2020 March 14 Moonrise and Mountain Shadow Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Lopez (El Cielo de Canarias) Explanation: What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it […]
2020 March 13 Starry Night by Jean-Francois Millet Digital Reproduction Credit: Yale University Art Gallery – Text: Letty Bonnell Explanation: A dramatic nocturnal landscape from around 1850, this oil painting is the work of French artist Jean-Francois Millet. In the dark and atmospheric night
2020 March 12 Falcon 9 Boostback Image Credit & Copyright: John Kraus Explanation: Short star trails appear in this single 84 second long exposure, taken on March 6 from a rotating planet. The remarkable scene also captures the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo spacecraft over Cape C
2020 March 11 An Extreme Black Hole Outburst Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/NRL/S. Giacintucci, et al., XMM-Newton: ESA/XMM-Newton; Radio: NCRA/TIFR/GMRT; Infrared: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF; Text: Michael F. Corcoran (NASA, Catholic U., HEAPOW) Explanation: Astronomers believe they
2020 March 10 Wide Field: Fox Fur, Unicorn, and Christmas Tree Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Gurdak Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros). Pictured as a st
2020 March 9 Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Chile Image Credit & Copyright: Roman Ponča (ht: Masaryk U.) Explanation: What is the band of light connecting the ground to the Milky Way? Zodiacal light — a stream of dust that orbits the Sun in the inner Solar System. It is most easily seen
2020 March 8 Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt Explanation: Some stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot that they are slowly disintegrating right before our
2020 March 7 Pic du Midi Panorama Image Credit & Copyright: Patrick Lécureuil Explanation: A surreal night skyscape, this panorama stitched from 12 photos looks to the west at an evening winter sky over Pic du Midi Observatory, Pyrenees Mountains, Planet Earth. Telescope domes and a tall communi
2020 March 6 Mars Panorama from Curiosity Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS Explanation: The Mars Rover named Curiosity recorded high-resolution, 360 degree views of its location on Mars late last year. The panoramic scene was stitched from over 1,000 images from Curiosity’s Mast camera or
2020 March 5 The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty Image Credit & Copyright: Casey Good Explanation: This colorful skyscape spans about four full moons across nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in the royal northern constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of the region̵
