Friday, March 31, 2017

Dimensional Snowball



Get out your 3-D glasses! Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a red-blue anaglyph of the surface of Comet 67P Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Laserium



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the use of lasers for image-sharpening. Anybody remember Pink Floyd under a planetarium dome with lasers?

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Astronomy and Geology



Odd formations on the ground and star clouds in the sky make up today's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Down Down Down Down



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us beyond the blue event horizon. A supermassive black hole consumes a star, the accretion disk heats up and produces a jet. Astounding universe we live in!

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Persistence of Life



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a tardigrade. An alien on Earth? Probably not, but a good example of the ability of life to adapt at the extremes.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Shadow and Moons



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Damien Peach wonder. Jupiter with intricate cloudscape, Ganymede (and shadow) and Io overhead.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Nice Grouping



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day features an owl and galaxy and a local interloper. Comet 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresak encounters galaxy Messier 108 and nebula Messier 97 (the "Owl Nebula").

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Cave of Stars



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us Sharpless catalog entry Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Origin Story

The very secret origins of the Wild Cards novels and stories aren't very secret, but this essay by John Jos. Miller gives a nice new perspective on what happened. And they say nothing ever comes out of playing games!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Saturday, March 18, 2017

JWST



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the James Webb Space Telescope in the clean room at Goddard. I really hope this thing works!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Odometer



For a mission slated for a mere ninety "sols", Opportunity is doing pretty good.

Phasing



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows several months on phase changes for Venus. Which phase is the brightest in the evening (or morning) sky?

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Starlight Moon



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the starlit face of Mimas. Another wonderful image courtesy of the hard-working Cassini orbiter!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Legacy Image



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an image of the Cone Nebula courtesy of the hard-working Hubble Space Telescope.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Winter Composite



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a composite of visible stars and enhanced nebula in the winter skies. "Mouseover" the image in the link for a guide.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Closeup: New Worlds



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the best view ever of Saturn's tiny moon Pan. The detail comes at a price, we're in the final stages of Cassini's extended mission.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Heart of the Nebula



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us one of my favorite sites in the night sky. Christoph Kaltseis brings us the heart of Messier 42, The Great Nebula n Orion.

Friday, March 10, 2017

MoonLab



Are NASA and international partners planning a station for lunar orbit?

I'd love to see it, but "show me the money" and don't believe it until they "bend tin" given past disappointments.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

To Far Centaurus



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows "active galaxy". The visible image is only a portion of what is going on there.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Swirling Complexity

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the complexity found in the Great Nebula of Orion. This one is worth making into your desktop image!

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Monday, March 6, 2017

Northern Beauty



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows northern wonders ("mouseover" the image in the link for a guide).

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Day Job



Still in the midst of a product cycle that is slowly reducing my SAN. Hence low productivity on reading and gaming and such. Zounds.

Dark and Light



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows dark dusty lanes and bright emitting lanes in NGC 2170 in Monoceros.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Across the Arc



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day covers 10 degrees of the sky, from Cassiopeia to Andromeda.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Ring of Fire



Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the ring of fire and Bailey's Beads during a solar eclipse.