Starship Asterisk*

"That's no Moon..." said Obiwan... Oh...yeah...it IS The Moon... :lol2: For a minute I was thinking Earth Eclipse....but I guess the Sun would have to be on the other side???? Still....the ILLUMINATING SOURCE is on the other side of The Moon...from OUR VIEW....so....in a way??? :? Any Who...

Earth's Moon ... Too Close For Comfort !
Also, I give thanks to all involved that gave us this truly remarkable image of our worlds.

There must be some distortion in generating this stereo pair. When I get the images to merge, a very elongated ' water melon ' shape appears. Like viewing a water melon end on. I have seen no other images that show Pluto is shaped like this. Is no one else getting the water melon effect ? I have se...

There must be some distortion in generating this stereo pair. When I get the images to merge, a very elongated ' water melon ' shape appears. Like viewing a water melon end on. I have seen no other images that show Pluto is shaped like this.

Where can I get an intergalactic real estate license ... ?

Why are there no stars visible ? It's daytime. The sun is up. Note the sharp shadow below the lunar rover. The mountains in the distance are brightly lit up by the Sun. http://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/thumb300y/opo1301d.jpg The picture on the left is a Hubble image of a giant planet o...

Someone once said " It Has A Stark Beauty All It's Own " But that was like way back in the sixties, man... :lol2: I have to follow up here. Because I am surprised no one else did. That 'Someone' was Neal Armstrong whilst walking on the moon ... http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/a...

Someone once said " It Has A Stark Beauty All It's Own " But that was like way back in the sixties, man...

I had recently heard a story of the failure of a solar sailing craft. I think it was a comunications issue. Light Sail A seems like a success. Was there a recent failure of Light Sail craft ? Well, I found an answer to my own question... LightSail Solar Sail Spacecraft Goes Silent Again by Mike Wal...

I had recently heard a story of the failure of a solar sailing craft. I think it was a comunications issue. Light Sail A seems like a success. Was there a recent failure of Light Sail craft ?

APOD Robot wrote:its high mass and volatility make it a candidate to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime in the next few million years.

This already seems like a nova event.

I noticed this APOD said the CME was mostly Iron and Helium. This is really interesting! Why is it the first atom to form, and the last, before the star dies? Why those two in particular and not a mix of the full composition of the star? Thanks! Maybe the iron is concentrated in the area of a sunsp...

This new image processing algorithm is revealing thin wispy details that are usually looked right through on the Suns surface.These aspects are seen more easily seen at the limb and not often so vividly revealed across the Sun's face.

An obvious question...Why is it green? I think this image attempts rendering natural colors. What chemical activity is responsible for this unusual coloring?

Why is there a bright band of light stretching across the the face of the Moon? It seams to be delineating the edge of the umbra.

Yesterday's teaser caption, "Pixels in Space," had me curious to know how it specifically applies to today's gorgeous "Eclipse at Moonset" photo. However, before posting this comment just now, I opened APOD in another browser window and returned to yesterday's entry only to disc...

I know how sensitive the site administrators get when someone wants to discuss something they feel is outside of mainstream. In poster's defense I feel much of astrophysics is speculation. I hope this does not violate forum rules about posting . I have felt for a long time that Bok's Globules (Not s...

This shot really makes me feel immersed in our galaxy. Is that the central bulge of the Milky Way just left of Venus?

M83-The "Dislocated Arm Galaxy"

This is the a most interesting image. I am intrigued by so many apparent strings, tri-nary , bi-nary and small clusters of stars. Many have one or more striking red and orange stars in them. Blowing this detailed image up reveals so many nebula, arcs , bow shocks and even a "Comet like" st...

The rotation is actually a digital illusion -- tidally-locked Phobos always keeps the same face toward its home planet, as does Earth's moon. No, this is wrong, and perpetuates a misunderstanding about the nature of tidal locking. In fact, Phobos rotates with a period of 8 hours. With tidally locke...

Ahhh, this is NOT a Wolf Rayet nebula!! :evil: I would also like to say that I love Wolf Rayet nebulae! There really should be a "love heart" smilie! :lol2: I had to look that one up. I found this about that. 'Wolf Rayet' star http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980603a.ht...

Wow, Thanks for posting the link to the 3D imaging of The Bubble nebula.The 3D image is amazing http://astroanarchy.blogspot.fi/2013/02/3d-study-of-bubble-nebula.html . There have been so many astronomical images of planetary nebula that could benefit from this process. The web site http://astroanar...

The continued visibility of what remains of Comet ISON is currently yet another great unknown for this enigmatic comet. Remember, though, when interpreting new ISON images, that comet tails usually point AWAY from the Sun. - RJN I have to assume what we are seeing is a debris trail. There is also f...

Is planet Mercury visible in this video? I saw Comet ISON on the mornings of November 13 & 14. I was on the MIid-Atlantic shore in Ocean City Maryland. I had been hoping to catch a glimpse of planet Mercury. Both mornings I saw something small, round, fuzzy and sort of cloud like rise about 1/2 ...