Eruption Of Tvashtar Volcano On Jupiter's Moon Io (March 1, 2007)

Venus makes Oxygen During the Day

Ok, it's little more than an excuse to show a beautiful image of a fascinating planet, but in a recent scientific study, it was discovered in the upper atmosphere of Venus, during the day (which lasts a little longer than our day, at 243 Earth Days !!) Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide is broken down by sunlight into it's Carbon and Oxygen. The oxygen then moves around the planet, and over to the night side too, where it plays an important role in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Amusingly, a full year on Venus is only 225 Earth days, making a day on Venus longer than a year on Venus.

I guess the upshot of this is, every day is your Birthday on Venus, so Happy Venusian Birthday to you all !

The dancer in Dorado

800 megapixel

Clearest photo of a galaxy you will ever see!

2024 February 2

NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410 Image Credit & Copyright: Sander de Jong

Explanation: This cosmic view shows off an otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410, captured under clear Netherlands skies with telescope and narrowband filters. Above and right of center you can spot two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gas and dust, known as the tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing gas. Globules composed of denser cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and are likely sites of ongoing star formation. Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their heads are outlined by bright ridges of ionized gas while their tails trail away from the cluster’s central young stars. IC 410 and embedded NGC 1893 lie some 10,000 light-years away, toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240202.html

Into the Cosmic Heart, IC 1850 © Aleix Roig

Moon's Mare Imbrium l Manuel Huss

NASA Hubble Space Telescope - The ‘Swan Nebula’

Brothers Betelgeuse and Rigel

The monsters that live on the Sun are not like us. They are larger than the Earth and made of gas hotter than in any teapot. They have no eyes, but at times, many tentacles. They float. Usually, they slowly change shape and just fade back onto the Sun over about a month. Sometimes, though, they suddenly explode and unleash energetic particles into the Solar System that can attack the Earth.  Pictured is a huge solar prominence imaged almost two weeks ago in the light of hydrogen. Captured by a small telescope in Gilbert, Arizona, USA, the monsteresque plume of gas was held aloft by the ever-present but ever-changing magnetic field near the surface of the Sun. Our active Sun continues to show an unusually high number of prominences, filaments, sunspots, and large active regions as solar maximum approaches in 2025.