APOD: 2023 July 30 Б Spiral Aurora over Icelandic Divide
30.07.2023

Admire the beauty but fear the beast. The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of a great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background.

Spiral Aurora over Icelandic Divide
21.04.2019

Admire the beauty but fear the beast. The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background. The beast is the wave of charged particles that creates the aurora but might, one day, impair civilization.

C 2001 A2 (LINEAR): Comet
5.07.2001

Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) has crossed the celestial equator and is heading north. Outward bound, this primordial piece of the solar system is still just visible to the unaided eye and can now be sighted by northern hemisphere skygazers as it moves through the constellation Pisces.

M27: Not A Comet
26.06.2008

Born on June 26th in 1730, astronomer Charles Messier scanned 18th century French skies for comets. To avoid confusion and aid his comet hunting, he diligently recorded this object as number 27 on his list of things which are definitely not comets.

A Lunar Eclipse on Solstice Day
20.12.2010

Sometime after sunset tonight, the Moon will go dark. This total lunar eclipse, where the entire Moon is engulfed in the shadow of the Earth, will be visible from all of North America, while the partial phase of this eclipse will be visible throughout much of the rest of the world.

The GRB 110328A Symphony
19.04.2011

A symphony of planet-wide observations began abruptly on March 28 when the Earth-orbiting Swift satellite detected a burst of high-frequency gamma-rays from GRB 110328A. When the same source flared again after a 45 minute pause it was clear this event was not a typical gamma-ray burst.

Fermi Epicyles: The Vela Pulsar s Path
4.05.2012

Exploring the cosmos at extreme energies, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits planet Earth every 95 minutes. By design, it rocks to the north and then to the south on alternate orbits in order to survey the sky with its Large Area Telescope (LAT).

Aurora over Icelandic Fault
30.08.2016

Admire the beauty but fear the beast. The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background. The beast is the wave of charged particles that creates the aurora but might, one day, impair civilization.

Vega and Comet 12P Pons-Brooks
8.12.2023

On December 4, periodic Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks shared this telescopic field of view with Vega, alpha star of the northern constellation Lyra. Fifth brightest star in planet Earth's night, Vega is some 25 light-years distant while the much fainter comet was about 21 light-minutes away.