Star cluster Westerlund 1 is home to some of the largest and most massive stars known. It is headlined by the star Westerlund 1-26, a red supergiant star so big that if placed in the center of our Solar System, it would extend out past the orbit of Jupiter. Additionally, the young star cluster is home to 3 other red supergiants, 6 yellow hypergiant stars, 24 Wolf-Rayet stars, and several even-more unusual stars that continue to be studied.
Westerlund 1 is relatively close-by for a star cluster at a distance of 15,000 light years, givingastronomers a good laboratory to study the development of massive stars. The featured image of Westerlund 1 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescopetoward the southern constellation of the Altar (Ara). Although presently classified as a "super" open cluster, Westerlund 1 may evolve into a low massglobular cluster over the next billion years.
Image & info via APOD https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Lava deltas, similar to river deltas form wherever sufficient sub-aerial flows of lava enter standing bodies of water. The lava cools and breaks up as it encounters the water, with the resulting fragments filling in the adjacent seabed topography such that the flow can move further offshore sub-aerially. Lava deltas are generally associated with large-scale, effusive type basaltic volcanism.
Starting in January at Kīlauea Volcano’s Kamokuna ocean entry, the lava hit the salty water, shooting molten rock upward and outward, accompanied by a rising, steamy cloud of acid.
Normally cooling lava would stack up, creating a rocky shelf on which the lava settles called a lava delta. But this time, the flow continued to gush nearly 100 feet down, into the sea, for a whole month.
Ocean Entry Hazards - Important info:https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/hawaii_ocean_entry.html
Article:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/science/hawaii-lava-stream.html
The saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea) is the larva of a species of moth native to eastern North America. These caterpillars have a pair of fleshy “horns” at either end, and these, like much of the body, bear urticating hairs that secrete an irritating venom. Stings can be very painful and can cause swelling, nausea, and leave a rash that can last for days.
Know more:http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/medical/saddleback_caterpillar.htm
Photo via redddit
GOES-16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) captured this electrifying imagery of the lightning associated with the recent severe weather over the Mississippi Valley and southern Plains this past weekend.
According to a variety of media reports, the storms caused the deaths of at least 13 people, produced widespread heavy rain resulting in flash floods, high winds that down trees and left thousands without power, a late-season blizzard in Kansas, and several tornadoes.
GLM observes total lightning, including in-cloud and cloud to ground lightning, and will continually observe lightning flashes day and night across the Western Hemisphere. Of particular note in this animation is the horizontal propagation of lightning flashes occurring behind the line of intense storms. Rapid increases of lightning are a signal that a storm is strengthening and could become more dangerous. GLM, in concert with other forecaster tools, will help provide more accurate and earlier warnings of developing severe storms and give communities more time to prepare for impending severe weather.
Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxJTQuWISbk
Source:https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES-16
"Carbon in Atmosphere Is Rising, Even as Emissions Stabilize"
Scientists worry about the rapid rise of CO2 in the atmosphere, which may mean Earth’s natural sponges have changed
Interesting reading via New York Times:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/climate/carbon-in-atmosphere-is-rising-even-as-emissions-stabilize.html
Sweeping through this stunning field of view, Comet 71P/Clark really is in the foreground of these cosmic clouds. The 2 panel telescopic mosaic is color enhanced and is about 5 degrees (10 full moons) across. It captures the faint comet's position on the night of May 23/24 over 5 light-minutes from Earth, very near the line-of-sight to bright star Antares and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.
In the frame Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii, is at bottom center surrounded by a dusty cosmic cloud reflecting the cool giant star's yellowish light. Globular star cluster M4 shines just right of Antares, but M4 lies some 7,000 light-years away compared to Antares' 500 light-year distance. Slightly closer than Antares, Rho Ophiuchi's bluish starlight is reflected by the dust in molecular clouds toward the top. You can spot the small coma and short tail of the comet as a faint smudge near the center of the left edge of the frame. Just look for the comet's striking greenish color, produced as diatomic carbon molecules fluoresce in sunlight.
Image & info via APODhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Raul Villaverde Fraile
