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spacettf:

VdB 152: A Ghost in Cepheus Image Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin
Explanation: Described as a “dusty curtain” or “ghostly apparition”, mysterious reflection nebula VdB 152 really is very faint. Far from your neighborhood on this Halloween Night, the cosmic phantom is nearly 1,400 light-years away. Also catalogued as Ced 201, it lies along the northern Milky Way in the royal constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star giving parts of the nebula a characteristic blue color. Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim reddish luminescence in the nebular dust. Though stars do form in molecular clouds, this star seems to have only accidentally wandered into the area, as its measured velocity through space is very different from the cloud’s velocity. This deep telescopic image of the region spans about 7 light-years.
NASA APOD 31 Oct 2012

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theweekmagazine:

NASA requires its astronauts to exercise on space flights to fight off the debilitating effects of zero-gravity on the body’s bone and muscle. But Sunita Williams, U.S. commander of the Expedition 33 crew at the International Space Station, took things to another level when she completed the first ever triathlon in space — running, biking, and even swimming to compete with Earth-based athletes 240 miles below in Southern California.
Since quarters are a bit cramped at the I.S.S., Williams used special exercise equipment to keep up with triathletes competing in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in Southern California. For the half-mile “swimming” portion, Williams strapped into something called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), which uses weights to imitate water resistance while swimming through anti-gravity. For the 18-mile biking portion she used a stationary bike, and for the four-mile run she used a specially outfitted treadmill that strapped her in to keep her from floating off.
Watch Williams in action

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ikenbot:

Mouth of Giant Black Hole Measured for First Time
For the first time, scientists have peered to the edge of a colossal black hole and measured the point of no return for matter.
Image: This image from a simulation shows an energy jet launched from a spinning black hole surrounded by a disk of accreting material. The black hole is spinning at half the maximum rate, and its mass is that of the black hole at the center of the M87 elliptical galaxy. The central black hole ‘shadow’ due to extreme light bending is apparent in this simulation. Credit: Avery E. Broderick (University of Waterloo/Perimeter
A black hole has a boundary called an event horizon. Anything that falls within a black hole’s event horizon — be it stars, gas, or even light — can never escape.
“Once objects fall through the event horizon, they’re lost forever,” Shep Doeleman, assistant director of the MIT Haystack Observatory and research associate at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, said in a statement Thursday (Sept. 27). “It’s an exit door from our universe. You walk through that door, you’re not coming back.”
Although the event horizon is an imaginary line that’s impossible to observe, astronomers have imaged the region around a giant black hole at the center of a distant galaxy, and measured, for the first time, the closest stable orbit in which matter can circle the black hole. The findings were reported today in the journal Science.
The supermassive black hole in question lies at the center of the galaxy M87, which is about 50 million light-years from our own Milky Way. This behemoth black hole contains the mass of 6 billion suns.

Image: This views show the simulated event horizon-resolving images for the ultra-relativistic jet launched from the 7 billion solar-mass black hole at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. Credit: Avery E. Broderick (University of Waterloo/Perimeter Institute)
Full Article

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fashgif:

RICK OWENS SPRING 2013 RTW

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spaceofficer:

1962 MOON SURVEYOR Vintage NASA Illustration OUTER SPACE CRAFT

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just-grin-chelsea:

Two Antennae Galaxies colliding.

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teeth-and-dirt:

Astronomy Picture of the Day
Image Explanation: ”Bright star Markab anchors this dusty skyscape. At the top right corner of the frame, Markab itself marks a corner of an asterism known as the Great Square, found within the boundaries of the constellation Pegasus, the flying horse. The wide and deep telescopic view rides along for some 5 degrees or about 10 times the angular diameter of the Full Moon, with blue reflection nebulae scattered around the scene. And even though this line-of-sight looks away from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, it covers a region known to be filled with nearby molecular clouds. The associated dust clouds, high latitude galactic cirrus, are less than 1,000 light-years distant. Still apparent, but far beyond the Milky Way, are background galaxies, like the prominent edge-on spiral NGC 7497 near picture center.”
You need to enlarge the picture to really enjoy it. <3 Seriously, you guys, in five minutes this became one of my new favorite websites.

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dude wants to cruise so bad

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“good enough” ink on paper 2012

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Hiked Mt Tam.. found this?? BOOM #nasa #space #rachelsladder (Taken with Instagram)

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NEXT #nasa #space #astronaut (Taken with Instagram)

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barackobama:

Meanwhile, on Mars.

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