[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION], NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage The Ring Nebula (M57) is probably [next to Saturn’s rings] the most famous celestial band. … The recent mapping of the expanding nebula’s 3-D structure, based in part on this clear Hubble image, indicates that the nebula is a relatively dense, donut-like ring […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] / Bob Franke Beautiful barred spiral galaxy M109, 109th entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters, is found just below the Big Dipper’s bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In telescopic views, its striking central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] / Isaac Gutiérrez Pascual Sometimes the sky above can become quite a show…. In the above image taken in Spain, a crescent Moon and the planet Venus, on the far right, were captured during sunset posing against a deep blue sky. In the foreground, dark storm clouds loom across […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLTUION] / Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA It was one of the largest and longest lived storms ever recorded in our Solar System. First seen in late 2010, the above cloud formation in the northern hemisphere of Saturn started larger than the Earth and soon spread completely around […]
The Soviet Union took UFOs seriously. The KGB and the Soviet Defence Ministry had dedicated units collecting and analysing information about paranormal activity. Military experts even claimed to know how to “summon” UFOs and make contact with them. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was recently asked an unusual question. A REN TV correspondent asked him, […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] Credit: ISS Expedition 30, NASA On another April 12th, in 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin became the first human to see planet Earth from space. Commenting on his view from orbit he reported, “The sky is very dark; the Earth is bluish.” On yet another April 12th, in […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION]. Credit: Thierry Cohen / Courtesy Danziger Gallery, New York In a haunting vista you can never see, bright stars and the central Milky Way rise over the dark skyline of metropolitan Pudong in Shanghai, China. Looking east across the Huangpu River, the cityscape includes Pudong’s 470 meter tall Oriental […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION] Credit: Jens Hackmann Just days after sharing the western evening sky with Venus in 2007, the Moon moved on to Saturn – actually passing in front of the ringed planet Saturn when viewed in skies over Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Because the Moon and bright planets wander […]
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION / Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Orbiting in the plane of Saturn’s rings, Saturnian moons have a perpetual ringside view of the gas giant planet. Of course, while passing near the ring plane the Cassini spacecraft also shares their stunning perspective. The thin rings themselves slice across […]
[Click on image for high resolution.] Credit: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona Bright spiral galaxy NGC 3169 appears to be unraveling in this cosmic scene, played out some 70 million light-years away just below bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Its beautiful spiral arms are distorted into sweeping tidal tails […]
