APOD11

This is a meteor shower over Turkey. More specifically, the Orionids Meteor Shower, radiating from the Orion constellation. Over twelve meteors were captured on film in multiple exposures from a town near Bursa, Turkey. These meteors began as bits of the Halley Comet, each about the size of a grain of sand.

APOD10

This picture, taken by the Mars rover Opportunity, shows a view of the horizon on Mars and clouds of ice and carbon dioxide above. The sky on Mars can quickly turn from red to blue depending on how much dust (composed mostly of iron oxide) is in the air. This ocean of sand is different from most pictures of a Mars horizon, as there are nearly no rocks or features in view.

APOD9

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) took this high resolution image as it orbits Mars. The picture includes both the Mars rover Opportunity and its tracks. The image has enough detail to show objects only a meter in size. The MRO recently finished aerobraking, and will soon be entering its primary science phase.

Sunday, October 15th

Location: Pine View School

The stargaze was pretty cloudy.

Saturday, October 8th

Location: Nokomis Beach

The full moon rising in the East made most constellations invisible, but the summer triangle was clearly visible directly overhead. Most of Cygnus and Aquila were easy to see, but Lyra proved more difficult. The moon seemed to have a cream color.

APOD8

This is Joseph Tanner. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper took this photo and others which could be combined to make a 3D image. These astronauts were on the STS 115 mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis. The mission was to the international space station.