Starship Asterisk*

It looks as though there's a pretty good sized rocket blast crater in the foreground. Perhaps what we're seeing in the photo is the first "successful" launch.

Today's APOD image (6/30/08), the Trifid Nebula, and the image here of a recreated 1.21 Jigawatt Flux Capacitor:

http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploa ... acitor.jpg

OK, I know this isn't nearly as prolific as other posts, but doesn't this image of the center of the Trifid Nebula look strangely like Doc Brown's Flux Capacitor in "Back To The Future"?

"Great Scott, Marty! We've changed the course of the time-space continuum!"

In the caption, Mars is called "our Solar system's second most habitable planet." I suppose there's hope injected into that description, but not science. While evidence exists of several so-called "habitable" conditions such as H2O and other chemicals, temperature range and sunli...

That's all well and good about Yuri Gagarin's legacy and the interesting historical perspective, but...what about the picture? The Astronomy Picture Of the Day? What a great shot! When was it taken and from what spacecraft? I love the long shadows behind the tall clouds.

In the "before" image, a little past half way toward the bright star to the left of the letter A, you see a blotch of light that is not present in the "after" image. Instead, there appears to be a streak, perhaps a tail, going directly toward the supernova. I wonder if SM2005ap i...