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Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
Stars Young and Old
4.08.2005
Galactic or open star clusters are relatively young swarms of bright stars born together near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Separated by about a degree on the sky, two nice examples...
The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula
3.08.2005
Stars are battling gas and dust in the Lagoon Nebula but the photographers are winning. Also known as M8, this photogenic nebula is visible even without binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos.
A Shuttle Back Flip at the Space Station
2.08.2005
Last week, crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) watched carefully as the Space Shuttle Discovery did a planned but unusual back flip upon approach. Discovery Commander Eileen Collins guided the shuttle through the flip, which was about 200 meters from the ISS when the above picture was taken.
2003 UB 313: A Tenth Planet?
1.08.2005
Has a tenth planet been discovered? A newly discovered object, designated 2003 UB 313 and located more than twice the distance of Pluto, is expected to be at least as large as Pluto and probably larger, given current measurements.
Solar System Object Larger than Pluto Discovered
31.07.2005
Is that a tenth planet? A faint, slowly moving dot discovered by computer shows clear signs of being a deep Solar System object at least as large as Pluto. The object, designated 2003 UB 313 , is currently situated nearly 100 times the Earth-Sun distance -- over twice the average Pluto-Sun distance.
M106 in Canes Venatici
30.07.2005
Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial nebula was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106.
ISS and Discovery Transit the Sun
29.07.2005
That large sunspot near the right edge of the Sun is actually not a sunspot at all. It's the International Space Station (ISS) docked with the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114.
Spherical Planetary Nebula Abell 39
28.07.2005
Ghostly in appearance, Abell 39 is a remarkably simple, spherical nebula about five light-years across. Well within our own Milky Way galaxy, the cosmic sphere is roughly 7,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Hercules.
America Returns to Space Flight
27.07.2005
NASA's launch of the massive Space Shuttle Discovery yesterday brought a nation known for its tremendous space program back to human space flight. Shuttle flights had been suspended for over two years previously following the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew on 2003 February 1.
Hyperion: Sponge Moon of Saturn
26.07.2005
Why is Saturn's moon Hyperion textured like a sponge? Recent high-resolution images from the robot Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn show Hyperion to be an even stranger place than thought before. Previously, it was known that the length of a day on Hyperion is unpredictable.
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