Starship Asterisk*

dl martin, canada wrote:what is the red streak at the 6:30 position in the enlarged version?

Possibly a distant (red-shifting?) galaxy? There are quite a few of them, whatever they are in this image.

Sorry to overrule here, Art but Neptune is assuredly a GAS giant. Exactly what lies beneath the upper atmosphere layer of methane is uncertain, but it probably isn't frozen, or at least solidly so. But onto the Jovian aurorae: At that scale, any one of the flashes could easily outsize the planet Ear...

What made this planet so "easily" hypothesized is the fact it orbits so close to its parent star - and its size. Using only infrared measurements give us a tiny glimpse of what a truly alien world would be like. What really may be out there could be beyond our imagination...

Reminds me of the closing scene in 2001 - A Space Odyssey.

Guest wrote:The texture is interesting. I'm curious about the smooth areas in between.

I'm sure the New Horizon scientists are curious as well. Not much is yet known how frozen methane, nitrogen and other gases react in these cold depths of the Solar System.

Hm - by just reading the title from the Archives list I was hoping to see something other than some cheesy art-deco-ish fake travel poster? Ah, well it is after all April Fools Day here in the States.

From here on Earth this colorful vista spans the width of 6 full moons - and it's only 200 light years distant? It's virtually in our cosmic backyard!

OK - it appears this is some sort of You Tube video. I'm at work and not allowed to stream videos, music, etc. on the Company computer. So I use my smartphone and play the video. It shows the time elapsing, but nothing's happening? The rover is just sitting there. Did the Mastcam pan 360 and this is...

I'd agree with Geckzilla - though it'd sure make for some thrilling naked-eye viewing if we could see the Orion nebula displayed in Earth's skies as such.

Well, it appears to be quite a busy place with stars blowing bubbles and all... Imagine our Solar System being in the midst of all that. I doubt that we'd last very long.

Great color commentary, Ann - and thanks for the guided tour! Living in the Northern Hemisphere of our fair planet, I hope to catch a naked eye glimpse of this strikingly colorful celestial passer-by. The last comet I was witness to was Hale-Bopp back in 1997.

I was hoping someone could shed light on the apparent fracture in the Carina Nebula. It appears as if the Nebula was divided, much like continental drift divided Latin America and Africa. Is this an optical coincidence or are there forces in the Nebula that led to the fractured appearance that is e...