TODAY IN HISTORY: Planet Neptune Is Observed By The Voyager 2 Space Probe On August 24, 1989. (via)

98% waning gibbous Moon | 11% waning crescent Moon 

by Bartosz Wojczyński

Wide Field View of Great American Eclipse

The Spanish Dancer and her supernova by strongmanmike2002 on Flickr.

Morning On Mars

 Martian sunrises, as seen by the HiRISE orbiter

For the first time, NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured a color image of a sunset on Mars.  (NASA via Smithsonian Magazine)

The Egg Nebula

The Egg Nebula  is approximately 3,000 Light years away from Earth.Resembling a rippling pool illuminated by underwater lights, the Egg Nebula offers astronomers a special look at the normally invisible dust shells swaddling an aging star. These dust layers, extending over one-tenth of a light-year from the star, have an onionskin structure that forms concentric rings around the star.

Image credit: NASA

A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies designated SDSS J1531+3414

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Light from Cygnus A: Celebrating astronomy in this International Year of Light, the detailed image reveals spectacular active galaxy Cygnus A in light across the electromagnetic spectrum. Incorporating X-ray data extends to either side along the same axis for nearly 300,000 light-years powered by jets of relativistic particles emanating from the galaxys central supermassive black hole. Hot spots likely mark the ends of the jets impacting surrounding cool, dense material. Confined to yellow hues, optical wavelength data of the galaxy from Hubble and the surrounding field in the Digital Sky Survey complete a remarkable multiwavelength view. via NASA

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So it turns out, Pluto is red.

What color is Pluto? If you search for the dwarf planet on Google, images suggest that it’s a sort of steely blue or gray color. But now, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on it, and has learned Mars isn’t the only red planet in our solar system. But the reason it’s red couldn’t be more different from Mars.