It's Full of Stars

A Fox Fur, a Unicorn, and a Christmas Tree
Credit & Copyright: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn (Weather and Sky Photography) & Stefano Cancelli (AstroGarage)

Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros).Pictured above as a star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming bluereflection nebulae. The wide mosaic spans about 3/4 degree or nearly 1.5 full moons, covering 40 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies at the upper left, bright variable star S Mon immersed in the blue-tinted haze just below the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula at the far right. Of course, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears sideways here, with its apex at the Cone Nebula and its broader base centered near S Mon.

(via APOD)

Moonset Over Pleasant Bay
Credit & Copyright: A. Dunlap-Smith; Drawing Acknowledgement: J. Hevelius

Explanation: It was a sky for the imagination. In the early evening last week, the sky illuminating the unaided eye was perhaps even more illuminating to the mind’s eye. The unaided eye saw clouds framing the Moon setting over a calm and reflective bay, spruce trees lining the nearby shores, the Pleiades open star cluster (M45) glowing prominently in the center of the sky, the Andromeda galaxy hovering just over the horizon on the right, and the belt stars of Orion lined up on the left, just below the bright orange star Betelgeuse. The bright starSirius peeked out of the trees on the far left. The mind’s eye might further imagine, however, some of the constellations coming to life, with Orion the Hunter taking up his sword and shield, followed into battle by his Big Dog (Canis Major, whose right eye is Sirius), and watched from across the sky by Cassiopeia, the Queen of Ethiopia, sitting on her Throne. The above image was taken over Pleasant Bay, Maine, USA, and digitally merged with constellations from Uranographicarum, drawn in the 17th century by J. Hevelius.

(via APOD)

It’s Bring Your Child to Work Day at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory!

Here, a child pokes out holes to make their own constellation inside a giant plastic “planetarium”. Just one of many activities NASA is using to engage young minds and promote science and astronomy in schools.

Image credit: Veronica McGregor on Twitter