Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100428.jpg Sunset on a Golden Sea Explanation: On April 17 , the sky was clear and the Sun's colour was spectacular as night approached. This striking telescopic view even captures the Sun's swollen and distorted shape from the southern coast of the UK. Reflecti...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100427.jpg The Bloop: A Mysterious Sound from the Deep Ocean Explanation: What created this strange sound in Earth's Pacific Ocean? Pictured above is a visual representation of a loud and unusual sound , dubbed a Bloop, captured by deep sea microphones in 1997. ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100426.jpg Dust Pillar of the Carina Nebula Explanation: Inside the head of this interstellar monster is a star that is slowly destroying it. The monster, on the right, is actually an inanimate pillar of gas and dust that measures over a light year in length. Th...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100425.jpg Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula Explanation: Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant -shaped nebula t...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100424.jpg NGC 1055: Galaxy in a Box Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the intimidating constellation Cetus . Seen edge-on, the island universe spans about 10...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100423.jpg SDO: The Extreme Ultraviolet Sun Explanation: Don't panic, the Sun has not gone wild. But this wild-looking portrait of the nearest star to planet Earth was made on March 30th by the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Shown in false-c...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100422.jpg Venus, Mercury, and Moon Explanation: Earlier this month, Venus and Mercury climbed into the western twilight, entertaining skygazers around planet Earth in a lovely conjunction of evening stars. Combining 8 images spanning April 4 through April 15, t...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100421.jpg Wide Angle: The Cats Paw Nebula Explanation: Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble . Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius . ...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100420.jpg Saturns Moons Dione and Titan from Cassini Explanation: What would it be like to see a sky with many moons? Such is the sky above Saturn . When appearing close to each other, moons will show a similar phase . A view with two of the more famous moons o...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100419.jpg Ash and Lightning Above an Icelandic Volcano Explanation: Why did the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland create so much ash? Although the large ash plume was not unparalleled in its abundance, its location was particularly noticeable because it drift...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100418.jpg Large Eruptive Prominence Imaged by STEREO Explanation: What's happened to our Sun? Last week, it produced one of the most power eruptive prominences ever seen. Pictured above , the prominence erupted in only a few hours and was captured in movie form...

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100417.jpg Damage to Apollo 13 Explanation: After an oxygen tank exploded and crippled their service module, the Apollo 13 astronauts were forced to abandon plans to make the third manned lunar landing . The extent of the damage is revealed in this grainy, grim ...

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...