Tianwen 1 Mission to Mars

On July 23, this Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket rose into a blue morning sky from China’s Hainan Island Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket carried an orbiter, lander, and rover to ask Heavenly Questions on the ambitious Tianwen-1 mission...

/ July 25, 2020

MAGIC NEOWISE

The multi-mirror, 17 meter-diameter MAGIC telescopes reflect this starry night sky from the Roque de los Muchachos European Northern Observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma. MAGIC stands for Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov and the telescopes can see...

/ July 24, 2020

Fairytale NEOWISE

Comet dust falls through a twilight sky in this dream-like scene, but it’s not part of a fairytale movie. Still, Castle Neuschwanstein, nestled in the Bavarian Alps, did inspire Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. Captured on July 20, the bright streak...

/ July 23, 2020

What is creating the structure in Comet NEOWISE’s tails? Of the two tails evident, the blue ion tail on the left points directly away from the Sun and is pushed out by the flowing and charged solar wind. Structure in...

/ July 22, 2020

Iron in the Butterfly Nebula

Can stars, like caterpillars, transform themselves into butterflies? No, but in the case of the Butterfly Nebula — it sure looks like it. Though its wingspan covers over 3 light-years and its estimated surface temperature exceeds 200,000 degrees, C, the...

/ July 21, 2020

Comet NEOWISE and Nebulae

Would you brave wild animals to photograph this sky? One astrophotographer did — and we all get to reap the rewards. First, thousands of stars were visible with many of the brightest impressively blue. Next, several red-glowing nebulae were discernible,...

/ July 20, 2020

Rotating Moon from LRO

No one, presently, sees the Moon rotate like this. That’s because the Earth’s moon is tidally locked to the Earth, showing us only one side. Given modern digital technology, however, combined with many detailed images returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance...

/ July 19, 2020

Finding NEOWISE

If you can see the stars of the Big Dipper, you can find comet NEOWISE in your evening sky tonight. After sunset look for the naked-eye comet below the bowl of the famous celestial kitchen utensil of the north and...

/ July 18, 2020

NEOWISE of the North

After local midnight on July 14 comet NEOWISE was still above the horizon for Goldenrod, Alberta, Canada, just north of Calgary, planet Earth. In this snapshot it makes for an awesome night with dancing displays of the northern lights. The...

/ July 17, 2020

The Long Tails of Comet NEOWISE

This Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) now sweeps through our fair planet’s northern skies. Its long tails stretch across this deep skyview from Suchy Vrch, Czech Republic. Recorded on the night of July 13/14, the composite of untracked foreground and tracked...

/ July 16, 2020