Fun and Magic - Magic Mike the Magician - Phone .(206) 501-5973 - 700 pages of goodies.
Photo links 39
Web's Best Photo and Art Links
From Magic Mike
My collection of
links to photos of the best Hubble Space Telescope photos and other NASA
photos,
incredible landscapes, scenic wonders and wildlife animals,
AND Art Masters of the 10th through 20th Centuries from World Museums.
Back to the
full photo list page.
To Magic Mike's Joke Page
Parlor
To Magic Mike's Home Page
(See a magic trick!)In
the Shade of a Historic Planet Drawing
Credit & Copyright: Lynette Cook Explanation: For the first time, astronomers
have recovered independent evidence that distant planetary systems exist.
Last Friday, a team led by G. W. Henry (Tenn. State) and G. Marcy (UC Berkeley)
announced the discovery of a shadow of a planet crossing a distant star.
Little known HD 209458, a Sun-like star 150 light-years away, had been
suspected of harboring planets from a slight wobble found in its motion.
Henry et al. now find that this wobble exactly corresponds to a planet
crossing the face of the star, creating the slight dimming effect of a
partial eclipse. The astronomers were then able to make a groundbreaking
estimate of the mass and radius of the extra-solar planet, which they find
to have about two-thirds the mass of Jupiter but about 60 percent larger
radius. The drawing above is an artist's depiction of a planetary eclipse
in the HD 209458 system. Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA
at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
M31:
The Andromeda Galaxy Credit & Copyright: Jason Ware Explanation:
Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our
Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies
dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda
is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several
distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our
Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently
referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse
sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light
to reach us from there. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the
center contains two nuclei. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU)
& Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights
apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
1998
Leonid Fireball Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Lovato Explanation:
Will this be the year? Last year's Leonid meteor shower did not produce
the meteor storm many had hoped for. Still, it put on a dazzling show with
many bright fireball meteors. For example, this Leonid fireball, photographed
through light clouds, eerily flashed across the skies of Monteromano, Italy
on November 17, 1998. This year, the chances for a storm with thousands
of meteors per hour are considered good ... but experts are quick to acknowledge
that such predictions are tricky. Want to see for yourself? The predicted
peak should occur on early Thursday, November 18 (UTC) but meteor activity
will certainly be observable days before and after. If the night is clear,
just grab a lawn chair and a warm jacket, go outside and look up! Authors
& editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
The
Belt of Venus Credit: Doug Miller (U. Delaware) Explanation: Although
you've surely seen it, you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless
twilight, just before sunrise or after sunset, part of the atmosphere above
the horizon appears slightly off-color, slightly pink. Visible in the above
photograph, this off-color band between the dark eclipsed sky and the blue
sky can best be seen in the direction opposite the Sun and is called the
Belt of Venus. Straight above, blue sky is normal sunlight reflecting off
the atmosphere. In the Belt of Venus, however, the atmosphere reflects
light from the setting (or rising) Sun which appears more red. The Belt
of Venus can be seen from any location with a clear horizon. Authors &
editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Spiral
Galaxies in Collision (Small
Version) Credit: Debra Meloy Elmegreen (Vassar College) et al.,
& the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA) Explanation: Billions
of years from now, only one of these two galaxies will remain. Until then,
spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 will slowly pull each other apart,
creating tides of matter, sheets of shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts
of star formation, and streams of cast-away stars. Astronomers predict
that NGC 2207, the larger galaxy on the left, will eventually incorporate
IC 2163, the smaller galaxy on the right. In the most recent encounter
that peaked 40 million years ago, the smaller galaxy is swinging around
counter-clockwise, and is now slightly behind the larger galaxy. The space
between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in them
usually do not collide. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
Lunation
- Credit: António Cidadão - Explanation: Our Moon's appearance
changes nightly. This slow-loading time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon
looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. As the Moon orbits
the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible,
then decreasingly visible. The Moon always keeps the same face toward the
Earth. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight
wobble called a libration is discernable as it progresses along its elliptical
orbit. During the cycle, sunlight reflects from the Moon at different angles,
and so illuminates different features differently. A full lunation takes
about 29.5 days, just under a month (moon-th). Authors & editors: Robert
Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan
Tech. U.
Heceta
Head Lighthouse, Central Oregon Coast - One of the most photographed,
and photogenic, lighthouses in the country, if not the world. This view
taken in early morning, just after the sun topped the Coast Range mountains.
Oregon Wonders - by Greg Vaughn, PhotoTripUSA
The
Heart Of NGC 4261 - Credit: H. Ford & L. Ferrarese (Johns Hopkins),
W. Jaffe (Leiden), NASA - Explanation: Who knows what evil lurks in the
hearts of galaxies? The Hubble knows. This Hubble Space Telescope picture
of the center of the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 tells one dramatic
tale. The gas and dust in this disk are swirling into what is almost certainly
a massive black hole. The disk is probably what remains of a smaller galaxy
that fell in hundreds of millions of years ago. Collisions like this may
be a common way of creating such active galactic nuclei as quasars. Strangely,
the center of this fiery whirlpool is offset from the exact center of the
galaxy - for a reason that for now remains an astronomical mystery. Authors
& editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Crater
Lake at sunrise - There are many breathtaking scenes at
Crater Lake, and a variety of viewpoints for photographing Wizard Island.
I scouted this one during the day on a previous trip, hoping to find a
vantage point where I could capture all of Wizard Island surrounded by
water, and to get the sunrise sky reflected in the lake. - Oregon Wonders,
by Greg Vaughn, PhotoTripUSA.
X-Ray
Jet From Centaurus A Credit: X-Ray image: NASA/ CXC/ SAO Optical
image: AURA/ NOAO/ NSF Explanation: Spanning over 25,000 light-years, comparable
to the distance from the Sun to the center of our own Milky Way galaxy,
a cosmic jet seen in X-rays blasts from the center of Centaurus A. Only
10 million light-years away, Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy -
the closest active galaxy to Earth. This composite image illustrates the
jumble of gas, dust, and stars visible in an optical picture of Cen A superposed
on a new image recorded by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory. The
X-ray data is shown in red. Present theories hold that the X-ray bright
jet is caused by electrons driven to extremely high energies over enormous
distances. The jet's power source is likely to be a black hole with about
10 million times the mass of the Sun coincident with the X-ray bright spot
at the galaxy's center. Amazingly, while some material in the vicinity
of the black hole falls in, some material is blasted outward in energetic
jets. Details of this cosmic power generator can be explored with the Chandra
X-ray data. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell
(USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service
of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U..
Photo links 39
Web's Best Photo and Art Links
From Magic Mike
My collection of
links to photos of the best Hubble Space Telescope photos and other NASA
photos,
incredible landscapes, scenic wonders and wildlife animals,
AND Art Masters of the 10th through 20th Centuries from World Museums.
To Magic Mike's Joke Page Parlor To Magic Mike's Home Page (See a magic trick!)
In
the Shade of a Historic Planet Drawing
Credit & Copyright: Lynette Cook Explanation: For the first time, astronomers
have recovered independent evidence that distant planetary systems exist.
Last Friday, a team led by G. W. Henry (Tenn. State) and G. Marcy (UC Berkeley)
announced the discovery of a shadow of a planet crossing a distant star.
Little known HD 209458, a Sun-like star 150 light-years away, had been
suspected of harboring planets from a slight wobble found in its motion.
Henry et al. now find that this wobble exactly corresponds to a planet
crossing the face of the star, creating the slight dimming effect of a
partial eclipse. The astronomers were then able to make a groundbreaking
estimate of the mass and radius of the extra-solar planet, which they find
to have about two-thirds the mass of Jupiter but about 60 percent larger
radius. The drawing above is an artist's depiction of a planetary eclipse
in the HD 209458 system. Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA
at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
M31:
The Andromeda Galaxy Credit & Copyright: Jason Ware Explanation:
Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Our
Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda. Together these two galaxies
dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffuse light from Andromeda
is caused by the hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several
distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our
Galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is frequently
referred to as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse
sky objects. M31 is so distant it takes about two million years for light
to reach us from there. Much about M31 remains unknown, including why the
center contains two nuclei. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU)
& Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights
apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
1998
Leonid Fireball Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Lovato Explanation:
Will this be the year? Last year's Leonid meteor shower did not produce
the meteor storm many had hoped for. Still, it put on a dazzling show with
many bright fireball meteors. For example, this Leonid fireball, photographed
through light clouds, eerily flashed across the skies of Monteromano, Italy
on November 17, 1998. This year, the chances for a storm with thousands
of meteors per hour are considered good ... but experts are quick to acknowledge
that such predictions are tricky. Want to see for yourself? The predicted
peak should occur on early Thursday, November 18 (UTC) but meteor activity
will certainly be observable days before and after. If the night is clear,
just grab a lawn chair and a warm jacket, go outside and look up! Authors
& editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
The
Belt of Venus Credit: Doug Miller (U. Delaware) Explanation: Although
you've surely seen it, you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless
twilight, just before sunrise or after sunset, part of the atmosphere above
the horizon appears slightly off-color, slightly pink. Visible in the above
photograph, this off-color band between the dark eclipsed sky and the blue
sky can best be seen in the direction opposite the Sun and is called the
Belt of Venus. Straight above, blue sky is normal sunlight reflecting off
the atmosphere. In the Belt of Venus, however, the atmosphere reflects
light from the setting (or rising) Sun which appears more red. The Belt
of Venus can be seen from any location with a clear horizon. Authors &
editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Spiral
Galaxies in Collision (Small
Version) Credit: Debra Meloy Elmegreen (Vassar College) et al.,
& the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA) Explanation: Billions
of years from now, only one of these two galaxies will remain. Until then,
spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 will slowly pull each other apart,
creating tides of matter, sheets of shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts
of star formation, and streams of cast-away stars. Astronomers predict
that NGC 2207, the larger galaxy on the left, will eventually incorporate
IC 2163, the smaller galaxy on the right. In the most recent encounter
that peaked 40 million years ago, the smaller galaxy is swinging around
counter-clockwise, and is now slightly behind the larger galaxy. The space
between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in them
usually do not collide. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.
Lunation
- Credit: António Cidadão - Explanation: Our Moon's appearance
changes nightly. This slow-loading time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon
looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. As the Moon orbits
the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible,
then decreasingly visible. The Moon always keeps the same face toward the
Earth. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight
wobble called a libration is discernable as it progresses along its elliptical
orbit. During the cycle, sunlight reflects from the Moon at different angles,
and so illuminates different features differently. A full lunation takes
about 29.5 days, just under a month (moon-th). Authors & editors: Robert
Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan
Tech. U.
Heceta
Head Lighthouse, Central Oregon Coast - One of the most photographed,
and photogenic, lighthouses in the country, if not the world. This view
taken in early morning, just after the sun topped the Coast Range mountains.
Oregon Wonders - by Greg Vaughn, PhotoTripUSA
The
Heart Of NGC 4261 - Credit: H. Ford & L. Ferrarese (Johns Hopkins),
W. Jaffe (Leiden), NASA - Explanation: Who knows what evil lurks in the
hearts of galaxies? The Hubble knows. This Hubble Space Telescope picture
of the center of the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 tells one dramatic
tale. The gas and dust in this disk are swirling into what is almost certainly
a massive black hole. The disk is probably what remains of a smaller galaxy
that fell in hundreds of millions of years ago. Collisions like this may
be a common way of creating such active galactic nuclei as quasars. Strangely,
the center of this fiery whirlpool is offset from the exact center of the
galaxy - for a reason that for now remains an astronomical mystery. Authors
& editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical
Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Crater
Lake at sunrise - There are many breathtaking scenes at
Crater Lake, and a variety of viewpoints for photographing Wizard Island.
I scouted this one during the day on a previous trip, hoping to find a
vantage point where I could capture all of Wizard Island surrounded by
water, and to get the sunrise sky reflected in the lake. - Oregon Wonders,
by Greg Vaughn, PhotoTripUSA.
X-Ray
Jet From Centaurus A Credit: X-Ray image: NASA/ CXC/ SAO Optical
image: AURA/ NOAO/ NSF Explanation: Spanning over 25,000 light-years, comparable
to the distance from the Sun to the center of our own Milky Way galaxy,
a cosmic jet seen in X-rays blasts from the center of Centaurus A. Only
10 million light-years away, Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy -
the closest active galaxy to Earth. This composite image illustrates the
jumble of gas, dust, and stars visible in an optical picture of Cen A superposed
on a new image recorded by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory. The
X-ray data is shown in red. Present theories hold that the X-ray bright
jet is caused by electrons driven to extremely high energies over enormous
distances. The jet's power source is likely to be a black hole with about
10 million times the mass of the Sun coincident with the X-ray bright spot
at the galaxy's center. Amazingly, while some material in the vicinity
of the black hole falls in, some material is blasted outward in energetic
jets. Details of this cosmic power generator can be explored with the Chandra
X-ray data. Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell
(USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service
of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U..
