... 2005 August 8 . Mars to Appear Normal This August . ... Regardless of numerous urban legends circulating, Mars will appear relatively normal in August. October is the best month to see Mars this year. ... As Earth catches up to Mars in their respective orbits around the Sun, Mars will keep rising earlier in the night. On 2005 October 30, Earth will have caught up to Mars and the planets will be the nearest to each other in their orbits -- this time around. ... About APOD | ...

... 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. ...

... May 1, 1996 . Comet Hyakutake and a Cactus . ... Today Comet Hyakutake reaches its closest approach to the Sun . Comet Hyakutake is now at its intrinsic brightest, but because of its distance from the Earth , it will appear less bright to us than it did during its closest approach to the Earth in late March. ... Latest Comet Hyakutake images: APOD Hyakutake Archive , JPL , Fayetteville Observer-Times , NASA's Night of the Comet , ICSTARS , Jerry Lodriguss , ScienceWeb , Crni Vrh Obs. ...

... To be read in conjunction with Section 4.11 of the WFPC2 Instrument Handbook , -Version 4.0. ... 1 The second study found evidence that CTE loss for faint stars has increased with time (Whitmore, 1998). The primary observational consequence of CTE loss is that a point source at the top of the chip appears to be fainter than if observed at the bottom of the chip, due to the loss of electrons as the star is read out down the chip (see Figure 1 ). ... Last updated: 06/16/98 10:38:00 . ...

... 25.03.1997 . ... Credit: Angel Sanchez ( AAGC ) Explanation: A comet as bright as Comet Hale-Bopp is very rare indeed. ... However, since Comet Hale-Bopp is across the inner Solar System from us, it does not appear as bright as Comet West did in 1975. The Great Comet of 1996, Comet Hyakutake , was relatively dim but also appeared bright since it passed close to the Earth. ... Publications with keywords: century - Comet Hale-Bopp . Publications with words: century - Comet Hale-Bopp . ...

... 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! ...