Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100416.jpg Bright Points on the Quiet Sun Explanation: Up close, the solar surface is a striking patch work of granules in this very high resolution picture of the quiet Sun . Caused by convection, the granules are hot, rising columns of plasma edged by dark lan...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100415.jpg NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 4651 is a mere 35 million light-years distant, toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices . About 50 thousand light-years across, this galaxy is seen to have a faint umbrella-shape...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100414.jpg A Large Space Station Over Earth Explanation: The International Space Station is the largest object ever constructed by humans in space. The station perimeter now extends over roughly the area of a football field , although only a small fraction of th...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100413.jpg Unusual Spiral Galaxy M66 from Hubble Explanation: Why isn't spiral galaxy M66 symmetric? Usually density waves of gas, dust, and newly formed stars circle a spiral galaxy 's center and create a nearly symmetric galaxy . The differences between M66 's...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100412.jpg Mercury and Venus Over Paris Explanation: Go outside tonight and see one of the more interesting planetary conjunctions of recent years. Just after sunset , the planets Mercury and Venus are visible quite near each other. Now Venus, being commonly dis...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100411.jpg IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula Explanation: What is creating the strange texture of IC 418? Dubbed the Spirograph Nebula for its resemblance to drawings from a cyclical drawing tool , planetary nebula IC 418 shows patterns that are not well understood....

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100410.jpg Spitzer s Orion Explanation: Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula , an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. Spanning about 40 light-years across the region, this new infrared image from the Spitzer Space Teles...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100409.jpg Discovery s Dawn Explanation: On April 5, visitors to Kennedy Space Center saw these colorful clouds, twisting and drifting through dawn skies. Of course, the clouds were rocket engine plumes from the predawn launch of the space shuttle Discovery on t...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100408.jpg Discovery s Cloud Explanation: The space shuttle orbiter Discovery is now docked with the International Space Station , some 350 kilometers above planet Earth . Last Monday, its launch to orbit was a beautiful one as it rose into clear , predawn skies...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100407.jpg Venus and Mercury in the West Explanation: In this twilight skyview, a windmill stands in silent witness to a lovely pairing of planets in the west. The picture was recorded on April 5 from Gallegos del Campo, Zamora, Spain. Venus (left) and Mercury (...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100406.jpg A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn ( Monoceros ). Pictured above as a star for...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100405.jpg Prometheus Remastered Explanation: What does Saturn's shepherd moon Prometheus really look like? The raw images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft's January flyby of the small moon showed tantalizing clues on grainy image s, but now that the Cassini ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100404.jpg The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon Explanation: Although you've surely seen it, you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless twilight , just before sunrise or after sunset , part of the atmosphere above the horizon appears slightly off...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100403.jpg NGC 602 and Beyond Explanation: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100402.jpg Serene Paraselene Explanation: Nestled in the Austrian Alps, frozen Lake Ossiach stretches across the foreground of this serene view. Recorded on March 1, the night sky includes a nearly full Moon and bright planet Saturn seen through thin clouds near...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100401.jpg Evidence Mounts for Water on the Moon Explanation: In 2009, space missions revealed tantalizing signs of water on or near the lunar surface, once thought of as a dry and desolate environment . But researchers are now offering this archival picture as ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100331.jpg Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri Explanation: Featured in the sharp telescopic image, globular star cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is some 15,000 light-years away and 150 light-years in diameter. Packed with about 10 million stars much older tha...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100330.jpg Unusual Starburst Galaxy NGC 1313 Explanation: Why is this galaxy so discombobulated? Usually, galaxies this topsy-turvy result from a recent collision with a neighboring galaxy. Spiral galaxy NGC 1313 , however, appears to be alone. Brightly lit with...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100329.jpg Moonset Over Pleasant Bay Explanation: It was a sky for the imagination. In the early evening last week, the sky illuminating the unaided eye was perhaps even more illuminating to the mind's eye. The unaided eye saw clouds framing the Moon setting ove...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100328.jpg M16: Pillars of Creation Explanation: It has become one of the most famous images of modern times. This image , taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen gas an...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100327.jpg Hesiodus Sunrise Ray Explanation: Stark shadows of mountains and crater walls stand out along the lunar terminator, or shadow line between night and day, in this telescopic image. Of course, if viewed from the lunar surface near the terminator line, t...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100326.jpg Young Moon and Sister Stars Explanation: A young crescent Moon shares the western sky with sister stars of the Pleiades cluster in this pretty, evening skyscape recorded on the March equinox from San Antonio, Texas. In the processed digital image, mul...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100325.jpg NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans Explanation: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish , (Piscis) Volans . Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a pronounced cen...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100324.jpg Galaxy Wars: M81 versus M82 Explanation: On the right, surrounded by blue spiral arms, is spiral galaxy M81 . On the left, marked by red gas and dust clouds, is irregular galaxy M82 . This stunning vista shows these two mammoth galaxies locked in grav...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100323.jpg Reinvigorated Sun and Prominence Explanation: Dramatic prominences can sometimes be seen looming just beyond the edge of the sun. Such was the case last week as a giant prominence, visible above on the right, highlighted a Sun showing increased activi...