|
Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
A Path To Orion
16.12.2006
Last Saturday, the Space Shuttle Discovery lit up the night as it climbed into orbit above planet Earth. From Oak Hill, Florida, USA - about 30 miles north of the Kennedy Space Center - design engineer...
NGC 1055 and M77
15.12.2006
Large spiral galaxy NGC 1055 (top left) joins spiral M77 in this lovely cosmic view toward the constellation Cetus. The narrowed, dusty appearance of edge-on spiral NGC 1055 contrasts nicely with the face-on view of M77's bright nucleus and spiral arms.
Mountains of Titan
14.12.2006
Peering through the thick, hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, an infrared camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft recorded this view of the tallest mountains ever seen on Titan. Captured during a flyby...
A Large Tsunami Shock Wave on the Sun
13.12.2006
Tsunami's this large don't happen on Earth. One week ago, a large solar flare from an Earth-sized sunspot produced a tsunami-type shock wave that was spectacular even for the Sun. Pictured above...
Light Deposits Indicate Water Flowing on Mars
12.12.2006
What's creating light-toned deposits on Mars? Quite possibly -- water! Images of the same parts of mid-latitude Mars taken over the years but released only last week have shown unexpected new light-toned deposits where there were none before.
IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula
11.12.2006
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion.
Apollo 17 Panorama: Astronaut Running
10.12.2006
What would it be like to explore the surface of another world? In 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Harrison Schmitt found out first hand. In this case, the world was Earth's own Moon.
Three Planets in Dawn Skies
9.12.2006
Three children of the Sun rise in the east in this peaceful dawn skyview recorded December 7th near Bolu, Turkey. Inner planet Mercury, fresh from its second transit of the 21st century, stands highest in the bright sky at the top right. Gas giant Jupiter lies below the cloud bank near picture center.
NGC 2174: Emission Nebula in Orion
8.12.2006
A lesser known sight in the nebula-rich constellation Orion, NGC 2174 can be found with binoculars near the head of the celestial hunter. About 6,400 light-years distant, the glowing cosmic cloud surrounds loose clusters of young stars.
The Outskirts of M77
7.12.2006
Face-on spiral galaxy M77 lies a mere 60 million light-years away toward the constellation Cetus. Also known as NGC 1068, it's very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active galaxies.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||