Basic Information What is this? Centaurus A, a massive elliptical galaxy Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Centaurus How big is it? The parts of the jets seen here stretch around 15,000 light years into space. How far away is it? Around 12 million light years What do the colours represent? …
Author archives: chrisnorth
The Orion Nebula
Basic Information What is this? The Orion Nebula Where is it in the sky? In the Sword of Orion How big is it? The image shows a region around 10 light years across How far away is it? Around 1350 light years from Earth What do the colours represent? The red regions show cold dust, …
The Eagle Nebula
Basic Information What is this? The Eagle Nebula, which contains the famous Pillars of Creation Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Serpens, not too far from the centre of our Galaxy How big is it? The whole image is around 50 light years across, and the pillars are each several light …
Small Magellanic Cloud
Basic Information What is this? The Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Tucana How big is it? The Small Magellanic Cloud is around one twentieth of the size of the Milky Way How far away is it? It is around …
Large Magellanic Cloud
Basic Information What is this? The Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Where is it in the sky? In the constellations of Dorado and Mensa How big is it? The Large Magellanic Cloud is around 1 tenth the diameter of the Milky Way, and around one hundredth the mass How …
Herschel to observe near-Earth asteroid
On Tuesday 8th November an asteroid called “2005 YU55” will pass within 325,000 km of Earth, briefly making it closer than the Moon. With a diameter of 400m, 2005 YU55 is the largest object to come so close for many years, and so provides a unique opportunity to observe such an object. Herschel will be …
Comet Hartley 2 and the Oceans of Earth
Basic Information What is this? Comet 103P/Hartley 2 as seen by Herschel Where is it in the sky? Hartley 2 orbits the Sun in around 6.5 years How big is it? The nucleus of the comet is tiny, just 2 km across How far away is it? Hartley 2 has an elongated orbit that brings …
Galactic Plane: Centaurus
Basic Information What is this? A view of a region looking at the gas and dust in the disc of our Galaxy, which we see edge on Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Centaurus How big is it? The image is around 12 degrees across, or around 24 times the width …
Dust rings around CW Leonis
Basic Information What is this? Dust rings seen around the star CW Leonis Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Leo the Lion How big is it? The star is thousands of times the size of our Sun, but the dust rings lie trillions of kilometres away How far away is it? …
GOODS South
Basic Information What is this? A view of thousands of distant galaxies, in a patch of sky called GOODS-South Where is it in the sky? In the constellation of Fornax How big is it? The image is about a tenth the size of the Full Moon How far away is it? The galaxies are at …