Astronomy Picture of the Day . White Oval Clouds on Jupiter . ... Jupiter's clouds can swirl rapidly in raised high-pressure storm systems that circle the planet. The above pictured white ovals are located near the Great Red Spot, and have persisted on Jupiter since the 1930s. The Great Red Spot has persisted for at least 300 years. ... Why do many galaxies appear as spirals? ... The above pictures taken by Mars Pathfinder highlight how clouds vary during the end of a Martian day. ... April . ...

M1 image More About M1 Nice Color Picture . ... M16 image More About M16 HST image . ... M31 image More About M31 Nice Color Picture . ... M42 image ; M43 image More About M42/43 Nice Color CCD Picture . M51 image More About M51 Color Image of M51 M51 Supernova . M57 image More About M57 Nice Color CCD Picture Very Deep M57 Image . ... M81 image More About M81 M81 Supernova Ultraviolet Image of M81 More about Ultraviolet Imaging . M82 image More About M82 M82 False Color M82 True Color . ...

... Bad Astronomy . ... Bitesize Astronomy . ... Last week's Snack talked about how black holes can affect the environment around them in such a way as to be very bright . ... It's a common misconception that black holes always have matter swirling into them. ... As this matter gets closer and closer to the black hole it piles up and a large, fairly flat disk forms. This is called the accretion disk , because matter from this disk accretes (that is, falls in) on the black hole. ... 2008 Phil Plait. ...

... The Star-Forming Histories of the Nearst Dwarf Galaxies . ... We will open the meeting by reviewing what is currently known about the star formation and chemical evolution histories of the dwarf galaxies in the Local Group. ... In these galaxies, episodic "bursts" of star formation appear to be common. ... My review talk will consist of: 1) Carina dSph (M_V=-9) The Carina dSph has had bursts of star formation 3, 5, 6 to 8 and ~15 Gyr ago with little or no star formation between these episodes. ...

... 2010 November 29 . Dark Belt Reappearing on Jupiter . Credit: NASA's JPL , U. Oxford , UC Berkeley , Gemini Obs. ... Explanation: Why are planet-circling clouds disappearing and reappearing on Jupiter? ... Earlier this year, unexpectedly, Jupiter's dark Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB) disappeared. ... Detailed professional observations revealed that high-flying light-colored ammonia -based clouds formed over the planet-circling dark belt. ... About APOD | ... A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC . ...

... Special Reports Giant space cloud may be powered by black holes 17:57 23 April 2007 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga An enormous cloud of roiling plasma in space may be drawing its energy from black holes, new observations suggest. Such clouds might be sources for the mysterious particles that occasionally crash into Earth's atmosphere at ultra - high speed. ... But higher energy particles in the cloud may be able to escape, he says. ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... Sky this Month . ... Star Atlas . ... stars . ... The Sky This Week: April 1 - 10 . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... Why do some stars appear to flash a variety of different colors when you look at them through a telescope? ... So, Earthт??s atmosphere will bend some colors from especially bright stars more so than others, which makes the source look like itт??s flashing colors. Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ...

Astronotes Armagh Planetarium's Stellar Blog! ... Our Galaxy . ... Stars . ... Space Flight . ... A galaxy is born: This artist's impression shows a young galaxy, about two billion years after the Big Bang, accreting material from the surrounding hydrogen and helium gas and forming many young stars. ... Galaxies, distant from us in space and time, have been in the news recently. ... Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have observed another process which helped primordial galaxies grow. ...

... STScI-PRC01-07 NGC 4013: A GALAXY ON THE EDGE NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped this remarkable view of a perfectly "edge-on" galaxy, NGC 4013. This new Hubble picture reveals with exquisite detail huge clouds of dust and gas extending along, as well as far above, the galaxy's main disk. ... Dark clouds of interstellar dust stand out in the picture because they absorb the light of background stars. ... Dark interstellar clouds are believed to be where new stars are formed. ...

... Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, +44 (0)28 3752 2928 . Noctilucent clouds as photographed by Mark Bailey from Lisdoart on 14th July 2006 at 11.30 pm. ... These so-called noctilucent (night glowing) clouds (NLCs), are formed by sunlight reflecting off ice crystals high in the atmosphere, and usually appear in the northwest, through north to northeast during twilight in the late spring and summer months at our latitude. ...

... Primordial theory review : Dick Bond . Defects and the CMB review : Andy Albrecht . ... Gravitational wave contribution to CMB anisotropies : V.B. Lukash and E.V. Mikheeva . C_l from cosmic strings : Lloyd Knox . Some aspects of CMB anisotropies induced from topological defects : Mairi Sakellariadou . ... CMB anisotropies from scaling sources : Ruth Durrer . ... SZ observations I : Sarah Church . ... Holes in the microwave sky? ... Detecting cosmic strings in the CMB : James Robinson . ...