When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat. This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. As water droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop […]
The two prominent clouds in this Chilean Atacama Desert skyscape captured on January 21 actually lie beyond our Milky Way galaxy. Known as the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds they are so named for the 16th century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, leader of the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. Famous jewels of southern hemisphere […]
An American bald eagle occupies a nest near Kennedy Parkway North at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 8, 2023. via NASA https://ift.tt/I25NaFr
Fading as it races across planet Earth’s northern skies comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) shares this telescopic frame with comet C/2022 U2 (ATLAS). Captured on the night of February 6 from a garden observatory in Germany’s Bavarian Forest, the starry field of view toward the constellation Auriga spans about 2.5 degrees. Discovered by sky survey projects […]
Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash across this skyscape from Kilpisjärvi, Finland. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable appearance was captured looking south at 69 degrees north latitude at sunset on January 24. A type of polar stratospheric cloud, they form when unusually cold temperatures […]
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata is pictured in his Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or spacesuit, during his second spacewalk on Feb. 2, 2023. via NASA https://ift.tt/W9KjPVs
Take an incredible journey to explore the Wolf Rayet Star WR 40 and its Nebula RCW 58, located towards the constellation of Carina. This star ejects its atmosphere at speeds of nearly 100 kilometers per second, forming an expanding oval-shaped nebula. Learn more about this incredible phenomenon in this article!
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now beyond its closest approach to the Sun and Earth, but there is still time to see it with binoculars or a small telescope! Find out where and when to look for Comet ZTF before it fades away.
Officials from NASA, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the Indian Embassy visit a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Feb. 3, 2023, to view the scientific instrument payload for the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. via NASA https://ift.tt/pHc3OVZ
The featured image of the Rosette Nebula’s bright cluster of stars captures its central region in tremendous detail. It was taken in mid-January using multiple exposures and very specific colors of Sulfur (shaded red), Hydrogen (green), and Oxygen (blue). A hot wind of particles streams away from the cluster stars and contributes to an already complex menagerie of gas and dust filaments.