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.)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Fanning Craters

Courtesy of the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, here is an image of Saheki Crater showing evidence of erosion from water.

Compact

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Hickson Compact Group 91, in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus. Seems to be a bit of "interaction" going on about the center of the image!

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.

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.

Dogging the Moon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the waxing Moon flanked by two guardian "moondogs".

Deep Map

NASA has released a new map of the gravity of Mars, allowing us to look inside the Red Planet's structure.

ROADHENGE

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the setting Sun on a east/west road during the Spring Equinox.

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.

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.)

Transient

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Comet 252P/Linear "visiting" the Large Magellanic Cloud.

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.)

Totality

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video from the recent total solar eclipse.

Swirls and Whorls

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows dark dust nebulas in the constellation of Taurus.

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.

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!"

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.

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?

Edging

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the edge-on galaxy NGC 5866, found in the constellation of Draco.

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.

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!

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

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.

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?

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).

Rainbows and Swans

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows lenticular clouds, with rainbow iridescence, over the skies of China.

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.