The Stars Beckon

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This is a blog run by Deflare about space travel and exploration, and the beauty of the stars. I'm always looking for more material to post, so any art, photos, stories, or news articles you have to share would be appreciated!

(Note: If I mistag something or post something that the creator wants me to take down, please let me know in an Ask!)

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  1. colchrishadfield:

    With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World.

    Huge thanks in the making of the video to the talented trio of Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran and Andrew Tidby, plus Evan Hadfield and all at the CSA.

    2. 19047 Notes
    Reblogged: colchrishadfield
  2. heythereuniverse: Night of the Geminids | Philip Eaglesfield (Eggles)

    heythereuniverse:

    Night of the Geminids | Philip Eaglesfield (Eggles)

    3. 68 Notes
    Reblogged: heythereuniverse

  3. jtotheizzoe:

    NASA’s Solar Fleet: Capturing the Awesome

    Here’s a fantastic video showing a May 1, 2013 solar eruption from four different NASA solar observation spacecraft. You can appreciate the different perspectives and filters that are offered by SDO, SOHO and the STEREO twins, and why the big picture is always more informative than any alone.

    (More at Bad Astronomy)

    4. 142 Notes
    Reblogged: jtotheizzoe
  4. thesecretmichan: Hubble has spotted an ancient galaxy that shouldn’t exist This galaxy is so large, so fully-formed, astronomers say it shouldn’t exist at all. It’s called a “grand-design” spiral galaxy, and unlike most galaxies of its kind, this one is old. Like, really, really old. According to a new study conducted by researchers using NASA’s Hubble Telescope, it dates back roughly 10.7-billion years — and that makes it the most ancient spiral galaxy we’ve ever discovered. “The vast majority of old galaxies look like train wrecks,” said UCLA astrophysicist Alice Shapley in a press release. “Our first thought was, why is this one so different, and so beautiful?” Read more: here

    thesecretmichan:

    Hubble has spotted an ancient galaxy that shouldn’t exist


    This galaxy is so large, so fully-formed, astronomers say it shouldn’t exist at all. It’s called a “grand-design” spiral galaxy, and unlike most galaxies of its kind, this one is old. Like, really, really old. According to a new study conducted by researchers using NASA’s Hubble Telescope, it dates back roughly 10.7-billion years — and that makes it the most ancient spiral galaxy we’ve ever discovered.

    “The vast majority of old galaxies look like train wrecks,” said UCLA astrophysicist Alice Shapley in a press release. “Our first thought was, why is this one so different, and so beautiful?”

    Read more: here

    5. 68221 Notes
    Reblogged: thesecretmichan
  5. crookedindifference: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Finds Dead Stars ‘Polluted with Planet Debris

    crookedindifference:

    NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Finds Dead Stars ‘Polluted with Planet Debris

    6. 583 Notes
    Reblogged: itsfullofstars
  6. crookedindifference: Teleoperator Retrieval System (TRS), 1979 This TRS spacecraft is illustrated being used to re-boost the Skylab space station to a higher orbit. An early Space Shuttle flight would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit, adding five years of operational life. The TRS (which was on contract with Martin Marietta for $26 million) contained about three tons of propellant, remote-control capabilities with TV cameras and was designed for duties such as space construction and servicing and retrieving satellites the shuttle could not reach. After rescuing Skylab, the TRS would have remained in orbit for future use. Alternatively, it could have been used to de-orbit Skylab for a safe, controlled re-entry and destruction. However, development of the Shuttle was delayed, and Skylab reentered Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.

    crookedindifference:

    Teleoperator Retrieval System (TRS), 1979

    This TRS spacecraft is illustrated being used to re-boost the Skylab space station to a higher orbit. An early Space Shuttle flight would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit, adding five years of operational life. The TRS (which was on contract with Martin Marietta for $26 million) contained about three tons of propellant, remote-control capabilities with TV cameras and was designed for duties such as space construction and servicing and retrieving satellites the shuttle could not reach. After rescuing Skylab, the TRS would have remained in orbit for future use. Alternatively, it could have been used to de-orbit Skylab for a safe, controlled re-entry and destruction.

    However, development of the Shuttle was delayed, and Skylab reentered Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.

    7. 246 Notes
    Reblogged: itsfullofstars

  7. jtotheizzoe:

    Threading the Corona

    Top: The magnetic filaments of the sun’s corona, captured at top by Miloslav Druckmüller in a composite of 38 different images during a solar eclipse. You’ll want to see the super-huge version here, trust me. It will change you.

    Bottom: “Coronal rain” captured by NASA’s SDO satellite. The superheated coronal plasma is seen traveling along magnetic field lines during a coronal mass ejection. 

    The corona cooks at over a million degrees Kelvin compared to the relatively frigid 5800 K of the photosphere below it. Exactly why this plasma is so superheated isn’t completely known, but it might be subject to the same kind of magnetic induction as an electric generator. Whatever the cause, the normally invisible lines of the sun’s magnetic field are drawn in brilliant form within the corona, and charged plasma is the paint.

    You can get a good look at the solar corona today (right NOW for those catching this post live at 5:30 PM ET on May 9th) during today’s annular eclipse, being broadcast live from the South Pacific by the Slooh Space Camera.

    (top image via Colossal)

    8. 1073 Notes
    Reblogged: jtotheizzoe
  8. heythereuniverse: Comet PanSTARRS over Los Angeles | edhiker

    heythereuniverse:

    Comet PanSTARRS over Los Angeles | edhiker

    9. 36 Notes
    Reblogged: heythereuniverse

  9. jtotheizzoe:

    explore-blog:

    Remarkable animated visualization of every meteorite since 861 AD from The Guardian.

    (ᔥ Open Culture)

    This is awesome! It really hits “death from the skies” level near the end. Which, coincidentally, is the name of a book by Bad Astronomer Phil Plait all about the science behind the ways the world might end (and the ways that it most certainly won’t … like Planet X)

    There’s no reason to think that we really have more meteorites hitting Earth these days, like you see in the viz. We just happen to be better at writing things down/not attributing them to sky demons.

    (Source: )

    10. 172 Notes
    Reblogged: jtotheizzoe
  10. jtotheizzoe: mucholderthen: Topographical Map of the Moon centering on the south pole Colors represent altitude: purple (over 9,000 metres below surface level), blue (3,000 below), green (zero altitude), yellow (2,000 metres above surface level), orange (4,000 metres above) red (8,200 metres above). A massive impact crater known as South Pole - Aitken basin is seen here as the purple and dark blue patch just below the south pole and is 2,500 kilometers in diameter. Picture: SPL / Barcroft Media (via X ) You can’t begin to appreciate the violent history of the moon until you see it like this.

    jtotheizzoe:

    mucholderthen:

    Topographical Map of the Moon centering on the south pole

    Colors represent altitude:

    • purple (over 9,000 metres below surface level),
    • blue (3,000 below),
    • green (zero altitude),
    • yellow (2,000 metres above surface level),
    • orange (4,000 metres above)
    • red (8,200 metres above).

    A massive impact crater known as South Pole - Aitken basin is seen here as the purple and dark blue patch just below the south pole and is 2,500 kilometers in diameter.

    Picture: SPL / Barcroft Media (via X )

    You can’t begin to appreciate the violent history of the moon until you see it like this.

    11. 595 Notes
    Reblogged: jtotheizzoe