These great hollow globes of artificial super-metals, and artificial transparent adamant, ranged in size from the earliest and smallest structures, which were no bigger than a very small asteroid, to spheres considerably larger than the Earth. (Olaf Stapledon, STAR MAKER)
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Final Tour
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a view from Cassini's final tour of Saturn space. Wow. Just wow.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Arches
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the spring arches: the Milky Way and the Zodiacal Light (still a quest for me!).
Friday, April 28, 2017
Spooky Action Close Up
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day uses multiple telescopes to study the Antennae. After you're done staring at the image, think about what it might be like to be inside an "interacting" region.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Dust in the Lyra
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a downfall of Lyrid meteors. "Mouseover" the image in the link for a constellation guide.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Etna
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows an eruption at Mount Etna and star trails in the infinite universe.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
The Cometeers Approach
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Comet C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) and it's recently developed split ion tail.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Quantum Dots
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is the sort where you need to spend time on the site reading the text. Ponder on.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Blue Dot
Everyone you know is encompassed in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. Cassini snaps an image of Earth captured in the ring gaps of Saturn.
Friday, April 21, 2017
Star Dust
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us dusty lanes in NGC 4302 and NGC 4298. How many other galaxies can you spot in the picture?
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Tumbling Dice
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a series of radar images of Asteroid 2014 JO24. A "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid", it's probably prudent to collect data on this whirling bullet.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Phospor
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day has phosphorescent glows above and below. Growing up with the sea-related stories by Arthur C. Clarke, his descriptions of glowing plankton and the Milky Way of the southern hemisphere fascinated me. I hope to someday see both!
Monday, April 17, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Plumes
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day illuminates recent discoveries by the hard-working Cassini orbiter around Saturn. Does life lurk under the seas of Enceladus?
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Station to Station (to Station)
Comparisons between Mir, the International Space Station and Tianhe-1 (possibly not the ultimate name). Alas, no earlier stations in the mix.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
First Up
A fascinating look at our first trip into space. Yuri Gagarian survived thanks to good engineering overcoming haste and workmanship. Luckily!
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Triplet
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is the Leo Triplet, riding high in the spring sky. Ah, spring, time of the Messier Marathon!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
Tunneling
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a "tunnel" drilling the way through the cosmic microwave background.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Hale-Bopp
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1), which dazzled us in 1997. Currently there are three (!) binocular comets in the sky, so get out and take a look!
Saturday, April 8, 2017
The Runaways
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Zeta Ophiuchi as it hurtles through the galaxy. Runaway stars are dangerous things. You never know who is at the controls.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Dipper
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the Big Dipper from inside the ruins of a castle. "Mouseover" the image in the link for a guide.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Barnard's Loop
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day takes a look at LDN 1633 and Barnard's Loop. Dust, gas and birthing stars, oh my!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Filaments
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows active galaxy NGC 1275. Could be a special effects sequence from a movie, but this is reality (often stranger than fiction!).
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Outpost
So, is NASA and international partners working on plans to put a station around the Moon? These seem to keep coming back to the same writer, so I'll remain skeptical until I see some real announcements.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Polar Hex
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a magnificent image of Saturn thanks to Cassini. We're going to miss that spacecraft!
Sunday, April 2, 2017
The Cave of Stars
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a stacked image of NGC 602 near the Small Magellanic Cloud. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory are combined into one picture.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Red Pill, Blue Pill
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day asks if you will take the blue pill or the red pill.