Various types of stars have dust around them. In the well known case of the Pleiades the dust around the stars is unrelated to the stars, and is instead dust from an interstellar cloud that the Pleiades cluster has drifted into on its way through the galactic disk. ... The dust in interstellar space is observed in a variety of ways: due to its passive absorption of starlight ("extinction"), by its production of polarization in starlight, and then at long wavelengths due to its thermal radiation. ...

All stars derive their energy through the thermonuclear fusion of light elements in to heavy elements. High temperatures are required so that the mutual electrostatic repulsion of the protons in each fusing atomic nucleus is overcome. ... Elements with more protons in their nuclei require higher temperatures. ... This sequence is now shown in the animation below. ... First Step of the Proton-Proton Chain Narration . Second Step of the Proton-Proton Chain Narration . ...

... A Halo Around the Moon . ... Cameras around the globe pointed skyward this week to capture the spectacular conjunction of a crescent Moon and bright planets Venus and Jupiter. ... On December 1, bright planets Venus and Jupiter gathered near the young crescent Moon, an inspiring celestial scene in early evening skies around the world. ... Visible the world over was an unusual superposition of our Moon and the planets Venus and Jupiter. ... Astronaut.. Massive Stars Resolved in the Carina Nebula . ...

... Tirgo Page . ... Lunar occultations . ... Last modified on November 12, 1998 by A. Richichi . ... Many observatories around the world will follow these events, with the purpose of obtaining accurate measurements of the angular diameter of this red giant, from the recording of the lightcurve during the disappearance (or reappearance) behind the limb of the Moon. ... 6 November 1998: both disappearance and reappearance recorded under very good conditions at the TIRGO observatory by A. Richichi . ...

... 2002 January 4 . M16: Infrared Star Hunt . ... Explanation: The head of an interstellar gas and dust cloud is shown here in false-color, a near-infrared view recorded by astronomers hunting for stars within M16's Eagle Nebula . Made famous in a 1995 Hubble image of the 7,000 light-year distant star forming region, the pillar-shaped cloud's surface was seen to be covered with finger-like evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs). ... About APOD | ...

Next: Format files Up: Star tables Previous: Star tables . ... If so, simply copy out the data for your program stars as fixed-format ASCII records, one star per record. ... It will first ask for the name you want to give your new program-star table. ... It is important to make sure the star names in your source files match those in your data files. ... That means using short, unique names in your program-star files, to match those that will appear in the data. ...

... Comet Ikeya-Zhang, designated C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang), is named after Kaoru Ikeya of Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, and Daqing Zhang of Henan province, China, who independently discovered it on the night of 1 February 2002. A preliminary orbit reported the following day indicated that it would come moderately close to both the Earth and the Sun and that it might become visible to the naked eye during late March and April 2002. ... Bailey, M.E., Clube, S.V.M. and Napier, W.M. The Origin of Comets . ...

Turning the Camera Skyward . A reconfigured camera can take wide-field exposures of astronomical objects (constellations, the Milky Way, zodiacal light, moving artificial satellites, meteor showers, variable stars, etc.) to reveal much fainter objects and structures than seen by naked eye. ... This picture reveals objects more than 2.5 times fainter than can be seen by the naked eye, including not only stars but also the Orion nebula (M42), where new stars are being born. ...

While it makes sense for a 3-station array to only record data when all three stations are tracking the fringe (and this is why this mode was used with NPOI's 3-station configuration), NPOI 6-station data from the hybrid beam combiner are recorded even if up to three stations are in fringe search mode. ... Use Util|Edit (located in plot selection widget) to place three rectangular boxes around the bad data points and flag them. ... This step further eliminates bad tracking data. ... Data loaded. ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bad Astronomy: The North Star, Polaris, is a very bright star. Good Astronomy: Polaris is a middling-bright star, easily missed. ... He said it was close to Polaris, the North Star, but he also said it was in the East. ... It's natural, I suppose, to think that such an important star should be bright, but really, that's a conceit, like thinking that the Earth is at the center of the Universe. If more people knew just why Polaris is the North Star, this Bad Idea would stop. ...

ATMoB "Double Star Award " Guidelines Purpose: To promote observing among the membership of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston ­ in particular, double, triple, and multiple stars. Introduction: Double, triple, and multiple stars are the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the night sky. ... W hile they can be observed under a variety of sky conditions, double stars ­ especially close ones ­ are best viewed on nights when the seeing is steady. ... The direction from a star to Polaris is north. ...

Astronomers Detect Coolest Radio Star . ... The new radio-star is muc