Starship Asterisk*

The blue nebula off the center right reminds me of a profile of the Muppet Show's pigs in space. Not Miss Piggy, but one of the porker assistants to the doctor in Pigs in Space, with the chubby snout, dark eye and forward curled ear. Step back from the screen about three feet and the image is better.

What I have for a long time wanted to know is how dense these molecular clouds are. From a great distance, they obscure the stars behind them, but is this because we observe through the entire depth of the cloud? If I were to fly my space ship through the thickest part of a molecular cloud (and obv...

Apparently, the gamma rays from this event traveled faster than light, or the light from the event traveled at less than light speed. Which is it and how? If I may submit a layman's armchair science theory. Gamma Rays are thousands of times smaller than light rays, and like x-rays aren't hindered m...

It's amazing how scientists figured out how the eye of a fish can see, even out of the water. I remember a Nova science program? or some other science program where they recreated what the compound eye of a fly or bee sees. Hundreds of little separate images all grouped into a large circle. Bring mo...

Asimov's Nightfall was about a planet that had 6 suns in the sky. At least one or two were always up so the inhabitants had always daylight ever since they were born. However every 20,000 years or so, the astronomy mechanics were such that all stars would set out of the sky and not another star woul...

Confusion time again. Why does the APOD robot call Ceres an asteroid, when the Ceres link calls Ceres a dwarf planet, and the only dwarf planet in the Inner Solar System? Also why is the elevation exaggerated by a factor of 2? Show it as it really is. Now I can begin to understand why a lot of young...

"Concept plane suggested in 2010"? Take a look at The Thunderbirds ( circa 1966) Fireflash supersonic jet. http:// thunderbirds.wikia.com/wiki/Fireflash Notice any similarities?

If light from the supernova would have reached Earth 3,700 years ago, how is it that the remnant is 7000 light years away? I didn't think the Universe was expanding that rapidly - or is it? If I may add to the Honorable Chris Peterson comment. Light travels at a fixed speed in the vacuum of space i...

Interesting anomaly about the shadow. Note you can see it better if you zoom in the large version of the photo and bring the viewing screen brightness or contrast control up to about 80% because it is a fine detail. Saturn's shadow is slightly darker than the night side of its atmosphere I presume b...

Anybody see to the right of the "white thing" the face of a squirrel? Or maybe a porcupine or even a llama. There are distinctive eyes, the fur is light colored, with a darker pinkish nose and a darker open mouth. Even two pointed ears with the right ear about twice as big as the left.

Some lights I have seen which I am not sure where they fit in the chart. Can you identify them? (1) This is a fairly bright light, moves quickly, forms a long root like squiggly line, sometimes to the ground, is sometimes pictured being thrown by the mythological Zeus or Thor, and is usually accompa...

If that is Regulus, then the three stars in the top left are probably Leo's head. Gamma Leo and Zeta Leo probably, not sure which name the faint star is.

Why should we say farewell to mighty AR2673 since it will be on the far side of the Sun? Since Mars is also on the far side of the Sun, couldn't they get one of the Mars Orbiters to keep watch over the flare? Although I assume the image will be a lot smaller from Mars.

Beautiful musical clip reminded me of when i watched a certain Stanley Kubrick movie in 1968.

Likewise, Holy Cowabunga! I was going to say great vid, but keep in mind it is already a killer of 20 people, and that number likely will go up. Thoughts are of the Floridians, stay safe. And the Puerto Ricans and the other islanders affected.

Awesome picture. By the way I doubted that is the sun considering the cloudy sky and that the sun is in front of the horizon. According to the "featured image" link that is the camera flash reflection in the window.

The apparent hexagon appears to be over northern Hudson Bay. I can see clearly the upper Ungava Peninsula and the lower portion of Baffin Island. What is mysterious (besides the Moon's shadow) is the large white cloud formation off the California coast. (See the high definition version for a clearer...

Looking forward to tomorrow's APOD. Pig cells in Space as my Windows Narrator pronounced. I hope most of you can remember the Muppet Show's Pigggs in Spaaaccccccce. This must be a spinoff cell from the Cosmoporkers, Firstmate Miss Piggy and the handsome Captain Link Hogthrob, and the Doctor Julius S...

Very interesting video. ta152ho, what do you define as very cold air? The temp drops just a few degrees standing in the shade of a sunny day. Sure this is darkness covering hundreds of miles, but it only lasts a few minutes. How much colder does entering a very long tunnel get on a bright sunny day?...

It is amazing how often an anthropomorphic human face shows up in these nebula images. From the Horsehead Nebula, (well a horse head rather than human) to the Pillars of Creation, to the Face on Mars. Here's another one, although it looks like an 18th century theatrical actor's mask rather, with a m...

The first man was the tallest because his shadow can be seen peeking over the roof's shadow at 8:05 am (by the clock on the building). That's the best I could stop the video with my reflexes, but 5 minutes after 8 is close enough. You can extrapolate and draw the line from the peak of his head's sha...

The Earth could NOT easily fit inside of it. At 8,000 km it is roughly 2/3 the size of Earth. The Earth is 12,750 km in diameter. That is not just a little smaller than Earth either.

Here's another instance of, (what do you call it? )seeing anthropomorphic images in vague photos? I remember there was a profile of the devil in the Pillars of Creation. Likewise can you see the profile of his head here to, although I think he looks more like a leprechaun with the classic pointed be...

Something puzzles me. With a speed of 1333.3 kilometers a minute, and a Pluto diameter of about 2,400 kilometers, then New Horizons whizzed past Puto's diameter in just under 2 minutes. Why is the video a time lapse, because 2 minutes is the real time? Also, why does the journey begin in the predawn...

Is there an East Mitten. I am guessing since I am not personally familiar with Monument Valley that East mitten is the one similar to West Mitten but the mirror image and to the right some 1,000 yards in the background. That is then the east because I figure the camera is pointed more or less to the...