Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula

Normally faint and elusive, the Jellyfish Nebula is caught in this alluring telescopic mosaic. The scene is anchored right and left by two bright stars, Mu and Eta Geminorum, at the foot of the celestial twin while the Jellyfish Nebula is the brighter arcing ridge of emission with dangling tentacles below and right of center. In fact, the cosmic jellyfish is part of bubble-shaped supernova remnant IC 443, the expanding debris cloud from a massive star that exploded. Light from the explosion first reached planet Earth over 30,000 years ago. Like its cousin in astrophysical waters the Crab Nebula supernova remnant, the Jellyfish Nebula is known to harbor a neutron star, the remnant of the collapsed stellar core. An emission nebula cataloged as Sharpless 249 fills the field at the upper left. The Jellyfish Nebula is about 5,000 light-years away. At that distance, this narrowband composite image would be about 300 light-years across. via NASA http://ift.tt/1BbYPSn

#DeathValley National Park never disappoints with 3.4 million acres of desert and mountains in California and Nevada -- making it the largest #nationalpark in the lower 48 states. Donna Fullerton captured this gorgeous view as a storm rolled in, giving more color and contrast to the Grapevine Mountains while churning sand creates the illusion of fog. Photo from http://ift.tt/18oFfjl. by usinterior

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A stunning #sunset Clingmans Dome at Great Smoky Mountains #NationalPark in #Tennessee turns the sky a #rainbow of colors. At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the park's highest point -- offering spectacular 360° views of the Smokies and beyond. Photo by Nicholas Jensen (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl). by usinterior

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Eta Carinae and the Expanding Homunculus Nebula Eta Carinae and the Expanding Homunculus Nebula

How did the Eta Carinae star system create this unusual expanding nebula? No one knows for sure. About 170 years ago, the southern star system Eta Carinae (Eta Car) mysteriously became the second brightest star system in the night sky. Twenty years later, after ejecting more mass than our Sun, Eta Car unexpectedly faded. Somehow, this outburst appears to have created the Homunculus Nebula. The three-frame video features images of the nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, 2001, and 2008. The Homunculus nebula's center is lit by light from a bright central star, while the surrounding regions are expanding lobes of gas laced with filaments of dark dust. Jets bisect the lobes emanating from the central stars. Expanding debris includes streaming whiskers and bow shocks caused by collisions with previously existing material. Eta Car still undergoes unexpected outbursts, and its high mass and volatility make it a candidate to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime in the next few million years. via NASA http://ift.tt/1v9w54i

Check out this steaming #eagle at #KenaiFjords National Park in #Alaska! Sometimes a good perch in the sun on a cold day can feel so good. Photo by Mark Thompson, #NationalPark Service. by usinterior

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Surrounded by arid desert lands, the marshes of #BearRiver Migratory Bird #Refuge in northern #Utah are an oasis for water birds. The refuge's marshes are the largest freshwater component of the Great #SaltLake ecosystem and provide a habitat for more than 200 bird species -- from avocets and black-necked stilts to white-faced ibis and a host of other species. #Sunset photo by John Zaker, @USFWS. by usinterior

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Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE

Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, this glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and complex dust sculptures dominate this detailed skyscape taken in infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. The atomic emission by the cluster's gas is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and light also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822. via NASA http://ift.tt/1vG6nbo

Tunnel View in #Yosemite #NationalPark (@yosemitenps) provides one of the most famous views of the Yosemite Valley. From here you can see El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall rising from the valley, with Half Dome in the background. Toby Harriman (@tobyharriman) snapped this photo from that viewpoint a few weeks ago on as low fog rolled into the valley -- capturing conditions he had always dreamed of. His favorite part of the photo: The climber's headlamp that is visible mid way up El Capitan on the left. Photo courtesy of @tobyharriman. by usinterior

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There's no place in the world like #Everglades National Park in #Florida. Unlike early national parks established to protect majestic scenery, Everglades was established to preserve a portion of the unique Everglades ecosystem as wildlife habitat -- spanning across 1.5 million acres. The winter dry season, which lasts from December to April, is the best time for wildlife viewing in the park. Photo by G.Gardner, #NationalPark Service Volunteer. by usinterior

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The Seahorse of the Large Magellanic Cloud The Seahorse of the Large Magellanic Cloud

It may look like a grazing seahorse, but the dark object toward the image right is actually a pillar of smoky dust about 20 light years long. The curiously-shaped dust structure occurs in our neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud, in a star forming region very near the expansive Tarantula Nebula. The energetic nebula is creating a star cluster, NGC 2074, whose center is visible just off the top of the image in the direction of the neck of the seahorse. The representative color image was taken in 2008 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in honor of Hubble's 100,000th trip around the Earth. As young stars in the cluster form, their light and winds will slowly erode the dust pillars away over the next million years. via NASA http://ift.tt/1w9gQi8