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NGC 1360: The Robin s Egg Nebula

This pretty cosmic cloud lies some 1,500 light-years away, it shape and color reminiscent of a blue robin’s egg. It spans about 3 light-years, nested securely within the boundaries of the southern constellation Fornax. Recognized as a planetary nebula it doesn’t represent a beginning though, but instead corresponds to a brief and final phase in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible in the telescopic image the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in the surrounding gaseous shroud. The predominant blue-green hue of NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms. via NASA https://ift.tt/2rA7lKt

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Full Moon Over Newfoundland

The crew of the International Space Station snapped this image of the full moon on April 30, 2018, as the station orbited off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. via NASA https://ift.tt/2rviCfM

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Spring Color in the North Sea

Warm air and sunlight beget warmer ocean waters and provoke blooms of the “grass of the sea”—phytoplankton. via NASA https://ift.tt/2IqMWlB