been caught by a European telescope, unveiling previously hidden features of an exquisite star nursery.
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) spied the cosmic landscape of gas, dust and young stars in the majestic Carina nebula, which is located about 7,500 light-years away from Earth. The lively star nursery lies deep in the heart of the southern Milky Way, in the constellation of Carina (The Keel).
The dynamic star formation that takes place in the Carina nebula gives astronomers an intriguing laboratory to study the birth and early lives of massive stars.
