Film & Animation

The Deaths and Afterlives of Massive Stars

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The Deaths and Afterlives of Massive Stars
Dan Milisavljevic of Purdue University

The catastrophic death of a massive star, a supernova explosion, is among the most powerful and important events in the cosmos. These brilliant bursts produce not only spectacular nebulae, but also exotic remnant objects, including neutron stars, black holes, and gamma-ray bursts. They strongly shape the structure and chemistry of their host galaxies. Perhaps most significantly, the stellar debris ejected into interstellar space is chock-full of the heavy elements that make planets and life possible. Professor Milisavljevic will vividly describe the ways that supernovae critically influence our universe. Breakthrough science opportunities are becoming possible through new synergies between the Hubble Space Telescope and observing facilities sensitive to electromagnetic energy, neutrinos, and gravitational waves.

Host: Dr. Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute

Recorded live on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

More information: http://hubble.stsci.edu/about_us/public_talks/

A Zoom to the Black Hole in M87

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A zoom into the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) from a wide field view of the entire galaxy to the supermassive black hole at its core. This series of nine images starts with visible light views, but quickly transitions to radio wavelengths. The final image from the Event Horizon Telescope has a resolution 2500 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.

Visualization: Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute
Music: “First Day of Spring”, David Hilowitz, CC BY-NC

A Galaxy Grouping in 2D and 3D: Stephan’s Quintet

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In 1877, Edouard Stephan discovered a tight visual grouping of five galaxies located in the constellation Pegasus. The galaxies of Stephan’s Quintet are both overlapping and interacting, and have become the most famous among the compact groups of galaxies. Astronomers have long known that four of the galaxies (all of which are yellowish-white in this video) form a physical group in space, while the fifth (bluish) is a foreground galaxy. In addition, a sixth galaxy (yellowish-white and on the far left) is likely to be part of the physical grouping. Hence, this 2D quintet that is a 3D quartet may actually be a 2D sextet that is a 3D quintet.

This visualization makes apparent the spatial distribution of these galaxies. The video starts with a view that matches our 2D perspective. As the sequence travels in 3D, the foreground blue spiral, NGC 7320, quickly passes by the camera. The possible sixth galaxy member on the left, NGC 7320C, is seen at roughly the same distance as the remaining four galaxies. The camera turns to pass between two strongly interacting galaxies, NGC 7319 (left) and NGC 7318B (right), with each galaxy’s spiral structure distorted by the gravitational interaction. In contrast, NGC 7318B overlaps in 2D with the more distant elliptical NGC 7318A, but does not have a strong interaction. The other elliptical, NGC 7317, is also seen as more distant than the strongly interacting pair. In 3D, the four or five galaxies in this group are gathered together by their mutual gravity, and may collide and merge together in the future.

Credits: G. Bacon, J. DePasquale, F. Summers, Z. Levay (STScI)

Flyby of the Whirlpool Galaxy

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The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51, is one of the nearest and best examples of a grand design spiral galaxy. Located about 25 million light-years away, the face-on galaxy exposes the full details of its swirling structures of stars, gas, and dust. The striking symmetry of its spiral pattern may be due to a gravitational interaction with a companion dwarf galaxy, NGC 5195, which is not included in this visualization.

The Hubble Space Telescope’s high-resolution view of this magnificent spiral galaxy comes to life in this 3D visualization. The flight across the pancake-shaped disk features the older, yellower stars toward the center and the younger, bluer stars in the outer regions. Dark dust lanes outline the spiral arms, along which are strewn an array of bright pink star-forming regions.

Credit: F. Summers, J. DePasquale, and D. Player (STScI)

An Astrovizicist’s Guide to the Film ‘Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of Our Universe’

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An Astrovizicist’s Guide to the Film ‘Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of Our Universe’
Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute

In November 2018, composer Eric Whitacre’s Hubble-inspired symphony “Deep Field” was released as a film accompanied by NASA images and scientific visualizations from the night sky to the edge of the observable universe. The Space Telescope Science Institute provided 11 sequences that not only depict the awesome beauty of the universe, but also express the three-dimensional nature of celestial objects. Dr. Summers, who served as the visualization lead on the project, will provide a behind-the-scenes view of the science and art in this unique cinematic and symphonic experience.

Watch the “Deep Field” film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDiD8F9ItX0

Host: Dr. Frank Summers

Recorded live on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

More information: http://hubble.stsci.edu/about_us/public_talks/

How Bad Are Eggs on Car Paint? I Threw 300 To Dry for a Week – What Happens?

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This video was sponsored by LastPass.
Check out LastPass here: http://bit.ly/2U2L1pY

In this video I decided to see exactly how bad eggs are for car paint! I threw 300 eggs on a car and waited 7 days to let them dry!

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Song: Fredji – Happy Life (Vlog No Copyright Music)
Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/KzQiRABVARk