Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
Aurora in the Night31.10.2002
For much of the month of October, traveling shock waves from the Sun and solar wind gusts have buffeted planet Earth's magnetosphere. As a result, skywatchers at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere were treated to many displays of the aurora borealis or northern lights.
Leonids Over Ayers Rock
30.10.2002
Will this year's Leonid meteor shower be as good as last year's? No one knows for sure. Possibly, however, in the waning nighttime hours of November 18 and lasting throughout much of November 19, sky gazers across the globe may get their last chance ever to see a meteor storm.
A Lunar Rille
29.10.2002
What could cause a long indentation on the Moon? First discovered over 200 years ago with a small telescope, rilles (rhymes with pills) appear all over the Moon. Three types of rilles...
Earths Richat Structure
28.10.2002
What on Earth is that? The Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once thought to be an impact crater, the Richat Structure's flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock indicates otherwise.
Asteroid Gaspra s Best Face
27.10.2002
Asteroid 951 Gaspra is a huge rock tumbling in space. Gaspra became one of the best-studied spacecraft Galileo flew by. In the above photograph, subtle color variations have been exaggerated to highlight changes in reflectivity, surface structure and composition.
Dark Matter, X rays, and NGC 720
26.10.2002
Elliptical galaxy NGC 720 is enveloped in a cosmic cloud of x-ray emitting gas. Seen in this false color image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the extreme temperature of the gas - about 7 million...
Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
25.10.2002
In Jules Verne's science fiction classic A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Professor Hardwigg and his fellow explorers encounter many strange and exciting wonders. What wonders lie at the center of our Galaxy?
Gullies on Mars
24.10.2002
The Gullies of Mars would probably not have been sensational enough for the title of a vintage Edgar Rice Burroughs story about the Red Planet. But it would get the attention of planetary scientists today.
Liftoff With the Space Shuttle
23.10.2002
What would it look like to see a Space Shuttle liftoff from just above the shuttle? Because the answer has value in assessing spacecraft performance, NASA attached a small RocketCam to the side of the External Tank on the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this month.
A Small Double Ozone Hole in 2002
22.10.2002
As expected, the ozone hole near Earth's South Pole is back again this year. This time, however, it's smaller than the past two years, and has an unusual double lobe structure. Ozone is important because it shields us from damaging ultraviolet sunlight.
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