NGC 4618 is about 21 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. It has a diameter of about one-third that of the Milky Way. It also has the special distinction among other spiral galaxies of only having one arm rotating around the center of the galaxy.
Image Credit: ESA / NASA
The Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293) is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. It’s about 700 light-years away. The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the “Eye of God.” Tolkien fans have occasionally called it the “Eye of Sauron”
This animation of a 3-D model was created from Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data of the Helix Nebula.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Back 1986, Voyager 2 flew by the planet Uranus and gave us our only set of closeup data so far. Recently, that flyby data has shown us the Uranus is even stranger than we thought.
The planet’s rotational axis is tipped over almost 90 degrees, and the Voyager data has revealed that its magnetic axis points about 60 degrees away from the rotational axis. The planet’s magnetosphere wobbles around, and to date, no one has come up with a reasonable explanation of for the odd offset.
Image Credit: NASA
To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.
—Nicolaus Copernicus
Video Credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / Digitized Sky Survey 2.
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
Video Credit: Deep Sky Videos
NGC 253 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. It’s a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. It’s one of our nearest neighbor galaxies, only about 13 million light-years away.
Image Credit: ESO
