Question Of The Day : How Far Is The Moon From Planet Earth?

Have you guys watched the new Alien Worlds docuseries on Netflix?

Egg NebulaPhoto by geckzilla via flickr(cc)

Our sun is entering into a sleepy state of inactivity— a recurring phenomenon known as Solar Minimum.

A period of minimal solar activity, during which the surface solar movement diminishes, resulting in a trough in solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CME) activities. Though it is a period of (relative) calm for the otherwise seething ball of energy, it doesn't hold any consequence(s) for us, as Earthlings. Sun, as we know it, will remain the same.

Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of Taurus (Bull).

Picture Credit & Copyright: Stanislav Volskiy

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Galaxy Wars: M81 and M82 

These two galaxies are far far away, 12 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Great Bear. On the left, with grand spiral arms and bright yellow core is spiral galaxy M81, some 100,000 light-years across. On the right marked by red gas and dust clouds, is irregular galaxy M82. The pair have been locked in gravitational combat for a billion years. Their last go-round lasted about 100 million years and likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. M82 was left with violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the galaxy glows in X-rays. In the next few billion years, their continuing gravitational encounters will result in a merger, and a single galaxy will remain.

Image Credit & Copyright: Dietmar Hager, Torsten Grossmann

Jupiter and its faint rings– known as the Jovian ring system , as seen through infrared.

GLOBAL VIEW OF VENUS IN ULTRAVIOLET FROM AKATSUKI

A false-color image using two ultraviolet channels from Akatsuki's UVI camera at 283 nm and 365 nm distinguishes different components of the Venusian atmosphere.

VENUS' NIGHTSIDE GLOW

This image shows the night side of Venus in thermal infrared. It is a false-colour image using data from Akatsuki.

VENUS' SOUTH POLE IN ULTRAVIOLET FROM AKATSUKI, JUNE 20, 2016

A false-color image using two ultraviolet channels from Akatsuki's UVI camera, showing details along a colourful band encircling Venus' south polar vortex in morning daylight.

Images Credit : JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic

VENUS' COUPLED DYNAMICS AND SULFUR CHEMISTRY FROM AKATSUKI, JULY 23, 2016

A false-color image using two ultraviolet channels from Akatsuki's UVI camera. Venus' cloud dynamics are just as complex as Earth's.

Note : Akatsuki is a Japanese mission launched in 2010 to orbit Venus (which it failed the first time) but successfully entered Venus' orbit on December the 7th, 2015.

EQUATORIAL REGION OF VENUS FROM AKATSUKI

Images acquired during orbit number 13 of the Japanese probe Akatsuki show an incredible amount of detail on the equatorial, tropical, and extra-tropical clouds of the planet

VENUS IN INFRARED FROM AKATSUKI: CLOUD WAVE

This view of Venus was acquired by the Japanese Akatsuki spacecraft's IR2 camera, which observes—among other things—the "warmth" of the planet's atmosphere on its nocturnal side.

How our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy will appear from Earth, approaching our galaxy Milky Way over a span of several billion years into the future

Source : Imgur

Earthrise, Bill Anders, 1968.

Hubble sees a more holistic view of the Butterfly Nebula or NGC 6302

Hubble was recently retrained on NGC 6302, known as the "Butterfly Nebula," to observe it across a more complete spectrum of light, from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared, helping researchers better understand the mechanics at work in its technicolor "wings" of gas. The "wings" of NGC 6302 are regions of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit that are tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour. NGC 6302 lies between 2,500 and 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.