Deep Time

A good guide to finding good history. There's a lot of dodgy stuff out there: poorly researched, mainly a thin covering for a warped sense of politics. Take a step back with this article and seek out books that will inform you!

Sisters

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 45, popularly known as the Seven Sisters, or, more classically, as the Pleiades. This open cluster is visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere late Fall through early Spring and yields even more wonders in a pair of binoculars or a low-power and wide-field telescope.

Great Spirals

 Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear, part of which is the Big Dipper). The image above is a composite, combining light from various frequencies, to tease out the structures embedded in this galaxy.

The Galactic Dark

 Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day depicts a astronomical mystery. Each of these galaxies spins (as they all do). These galaxies spin so fast that they should fly apart. Why don't they? Possibly due to dark matter. How to solve the mystery? Maybe the James Webb Space Telescope will shine a light on the matter.

And It's Blue

 Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day focuses in on the heart of Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula. And look, the lagoon is blue!

Shepherd Moon

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one of Saturn's "shepherd moons", Daphnis. Surfing around the rings of Saturn, you can see the "waves" it makes in those rings.

Bright Candle

 Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows The Flame Nebula, NGC 2024, in the constellation of Orion. The image above combines data from multiple wavelengths; click on the link to toggle between the images.

The Coming of the Martians

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows an overexposed Mars and a overexposed 51 Ophiuchi. Look carefully around the "halo" of Mars, at about 1:00 PM on the "clock dial" and you'll spot Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) making a close approach to the Red Planet. 

Spooky

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the ghostly wisps of The Veil Nebula (or Cygnus Loop), in the constellation of Cygnus.

The Jewel of Orion

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 42 in the Constellation of Orion. Always a place that I explore, whenever I go out under skies when Orion is striding and on the hunt.

Digging for Gold

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows MSL Curiosity poking around in the basin of Gale Crater on Mars as it trundles towards Mount Sharp. Here it is exploring a find of clay, signs that water may have once covered the floor of the crater.

Station Transit

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the International Space Station captured as it crossed the face of our home star.

Cascades

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows cascades of auroral activity over the skies of Canada.

Cheerful Lens

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows distant galaxies peeking around a gravitational lens and giving us a cheerful hello.

Haunted Skies

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia, IC 59 (on the left) and IC 63 (on the right). Look fast, they won't be around forever (thanks to cosmic erosion). 

Celestial Seahorse

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Barnard 150, a dark, dusty cloud in the constellation of Cepheus one of 182 (so far) dark nebula in our catalogs. 

Starry, Starry Night

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night, depicting the night sky (presumably) of southern France in 1889.

In the Mirror

 

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the night sky reflected in the world's largest mirror: a 130 kilometer wide salt lake covered temporarily by a reflective layer of water.

Our Dynamic Star

 Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing activity on our home star.

Beyond the Edge

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day was taken by the only (so far) human-built vehicle to visit this place: the nightside of Pluto, courtesy of the 2015 New Horizons encounter.

Orbital Upgrade

In today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch take a little stroll to replace the Battery Charge/Discharge Unit on the P6 Truss of the International Space Station.

The Outsider

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Hubble Space Telescope image of Comet 2I/Borisov, the second body to be recognized as an interstellar interloper coming in for a visit to our neighborhood.

System in a System

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a Cassini Orbiter image which managed to capture five of the moons of Saturn (plus a bit of the rings) in one shot.

Present at the Creation

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an image (not visible light!) of a binary star system in the process of formation.

Dark Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us what our dark and empty night sky would show us if we could "see" as well as our digital eyes.

The Busy Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy. 300 images, each taken over 30 seconds were stacked. As a result, the quiet sky is streaked with meteors, satellites, airplane lights and more. "Mouseover" the image in the link to switch between the two versions: cleaned up and "natural" or see the second image below.

Jewell Cluster

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 290, an open cluster in the constellation of Tucana and is part of the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the "satellite" galaxies that accompany The Milky Way.

Two Perspectives

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows our blue dot from two vastly different perspectives: Earth as seen from Saturn (900 million miles), Earth as seen from Mercury (61 million miles).

The Magic Hour

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the John Muir Trail on the slopes of Mount Whitney during the early morning.

Infalling

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a streak of a meteor captured in mid-air by a astrophotographer on an airplane.

Starburst

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 7714 (near Pices) displaying a burst of stellar creation after colliding with neighbor NGC 7715.

Red Lightning

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows sprite lightning over the skies of Italy. The sky is full of wonders.

The Great Black Spot

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a black spot on Jupiter. Monoliths converting the planet into a second star for our system? No, Io's shadow in transit across Jupiter's face.

Horse and Hunter

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a detailed image of the clouds and dust in and around The Horsehead Nebula in Orion.

Five Moons

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the waxing Moon and four more. Four? Look carefully and you'll spot Jupiter and four of the Galilean moons.

One Day on Mars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the landing site of Mars InSight while clouds scud overhead.

H3

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows rich star-birthing regions in Messier 33 (found in the constellation of Triangulum).

Clouds In Your Coffee

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows molecular clouds found in The Great Nebula in Carina.

Safety First!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short (humorous) video about being safe around black holes. Safety first when traveling interstellar danger zones!

Hunter in Repose

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Orion the Hunter from the perspective of Brazil, where he seems to be somewhere between horizontal repose and starting to stand on his head (vs. my usual northern hemisphere perspective).

The Cosmic Horologist

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows planetary nebula MyCn 18, a cosmic hourglass imaged here by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Path of the Sun

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day traces an analemma, the path of the Sun over the course of a year.

Mapping the Core

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the richness of our galactic core.

da Vinci Glow

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the New Moon embraced in the arms of the Old Moon. The "dark side" of the moon (the night side) is lit by earthshine. Leonardo da Vinci was probably not the first to observe this, but was the first that we know of to write of it.

Making the Star Stuff

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 5070, The Pelican Nebula, in the constellation of Cygnus. We are all star stuff, especially stars, which are being created in regions such as this.

Martian Frosting

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the northern hemisphere of Mars, where frozen carbon dioxide and water are sublimating off dune fields. Poke around and find other images from the polar regions of Mars during this kind of event. There are some amazing images to be seen around this (let along the rest of the planet!).

A Half Year of Suns

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a half year, from winter solstice to summer solstice of images of the Sun.

Warped Planet

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows...a landscape warped by a close-passing singularity? Cosmic strings bending local space? A breakdown between dimensions? Stitched photos creating so-called Little Planet projections can get really mind-bending!

Night Flowers

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Tulip Nebula, found in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan). The night sky is full of flowers.

Nightside

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Cassini Orbiter image of Saturn's nightside with a polar crescent and lit rings.

Traveling the Veil

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one portion of the Veil Nebula, an expanding supernova remnant in the constellation of Cygnus.