Tuesday 3 September 2013

Menzel 3 also known as Ant Nebula is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation of Norma. It has four distinct high velocity outflows  
which are lobes, columns, rays, and chakram. All its lobes share same axis of symmetry. It is believed to be radially expanding at a rate of 5okm/sec. It has an apparent magnitude of 13.8. Menzel 3 was discovered by Donald Howard Menzel in 1922 because of which it is named so.

Monday 2 September 2013

DID YOU KNOW? 
1) The star Lucy in the constellation of Centaurus is a huge cosmic diamond.
2) The universe resembles brain cell in context of its shape.
3) Any free moving liquid will get converted into a sphere because of surface tension.
4) Each year the moon is moving away from earth by a distance of 3.8 cm.
5) Venus doesnt have any season variation.

Sunday 1 September 2013



Sombrero galaxy is a beautiful spiral galaxy in the constellation of virgo. Its most striking characteristic is its central bulge. It has a dark dust lane because of which it is named so.It has an apparent magnitude of +9 because of which it can be easily spotted with an amateur telescope

Saturday 13 April 2013

Star's fountain of Youth

Orion and its Nebula

There are few constellations which match the stardom of Orion. Especially for the Northerners, it is a constellation which is visible on almost daily basis. Below its belt, along the 'Sword of Orion', there is another famous celestial object, Orion Nebula. It is sort of a stellar nursery, where the new stars are taking birth. The Orion Nebula is a fabulous place to study stellar birth. For two reasons:

  • It is near by- 1500 ly only
  • It has ample diversity- It has a great mixture of low and high-mass stars.
Other than this, it contains a vast quantity of gas and dust forming something called Molecular Cloud. These clouds contain the raw material for new stars. What's happening in Orion must have happened in Solar System or in Milky Way Galaxy as a whole during the early days of Solar Birth.

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