Apod

This is s truly humbling image of earth from the satellite Cassini, currently orbiting Saturn. We can clearly see the rings of the gas giant, but we also notice a pale blue dot. That dot is earth. The Cassini Huygens satellite, probably one of the most ambitious endeavors by NASA. Cassini is loaded with high tech gear, making it very able to take various amounts of measurements and samples. Cassini reached Saturn almost three years ago in 2004. The Cassini satellite is actually comprised of two probes, the Cassini probe, with 12 instruments, and the Huygens, with six.
The image was possible because Saturn blocks the brightness of the sun, making the visible. The moon, as a slight elongation, is visible from the image. Earth's blue waters give it a slightly blue hue. Earth is home to over six billion. And over an octillian, or 8 followed by 27 zeros, Prochlorococcus, or plants.

Apod number 5

In its latest mission to the International Space Station, the Atlantis added pieces of the Integrated Truss structure, which will be the center of a segment of 11 trusses. The image was taken by the crew of the Atlantis right after they left the ISS. Construction of the ISS began in 1998, and will be completed in about 5 years.

Apod Entry 9/15/06

To the naked eye, this could be a foggy star. But M33 is actually a 50,000 lightyear diameter galaxy, Triangulum. Triangulum, part of the Local Group of galaxies in our universe that is home to our very own Milky Way, is the third largest of the group. In this wide field image, we can see areas of star formations as pink areas an newly created star regions as blue. Triangulus' variable star sizes make it a good "cosmic yardstick," or a calibration tool for galactic scales. Using DEBS, or detatched eclipsing binaries, groups such as the DIRECT project can make good estimates of distances of galaxies from the earth.

Star Trails

This pretty, surrealistic long exposire picture was taken from the Gemini South observatory in Cerro Pachon, Chile. The Gemini observatory is manned by an international partnership, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. There are Gemini observatories in seven countries, including Chile, the UK, and the US.
This picture is an hour and forty minute exposure, and captures many star "trails," including the South Celestial Pole in the center, and the Megellanic Clouds near the middle of the circle. The circles form a path of the earth's daily rotation.