The Witch Head Nebula 🧙‍♀️

It sits next to bright Rigel in Orion. You can see a little bit of the star glow at top right.

Being a reflection nebula, this thing doesn’t glow in pink or blue like emission nebulae do. All you’re seeing is star light bouncing off “dust”. Which is this case is more
like smoke; very fine particles mixed in with the usual gas.

If you look carefully, you’ll see a scattering of background galaxies dotted around the image.

#astrophotography #space #astrodon

The Witch Head Nebula 🧙‍♀️

It sits next to bright Rigel in Orion. You can see a little bit of the star glow at top right.

Being a reflection nebula, this thing doesn’t glow in pink or blue like emission nebulae do. All you’re seeing is star light bouncing off “dust”. Which is this case is more
like smoke; very fine particles mixed in with the usual gas.

If you look carefully, you’ll see a scattering of background galaxies dotted around the image.

#astrophotography #space #astrodon

#MPSGoettingen wishes you happy holidays and a healthy and successful New Year 2026!

Featuring prominently on our season's greetings card: the first images of the Sun's south pole 🛰️ ☀️

During its flyby of the Sun at the end of March this year, the Solar Orbiter space probe had its first clear view of our star's poles. Solar Orbiter's trajectory has recently been tilted 17 degrees relative to the Sun's equator, allowing measurements from this unique perspective for the first time. As the new observations impressively show, the magnetic field at the poles is currently in a state of turmoil.

In addition to the images of the sun's south pole taken by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, the past year has brought us many other highlights: exciting scientific results and important awards. Read more at https://www.mps.mpg.de/en/season-s-greetings-2025

#2025 #wrapped #wrapped2025 #Jahresrückblick #SolarOrbiter #Sun #Space #SolAustralisIncognitus #2026 #NewYear #Goettingen #Astrodon

#MPSGoettingen wishes you happy holidays and a healthy and successful New Year 2026!

Featuring prominently on our season's greetings card: the first images of the Sun's south pole 🛰️ ☀️

During its flyby of the Sun at the end of March this year, the Solar Orbiter space probe had its first clear view of our star's poles. Solar Orbiter's trajectory has recently been tilted 17 degrees relative to the Sun's equator, allowing measurements from this unique perspective for the first time. As the new observations impressively show, the magnetic field at the poles is currently in a state of turmoil.

In addition to the images of the sun's south pole taken by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, the past year has brought us many other highlights: exciting scientific results and important awards. Read more at https://www.mps.mpg.de/en/season-s-greetings-2025

#2025 #wrapped #wrapped2025 #Jahresrückblick #SolarOrbiter #Sun #Space #SolAustralisIncognitus #2026 #NewYear #Goettingen #Astrodon

L. Nortmann, A. Reiners and S. Dreizler are advertising 3 PhD positions in Exoplanet Science at @unigoettingen in the fields of exoplanet atmospheres, radial velocity measurements, and astronomical instrumentation.

ad: https://obp.uni-goettingen.de/en-US/Stellen/StellenDruck/76220

application: https://obp.uni-goettingen.de/de-de/OBF/Index/76220

Deadline to apply is 15 January 2026.

The PhD projects are based on high-resolution spectroscopic observations. The exoplanet atmosphere and radial velocity projects will have access to CARMENES and CRIRES+ data and be embedded in preparation for ELT observations. The project on the radial velocity search for exoplanets will be involved in planning and implementation of the Second Earth and MOSES Spectrographs, and in the PLATO Ground-based observing program. The instrumentation project will focus on calibrating the next generation of high-precision radial velocity spectrographs.

#JobAd #PhD #PhDPosition #Goettingen #UniGoettingen #Exoplanets #Spectroscopy #Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophysics #GetFediHired

L. Nortmann, A. Reiners and S. Dreizler are advertising 3 PhD positions in Exoplanet Science at @unigoettingen in the fields of exoplanet atmospheres, radial velocity measurements, and astronomical instrumentation.

ad: https://obp.uni-goettingen.de/en-US/Stellen/StellenDruck/76220

application: https://obp.uni-goettingen.de/de-de/OBF/Index/76220

Deadline to apply is 15 January 2026.

The PhD projects are based on high-resolution spectroscopic observations. The exoplanet atmosphere and radial velocity projects will have access to CARMENES and CRIRES+ data and be embedded in preparation for ELT observations. The project on the radial velocity search for exoplanets will be involved in planning and implementation of the Second Earth and MOSES Spectrographs, and in the PLATO Ground-based observing program. The instrumentation project will focus on calibrating the next generation of high-precision radial velocity spectrographs.

#JobAd #PhD #PhDPosition #Goettingen #UniGoettingen #Exoplanets #Spectroscopy #Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophysics #GetFediHired