A Hale-Bopp Triple Crown
It was truly a busy sky. In one of the more spectacular photos yet submitted to Astronomy Picture of the Day, Don Cooke of Lyme, New Hampshire caught the Sun, Moon, Earth, night sky, Pleiades star cluster, and Comet Hale-Bopp all in one frame. ...
A Presidential Panorama of Mars
Scroll right to unfold the latest panorama of the surface of Mars. For best viewing, click and hold on the right arrow icon at the bottom of your browser window. This image, released yesterday and dubbed a "presidential panorama" by the Mars ...
In the Center of the Keyhole Nebula
Stars, like people, do not always go gentle into that good night. The above Keyhole Nebula results from dying star Eta Carinae's violently casting off dust and gas during its final centuries. Eta Carinae is many times more massive than our own ...
At the Edge of the Helix
While exploring the inner edge of the Helix Nebula with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, astronomers were able to produce this striking image - rich in details of an exotic environment. This planetary nebula, created ...
The Small Cloud of Magellan
The southern sky contains wonders almost unknown in the north. These wonders include the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds: small irregular galaxies orbiting our own larger Milky Way spiral galaxy. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), pictured ...
Blue Stars and Red Pillars
Bright blue stars are still forming in the red pillars of the Eagle Nebula. Made famous by a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, the Eagle Nebula shows the dramatic process of star formation. To the upper right of the nebula in the ...
Message from Earth
What are these Earthlings trying to tell us? The above message was broadcast from Earth towards the globular star cluster M13 in 1974. During the dedication of the Arecibo Observatory - still the largest radio telescope in the world - a string ...
Mars: Yogi And Friends In 3D
A ramp from the Pathfinder lander, the Sojourner robot rover, airbags, a couch, Barnacle Bill, and Yogi Rock appear together in this 3D stereo view of the surface of Mars. Barnacle Bill is the rock just left of the solar-paneled Sojourner and ...
Vega
Vega is a bright blue star 25 light years away. Vega is the brightest star in the Summer Triangle, a group of stars easily visible summer evenings in the northern hemisphere. The name Vega derives from Arabic origins, and means "stone eagle." ...
Mars: Twin Peaks In Stereo
Get out your red/blue glasses and gaze across the surface of Mars in stereo. You are looking south of west across an ancient flood channel, Ares Vallis, landing site of the Mars Pathfinder. A rover deployment ramp and lander petal define the ...
