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Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA Explanation: Deep shadows create dramatic contrasts between light and dark in this high-resolution close-up of the martian surface. Recorded on January 24 by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene spans about 1.5 … Continue reading
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Bolte (UCSC) Explanation: Towering 3,000 feet from base to summit, the famous granite face of El Capitan in Earth’s Yosemite National Park just hides the planet’s north celestial pole in this skyscape. Of course, the north celestial … Continue reading
Image Credit & Copyright: Maciej Zapiór and Łukasz Fajfrowski Explanation: Today is the equinox. The Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north at 16:57 UT, marking the northern hemisphere’s first day of spring. To celebrate, consider this remarkable image following the Sun’s … Continue reading
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Explanation: Did the universe undergo an early epoch of extremely rapid expansion? Such an inflationary epoch has been postulated to explain several puzzling cosmic attributes such as why our universe looks similar in opposite directions. Yesterday, results were released showing … Continue reading
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Explanation: What’s happened to the sky? A time warp, of sorts, and a digital space warp too. The time warp occurs because this image captured in a single frame a two and a half hour exposure of the night sky. … Continue reading
Explanation: Two galaxies are squaring off in Corvus and here are the latest pictures. When two galaxies collide, the stars that compose them usually do not. That’s because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up … Continue reading
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Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo scene from Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon! The color anaglyph features a detailed 3D view of Apollo 17’s Lunar Rover in the foreground — behind it lies the Lunar … Continue reading
Explanation: NGC 2685 is a confirmed polar ring galaxy – a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk. The bizarre configuration could be caused by the … Continue reading
Explanation: A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across. That’s about the … Continue reading
Video Credit: SDO, NASA; Digital Composition: Kevin Gill (Apoapsys) Explanation: Does the Sun change as it rotates? Yes, and the changes can vary from subtle to dramatic. In the above time-lapse sequences, our Sun — as imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — is shown … Continue reading
Astro Scribbles 