... 2005 July 29 . ISS and Discovery Transit the Sun . ... Explanation: That large sunspot near the right edge of the Sun is actually not a sunspot at all. It's the International Space Station ( ISS ) and the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114 . ... Launched on Tuesday, Discovery joined with the ISS Thursday, making the already large space station seem to loom even larger . ... About APOD | ... NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers . NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...

... 2000 July 13 . LP 944-20: A Failed Star Flares . ... Explanation: The tiny spot circled on the right actually represents a big astronomical discovery -- the first detected flare from a failed star. Failed stars, termed brown dwarfs in astronomers' parlance , are too low in mass to ignite nuclear hydrogen burning in their cores, yet still shine feebly as the energy from their gravitational collapse is converted to heat and light. ... How did a failed star produced such a high-energy flare ? ...

SN 1999aa - A Third Supernova Discovery . Just 9 weeks after the discovery of SN 1998ey a suspect was found 1" east and 28" north from the centre of NGC 2595 on Feb.11.0166 U.T.. ... Further inspection of 6 images of NGC 2595 taken during Feb. and March 1998 showed no object at the position of the suspect. ... Beijing Astronomical Observatory recorded SN 1999aa on Feb. 11.6 and 12.6 UT, the first obervation being only 14 hours after the discovery. ... Back to Supernova 1999aa in NGC 2595 . ...

... We have compiled the Catalogue of extragalactic supernovae using the GCVS card catalogue. ... Doubtful (?), or rejected (-) SN 8 A1 --- RemFlag [*] The '*' indicates a remark in sn_rem.dat 10- 19 A10 --- Gal Parent galaxy designation 21- 22 I2 h RAh Right Ascension 1950 of Parent galaxy 23- 24 I2 min RAm Right Ascension 1950 (minutes) 25- 28 F4.1 s RAs Right Ascension 1950 (seconds) 29 A1 --- DE- Declination 1950 (sign) 30- 31 I2 deg DEd Declination 1950 of Parent ...

... Here is a brief outline of the current theory of the events in the early history of the solar system: . A cloud of interstellar gas and/or dust (the "solar nebula") is disturbed and collapses under its own gravity. ... The gas cools off enough for the metal, rock and (far enough from the forming star) ice to condense out into tiny particles. (i.e. some of the gas turns back into dust). ... Once the larger of these particles get big enough to have a nontrivial gravity, their growth accelerates. ...