Thursday, March 31, 2016

From Pole to Pole



Did you know that there's a place where you can observe the northern and southern polar constellations? Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings you there! ("Mouseover" the image in the link for a constellation guide.)

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Nebula



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows complex structures within nebula found in the obscure constellation of Ara. Just a tiny sampling of the wonders that can be found across the universe!

Soviet Space

An interesting article on Soviet science fiction, emphasizing film (but missing, oddly enough, neither version of Solaris—television or movie—made there). As always, avoid the comments.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Roving

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video taken by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity as it approaches Mount Sharp by way of a dune field.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Belt and Sword



If only the belt and sword of Orion were close enough to us so that today's Astronomy Picture of the Day were a "naked eye" view!

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Massive Furnaces



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows some of the most massive stars ever discovered, some as large as 100 times the mass of our home star.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Solar Cycles

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us what has to be the cheapest way to photographically track several months of the Sun's movement ever.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Just Passing Through



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful view from Australia. Not only are we treated to the wonders of the southern skies, but Comet 252P/Linear is paying a visit. "Mouseover" the image (in the link) for a guide.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Heart of the Strange

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another fantastic image from Damien Peach. The Great Nebula in Carnia, home to Eta Carina, the Keyhole Nebula and more.

Liftoff!



Via NASA's Image of the Day, the launch (late last night) of an Atlas V carrying a Cygnus cargo vessel to the International Space Station.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Ripples

Can you see gravity waves? Perhaps not directly, but "mouseover" today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can see their spooky interaction upon the air we breathe.

Catching Up

Been a busy several weeks, so I've let this slide. Time to catch up! For those of you who see a feed at G+ or Twitter...stand by!

Storming



Solar activity reaches out and ignites auroral activity...on Jupiter!

Addendum: More on the interaction between the Sun and Jupiter can be found here.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Elevating Ceres

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day takes data returned by the Dawn spacecraft and shows the peaks and valleys (and craters) around one region of Ceres.

Friday, March 18, 2016

All the Colors of W

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the "W" of Cassiopeia along with all the wonderful dark and light nebula to be found in the region. ("Mouseover" the image for a guide.)

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Phoenix Without Ashes

Every look at clouds and see shapes there? How about this: Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows auroral activity over Iceland. It's a bird! ("Mouseover" the image for a constellation guide.)

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Dorm Room Wall Saturn

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day could have been found on dorm walls in the 70's (if it had existed then). The Cassini orbiter imaged Saturn in infrared light in 2007, revealing some interesting structure in the atmosphere and rings.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Spectral Flash

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another unique image from the solar eclipse: a thin sliver of the solar chromosphere and prominences yields a rainbow of emission lines to the side.

Back to the Future

A look behind the scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. "We're looking thirty-five years in the future!"

Friday, March 11, 2016

Vantage Point

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another image from the solar eclipse, but from a unique viewpoint: the Deep Space Climate Observatory caught a glimpse of the lunar shadow.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Pink Floyd

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the solar eclipse over the Indonesian island of Ternate. Never mind the eclipse, can I just visit that island?

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Pinhole Eclipse

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the partly-eclipsed Sun projected through the threaded holes of blinds, viewable as a strip of images on the floor.

Monday, March 7, 2016

The Benefits of a Long-Term Mission

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the benefits of a long-term mission and why, as long as the spacecraft continues to function, it should continue to be funded so as to return data. If Cassini had just been a flyby mission, or if Cassini had been defunded at the supposed "end" of the mission (it has been extended several times), we would have missed these active processes on Titan!

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Percussion

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing activity on the Sun. I recall seeing a movie of this in school, to the accompaniment of much percussion

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Rivers

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day calls back to the image from February 24, 2016, but this time brings us the bright coastline and interior of Japan as seen by the International Space Station.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Sculptor Galaxy

While NGC 134 in the constellation of Sculptor plays front-and-center in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, this is the kind of image where I play "spot the galaxy". How many other galaxies can you find in any one part of this image? Think of all the stars each one of those represents: do you still think it is possible we are completely alone in the universe?

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Close Encounter

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the close encounter between our Moon and Jupiter. If you look carefully, you can spot four more moons in the field of view: Callisto, Io, Ganymede and Europa (attempt no landings there).

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Procreation

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 3310 in the constellation of Ursa Major. "Recently" NGC 3310 "collided" with another galaxy and this caused it to become a starburst galaxy, undergoing a nearly galaxy-wide burst of star formation.