... Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. January 4, 1998 . Fractal Interstellar Dust Up-Close . ... But nobody really knows what a typical interstellar dust grain looks like. ... The above picture shows the result of a fractal adhesion model for dust grains involving random conglomerates of spherical compounds of different properties, here artificially highlighted by different colors. ...

... Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. August 18, 1999 . Sun Block . ... Explanation: 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. ... Tomorrow's picture: Light From The Dark Sun . ... About APOD > . ...

Supernova 1987A in LMC . One day in 1987, an astronomer by the name of Ian Shelton was making observations of the Tarantula Nebula in Large Magellanic cloud at Las Campanas Observatory, and he noticed something strange on his image. ... SN 1987A got as bright as 2.7, the only other recent SN even to come close was 1885A in M31 which got up to mag 6. ... Mag 4.5 . ... IAUC 4318 2/25/87 Type II? ... IAUC 7354 2/1/00 New structure in the inner ring . ... IAUC 7360 2/7/00 HST observation of new spot . ...

... Since GCVS IV, there was no new GCVS edition. ... Main reasons for the automatic-survey new variables remaining outside the GCVS for a long time:  different level of detail of the classification systems, no perfect software for automatic classification available;  individual approach to each star that was always used in the GCVS cannot be applied any longer, but the experience of automatically- updated catalogs evidences for the number of errors ...

... Отмеченная наградами АстроТоп-а . ... 1) К участию в конкурсе допускаются все российские сайты на тему астрономии и космонавтики, и все русскоязычные сайты за пределами России. ... II) Сайт года . ... Победитель: Астронет - http://www.astronet.ru/ : подано голосов экспертов - 109 (всего - 129) . ... 3-е место разделили: Астрономия и Телескопостроение - http://www.astronomer.ru/ и Лента новостей космонавтики от Железнякова - http://www.cosmoworld.ru/spaceencyclopedia/hotnews/ : подано по 37 голосов; ...

... 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. ...