... 2012 February 29 . Moon and Planets Over Catalonia . ... Explanation: Venus and Jupiter will appear unusually close in the sky over the next month. ... In the above image composite taken late last week from Catalonia , Spain , a bright crescent moon appears to the right of Venus, while Jupiter appears near the top of the image. ... A gallery of conjunction images is visible on the Asterisk -- APOD's discussion board. ... The next Jupiter-Venus conjunction will occur in May 2013. ... About APOD | ...

... 12.03.1996 . ... Probably some of these comets did not get as bright as Comet Hyakutake ("hyah-koo-tah-kay") will in the next two weeks. ... During its closest approach to the Earth on March 25th, Comet Hyakutake will appear in the Northern hemisphere as a diffuse ball of light brighter than most stars. ... As Comet Hyakutake recedes from the Earth it will fade, but brighten again as it nears the sun later in April. ... There is no chance Comet Hyakutake will hit the Earth. ... Little Planet Lovejoy...

... 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 red colors in this image show the galaxy M66 as it appears at the submillimeter wavelength of 850 microns, while the white background shows the galaxy as it appears in visible light. Regions of cold dust that appear as dark streaks in the white image glow brightly in the red image. ...

Next: Basic Properties Up: R Coronae Borealis Stars Previous: Introduction . RCB stars are named after a star just visible to the naked eye in the constellation of Corona Borealis. RCrB was discovered by Edward Pigott, an English amateur astronomer, who had been observing a star in the `Northern Crown' for over a decade. ... Since 1795, other RCB stars have been discovered and their properties have been carefully observed. ...

Discover the cosmos! ... December 6, 1999 . M83: The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy from VLT . ... Explanation: M83 is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies on the sky. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hydra , majestic spiral arms have prompted its nickname as the Southern Pinwheel. Although discovered 250 years ago, only in this century was it appreciated that M83 was not a gas cloud but a barred spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way Galaxy . ... About APOD > . ...

... Comet Animation . ... Comet structures are diverse and very dynamic, but they all develop a surrounding cloud of diffuse material, called a coma, that usually grows in size and brightness as the comet approaches the Sun. ... As comets approach the Sun they develop enormous tails of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometers from the head, away from the Sun. ... The evaporated molecules boil off and carry small solid particles with them, forming the comet's coma of gas and dust. ...

Check out the new images (Jan 18-25) and (Jan 26-Feb 05) of the comet by Rob McNaught. ... Every few years a comet becomes bright enough to be easily seen with the naked eye but only every decade or so are these comparable with comets like Halley. ... Before Jan 13, the comet is not visible in the Australian sky after sunset. ... SOHO images . ... On Jan 12 at approximately 09:00 UT (8pm NSW time), comet C/2006 P1 McNaught appears at the 11 o'clock position in the images. ... STEREO images . ...