#milkyway

Photographer Captured the "Impossible" Photo of the Milky Way Over the Golden Gate BridgeOn this particular evening, photographer Michael Shainblum only planned to go to the Marin Headlands to catch the sunset with his friend Joe. Unfortunately, the fog suddenly settled over the place. However, Shainblum decided not to go back home and instead "went with the flow," thinking about what he could photograph during this foggy night. Little did he know that this would be something unique. The fog that suddenly appeared out of nowhere turned out to be the perfect cover for the light pollution, allowing Shainblum to photograph the Milky Way and the Golden Gate bridge all in the same frame. The warm lights covered in fog also served as a great contrast against the cool night sky. It was a night of photography and timelapse videos.What an out-of-this-world fantastic photo!Images: Michael Shainblum#GoldenGate #MilkyWay #Photography #Surreal #Breathtaking #astrophotography

Nearly 1,000 Mysterious Filaments Twist Through the Center of the Milky Way GalaxyA new telescopic image from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory's (SARAO) MeerKAT telescope was processed by astronomers. The resulting photograph was of the complex heart of the Milky Way galaxy. The MeerKat is the most sensitive radio telescope in the world, with 64 antennas spread over a diameter of 5 miles (8 kilometers).Astronomers combined 20 radio recordings that covered an area of the sky and turned them into a 100-megapixel mosaic that depicted the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The resulting image showed new supernova remnants, stellar nurseries, outbursting stars, and Sagittarius A*, the chaotic region around the supermassive black hole that lurks in the Milky Way's core.In addition to sighting different cosmic phenomena, experts have also discovered 1,000 mysterious strands that stretch up to 150 light years long. These mysterious filaments have strong magnetic fields and are found in pairs and clusters. According to astrophysicist Farhad Yusef-Zadeh at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, the mosaic has revealed a bigger picture. “Just examining a few filaments makes it difficult to draw any real conclusion about what they are and where they came from. This is a watershed in furthering our understanding of these structures," he said.Image credit: Ian Heywood/SARAO#astrophysics #galaxy #space #science #MeerKat #telescopes #MilkyWay

Astronomers Found a 500-Light-Year Wide "Cavity" in SpaceWhat could this space cavity contain?An enormous hole in the Milky Way galaxy has been discovered by astronomers. The bubble-shaped void is located in between the Perseus and Taurus constellations. A study estimates that the newest space discovery was formed after a stellar explosion millions of years ago.The giant void bubble is now home to hundreds of stars that are either forming or just existing at its surface. According to Shmuel Bialy, the lead proponent of the study, the space cavity formed either through one supernova that “went off at the core of this bubble and pushed gas outward, forming what we now call the 'Perseus-Taurus Supershell,' or a series of supernovae occurring over millions of years created it over time."Image credit: Alyssa Goodman/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian#Space #MilkyWay #SpaceCavity #PerseusTaurusSupershell #Supernovas 

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021Winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021 competition have just been announced. The annual astronomy photography competition, now in its 13th year, is hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and drew more than 4,500 entries, including many featuring images of distant galaxies that require the use of powerful telescopes.The overall winner of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021 was Shuchang Dong who took this deceptively simple photo of a solar eclipse titled "The Golden Ring" shown above. Dong took the photo in the Ali region of Tibet on June 21, 2020."This place has year-round sunny weather, but in front of the annular eclipse, I saw dark clouds all over the sky," Dong said, "We were waiting with anxious minds but we were lucky. Within a minute of the annular eclipse, the sunshine penetrated through the clouds and afterwards the Sun was sucked into the thick clouds.""This image demonstrates both the beauty and simplicity of an eclipse, but also the science behind this astronomical event," noted competition judge Emily Drabek-Maunder, "Our sun can still be seen as a ring circling the Moon as it passes in front of the Sun, and mountains on the lunar surface can be seen hiding some of this light on the lower righthand portion of the image. This is a stunning achievement!"View more of the fantastic photos of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition below.#astronomy #photography #AstronomyPhotographeroftheYear #ShuchangDong #sun #solareclipse