© NASA/ESA/Hubble
Springtime in
the cosmos
'Stellar flowers' are blossoming
in the cosmic field as irregular
dwarf galaxy NGC 1156 settles
into its own springtime. Instead
of having petals bloom, these
wonderful bubbles are pockets
of gas illuminated by stars born
within them.
Although it makes a pretty
picture it's also a test bed for
conducting real science. After
collecting many images of
NGC 1156, astronomers realised
that some of these bubbles
rotate in the opposite direction
to the rest of the galaxy. This
unusual observation indicates
that this galaxy has encountered
another structure in its past and
was reshaped by the gravity of
the passing galactic neighbour.The Moon’s colourful side
With so much focus on the Moon over the past few months, it’s refreshing
to see another side to it. Here is a colourful topographic map of the lunar
surface taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which reveals
areas of various elevation. Shown in red, the highest elevation on the Moon
is around eight kilometres (five miles) while lower peaks descend to yellow,
then green, then blue and finally to purple, showing a decline to roughly
minus eight kilometres (minus five miles).© NASA