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Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
Shadow Of Phobos
4.11.1999
Hurtling through space above the Red Planet, potato-shaped Phobos completes an orbit of Mars in less than eight hours. In fact, since its orbital period is shorter than the planet's rotation period, Mars-based...
Gamma Ray Bursting
3.11.1999
Using graphics and data from NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, this animation illustrates one of the most exciting mysteries of modern astrophysics, gamma-ray bursts. Incredibly gamma-ray bursts, sudden flashes of radiation with over 100,000 times the energy of visible light photons, occur several times a day.
M32: Blue Stars in an Elliptical Galaxy
2.11.1999
Elliptical galaxies are known for their old, red stars. But is this old elliptical up to new tricks? In recent years, the centers of elliptical galaxies have been found to emit unexpectedly high amounts of blue and ultraviolet light.
Aurora Through a Moonlit Sky
1.11.1999
A night sky can glow in fascinating ways. Through a clearing in the woods, the pictured sky above Alaska shines by reflected light from a nearby city, by the brightness of the Moon, and by aurora.
The Rotten Egg Planetary Nebula
31.10.1999
Not all evolving stars eject gas clouds that look like people. OH231.8+4.2 was a star much like our Sun that ran out of nuclear fuel to fuse in its core.
The Cat's Eye Nebula
31.10.1999
Three thousand light-years away, a dying star throws off shells of glowing gas. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals The Cat's Eye Nebula to be one of the most complex planetary nebulae known.
Mars Rocks, Sojourner Rolls
30.10.1999
This sharp color image featuring Mars rock Yogi and the rolling Sojourner robot shows off Yogi's two-toned surface. Yogi appears to be leaning into the prevailing winds causing some to suggest that its color contrast may be caused by the accumulation of rust colored dust on its windward face.
The USNO Millennium Time Ball
29.10.1999
In the nineteenth century, dropping a time ball from a prominent location was a practical way of communicating the time to the surrounding country side and ships at sea. Initiating a fledgling time service for the United States, the U.S. Naval Observatory dropped a time ball at precisely noon every day begining in 1845.
X Ray Jet From Centaurus A
28.10.1999
Spanning over 25,000 light-years, comparable to the distance from the Sun to the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, a cosmic jet seen in X-rays blasts from the center of Centaurus A. Only 10 million light-years away, Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy - the closest active galaxy to Earth.
In the Heart of the Tarantula Nebula
27.10.1999
In the heart of monstrous Tarantula Nebula lies one of the most unusual star clusters. Known as NGC 2070 or R136, it is home to a great number of hot young stars. The energetic light from these stars continually ionizes nebula gas, while their energetic particle wind blows bubbles and defines intricate filaments.
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