European Southern Observatory

ESO’s HARPS Captures Unexpected Changes in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

ESO’s HARPS Captures Unexpected Changes in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

A bit if interesting news regarding Ceres that comes not from the Dawn spacecraft, but rather from the ground based observation from the European Southern Observatory. From ESO: “Observations made using the HARPS spectrograph at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have revealed unexpected changes in the bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres. Although […]

ESO Captures Sharpest View Ever of Ring Around a Dying Star

ESO Captures Sharpest View Ever of Ring Around a Dying Star

From the European Southern Observatory: The Very Large Telescope Interferometer at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile has obtained the sharpest view ever of the dusty disc around an aging star. For the first time such features can be compared to those around young stars — and they look surprisingly similar. It is even possible that […]

Deep Space Eye Candy From the European Southern Observatory

Deep Space Eye Candy From the European Southern Observatory

From the European Southern Observatory: “In this huge new image clouds of crimson gas are illuminated by rare, massive stars that have only recently ignited and are still buried deep in thick dust clouds. These scorching-hot, very young stars are only fleeting characters on the cosmic stage and their origins remain mysterious. The vast nebula […]

Gorgeous Milky Way Image from the European Southern Observatory

Gorgeous Milky Way Image from the European Southern Observatory

Innerspace is happy to resume its traditional nod to “Science Friday” and end the work week with stunning images from the European Southern Observatory. Sometimes nothing fuels the passion to get on with the exploration of space than to take a moment and contemplate just how beautiful it can be. From the ESO: A spectacular […]

Stellar Eye Candy From ESO

Stellar Eye Candy From ESO

Image Credit :  ESO Another brilliant image from the European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope. This composite image of Star cluster NGC 6193 and nebula NGC 6188  in the Ara OB1 stellar association was taken from 500 individual pictures using four color filters and an exposure time of 56 hours. The complete story is here.

A Valentine’s Tragedy Written in the Stars

A Valentine’s Tragedy Written in the Stars

Artists Impression of Stellar Fatal Attraction / Image Credit : ESO From the European Southern Observatory: “Astronomers using ESO facilities in combination with telescopes in the Canary Islands have identified two surprisingly massive stars at the heart of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428. As they orbit each other the two stars are expected to slowly […]

A Stellar Holiday Show From ESO

A Stellar Holiday Show From ESO

Seemed like an appropriate image to kick off the holiday season:  Full image is here From the European Southern Observatory: “The MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile has captured a richly colourful view of the bright star cluster NGC 3532. Some of the stars still shine with a hot bluish colour, […]

ESO: Black Holes Aligned Despite Being Over Billions of Light Years Apart

ESO: Black Holes Aligned Despite Being Over Billions of Light Years Apart

Image: Artists impression of quasars aligned with each other in a galactic superstructure. Credit ESO This is truly strange, and a pretty clear indication that our conception of how the universe is built is still very incomplete. From the ESO: Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed alignments over the largest […]

Rob N’ Run On a Galactic Scale

Rob N’ Run On a Galactic Scale

Another entry in “the universe is a very big place” file, courtesy of the European Southern Observatory. From the European Southern Observatory: “The new MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has provided researchers with the best view yet of a spectacular cosmic crash. The new observations reveal for the first time the motion […]

Stunning Image of Planet Formation from ESO

Stunning Image of Planet Formation from ESO

Actual Image, Not an Artists Impression Image of HL Tauri Planetary Disc 350 Light Years Away / Credit ESO Innerspace regularly highlights images from the European Southern Observatory, particularly on Fridays, when the simple beauty of the cosmos serves as a pleasant counterbalance to the often messy struggles of a species trying to find its […]

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