Űrrepülés

2026 June 17

Longmore 8: The Hamster Wheel Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Mazlin, Parker, Forman, Magill, Hanson Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: How did a hamster wheel get into space? The Hamster Wheel Nebula (Longmore 8) was discovered by Andrew Longmore in 1976 as a part of a larger survey of the southern sky. This survey employed several improvements in photographic technology, including the use of highly sensitive film, to capture deeper and fainter objects on plates that were examined by eye and catalogued. The featured image, taken at Observatorio El Sauce in Chile, depicts an intricate wheel structure of glowing hydrogen that was thrown out into space by a dying star and ionized by the leftover white dwarf. This structure was barely visible on the original plate, emphasizing the power of modern telescopes and cameras. Two opposing clumps of red hydrogen gas encased in the blue veil of ionized oxygen hint at the presence of a companion to the bright white dwarf at the wheel’s center!

2026 June 15

Triple Shockwave from Sun Crossing Rocket Image Credit & Copyright: John Winkopp (WAI Media)

Explanation: What’s happening to this Sun-crossing rocket? The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, visible on the upper left, launched only about one minute before this amazing image was captured. As it rose to low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, in late May, the rocket became supersonic before it crossed the disk of the distant Sun – from the perspective of the well-placed photographer. The spacecraft’s high speed caused bow-shaped compressed-air shockwaves to form across leading surfaces, with at least three visible even outside the Sun’s disk because they refract sunlight. The trailing exhaust caused turbulence visible on the lower right. None of this was damaging to the robotic Starlink 10-53 mission, which delivered 29 communications satellites to low Earth orbit as planned. And if that isn’t amazing enough - the Sun had spots!

Sh2-240 - Spagetti-köd A Szekeres csillagképben elhelyezkedő ködösség egy szupernóva-maradvány, mely egy 40 ezer évvel ezelőtt felrobbant csillagból keletkezett.

A robbanás óta folyamatosan tágul a ködösság és mostanság már 150 fényév átmérőjű, mely azt jelenti, hogy három telihold szélességű objektumról van szó ami egyben halvány is.

Halvány emissziós ködösségek keskenysávú szűrőkkel fotózva igen látványos formavilágot mutatnak meg és a most publikált fotó csupán a jéghegy csúcsa. Sok százezernyi ilyen objektum látszódik a világűrben.

A Spagetti-köd fotózása összesen 60 órán keresztül zajlott kétféle keskenysávú szűrővel. A vörösökért a hidrogén-alfa szűrő, míg a kékesszöld színért az ionizált oxigén fényét áteresztő fotografikus szűrő a felelős, utóbbinak a kékes színe fel lett erősítve. A csillagok azonban "normál" RGB szűrővel készültek.

60 órás éjszaka nincsen, de az összidő sok 10 perces felvétel átlagából áll össze. Egy 200mm átmérőjű, 750mm fókusszal rendelkező távcső egy SWEQ6-os mechanikán minden derült este vissza kellett, hogy térjen a célterületre egy ZWO ASI 294MM kamerával.

A kamera monokróm, így az elé beforduló szűrők kombinációjával lehet előállítani színes fotót. Elsőre bonyolultnak tűnik, de valójában egy elég hatékony rendszer az asztrofotózáshoz.

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The Nebula of Spaghetti

Sh2-240 - Spaghetti nebula The nebula located in the Auriga constellation is a supernova remnant that was formed from a star that exploded 40,000 years ago.

The nebula has been expanding continuously since the explosion and is now 150 light-years in diameter, which means that it is an object the width of three full moons.

Faint emission nebulae photographed with narrow-band filters show a very spectacular form and the photo just published is only the tip of the iceberg. Many hundreds of thousands of such objects are visible in outer space.

The Spaghetti Nebula was photographed for a total of 60 hours with two types of narrowband filters. The hydrogen-alpha filter is responsible for the reds, while the photographic filter that transmits the light of ionized oxygen is responsible for the bluish-green color, the bluish color of the latter has been amplified. However, the stars were made with a "normal" RGB filter.

There is no 60-hour night, but the total time is an average of many 10-minute recordings. A 200mm diameter telescope with a 750mm focus on a SWEQ6 mount had to return to the target area every clear night with a ZWO ASI 294MM camera.

What are these strange space globs? Situated in rich star fields and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to form stars. Their home is known as IC 2944, a bright stellar nursery located about 7,600 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus). 

2026 May 1

Markarian’s Chain Image Credit & Copyright: Chuck Ayoub

Explanation: Near the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a string of galaxies known as Markarian’s Chain stretches across this telescopic field of view. Anchored in the frame at bottom right by prominent lenticular galaxies, M84 (bottom) and M86, you can follow the chain’s gentle arc up and toward the left. Near center you’ll spot the pair of interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian’s Eyes. An estimated 50 million light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster itself is the nearest galaxy cluster. With up to about 2,000 member galaxies, it has a noticeable gravitational influence on our own Local Group of Galaxies. Within the Virgo Cluster at least seven galaxies in Markarian’s Chain appear to move coherently, while others may appear to be part of the chain by chance.

ami az ózdi Elek Imre Csillagvizsgálóból készült, igaz, még felújítás alatt, meg egy Dwarf minivel, de a tevékenységeket elkezdtük :) 2026.04.03

They discovered that land surface temperatures increased by an average of 2°C (3.6°F) in the months after an AI data centre started operations. In the most extreme cases, the increase in temperature was 9.1°C (16.4°F). The effect wasn’t limited to the immediate surroundings of the data centres: the team found increased temperatures up to 10 kilometres away. Seven kilometres away, there was only a 30 per cent reduction in the intensity.

A Föld körüli pálya meg egyébként zseniális, mert azt az 1 Terawattot egy kb. Budapest méretű napelemfelülettel össze lehet hozni, nap mindig süt, felhők nincsenek, és nincsenek kötözködő engedélyező hatóságok sem. Megfelelő (terminátor feletti napszinkron) pálya esetében még mozgatni se kell a napelemeket. Mire létrehoznák a szabályozást, kész lesz a rendszer.

2026 March 11

CG 4: The Globule and the Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: William Vrbasso Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: Is this a cosmic monster ready to devour an unsuspecting galaxy? Thankfully, that is not the case. The red “monster” shown in the featured image is Cometary Globule CG 4, 1,300 light-years away in the Constellation Puppis. CG 4 is a molecular cloud, where hydrogen becomes cold enough to form molecules that can be brought together by gravity to create stars. The shape of CG 4 resembles that of a comet, but its head is 1.5 light-year in diameter and its tail is 8 light-years long; for comparison, the distance from the Earth to the sun is only 8 light-minutes. Astronomers believe that the tail of a cometary globule could have been shaped by a nearby supernova explosion or by irradiation from hot, massive stars. Indeed, CG 4 and other nearby globules point away from the Vela Supernova Remnant, at the center of the Gum Nebula. The edge-on spiral galaxy, ESO 257-19, is more than a hundred million light-years beyond CG 4, and is completely safe from the “monster”.

2025.10.25. - Derült estéken napnyugta után kicsivel, amikor az első csillagok előbújnak, akkor lehet látni UFO-kat az égen. Ami villog és mozog, az lesz a repülő, ami gyorsan mozog, nagyon gyorsan az a hullócsillag.

A lassan mozgó fénypontok viszont műholdak lesznek, melyekből mostanra már 14000 darab van az égen. Azért látszódnak "mozgó csillagoknak", mert a Nap fénye megvilágítja őket horizont alól.

A műholdak serege kifezetten zavaró tud lenni bizonyos fotóknál, de leginkább a szakcsillagászati felvételeken. A hobbi célból készített asztrofotókon az átlagolással el lehet tüntetni a nyomokat, de egy képen viszont ott fognak maradni.

A műholdakra nagy szükségünk van a mindennapi életünkben, ám az égbolt nyugodt látványa a sorozatfelvételeken és az asztrotájképeken már a múlté.

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Comet in crossfire

On clear evenings a little after sunset, when the first stars appear, you can see UFOs in the sky. What flashes and moves becomes the plane, what moves quickly, very quickly, is the shooting star.

The slowly moving points of light, on the other hand, will be satellites, of which there are already 14,000 in the sky. They look like "moving stars" because the light of the Sun illuminates them from below the horizon.

The army of satellites can be particularly confusing for certain photos, but mostly for professional astronomy shots. In astrophotos taken for hobby purposes, the traces can be removed by averaging, but they will remain there in a single image.