SOLAR CONJUNCTION: Mercury has phases and today it is full. Don't look, though, because the bright rocky planet is only 2o from the sun. It's a high-noon solar conjunction that only SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) can see. SOHO uses its onboard coronagraph to block the sun's glare and reveal the planet nearby. Now you can look. SNOW WHITE VS. GRETEL: (3D glasses required) For weeks, NASA's Phoenix lander has labored to dig into the hard, icy soil of northern Mars. Mission scientists call this trench, located near Phoenix's feet, Snow White: Trench dimensions: 5 cm (2") deep, 23 cm (9") wide, 60 cm (24") long. Rumor has it, they're thinking of renaming it Gretel. Like Hansel's sister, the soil in this trench refuses to hop in the oven. Phoenix's onboard laboratory oven has its doors open, waiting for a sample of martian soil to analyze. Back in June, soil dumped into the oven got stuck on a screen at the oven's door. The sample was too clumpy. So mission planners decided to rasp Snow White's frozen soil, creating a pile of fine shavings that could filter through the screen. Snow White was subsequently rasped, shavings made, a sample scooped up and, two days ago, dumped into the oven. Success? Not exactly. Most of the soil remained stuck in the scoop; the small amount that funneled into the oven was insufficient for analysis. Mission planners are going back to the drawing board to figure out how to deal with the surprisingly stubborn soil. It's a Grimm situation. BREAD MOON: Last week, photographer Patrick Bornet watched in amazement as the Moon rose above the waves of the Mediterranean off the south coast of France. The almanac predicted a quarter moon, but what was this phantasm he recorded with his Canon 350D? Click to view the complete sequence Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley calls it "a bread Moon." "The early part of this wonderful sequence reminds me of bread rising as it bakes in the oven," he explains. "Layers of air at different temperatures are responsible for this mirage. The Moon’s rays are deflected as they pass through them distorting it and even splitting it into at least three separate images. Notice within the lower temperature inversion layer that there is a moon image setting into the sea as the main one rises!" Bread moons. Another reason to keep looking up. 2008 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery [Strange Clouds] [Sky Cameras] |