Ceres: Asteroid or Planet?
Is Ceres an asteroid or a planet? Although a trivial designation to some, the recent suggestion by the Planet Definition Committee of the International Astronomical Union would have Ceres reclassified from asteroid to planet. A change in ...
A Map of Asteroid Vesta
Vesta is a huge rock 500 kilometers across that orbits out past Mars. In 1997, the above map of Vesta created using the Hubble Space Telescope was released showing a rugged surface highlighted by a single crater spanning nearly the entire length ...
Ceci n'est pas un Meteore
To paraphrase Magritte, "This is not a meteor". It's not a picture of a meteor either, but it was taken during last weekend's peak of the Perseid Meteor shower. Skywatching with friends at a cosy beach campsite bathed in moonlight at Treguennec, ...
Spitzer's Orion
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. Also known as M42, the nebula is visible to the unaided eye, but this stunning infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope ...
Comet Dust over Colorado
The rock formation in the foreground of this night view was recorded on August 10, illuminated by light from a waning gibbous Moon. Even though the sky above also scatters the bright moonlight, a brilliant meteor was captured as it flashed across ...
The North America and Pelican Nebulas
Here are some familiar shapes in unfamiliar locations. This emission nebula on the left is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America. To the right of the North America Nebula, cataloged as NGC 7000, is a less ...
Cosmic Rays
Have you ever been hit by a beam of high energy particles from above? Surely you have -- it happens all of the time. Showers of high energy particles occur when energetic cosmic rays strike the top of the Earth's atmosphere. Cosmic rays were ...
The Comet and the Galaxy
The Moon almost ruined this photograph. During late March and early April 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp passed nearly in front of the Andromeda Galaxy. Here the Great Comet of 1997 and the Great Galaxy in Andromeda were photographed together on 1997 ...
The First Explorer
Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the US, the First Explorer, a thirty pound satellite, was launched into Earth orbit on January 31, 1958 by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Explorer I carried instruments to measure temperatures, ...
Perseid in the Light
Dark skies are favored for viewing meteor showers -- so many are pessimistic about this year's Perseids. While the Perseid meteor shower is scheduled to peak this weekend, bright light from an almost full Moon will also flood the night and mask ...
