Starship Asterisk*

It’s hard to imagine a rocky planet where a large part of the surface is liquified by the heat of its star. Rather, that would be hard, except that we happen to live on such a planet. On any such planet, the lava will feel cool to any inhabitant that dwells on a solid portion of the surface, because...

"photographed in July" but it doesn't say July of which year. I have had this exact same picture, with the exact same description, in my Webshots wallpaper collection for at least 4 years. Much though I like this picture, I hope APOD does not degenerate to reruns.

SouthEastAsia wrote: Not to nitpick, but is this Fornax cluster then the 'second closest cluster', or the 3rd, being just '10% further' than the next closest after the nearest? A minor and irrelevant point, no problem, but I was just trying to wrap my brain around that fact... I think SouthEastAsia...

A related phenomenon is that often during a thunderstorm, after a nearby lightning stroke, the rainfall suddenly becomes more intense. I figure that's because the raindrops are carrying negative charge down to the ground, building up positive charge in the clouds. The drops fall against that field, ...

The Sun is shining onto Earth from above, but onto the Moon from the left. Obviously, this picture is a clumsy fake. I have seen other pictures from the Apollo missions with a similar problem. Maybe that's why some people say the Moon landings never happened.

I wondered what was that large island west of Japan, and was saddened to realize that it is South Korea, showing the enormously destructive effect of the government of North Korea. Similarly, the Nile Valley disappears tragically at the Sudanese border. As contrary emphasis, I notice the Trans-Siber...

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2008 August 9, titled Aurora Persei, is disappointing, because it is the same as The Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2006 August 11, titled Perseid in the Light. :cry: I recognized it immediately, because it is one of my wallpapers. I did not even have any diffi...