2020 January 19 M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab Nebula Video Credit & Copyright: Detlef Hartmann Explanation: Are your eyes good enough to see the Crab Nebula expand? The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on Charles Messier’s famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, t […]
2020 January 18 An Almost Eclipse of the Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Gyorgy Soponyai Explanation: This composited series of images follows the Moon on January 10, the first Full Moon of 2020, in Hungarian skies. The lunar disk is in mid-eclipse at the center of the sequence though. It looks o
2020 January 17 Apollo 17: A Stereo View from Lunar Orbit Gene Cernan, Apollo 17, NASA; Anaglyph by Patrick Vantuyne Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this awesome stereo view of another world. The scene was recorded by Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan on December 11,
2020 January 16 NGC 247 and Friends Image Credit & Copyright: Acquisition – Eric Benson, Processing – Dietmar Hager Explanation: About 70,000 light-years across, NGC 247 is a spiral galaxy smaller than our Milky Way. Measured to be only 11 million light-years distant it is nearby tho
2020 January 15 Iridescent Clouds over Sweden Image Credit & Copyright: Goran Strand Explanation: Why would these clouds multi-colored? A relatively rare phenomenon in clouds known as iridescence can bring up unusual colors vividly or even a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These polar s
2020 January 14 Evidence of an Active Volcano on Venus Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, ESA, Venus Express: VIRTIS, USRA, LPI Explanation: Are volcanoes still active on Venus? More volcanoes are known on Venus than Earth, but when Venusian volcanoes last erupted is not directly known. Evidence bolst
2020 January 13 A Desert Eclipse Image Credit & Copyright: Maxime Daviron Explanation: A good place to see a ring-of-fire eclipse, it seemed, would be from a desert. In a desert, there should be relatively few obscuring clouds and trees. Therefore late last December a group of photographers trav
2020 January 12 Stars and Dust in Corona Australis Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing – Johannes Schedler Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona Australi
2020 January 11 NGC 602 and Beyond Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al; Optical: Hubble: NASA/STScI; Infrared: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech Explanation: Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 mi
2020 January 10 Nacreous Clouds over Sweden Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN) Explanation: Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color filled this mountain and skyscape near Tanndalen, Sweden on January 3. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they a
