... 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. ...

A team of U.S. and German astrophysicists have made the first ever detection of X-rays coming from a comet. ... Following the initial detection, the team reported repeated X-ray emissions from the comet over the next 24 hours. ... One preliminary theory is that X-ray emission from the Sun was absorbed by a cloud of gaseous water molecules surrounding the nucleus of the comet, and then were re-emitted by the molecules in a process physicists call "fluorescence." ... Comets . ...

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 . ...

Pandora . Saturn X - 1980S26 . Pandora [pan-DOR-uh] is the fourth of Saturn's known satellites. ... Pandora is the outer shepherd satellite for Saturn's F-ring. ... Very limited data is available to analyze Pandora. ... The leading side faces forwards in the orbit of Pandora. ... Prometheus and Pandora . This image shows Prometheus and Pandora next to Saturn's F-ring. ... Stooke, P. J., "Shapes and Surface Features of Prometheus and Pandora," Earth, Moon and Planets , 62 (1993), 199-221. ...

Discover the cosmos! ... 2012 July 24 . South Polar Vortex Discovered on Titan . Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team , ISS , JPL , ESA , NASA . Explanation: What's happening over the south pole of Titan? A vortex of haze appears to be forming, although no one is sure why. ... Winter, however, is slowly descending on the south of Titan, so that the vortex , if it survives, will be plunged into darkness over the next few years. ... About APOD | ... A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC . ...