APOD 2.6

December 9, 2010                                           M81 and Arp's Loop

After seeing this swirling body which is exactly what I imagine when I think of the possibilities of space, I immediately chose this to do my APOD on.  The focus of the picture is on spiral M81 which is one of the brightest galaxies in Earth's sky and is nearly the same size as the Milky Way.  This galaxy is located 11.8 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Minor, which as we learned contains the current North Star Polaris.  The blue spiral arms surrounding the inner yellow core are sweeping dust lanes.  On the right edge of the galaxy lies what is known as Arp's Loop, which has a tidal tail made up of material pulled in from M81's gravitational pull interacting with that of the large neighboring M82.  Recent research of Arp's loop in infrared have matched earlier research, giving belief that some of Arp's loop may be located within our own galaxy.

APOD 2.5

November 25, 2010                                                Stardust in Aries

This picture covers nearly 2 degrees across the sky, right next to the Zodiac and constellation Aries.  The blue dusty reflection at the lower right hand corner of the photograph is a nebula surrounding a star known as vdB 13 located 1,000 light years away.  In the upper left hand corner lays vdB 16 which again is surrounded by a bluish nebula.  The dusty material makes up a molecular cloud that lays home to many hidden newly formed stars and stellar objects.  These give the molecular cloud a high density core which allows for protostars to begin forming around.