Some Of My Favorite Photos

1. The area in and around the Horsehead is filled with gigantic stars and huge clouds of gas and dust. The radiation from the stars heats the surrounding gas, causing it to glow. Clouds of gas that glow in this way are called emission nebulae. The red area behind the Horsehead is an emission nebula.
2. The Horsehead figure is a dark nebula. Dark nebulae are cold clouds of gas and dust. They're called dark because they have no light of their own. A dark nebula is the silhouette of a cold cloud of dust.
3.  The small blue object just to the left of the Horsehead is a reflection nebula. It glows because it's able to scatter some of the light from the stars around it. Reflection nebulae are usually blue because red light doesn't scatter easily. The same type of effect causes the sky to appear blue.

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is currently merging with a smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195. The two galaxies have already passed through each other once, triggering a burst of star formation in both systems. At the heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy lies a supermassive black hole with a mass equivalent to 160 billion suns. This black hole actively consumes any matter that ventures too close.

The galaxy is in a state of upheaval. Gravity is compressing cold clouds of gas, causing some to collapse and form new stars. These young, massive stars emit a bright blue glow, giving the galaxy its striking appearance. Despite being 23 million light-years away, the Whirlpool Galaxy shines vividly due to this intense activity.

It was August 21, 2017 and we were camping at Guernsey State Park in Wyoming. The excitement had built all morning as the moon slowly blocked more and more of the sun. At first, the change was barely noticeable, but as the hours passed, the pace of change quickened. In the final moments before totality, all the phases of a normal evening were compressed into several minutes. The birds prepared to roost, and the crickets started to chirp. 

When the Moon swallowed up the last piece of the sun, the temperature dropped instantly, and a chilly wind began to blow. Day turned into night, and a few stars twinkled in the sky. One of my friends shouted, "There's Venus!" For the next two minutes, the crowd oohed and aahed as the surreal event unfolded. 

The finale came when a tiny piece of the sun reappeared and created a perfect diamond ring effect. It only lasted two seconds, but they were two seconds we would never forget.