Stellar Images

Miass River Sunrise

From Images 108

Each day on planet Earth can have a serene beginning at sunrise as the sky gently grows bright over a golden eastern horizon. This sunrise panorama seems to show such a moment on the winter morning of February 15. In the mist, a calm, mirror-like stretch of the Miass River flows through the foreground along a frosty landscape near Chelyabinsk, Russia. But the long cloud wafting through the blue sky above is the evolving persistent train of the Chelyabinsk Meteor. The vapor trail was left by the space rock that exploded over the city only 18 minutes earlier, causing extensive damage and injuring over 1,000 people. A well-documented event, the numerous webcam and dashcam video captures from the region soon contributed to a reconstruction of the meteor's trajectory and an initial orbit determination. Preliminary findings indicate the parent meteoriod belonged to the Apollo class of Earth crossing asteroids. [APOD - Image Credit: Marat Ahmetvaleev]

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Colors of Mercury

From Images 108

The colors of the solar system's innermost planet are enhanced in this tantalizing view, based on global image data from the Mercury-orbiting MESSENGER spacecraft. Human eyes would not discern the clear color differences but they are real none the less, indicating distinct chemical, mineralogical, and physical regions across the cratered surface. Notable at the upper right, Mercury's large, circular, tan colored feature known as the Caloris basin was created by an impacting comet or asteroid during the solar system's early years. The ancient basin was subsequently flooded with lava from volcanic activity, analogous to the formation of the lunar maria. Color contrasts also make the light blue and white young crater rays, material blasted out by recent impacts, easy to follow as they extend across a darker blue, low reflectance terrain. [APOD - NASA]

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--March 11 Pisces New Moon
The Mar. 11 New Moon features Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune, and Chiron all in the watery sign of Pisces. This New Moon rises in Sydney and Brisbane, AUS, where recent storms and heavy rains have been causing problems. Pisces New Moon chart

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--Apollon
Apollon was a journal published by the Centre for Psychological Astrology edited by Dermod Moore. Running from 1998 to 2001 it featured articles by leading practitioners in both astrology and psychology. The magazine's six issues are indispensable reading for students and professionals alike and are published online as .pdf files for the first time.
CPA

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