Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100613.jpg Retrograde Mars Explanation: Why would Mars appear to move backwards? Most of the time, the apparent motion of Mars in Earth's sky is in one direction, slow but steady in front of the far distant stars. About every two years, however, the Earth passes...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100612.jpg The Medusa Nebula Explanation: Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Gemini ....

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100611.jpg Hydrogen in M51 Explanation: Perhaps the original spiral nebula, M51 is a large galaxy, over 60,000 light-years across, with a readily apparent spiral structure . Also cataloged as NGC 5194, M51 is a part of a well-known interacting galaxy pair, its s...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100610.jpg Regulus and the Red Planet Explanation: Leo's royal star Regulus and red planet Mars appear in a colorful pairing just above the horizon in this starry skyscape. The photo was taken on June 4th from Oraman, a mountainous region of Kurdistan in western...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100609.jpg Orange Sun Simmering Explanation: Even a quiet Sun can be a busy place. And over the deep Solar Minimum of the past few years, our Sun has been unusually quiet . The above image , taken last week in a single color of light called Hydrogen Alpha and th...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100608.jpg Falcon 9 Launches to Orbit Explanation: A new rocket, the Falcon 9, was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral , Florida , USA , last week. The Falcon 9 , standing about as high as a 15-floor building, was developed by the commercial SpaceX corpora...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100607.jpg Comet McNaught Becoming Visible to the Unaided Eye Explanation: A new comet is brightening and is now expected to become visible to the unaided eye later this month. C/2009 R1 (McNaught) is already showing an impressive tail and is currently visible t...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100606.jpg Lunokhod: Reflections on a Moon Robot Explanation: It may look like some sort of cute alien robot, but it was created here on Earth, launched to the Moon in 1970, and now reflects laser light in a scientifically useful way. On November 17, 1970 the So...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100605.jpg Thor s Helmet Explanation: This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet . Heroically sized even for a Norse god , Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100604.jpg Hubble Remix: Active Galaxy NGC 1275 Explanation: Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby Perseus Cluster of Galaxies . Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a prodigious sourc...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100603.jpg Jupiter from the Stratosphere Explanation: SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy , captured its "first light" images on May 26, from an altitude of 35,000 feet. While flying above most of planet Earth's infrared-absorbi...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100602.jpg A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife Explanation: Did this meteor take a twisting path? No one is sure. Considered opinions are solicited. Meteors, usually sand sized grains that originate in comets, will typically disintegrate as they enter the Earth...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100601.jpg WISE: Heart and Soul Nebulas in Infrared Explanation: Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia ? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula , officially dubbed I...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100531.jpg Moons and Rings Before Saturn Explanation: While cruising around Saturn, be on the lookout for picturesque juxtapositions of moons and rings. Another striking alignment occurred last March in the view of humanity's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100530.jpg The Galactic Center in Infrared from 2MASS Explanation: The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light , much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust . In infrared light , however, dust glows more and obscures less, allowing near...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100529.jpg Black Holes in Merging Galaxies Explanation: Violent galaxy mergers can feed supermassive black holes. Theoretically, the result is intense emission from regions near the supermassive black holes, creating the some of the most luminous objects in the ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100528.jpg Atlantis over Rhodes Explanation: A moonlit chapel stands in the foreground of this night-scape from the historic Greek island of Rhodes . The tantalizing sky above features a colorful lunar corona , where bright moonlight is diffracted by water dropl...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100527.jpg M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules Explanation: In 1716 , English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, "This is but a little Patch, but it shews it self to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent." Of course, M13 is now...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100526.jpg Clouds and Stars over Cotopaxi Volcano in Ecuador Explanation: What's happening above the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador ? Quite a bit, from the looks of the above one-night, time-lapse movie , taken earlier this month. The majestic volcano is first seen...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100525.jpg Looking Back Across Mars Explanation: It's been a long trip for the Martian rover Opportunity. Last week Opportunity surpassed Viking 1 as the longest running mission on Mars, now extending well over six years. Pictured above , Opportunity's tire trac...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100524.jpg Rho Ophiuchus Wide Field Explanation: The clouds surrounding the star system Rho Ophiucus compose one of the closest star forming regions. Rho Ophiucus itself is a binary star system visible in the light-colored region on the image right. The star sys...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100523.jpg Station and Shuttle Transit the Sun Explanation: That's no sunspot. On the upper right of the above image of the Sun, the dark patches are actually the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-132 . In the past, ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100522.jpg Dark Filament of the Sun Explanation: Suspended by magnetic fields above a solar active region this dark filament stretches over 40 earth-diameters . The ominous structure appears to be frozen in time near the Sun's edge , but solar filaments are unst...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100521.jpg Calm, Crescent Moon, and Venus Explanation: Last weekend, the Moon and Venus formed a beautiful close pair in the west after sunset , a scene enjoyed by skygazers all over the world. In this lovely view of the conjunction from Sweden, a calm lake Vall...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100520.jpg M87: Elliptical Galaxy with Jet Explanation: In spiral galaxies , majestic winding arms of young stars, gas, and dust rotate in a flat disk around a bulging galactic nucleus. But elliptical galaxies seem to be simpler. Lacking gas and dust to form new...