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Messier_074-PIA13376.jpgM 74 - Spiral Galaxy, the Asteroid 3540 Protesilaos and an unsual resemblance...144 visiteCaption NASA:"It's a bird! It's a plane! Nope, it's an Asteroid tracking its way across the sky with a beautiful Spiral Galaxy in the background. In the center of this new mosaic image captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is the galaxy Messier 74, with its spiral arms seen face-on. The bright reddish object moving across the lower right part of the image is the much closer asteroid 3540 Protesilaos, seen at different points in its orbit around the Sun. WISE observed and detected this previously known Asteroid a total of ten times, although only a few of those frames were used in this mosaic.
Also known as NGC 628, the Messier 74 Galaxy is between 24,5 and 36 Million Light-Years away, and has a diameter of about 100.000 LY.
It is suspected to have a Black Hole at its center, with a mass equal to 10.000 Suns. It is one of only a handful of known Black Holes with masses intermediate between the relatively smaller ones that form from collapsing stars and the supermassive Black Holes millions of times more massive than the Sun, which are more typically found at the centers of Galaxies.
Although it is called a Messier Object, Messier 74 was actually discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1780, who then told his friend Charles Messier about it. As one of the dimmest of all Messier objects, this Galaxy is a challenge for amateur astronomers to see in Visible Light, but the WISE cameras captured it clearly in InfraRed Light.
The colors used in this image represent different wavelengths of IR Radiation. Blue and cyan represent light at 3,4 and 4,6 microns, respectively. These colors show both nearby stars inside the Milky Way Galaxy and the combined light of billions of stars that make up Messier 74. Green and red represent light from 12 and 22 microns, respectively. These colors show light from cooler objects and material. Dust in star-forming regions in Messier 74 traces its spiral structure. The coolest object in the picture is the asteroid 3540 Protesilaos.
This Asteroid was first seen in 1973 by the German astronomer Freimut Börngen, who discovered more than 500 Asteroids while he was researching galaxies. At the time that WISE observed 3540 Protesilaos, it was at a distance of about 772 MKM from Earth (approx. 480 million miles, or also approx. 43 Light-Minutes). It is classified as a Jupiter Trojan Minor Planet, which are small rocky bodies that share the same orbit around the Sun as the planet Jupiter. Based on the infrared observations, the WISE team estimates the Asteroid to be about 90 Km (approx. 56 miles) across and to reflect only a few percent of the light that lands on it, which makes it about as dark as coal.
By convention, Trojan Asteroids are named after the heroes from the Trojan War. In this case, asteroid 3540 is named after the hero Protesilaos. According to Greek Mythology, Protesilaos was the first Greek to set foot on Trojan land during the war.
Unfortunately for him, there was a prophecy that the first soldier in the war to step onto land from a battle ship would die. The prophecy quickly came true and Protesilaos was killed.
JPL manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu".MareKromiumOtt 01, 2010
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Kepler9-PIA13351.jpgSome of the New Worlds around Kepler 9106 visite"...L’opinione del più forte è sempre l'opinione migliore..."
Jean de la Fontaine MareKromiumSet 29, 2010
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RS_Canum_Venaticorum-PIA13346.jpgPlanetary Ashes114 visite"...I bugiardi necessitano di un'ottima memoria..."
Pierre Corbeille
MareKromiumSet 29, 2010
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IC-1805~0.jpgIC 1805 - Emission Nebula133 visite"...Plaisir d'Amour, ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'Amour dure toute la vie...
Tant que cette eau, coulera doucement,
Vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,
Je t'aimerai, me répétait Sylvie,
L'eau coule encore, elle a changé pourtant..."
"Plaisir d'Amour" (Johann Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf)MareKromiumSet 27, 2010
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The_Antennae.jpgColliding Galaxies: the "Antennae"135 visite"...C’è solo una cosa peggiore di un matrimonio senza Amore, ed è un matrimonio in cui l'Amore c'è, ma da una parte sola..."
Oscar Wilde
MareKromiumSet 24, 2010
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Maybe_Mars.jpgMaybe Mars... (by Dr Rossella Marino; additional process. and color: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)194 visitenessun commentoMareKromiumSet 19, 2010
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Spiral-HST.jpgA "Cosmic Spiral" from LL Pegasi 143 visite"...Nessuno osa dire addio ad un’abitudine. Molti aspiranti suicidi si son fermati sulla soglia della morte per il ricordo del caffè dove vanno tutte le sere a fare la loro partita a carte..."
Honoré de BalzacMareKromiumSet 19, 2010
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Galaxy_Center.jpgThe Galactic Center97 visite«"O frati", dissi, "che per cento milia
Perigli siete giunti a l'Occidente,
A questa tanto picciola vigilia
D'i nostri sensi ch'è del rimanente
Non vogliate negar l'esperïenza,
Di retro al Sol, del mondo sanza gente.
Considerate la vostra semenza:
Fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
Ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza"».
(Dante Alighieri, Inferno - Canto XXVI, 112-120) MareKromiumSet 03, 2010
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M-027-99.jpgM 27 - The "Dumbbell Nebula"111 visite"...Sono le convinzioni radicate ed insostanziabili, più delle stesse menzogne, i nemici della Verità..."
Friedrich NietzscheMareKromiumAgo 27, 2010
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Sunset-PCF-01.jpgSunset from Legnano (Absolute Natural Colors; credits: Dr Paolo C. Fienga)213 visitenessun commentoMareKromiumAgo 26, 2010
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Supernova.jpgSupernova (a Fantasy - by Dr Paolo C. Fienga - based on an Alex Cherney's picture)119 visiteChe cosa accadrebbe e, soprattutto, che cosa vedremmo se una stelle di grandi dimensioni esplodesse e, dal nostro punto di vista, si trovasse nei pressi del "Centro" della Via Lattea?
Probabilmente assisteremmo ad uno spettacolo quale è quello che vedete qui, in questo splendido frame di Alex Cherney (rappresentativo di una "Visione Galattica" ottenuta dall'Australia - Loch Ard Gorge), da me liberamente - ma solo in piccola parte - modificato.
Una sorta di "Piccolo Sole" illuminerebbe (in maniera maestosa!) la notte, forse per una settimana o poco più, ma senza trasformarla in giorno o in crepuscolo.
Si, sarebbe un Grande Spettacolo...Davvero.MareKromiumAgo 23, 2010
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M-020-91.jpgM 20 - The "Trifid Nebula"106 visite"...La Libertà è come l’aria: si vive nell’aria; se l’aria è viziata, si soffre; se l’aria è insufficiente, si soffoca e se l’aria manca si muore..."
Luigi SturzoMareKromiumAgo 22, 2010
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