Welcome to Astronotes
Hello, I’m Colin, welcoming you to Astronotes, the Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!
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Nebulae Archive
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Image of the Month: On Fire Off Orion
Posted on May 11, 2012 | No CommentsThis image of the reflection nebula Messier 78 (NGC 2068) includes the soft glow of submillimetre-wavelength (infra red) radiation from clouds of interstellar dust grains running through the nebula.Dense clouds... -
What is a Nebula?
Posted on February 24, 2012 | 1 CommentBeautiful colour images of nebulae grace astronomy books and websites and have spread to mainstream culture. They are now familar to the public but what are these gaudy celestial spectacles?... -
The Heart of the Omega Nebula: Image of the Month
Posted on January 6, 2012 | 1 CommentA new image of the Omega Nebula reveals amazing detail in a cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars. Captured by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the... -
The Mysterious Heart of the Crab
Posted on October 7, 2011 | 1 CommentThe debris from a vast cosmic explosion, the Crab Nebula in Taurus is a well-known spectacle. But what is it and how was it formed? On 4 July 1054... -
Image of the Month: A psychedelic portrait of the Lagoon Nebula
Posted on May 6, 2011 | No CommentsLying more than 4000 light years from our Solar System, the Lagoon Nebula (M8) is a place where new stars are forming. Researchers at the multinational Gemini South telescope are... -
NGC 6302: A vast cosmic butterfly
Posted on April 15, 2011 | No CommentsNGC 6302 is a beautiful example of a planetary nebula formed when a bloated red giant star transformed into a tiny white dwarf, belching about half its mass into space... -
Hubble images the spectacular Lagoon Nebula
Posted on October 4, 2010 | No CommentsGorgeous! Spectacular! Awesome! What else can I say about this stunning Turneresque image of the Lagoon Nebula (M8)? A typical stellar nursery, M8 lies about 4300 light years (1320 parsecs)... -
What would you see flying through a nebula?
Posted on October 1, 2010 | 1 CommentIt is difficult to look at this Hubble Space Telescope image of the nebula NGC 2467 without thinking about what it would be like to fly through it. It is... -
Hubble’s view of the Mystic Mountain
Posted on September 24, 2010 | No CommentsThat amazing instrument, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary since it was placed in orbit. Since then, (after a rocky start, remember that dodgy mirror?)...