Better Late Than Never!

M45, Pleiades

The Lonely Galaxy

Most galaxies are part of a group or cluster where a neighboring galaxy is never far away. Galaxy NGC 6503 however, is an exception. This galaxy has found itself in a  lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The Local Void is a huge stretch of space that is at least 150 million light-years across.

Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA

The Perseid Meteor Shower Is Here!

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 

The Perseids are at their peak this week!

The Perseid meteor shower, one of the biggest meteor showers of the year, will be at its brightest early in the morning on Wednesday, August 12. Read on for some tips on how to watch the night sky this week – and to find out: what exactly are the Perseids, anyway?

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Your best chance to spot the Perseids will be between 2 AM and dawn (local time) the morning of August 12. Find a dark spot, avoid bright lights (yes, that includes your phone) and get acclimated to the night sky.

Your eyes should be at peak viewing capacity after about 30 minutes; though the Moon may block out some of the dimmer meteors, you should still be able to see up to 15-20 an hour. If you’re not an early bird, you can try and take a look soon after sunset (around 9 PM) on the 11th, though you may not see as many Perseids then.

Credit: NASA/MEO

If it’s too cloudy, or too bright, to go skywatching where you are, you can try again Wednesday or Thursday night – or just stay indoors and watch the Perseids online!

Our Meteor Watch program will be livestreaming the Perseids from Huntsville, Alabama on Facebook (weather permitting), starting around 9 p.m. EDT on August 11 and continuing through sunrise.

So… why are they called the Perseids?

Because all of a meteor shower’s meteors have similar orbits, they appear to come from the same place in the sky – a point called the radiant. 

The radiant for the Perseids, as you might guess from the name, is in the constellation Perseus, found near Aries and Taurus in the night sky.

But they’re not actually coming from Perseus, right?

Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Right! The Perseids are actually fragments of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits within our solar system.

If you want to learn more about the Perseids, visit our Watch the Skies blog or check out our monthly “What’s Up” video series. Happy viewing!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Barbados Caribbean Cloudscape by Mike Toy

This is a snip of The Sharpest View Ever of the Andromeda Galaxy.

You need to go to the cite to experience it. 

Source:  NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton (University of Washington, USA), B. F. Williams (University of Washington, USA), L. C. Johnson (University of Washington, USA), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler.

Starry Greetings!

Let’s start hot objects month with our infamous red hypergiant: VY CANIS MAJORIS!

https://www.universetoday.com/39472/vy-canis-majoris/

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2012/01/28/the-biggest-star-in-the-sky-and-how-to-see-it/

https://www.universetoday.com/13507/what-is-the-biggest-star-in-the-universe/

https://www.space.com/31209-hypergiant-star-vy-canis-major-weight-loss.html

This shows the development of imagery we have for nebulae! 

M17, Wings of the Swan

Heart of the Northern Cross

A Multi-Camera 360° Panoramic Timelapse of the Stars by Vincent Brady [VIDEO]