In the North this is known as a winter meteor shower, the 2014 Geminids rain down on this rugged, frozen landscape.
This was taken from the summit of Mt. Changbai along China's northeastern border with North Korea.
Orion is near picture center above the volcanic cater lake. The shower's radiant in the constellation Gemini is to the upper left, at the orgin of all the meteor streaks.
Paying the price for such a dreamlike view of the celestial spectacle, photographer Jia Hao reported severe wind gusts and a freezing -34 degree C temperatures near the summit.
Would love to be here!!
This is the Peak Terskol Observatory in the northern Caucasus Mountains of Russia. Inside the white dome is a 2-meter telescope.
The observatory is located on a shoulder of Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, with other peaks visible in the background.
Far in the distance is the most distant layer: the stars and nebulas of the night sky, with the central band of the Milky Way rising on the image right. So lovely. We are so blessed heart emoticon
Sh2-155, or better known as the Cave Nebula basking in the glow of ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in red, green, and blue hues.
About 2,400 light-years away, the cave nebula is toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus. Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association.
The bright rim of ionized interstellar gas is energized by radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright star just above picture center. This stellar nursery is. about 10 light-years across.
The heart of the Orion Nebula! heart emoticon
In the centre, there are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium.
Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C.
We are guessing that it is about three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun.
The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars. The Orion Nebula's distance of some 1,500 light-years would make it the closest known black hole to planet Earth.
Beautiful NGC 6914. The complex of nebulae lies some 6,000 light-years away, toward the high-flying northern constellation Cygnus and the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy.
The view spans nearly 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914. There is no nickname for this nebulae- what name do you think it resonates with?
What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros).
Pictured as a star forming region and cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds.
Gorgeous! heart emoticon
Just when you think you can't be anymore amazed by the radiance of our beloved Cosmos- Hubble gives us THIS!!
To celebrate 25 years (1990-2015) of exploring the Universe from low Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope's cameras were used to revisit its most iconic image.
Dubbed the "Pillars of Creation", stars are forming deep inside the towering structures.
The light-years long columns of cold gas and dust are some 6,500 light-years distant in M16, the Eagle Nebula, toward the constellation Serpens.
