Astronomy Picture Of The Day

That'll make a neat Christmas present for my father. Thanks!

(It's his birthday tomorrow and one of his presents seems to be lost in the post, so if I had my chequebook I might even have tried wandering across town to see if they could produce one on the spot, but no chequebook, so I guess I'm spared being that annoying person...)

(Oh hey, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell signature editions and everything!)

: )

(I just realised my post made it sound like those are pictures of cancer. Just to be clear, they are original photographic plates from the Palomar observatory.)

"Add an extra £5 and get your gift wrapped by real Astrophysicists from Oxford."

is this a good use of their time?

They're only grad students. It's not like they have work to oh shit.

http://cache.boston.com/universal/bigpicture/v838.gif

cosmic zit poppin'

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/hubble_space_telescope_advent.html

KA BOOOOOOM

Whoa. Way cool.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2008/12/02/no-dyson-spheres-found-yet/

(I hope no one objects to me hijacking this thread for liveblogging things I read over morning coffee. Happy to take this stuff elsewere.)

Awesome - and a mystery too! Awesome²!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090112.html

lol at the (middle) finger nebula:
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2000/06/big.html

My APOD:

http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0600.html
http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/images/d5/sunx.jpg

today's would make a good science lesson, if not several:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090115.html

CH4 on Mars.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/4243321/Mars-methane-discovery-hints-at-presence-of-life.html

I, for one, welcome our new farting Martian overlords.

woah: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090128.html

BLACK HOLE JETS OMFG

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/images/2009/01/28/blackholejetshires.jpg

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/spectacular-new.html

lol cosmic sonic booms

Very nice lenticular cloud, today.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090203.html

Any Texans see the flaming mountain of space debris? I wish I had!

that video spooked me out, because it featured a ton of people running and shouting. before i realised they were also filming a marathon run at the time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7891912.stm

Bad astronomy seems to suspect that it IS satellite bumpercar fallout.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/02/15/fireball-over-texas/

in this international year of astronomy, take your own APOD's with your retina and your mind grapes for $15 + shipping.

https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/

i played with one of these at a conference a while back. for the price, they are totally awesome.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/shuttsm/shutt06.jpg

oh hi we heard you like the hubble advanced camera for surveys so we're off to fix it. be done in 1 week.

(note: all the good APOD pictures are taken with the ACS, but it broke in summer 2007)

http://i.gizmodo.com/05173385/shuttle%20riding-bat-dies-the-most-glorious-death-imaginable

Not astronomy, but wow anyway:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7952344.stm

Oh. it's everywhere.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1163121/Pictured-The-spectacular-eruption-underwater-volcano-South-Pacific.html

I can't help but think of the movie 'Lifeforce' (or in book form or UK movie title 'the space vampires) with that bat clinging to the shuttle. That little dude was just getting a lift home.

Oh. it's everywhere.

yep just linked to it on the guardian site too

yaow

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/cassinis_continued_mission.html

Cheers, caek, that's a superb link. The selection of images and accompanying descriptions are truly mesmeric.

Wow. Just wow.

"The outer edge of the B ring is anchored and sculpted by a powerful gravitational resonance with the moon, Mimas"

Wow. My mind is boggling away here like mad.

Wow, wallpaper heaven!

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/05/cassini_nears_fouryear_mark.html

FUCK

I acidentally read some of the comments and now I want to go burn down a fucking church full of idiots

184. ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.
Posted by Dave June 18, 08 04:53 PM

ok, not that one :-)

great pictures though

224.
frikin' sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Bob July 3, 08 11:44 PM

best post ever

http://erstories.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/09-nail-biter.jpg

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/10/AR2009051001513.html

5 hours to go.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/servicing/SM4/main/index.html

watch here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Grunsfeld will also have to replace four circuit cards, all of which will be around a corner and out of sight.

Given the swearing and shouting that accompanies me tackling any plumbing jobs at home even when I can see the pipes and reach them freely, I have nothing but admiration for someone who can carry out delicate electronic repairs in space, at 17,000mph, wearing bloody great gloves and an EVA suit.

Grunsfeld will also have to replace four circuit cards, all of which will be around a corner and out of sight, man.

Telescopes getting a big boost all round these days

2 new ESA space telescopes getting launched soon, James Webb in 2014, terrestrial scopes benefiting from new mirror technology adaptive optics and improved data links and image processing.

Bring on the Exo Planets

planck is launching on thursday too.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVW10YDUF_index_0.html

no problems with weather or hardware so far if you guys feel like watching in 40 mins or so.

here comes the fun cooker