|
Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
Sun Block
18.08.1999
During a total solar eclipse, Earth's moon blocks the sun - almost exactly. While the sun is about 400 times wider than the moon, it is also about 400 times farther away and each appears to be half a degree or so in diameter.
A Crescent Sunrise
17.08.1999
Normally, the Moon shows phases, but the Sun does not. The reason is founded in the fact that the Moon shines only by reflected sunlight. When the Moon is closer to the Sun than the Earth, only part of it appears to be lit - resulting in a familiar crescent-shaped phase.
Mars Weather Watch
16.08.1999
Mars may be a cold, dry planet but its weather is dynamic. On June 30, wide angle cameras on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft watched the development of this large scale storm system above Mars' north polar area.
M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
15.08.1999
What's going on in the center of this spiral galaxy? Named the Sombrero Galaxy for its hat-like resemblance, M104 features a prominent dust lane and a bright halo of stars and globular clusters.
A String Of Pearls
14.08.1999
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, named after its co-discoverers, was often referred to as the "string of pearls" comet. It is famous for its suggestive appearance as well as its collision with the planet Jupiter!
Eclipse In The Shade
13.08.1999
Near the shadow of the moon under a shady tree, dozens of images of a 1994 solar eclipse in progress are visible in this striking picture from the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. What creates the multiple images?
Deploying Spartan
12.08.1999
Last October the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed Spartan 201, a spacecraft that monitored the corona of the Sun. Instruments on Spartan 201 were used to estimate the density of electrons emitted into the solar...
A Meteor Over the Anza Borrego Desert
11.08.1999
Meteors will be flashing across your skies over the next two nights. Specifically, the Perseid Meteor Shower should be at its best just before each morning's dawn. Observers at dark locations might see as much as a meteor a minute.
A Total Eclipse for Europe
10.08.1999
The last total solar eclipse of this millennium will be visible for a few minutes tomorrow from a narrow path in Europe and Asia. There, millions of sightseers will witness the Moon move directly between the Earth and Sun, covering up the Sun completely.
A Martian Dust Storm Approaches
9.08.1999
Batten down the hatches, here comes another Martian dust storm. The thin soil on Mars can be picked up by high winds to create dust storms that sweep down plains and can sometimes envelop most of the planet.
|
January February March April |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||