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Red, White, and Blue Sky
| Title |
Red, White, and Blue Sky |
| Explanation |
Contrasting colors in this beautiful sunset sky [ http://www.schursastrophotography.com/10dastro/ vensat070107.html ] were captured on June 30 from Clear Creek Canyon Observatory in central Arizona, USA. The twilight scene includes brilliant [ http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/venus/ shadow-of-venus.html ] Venus as the evening star [ http://www.johnpratt.com/items/astronomy/eve_morn.html ], with a bright Saturn just above it, shining through thin clouds. The two wandering [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070407.html ] planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010601.html ] were a mere 1 degree apart or so, about twice the width of the full Moon rising above the eastern horizon on the other side of the sky. In fact, such serene skyviews [ http://www.spaceweather.com/ ] were possible from all over planet Earth as Venus and Saturn approached a conjunction [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_conjunction# Conjunctions_of_planets_in_right_ascension_2005-2020 ]. Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_(constellation) ], is above and to the left of the close planetary pairing. At dusk, lights in tonight's sky will also feature Venus and Saturn low in the west and separated by about 2 degrees. |
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Planets over Pony Express La
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| Title |
Planets over Pony Express Lake |
| Explanation |
Beautiful sunset sky colors [ http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/14B.html ] are reflected in Pony Express [ http://www.ponyexpress.org/history.htm ] Lake in this twilight skyview [ http://www.pbase.com/missouri_skies/image/82364390 ] from northern Missouri, USA, planet Earth. Recorded on Monday, a two day old crescent Moon and brilliant planet Venus shine through thin clouds. Joining the conjunction [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070704.html ] on the right of the Moon's sunlit crescent is fellow wanderer [ http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/discovery/ disc_ancient.html ] Saturn, with Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, above and right of Venus. Moonlight and Venus light [ http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/venus/shadow-of-venus.html ] streak the almost-calm lake waters. |
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Bright Planets, Crescent Moo
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| Title |
Bright Planets, Crescent Moon |
| Explanation |
Early risers are currently enjoying the sight [ http://stardate.org/nightsky/planets/ ] of dazzling Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ], near the eastern horizon as the morning star [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/venus/ morning_star.html&edu=high ]. Recorded on October 7, this predawn skyview [ http://www.usno.navy.mil/pao/sky/sky_week.shtml ] does feature Venus at the upper right. It also includes a crescent Moon and Saturn (lower left). In fact, holding your fist at arms length would have easily covered [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/scale.html ] both planets and the Moon in this 5 degree wide field. Earthshine [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020419.html ], sunlight reflected from planet Earth's dayside, illuminates features on the lunar nightside. A close inspection of Saturn itself reveals a nearby pinpoint of light corresponding to Saturn's [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/index.cfm ] large moon Titan. Though the Moon has moved on, the tight triangle [ http://www.spaceweather.com/images2007/12oct07/ skymap_north.gif ] formed by Venus, Saturn, and Regulus (top), alpha star in the constellation Leo, will continue to look impressive in early morning skies over the next few days. Early bird astrophotographer Jay Ouellet also described Mars as [ http://www.spaceweather.com/images2007/11oct07/ skymap_north_mars.gif ] a "brilliant red diode" in his dark country sky east of Quebec City, Canada. Count the Stars: The Great World Wide Star Count [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/starcount/ ] |
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Three Planets from Mt. Hamil
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| Title |
Three Planets from Mt. Hamilton |
| Explanation |
Venus, Mercury, and Saturn wandered close [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050624.html ] together in western evening skies last week. On Saturn [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/kids/ fun-facts-saturn.cfm ]day, June 25, astronomer R. Jay GaBany recorded this snapshot of their eye-catching planetary conjunction, from historic Lick Observatory [ http://www.ucolick.org/ ] on Mt. Hamilton [ http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/ ], California, USA. The view looks toward the Pacific shortly after sunset with the lights of San Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay area in the foreground. Of course, Venus is [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050107.html ] the brightest of the trio. Mercury [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/ planets_index.html ] is nearby on the right and Saturn is below and left, closest to the horizon. Farther to the right of the planetary triangle are Pollux and Castor, twin stars [ http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/gemini.html ] of Gemini, with Regulus [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/regulus.html ], bright star of the constellation Leo, at the very upper left corner of the picture. In the coming days [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], Venus and Mercury remain close, while Saturn continues to drop below them, toward the horizon. |
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Regulus Occulted
| Title |
Regulus Occulted |
| Explanation |
On May 21, viewed from the continental US, a star winked out as it passed behind the dark limb of the first-quarter Moon [ http://www.inconstantmoon.com/index.htm ]. The star, Regulus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/3982.html ], is hotter than the sun, about 69 light-years distant, and shines in Earth's skies as the brightest star in the constellation Leo [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/ Leo.html ], the Lion. The Moon [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html ] is the brightest object in the night sky [ http://home.cwix.com/~pam.orman@cwix.com/JoeMoon.html ] and is less than 1.5 light-seconds away. As illustrated in this multiple-exposure photograph, such lunar occultations [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/occultations/occultations.shtml ] of bright stars can be majestic to watch. Their exact timing depends on the observer's location but they are not particularly rare occurrences. Astronomers can use lunar occultations to help map [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980911.html ] the surface of the Moon [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html ]. |
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Bright Star Regulus near the
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| Title |
Bright Star Regulus near the Leo 1 Dwarf Galaxy |
| Explanation |
The star on the upper left is so bright it is sometimes hard to notice the galaxy on the lower right. Both the star, Regulus [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulus ], and the galaxy, Leo I [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_I_(dwarf_galaxy) ], can be found within one degree of each other toward the constellation of Leo. Regulus [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/regulus.html ] is part of a multiple star system [ http://homepage.univie.ac.at/peter.wienerroither/pwafods/10084+1158.htm ], with a close companion double star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970219.html ] visible to the upper right of the young main sequence [ http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/space/stellardeath/stellardeath_1ai.html ] star. Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/review.html ] in the Local Group [ http://www.seds.org/messier/more/local.html ] of galaxies dominated by our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980523.html ] and M31 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051222.html ]. Leo I is thought to be the most distant of the several known small satellite galaxies [ http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/mwsat.html ] orbiting our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971229.html ]. Regulus is located about 75 light years [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question19.html ] away, in contrast to Leo 1 which is located about 800,000 light years away. |
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Solar corona photographed fr
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| Title |
Solar corona photographed from Apollo 15 one minute prior to sunrise |
| Description |
The solar corona, as photographed from Apollo 15 about one minute prior to sunrise on July 31, 1971, is seen just beyond the lunar horizon. The bright object on the opposite side of the frame is the planet Mercury. The bright star near the frame center is Regulus, and the lesser stars form the head of the constellation Leo. Mercury is approximately 28 degrees from the center of the sun. The solar coronal streamers, therefore, appear to extend about eight degrees from the sun's center. |
| Date Taken |
1971-07-31 |
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