Beautiful blue Sun

The blue sun in a different light shows us much.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091104.html

Mars changed from a warm planet into a colder one, now some news

Long ago, something bad happened to Mars, transforming a warm and hospitable world into the cold, seemingly lifeless desert we view today. Many scientists believe the Red Planet lost most of its atmospher. A new NASA mission named MAVEN is specifically designed to answer some questions about the series of events.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/06nov_maven.htm?list1285438

Surprising small asteroid hits

The asteroid "hit" took astronomers completely by surprise with
50 kton of TNT (two to three times more powerful than World War II-era atomic bombs). Apparently there was little news of it spread around the world for some reason (I only heard about it briefly) when it hit in Indonesia in the atmosphere.
See the smoke trail of the blast and a new video too by using links!
10/28/2009
(if not this date go to this link/website and then go to archives link which is on the Spaceweather page lower portion)
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Crab Nebula further revealed

This supernova (exploding star) was so bright in 1054 that the Chinese recorded that it happened. Today we have different views of this phenomenon.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091025.html

Mysterious trails from above are Martian Dustdevils trails

Dustdevils are found on Earth rising from the surface. However on Mars they are taller sometimes rising to 8 km (do you know how many miles this is?) into the thin Martian air. Read more

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091021.html

vast, glowing ribbon at the edge of the solar system

NASA's IBEX spacecraft has discovered a vast, glowing ribbon at the edge of the solar system. One mission scientist calls the discovery "shocking" and says theorists are "working like crazy" to explain the finding.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15oct_ibex.htm?list731500

Meteor Crater Arizona

8/11/2009 APOD
can't find it? use the archives and go to earlier date other then this one
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Free charting/planetarium software

One printable star chart that I have found interesting is at
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1052

Another more interactive simple charting program is at
http://www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm

For a really deep, printable atlas, there is triatlas at

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/index.html

If all you need is a monthly one page chart,
http://www.skymaps.com/

For planetarium programs, one of the best free ones find more at
Cartes du Ciel.
Hallo Northern Sky,
Celestia, and
Stellarium are also not too bad.

Ice seen in Martian craters produced by meteorites

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/24sep_martianice.htm?list1285438

water found on the moon

Using instruments on three separate spacecraft, scientists have discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the Moon.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/24sep_moonwater.htm?list731500

a space telescope sees how two worlds collided thousands years ago

Space telescopes view past collision

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090810-planet-smash.html

Beautiful galaxies in space

Star islands in space are beautiful to look through small and bigger telescopes.
can't find it? use the archives and go to earlier date other then this one
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Perseids what a hype and what a bust

I've been watching meteors for years so I guess when the skies are clear, whether cold or warm, I will try, as I have done over the years despite the hype. The hype of the Perseid meteor shower, this year , was nerve racking.

It was clear over Kansas for the most part but the Moon was keeping many of the faint ones. I don't care about seeing the faint ones, all I look forward is a few bright ones to remember.
I only could compare this Perseid hype to Comet Kohoutek when much is expected but little if nothing is delivered. Not only were two maximum dates expected but the extra bombardment was supposed to happen either later evening and/or early morning. This was compounded by observers seeing a lot (which led me to believe what are they smoking anyway) or literally nothing (my case).
A human eye can see so much and when the hype media says 100- 200 meteors per hour these are expectations not realizations. You are not going to go out and see fireballs falling around you. If you are lucky you can see one or two bring ones or some every few minutes at the peak.
I gave it a go one more time.
In Olathe, KS (near Kansas City), the Moon was finally setting a little lower so that the sky was darker in the area of the NE and the constellatioin Perseus. It was far better than last years Full Moon but up until now seeing the meteors was still disconcerting. However supposedly there was to be another "spike". So instead of going to bed, I go out my sleeping bag and waited, again.

In an hour , with clear skies, all I saw was 8 Perseids. But all except one was pretty bright.
The best was a short yellow Perseid at zero magnitude (not quite a fireball) , that left a nice 0.75 train (smoke trail). There were 2 fireballs (yellow and yellow-white) at -2 that were 25 degrees long and pretty. So at least I saw something.

But an all sky camera can see much more over time. Ths spectacular photo shows dozens. There is on that stands out and I wish the author would have said more how bright this particular wide bright one was.
8/14/09
can't find it? use the archives and go to earlier date other then this one
http://spaceweather.com/

Jupiter Impact clouds

Much is happening to the clouds that created when some type of celestial object punctured the atmosphere of Jupiter on 7/19/2009
8/8 spaceweather
can't find it? use the archives and go to earlier date other then this one
http://spaceweather.com/

Beautiful celestial structure: Pillars of Eagle Castle

This now famous part of the sky , seen with Hubble Space Telescope or not, is an amazingly rich photo of colors and celestial structures. The Eagle nebula comsic structions are both beautiful have a lot of curiousity that cries out to ask “what are these things?”
APOD
7/10/2009
(if not this date go to this link/website and then go to archives link which is on the APOD page lower portion)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Bizarre mysterious lines on Saturn's moon Enceladus

Scientists still have many questions about how these structures called Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus form and then loft jets of ice particles into the space around the moon and creating one of the rings of Saturn. This photo from the Cassini spacecraft shows much detail.

6/28/2009
(if not this date go to this link/website and then go to archives link which is on the APOD page lower portion)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Asteroid Eros closeup

The NEAR spacecraft took pictures of this “rock” and also landed on the asteroid to obtain further analysis.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090607.html

Mysterious Spokes on Saturn’s Rings

Such phenomenon was unexpected but scientists are gaining clues concerning what causes these shadow like structures on the rings.
(if not this date go to this link/website and then go to archives link which is on the APOD page lower portion)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Mars will not look as big "as a saucer " this August

Here it comes again. The planet Mars will be close but it will NOT appear as "big as the Moon" so some people and naysayers say.
This cartoon was just in the newspaper concerning this.

Space Shuttle will come to the rescue and help Hubble

It is of great interest and anticipation that the astronauts will soon help repair and update the belove telescope. Read more
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090508-hubble-huggers.html