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Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
Doomed Star Eta Carinae
13.08.2000
Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when - it may be next year, it may be one million years from now. Eta Carinae's mass - about 100 times greater than our Sun - makes it an excellent candidate for a full blown su
A Perseid Meteor
12.08.2000
This weekend, the annual Perseid Meteor Shower reaches its maximum. Grains of cosmic sand and gravel shed from Comet Swift-Tuttle will streak across the sky as they vaporize during entry into Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids result from the yearly
Fragments of Comet LINEAR
11.08.2000
What do you call a bunch of comet fragments anyway ... a flock, a covey, a swarm? The question is definitely relevant to comet LINEAR (C/1999 S4 LINEAR) whose nucleus apparently fragmented late last month during its first trip through the inner solar system.
Other Worlds and HD 38529
10.08.2000
After the latest round of discovery announcements, the list of known worlds of distant suns has grown to 50. While extrasolar planet discoveries are sure to continue, none - so far - points clearly to another planetary system like our own. Take, for example, the newly discovered parent star HD38529.
A Solar Filament Lifts Off
9.08.2000
Hot gas frequently erupts from the Sun. One such eruption produced the glowing filament pictured above, which was captured on July 19 by the Earth-orbiting TRACE satellite. The filament, although small compared...
Comet LINEAR Disperses
8.08.2000
What's happened to the nucleus of Comet LINEAR? The brightest comet this year has unexpectedly broken up into many smaller pieces. The break-up occurred on or about July 25 and was noted by many astronomers around the world with particularly pioneering work by Mark Kidger (IAC).
Nearby Star Epsilon Eridani Has a Planet
7.08.2000
A planet has been found orbiting a Sun-like star only 10 light-years away. No direct picture of the planet was taken - the planet was discovered by the gravitational wobble it created on its parent star, Epsilon Eridani. The discovery marks the closest Sun-like star yet found to house an extra-solar planet.
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
6.08.2000
Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured above is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy
Halley s Nucleus: An Orbiting Iceberg
5.08.2000
What does a comet nucleus look like? Formed from the primordial stuff of the solar system, it is thought to resemble a very dirty iceberg. But for active comets, telescopic images only reveal the surrounding cloud of gas and dust, the comet's coma, and the characteristic cometary tails.
M15: Dense Globular Star Cluster
4.08.2000
Life might get dull at the core of M15 but the sky would always be bright with stars! In fact, only 40,000 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, M15 is one of the most densely packed globular star clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy.
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