Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: These Double Stars Gotta Go
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1540/”>ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit</a>01SPoW-Oct18-24-02
This image shows the location of VFTS 352 — the hottest and most massive double star system to date where the two components are in contact and sharing material. The two stars in this extreme system lie about 160 000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This intriguing system could be heading for a dramatic end, either merging to form a single giant star or forming a binary black hole.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/earth-art-from-australia”>NASA</a>02SPoW-Oct18-24-01
On Oct. 12-13, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly took a [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/sets/72157659515819800”>series of seventeen photos</a> from the International Space Station during a single flyover of Australia.</p> )
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/a-hubble-view-of-starburst-galaxy-messier-94”>ESA/NASA</a>03SPoW-Oct18-24-05
A photo of the galaxy Messier 94, which lies in the small northern constellation of the Hunting Dogs, about 16 million light-years away. Within the bright ring or starburst ring around Messier 94, new stars are forming at a high rate and many young, bright stars are present within it. The cause of this peculiarly shaped star-forming region is likely a pressure wave going outwards from the galactic center, compressing the gas and dust in the outer region. The compression of material means the gas starts to collapse into denser clouds. Inside these dense clouds, gravity pulls the gas and dust together until temperature and pressure are high enough for stars to be born.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-perspective-on-a-galaxy-cluster”> X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Waterloo/A.Vantyghem et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NRAO/VLA</a>04SPoW-Oct18-24-06
The galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 is home to one of the most powerful eruptions ever observed. Within the Chandra data, holes, or cavities, can be seen. These cavities were created by an outburst from a supermassive black hole at the center of the cluster, which ejected the enormous jets detected in radio waves (pink) detected by the Very Large Array. This image is part of a collection of new images released from the Chandra archive to celebrate American Archive Month.
<a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1523/”>NASA, ESA and the HST Frontier Fields team (STScI)</a>05SPoW-Oct18-24-03
An image of the galaxy cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745, one of six being studied by the Hubble Frontier Fields program. Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken advantage of gravitational lensing to reveal the largest sample of the faintest and earliest known galaxies in the Universe. Some of these galaxies formed just 600 million years after the Big Bang and are fainter than any other galaxy yet uncovered by Hubble. The team has determined, for the first time with some confidence, that these small galaxies were vital to creating the Universe that we see today.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/nh/pluto-puzzling-patterns-and-pits”>NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI</a>06SPoW-Oct18-24-04
This photo is an up close shot of Pluto’s heart feature, showing the plain’s enigmatic cellular pattern (at left) as well as unusual clusters of small pits and troughs (from lower left to upper right). Scientists believe that this area, informally known as Sputnik Planum, is composed of volatile ices such as solid nitrogen. They theorize that the pits and troughs – typically hundreds of meters across and tens of meters deep – are possibly formed by sublimation or evaporation of these ices. However, the reasons for the striking shapes and alignments of these features are a mystery.
<a href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20151022”>NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute</a>07SPoW-Oct18-24-07
Images of Pluto’s tiny moon tiny Kerberos taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft – and just sent back to Earth this week – complete the family portrait of Pluto’s moons. Kerberos appears to be smaller than scientists expected and has a highly-reflective surface, counter to predictions prior to the Pluto flyby in July. “Once again, the Pluto system has surprised us,” said New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver.
