Saturn’s wide, but very thin, rings are tilted with respect to its plane of orbit around the Sun. Once every 15 years, the rings are edge-on (perpendicular) to the Sun. During those times, some of Saturn’s moons can cast shadows across the rings.... Read More | Share it now!

The active galaxy Hercules A was given that name because it is the brightest radio source in the constellation of Hercules. Astronomers found that the double-peaked radio emission corresponded to a giant elliptical galaxy cataloged as 3C 348. Unusually, this behemoth galaxy is not found within a large cluster of hundreds of galaxies, but rather within a comparatively small group of dozens of galaxies. The ‘active’ part of the galaxy is the supermassive black hole in its core, which spews out strong jets of energetic particles that produce enormous lobes of radio emission. Some astronomers suspect that Hercules A may be the result of two galaxies merging together.... Read More | Share it now!

This video is the stereo 3D version of “Flyby of JWST at L2 Point”.... Read More | Share it now!

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories; following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.... Read More | Share it now!

This video is the stereo 3D version of “Mystic Mountain: Bright Pillar in the Carina Nebula.”... Read More | Share it now!

The Carina Nebula is a vast, star-forming region in our Milky Way Galaxy. Within the nebula, new stars form out of dense, dark clouds of gas and dust. The bright, high-energy radiation from massive young stars erodes away the dark gas. Tall pillars, such as the ones featured in this sequence, form when dense pockets of gas resist that erosion. The illuminating stars for these pillars are located well off the top of the image. At the peaks of two pillars, jets of emission serve as the birth announcements of new stars buried within the clouds. The image is nicknamed “Mystic Mountain” and was released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.... Read More | Share it now!

Constellations are drawn as stick figures connecting bright stars in the sky. This two-dimensional representation gives the impression that the stars are all at the same distance. In addition, the idea of a “bright star” can be misleading, as the apparent brightness we see depends upon both the star’s intrinsic brightness and its distance from Earth. This scientific visualization addresses both of these issues by viewing the Orion constellation from a three-dimensional perspective. The true space distribution of the constellation as well as how stellar brightness changes with viewing position is revealed by circling around the stars.... Read More | Share it now!

This video is the stereo 3D version of “Pan Past JWST at L2 Point”.... Read More | Share it now!

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories, following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.... Read More | Share it now!