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Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
X Ray Rainbows
28.09.2002
A drop of water or prism of glass can spread out visible sunlight into a rainbow of colors. In order of increasing energy, the well known spectrum of colors in a rainbow runs red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Accretion Disk Simulation
27.09.2002
Don't be fooled by the familiar symmetry. The graceful spiral structure seen in this computer visualization does not portray winding spiral arms in a distant galaxy of stars. Instead, the graphic shows spiral...
Rocket Trail at Sunset
26.09.2002
Bright light from a setting Sun and pale glow from a rising Moon both contribute to this stunning picture of a rocket exhaust trail twisting and drifting in the evening sky. Looking west...
Jupiter, Moons, and Bees
25.09.2002
Rising before the Sun on September 4, Jupiter and an old cresent Moon gathered in the dim constellation of Cancer. Watching from a hillside near Austin, Texas, planet Earth, astrophotographer Russell Croman recorded this view of their passing as clouds gracefully dimmed the brilliant moonlight.
To Fly Free in Space
24.09.2002
What would it be like to fly free over the seas and clouds of Earth? The first to experience such an "untethered space walk" were NASA astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984.
The Milky Way Over Mount Blanc
23.09.2002
Have you ever seen the band of our Milky Way Galaxy? Chances are you have never seen it like this -- nor could you. In a clear sky from a dark location at the right time, a faint band of light is visible across the sky. This band is the disk of our spiral galaxy.
Two Hours Before Neptune
22.09.2002
Two hours before closest approach to Neptune in 1989, the Voyager 2 robot spacecraft snapped this picture. Clearly visible for the first time were long light-colored cirrus-type clouds floating high in Neptune's atmosphere. Shadows of these clouds can even be seen on lower cloud decks.
Moonset, Planet Earth
21.09.2002
During the Astro-1 astronomy mission of December, 1990, Space Shuttle astronauts photographed this stunning view of the setting full moon poised above the Earth's limb. In the foreground, towering clouds of condensing water vapor mark the extent of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the planet's life-sustaining atmosphere.
The Crab Nebula Pulsar Shrugs
20.09.2002
How does a city-sized neutron star power the vast Crab Nebula? The expulsion of wisps of hot gas at high speeds appears to be at least part of the answer. Yesterday time-lapse movies taken...
Asteroid 1998 KY26
19.09.2002
A day is just under 11 minutes long on 1998 KY26, a 30 meter wide, fast-spinning, water-rich asteroid. This computer simulated view of its lumpy surface has a resolution of about 3 meters and is based on radar and optical observations (click on the image for a series of surface views).
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