PIX4619391: Nebulae NGC 6334 and NGC 6357 in Scorpio - Nebulae NGC 6334 and NGC 6357 in Scorpius: These nebulae are located about 5500 light years from Earth - Located in the constellation of Scorpius, the Cat's Paw Nebula resemble a faint, luminous paw-print on the sky. Deep images reveal that the nebula is about a degree across in the sky. At a distance of about 5500 light-years away it is a truly vast structure spanning almost 100 light-years across. The sculpted gases of NGC 6334 are illuminated by the light of numerous powerful stars, some exceeding 10 solar masses. The two brilliant blue stars in the upper left are Lambda and Kappa Scorpii. Many of these luminous hot stars are surprisingly not visible because they lie within the dusty plane of our galaxy. At infrared wavelengths the numerous hot stars are revealed and the nature of this object as a region of massive star formation becomes clear. In the past decade water masers, molecular outflows, and x-ray sources have provided direct evidence of clusters of protostars within NGC 6334. The nebula was discovered by John Herschel in 1837, and the brief and uninformative description in his Cape Observations catalog is a testament to its faintness. The ruddy hue of this complex is the result of the absorption of blue light by the ubiquitous dust clouds along our line of sight in the plane of the Milky Way. The red, intricate bubble making up the left paw print is particularly striking and is most likely either a star expelling large amounts of matter at high speed as it nears the end of its life or the remnant of a recent supernova - Located near the famous “” Cat Paw”” nebula (NGC 6334), the Stellar Cluster Pismis 24 lies at the core of NGC 6357. Its stars include some of the most massive stellar behemoths known. One of the brightest stars in the cluster, Pismis 24-1, was thought possibly to be the most massive on record, approaching 300 solar masses, until it was discovered by the Hubble Telescope to b / Bridgeman Images
PIX4619532: Trifide nebula (M20) in the constellation Sagittarius: View of the Trifide nebula (M20/NGC 6514) located in the constellation Sagittarius between 5000 and 10,000 light years from Earth. Measuring some forty light years across, this nebula contains enough gas to make many thousands of suns. Trifid is located in Sagittarius constellation between 5000 and 10,000 light-years away / Bridgeman Images
PIX4619716: Nebulae Lagoon (M8) and Trifide (M20) in Sagittarius - The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae Single 45 minute exposure on gas - hypersensitized Fujicolor Super HG 400 taken with an Astro - Physic's 130 EdT f/8 refractor working at f/6 with telecompressor at 3:00 am on May 21, 1993 from Massai Point, Arizona, Arizona, USA / Bridgeman Images
PIX4619831: Nebula NGC 6559 in Sagittarius - NGC 6559 and IC 1274 - 75 in Sagittarius - Located in Sagittarius, this nebula is located at a distance of about 5000 years - light from Earth. Image made with the 1.2m Telescope of Schmidt UK from Siding Spring. This dusty region is probably associated with the brighter and better - known Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae which are nearby in the sky and part of the same molecular cloud. The soft red glow of fluorescent hydrogen is evidence that there are young hot stars associated with the dusty clouds. These bright stars also illuminate the tiny solid particles, producing blue reflection nebulae bordering some of the emission regions. The dust is also evident in silhouette, both as sinuous dark lanes winding through the luminous gas and as the dark patches obscuring the ancient, yellow stars that populate the central parts of the Milky Way / Bridgeman Images
PIX4649733: Shuttle Atlantis - Last Shuttle Flight - July 2011 - Liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis - Final mission of Space Shuttle Program. July 2011 - Launch of the Atlantis space shuttle on July 8, 2011. Mission STS-135, last flight of American space shuttles. The engines ignite beneath space shuttle Atlantis on Launch Pad 39A on the Atlantic coastline at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis began its final flight, the STS - 135 mission to the International Space Station, at 11:29 a.m. EDT July 8. STS-135 will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts to the orbiting laboratory. Atlantis also is flying the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, a failed ammonia pump module will be returned to Earth aboard Atlantis to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS - 135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program / Bridgeman Images
PIX4647229: Decolving the shuttle Columbia STS - 73 - 10/1995 - Launch of STS - 73 Shuttle Columbia - 10/1995 - Decolving the shuttle Columbia STS - 73 with Kenneth Bowersox, Kent Rominger, Catherine Thornton, Michael Lopez - Alegria, Fred Leslie and Albert Sacco. 20/10/1995. Launch of STS-73 Shuttle Columbia from Launch Pad 39B. Fields of Study include fluid physics, materials science, biotechnology, combustion science and commercial space processing technologies. Oct 10 1995 / Bridgeman Images
TEC4650110: The hotel casino Venice in Las Vegas (United States). This very recent casino located on the strip is a replica of Venice (Italy), with its canals, gondolas, Piazza San Marco and its Venetian palaces. It is one of Las Vegas's most elegant hotels with over 3000 luxurious rooms. Photography 01/11/04. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4622466: Nebula IC 2177dans la Unicorn - IC 2177 The Seagull nebula - IC 2177, is a large emission nebula located at the edge of the constellations of the Unicorn and the Great Dog. IC 2177, also known as the Eagle or Seagull Nebula, is a large emission nebulosity located on the border between Monoceros and Canis Major, about 7.5 degrees northeast of Sirius. The brightest portion is the “” head”” of the bird, NGC 2327, measuring some 19 x 17 arc minutes, surrounding an 8th magnitude star, and nearly bisected by an interesting dark lane that stretches from the star eastward, and also including some blue reflection nebulosity. Several open clusters are also involved in this area of nebulosity, the most prominent being NGC 2335, located on the northern “” wing”” of the figure of the Seagull nebula / Bridgeman Images
PIX4622480: Nebula Van den Bergh 93 (VdB 93) in Unicorn - Nebula Van den Bergh 93 (VdB 93) - VDB 93 is a star-forming region belonging to nebula IC 2177. The star SAO 152320, in the center of the image, illuminates this nebula located in the constellation Unicorn, about 4000 years old - light from Earth. Curtains of gas and dust dramatically open here to reveal the inner region of this starforming region. Unceremoniously named, bright star SAO 152320 shines with intense light in the center of this field. Clouds of gas glow strongly and dust shrinks quickly under its radiative prowess. This vista lies some 4,000 light years away towards the constellation of Monoceros. This is a portion of a much larger nebula called Gum 1 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4647795: Decolving the shuttle Endeavour STS - 100 04/2001 - Liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour. April 2001 - Liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The 11 - day mission is to deliver and integrate the Spacelab Logistics Pallet/Launch Development Facility, which includes the Space Station Remote Manipulator System and the UHF antenna. Apr 19 2001 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4647895: Discovery crew STS - 103 1999 - STS - 103 crew portrait - 12/1999 - Front, from left to right, Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly and John M. Grunsfeld. Derriere, Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., and Jean-Francois Clervoy. (19 - 27 December 1999) - - - The seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for Nasa's third servicing visit to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pose for the traditional inflight crew portrait. In front are, from left, astronauts Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly and John M. Grunsfeld. Behind them are astronauts Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., and Jean-Francois Clervoy. Nicollier and Clervoy are astronauts from the European Space Agency (ESA) / Bridgeman Images