Friday, August 31, 2018

Mars AS BIG AS the Moon



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Angry Red Planet, still bright and (relatively) close to us in the night skies. For once we seem to have escaped the (false) internet meme that Mars would be "as big as the Moon!" during opposition.

Surface features are starting to peak through as the global dust storm subsides. Still no word (knock on wood) from Opportunity!

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Deep Reds and Subtle Blues



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us NGC 6914 in the constellation of Cygnus. What a mix of reds and blues, stars, gas and dust!

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Glow



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the glow of car lights scattered through dense fog and the biological glow of small organisms in the water along the coast of Oregon. Above, the glow of the Milky Way.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Hurtling Stars



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows ESO 137-001, a spiral galaxy passing through galaxy cluster Abell 3627. ESO 137-001 is moving so fast that it appears as a galactic comet and dust and gas forms a tail.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Double Messier



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 20 and Messier 21 in the constellation of Sagittarius. Let's peer towards the center of our home galaxy, shall we?

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Approach to Rubble



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows an increasingly detailed view of asteroid 162173 Ryugu, as JAXA's Hayabusa 2 vehicle moves every closer.

Monday, August 20, 2018

Quiet Sun



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows some activity on our Sun. Currently in the Solar Minimum, even fewer sunspots than expected are visible.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Very Scary



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Asperitas clouds in the skies of New Zealand. Very scary looking, but not scary in actuality.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Peeking In



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the results of the hyper-extended Cassini Orbiter mission at Saturn. The large moon Titan, shrouded in clouds, has been a mystery. Now peek underneath!

Friday, August 17, 2018

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Going Up, Going Down



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the early morning launch of the Parker Solar Probe on a Delta IV Heavy while the skies are lit by the occasional Perseid meteor.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Bridge Over Stellar Waters



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a cluster of galaxies, Messier 86 (also known as The Eyes Galaxies and Arp 120), in a larger cluster of galaxies, the Virgo Cluster, and part of Markarian's Chain of galaxies. What is in the image, ghostlike? Is it a bridge between two of the galaxies?

"Mouseover" the image in the link for a guide to the objects in the picture. This is also an area worth exploring, from binoculars to larger low power/rich field telescopes. Just wander around and look what you can find!

Monday, August 13, 2018

Shock!



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us NGC 2736, in the constellation of Vela. Popularly known as The Pencil Nebula (look at the images in that second link), this nebula is the result of a supernova which occurred some 11,000 years ago.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Ruining the Shot



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a ruined astronomical shot. Or is it? A Perseid meteor passes through the frame dominated by Messier 31, The Andromeda Galaxy. Why do you think the meteor was green?

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Friday, August 10, 2018

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Red and Blue



The title of today's Astronomy Picture of the Day says it plain: red planet, red Moon, red Mars. But also blue water and blue sky.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Lunar Alps



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Moon at moonrise, rising in a state of eclipse, over the Alps in France. Did you know there are also Alps on the Moon? (There are, however, no goats known to be on the Moon—enlarge the image to see what I mean!)

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Heart



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a (reprocessed and enhanced) view of the heart of the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Full Bloodmoon



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows three moments in the recent lunar eclipse, from near totality, to totality, and the moment after.

Thursday, August 2, 2018