Star Gazing

This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a highly efficient wide-field camera covering the optical and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. While this lovely image contains hundreds of distant stars and galaxies, one vital thing is missing — the object Hubble was actually studying at the time! This is not because the target has disappeared. The ACS actually uses two detectors: the first captures the object being studied — in this case an open star cluster known as NGC 299 — while the other detector images the patch of space just ‘beneath’ it. This is what can be seen here. Technically, this picture is merely a sidekick of the actual object of interest — but space is bursting with activity, and this field of bright celestial bodies offers plenty of interest on its own. It may initially seem to show just stars, but a closer look reveals many of these tiny objects to be galaxies. The spiral galaxies have arms curving out from a bright centre. The fuzzier, less clearly shaped galaxies might be ellipticals. Some of these galaxies contain millions and millions of stars, but are so distant that all of their starry residents are contained within just a small pinprick of light that appears to be the same size as a single star! The bright blue dots are very hot stars, sometimes distorted into crosses by the struts supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror. The redder dots are cooler stars, possibly in the red giant phase when a dying star cools and expands.

Bob Berman

For the next few evenings, Mercury is at its easiest to find of the entire year. And that’s really the idea – merely to have seen it at least once in your life.

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

Spooky sky

Bob Berman

While childhood fears like nyctophobia—the fear of the dark—are common, even the Pleiades star cluster, traditionally linked to ominous folklore, adds to the eerie atmosphere as it rises each Halloween. But the real cosmic fright comes from science: in 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating—driven by a mysterious force called dark energy. With galaxies racing apart in an inexplicable frenzy, the universe may be headed toward a cold, empty end. Fittingly, it’s all part of the mystery in the Halloween night sky.

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

Star power

Bob Berman

Hear about the power of a star and how we’re trying to recreate that energy (for no pollution purposes) here on Earth.

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

Strange Universe 10/5/18

Bob Berman

On this week's Strange Universe Bob Berman discusses the perfect cosmic panorama.