Magazine Posts

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are likely 3D shells -- but how they were created remains a topic of research. Where they were created is well known: in a binary star system that lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) -- a system dominated by the Wolf-Rayet star WR 140. Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, bright, and known for their tumultuous winds. They are also known for creating and dispersing heavy elements such as carbon, which is a building block of interstellar dust. The other star in the binary is also bright and massive -- but not as active. The two great stars joust in an oblong orbit as they approach each other about every eight years. When at closest approach, the X-ray emission from the system increases, as, apparently, does the dust expelled into space -- creating another shell. The featured infrared image by the Webb Space Telescope resolves greater details and more dust shells than ever before. Images taken over consecutive years show the shells moving outward.

A botanical diagram of a typical grass plant.

Kelvinsong, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Comets can be huge. When far from the Sun, a comet's size usually refers to its hard nucleus of ice and rock, which typically spans a few kilometers -- smaller than even a small moon. When nearing the Sun, however, this nucleus can eject dust and gas and leave a thin tail that can spread to an enormous length -- even greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Pictured, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) sports a tail of sunlight-reflecting dust and glowing gas that spans several times the apparent size of a full moon, appearing even larger on long duration camera images than to the unaided eye. The featured image shows impressive Comet ATLAS over trees and a grass field in Sierras de Mahoma, San Jose, Uruguay about a week ago. After being prominent in the sunset skies of Earth's southern hemisphere, Comet G3 ATLAS is now fading as it moves away from the Sun, making its impressive tails increasingly hard to see. Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)

Photo by Mauricio Salazar

Breakwaters in Sarbinowo by the Bay of Pomerania. West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland.

Łukasz Śmigasiewicz, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Stars come in bunches. The most famous bunch of stars on the sky is the Pleiades, a bright cluster that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. The Pleiades lies only about 450 light years away, formed about 100 million years ago, and will likely last about another 250 million years. Our Sun was likely born in a star cluster, but now, being about 4.5 billion years old, its stellar birth companions have long since dispersed. The Pleiades star cluster is pictured over Half Dome, a famous rock structure in Yosemite National Park in California, USA. The featured image is a composite of 28 foreground exposures and 174 images of the stellar background, all taken from the same location and by the same camera on the same night in October 2019. After calculating the timing of a future juxtaposition of the Pleiades and Half Dome, the astrophotographer was unexpectedly rewarded by an electrical blackout, making the background sky unusually dark. Astrophysicists: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

Photo by Dheera Venkatraman

Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis citernii) with Helichrysum citrispinum, Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Emanuel James Rohn (1930 – 2009), Professionally known as Jim Rohn, was an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker. He wrote numerous books including "How to obtain wealth and happiness". He was born in Yakima, Washington and grew up in Caldwell, Idaho, where his parents own and worked a farm. Rohn became a millionaire at age 30, and went broke when he was 33. He later became a millionaire again. Jim Rohn shared his message with more than 5 million people and 6,000 audiences all over the world. He received numerous industry awards including the National Speakers Association CPAE Award and the Master of Influence Award. More

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why does this comet have so many tails? C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) has developed several long and intricate tails visible from Earth's southern hemisphere over the past two weeks. Many observers reported seeing the impressive comet without any optical aid above the western horizon just after sunset. At least six different tails appear in the featured image captured five days ago from the dark skies above Paranal Observatory in Chile. One possible cause for the multiple tails is dust and gas being expelled from the comet's rotating nucleus. The outward push of the Sun's complex solar wind may also play a role. The huge iceberg-like nucleus of Comet ATLAS appears to have broken up near its closest approach to the Sun two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Comet ATLAS and its tails are expected to fade significantly over the coming weeks. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)

Photo by Martin Mašek (FZU, Czech Academy of Sciences) & Jakub Kuřák

A devotee placed a candle to the Virgen del Valle as a symbol of prayer in her intercession to god, that her prayer reaches God.

Wilfredor, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape, across the Perseus molecular cloud some 850 light-years away. Dusty nebulae reflecting light from embedded young stars stand out in the nearly 4 degree wide field of view. With a characteristic bluish color reflection nebula NGC 1333 is prominent near center. Hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, the jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars, are scattered across the dusty expanse. While many stars are forming in the molecular cloud, most are obscured at visible wavelengths by the pervasive dust. The chaotic environment surrounding NGC 1333 may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago. At the estimated distance of the Perseus molecular cloud, this cosmic scene would span about 80 light-years. Growing Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)

Photo by Jeff Schilling

This stained glass window from Église Sainte-Madeleine, a church in Gramond, France, depicts Saints Victor of Damascus and Paul the Apostle. Though they were not contemporaries, both men have a connection to Damascus. Moreover, legend has it that each were martyred by beheading, hence they are displayed holding swords. Today is the feast of The Conversion of St. Paul and the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in much of Western Christianity.

Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS has made a dramatic appearance in planet Earth's skies. A visitor from the distant Oort Cloud, the comet reached its perihelion on January 13. On January 19, the bright comet was captured here from ESO Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert in Chile. Sporting spectacular sweeping dust tails, this comet ATLAS is setting in the southern hemisphere twilight and was clearly visible to the unaided eye. In the foreground is the closed shell of one of the observatory's famous auxiliary telescopes. Still wowing southern hemisphere observers, the comet's bright coma has become diffuse, its icy nucleus apparently disintegrating following its close approach to the Sun. Growing Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)

Photo by Yuri Beletsky