... A mere 6,000 light-years distant and sailing through the constellation Vela, star cluster RCW 38 is full of powerful stars. ... Orion Rising . ... Orion always comes up sideways ... and was caught in the act earlier this month by astronomer Jimmy Westlake, stargazing eastward over the Rocky Mountains north of Leadville, Colorado, USA. ... Spring Dust Storms at the North Pole of Mars . ... The December solstice brings the beginning of Winter to Earth's Northern Hemisphere and Summer time to the South...