Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 12 - Blue Comet Meets Blue Stars

Blue Comet Meets Blue Stars 
Credit & Copyright: Tom Masterson (Transient Astronomer)

Explanation: What's that heading for the Pleiades star cluster? It appears to be Comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS), but here, appearances are deceiving. On the right and far in the background, the famous Pleiades star cluster is dominated by blue light from massive young stars. On the left and visiting the inner Solar System is Comet PanSTARRS, a tumbling block of ice from the outer Solar System that currently sports a long ion tail dominated by blue light from an unusually high abundance of ionized carbon monoxide. Comet PanSTARRS is actually moving toward the top of the image, and its ion tail points away from the Sun but is affected by a complex solar wind of particles streaming out from the Sun. Visible through a small telescope, the comet is fading as it recedes from the Earth, even though it reaches its closest point to the Sun in early May.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 11 - A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay

A Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay 
Credit & Copyright: Armando Lee (Astron. League Philippines), F. Naelga Jr., 100 Hours of Astronomy (IYA2009)

Explanation: What's happened to the setting Sun? An eclipse! In early 2009, the Moon eclipsed part of the Sun as visible from parts of Africa, Australia, and Asia. In particular the featured image, taken from the Mall of Asia seawall, caught a partially eclipsed Sun setting over Manila Bay in the Philippines. Piers are visible in silhouette in the foreground. Eclipse chasers and well placed sky enthusiasts captured many other interesting and artistic images of the year's only annular solar eclipse, including movies, eclipse shadow arrays, and rings of fire. On Thursday parts of the Sun again will become briefly blocked by the Moon, again visible to some as a partial eclipse of the Sun. Thursday's eclipse, however, will only be visible from parts of southern South America and Antarctica.

Portugal campeão de Europa de futsal - Artigo desporto

Depois de Portugal ter feito história no futebol ao conquistar o Europeu de 2016, em França, foi a vez de o futsal nacional subir ao trono europeu da modalidade. O triunfo frente à Espanha, na final de Ljubljana (3-2), este sábado, rendeu também a Ricardinho o título de selecções que lhe faltava numa carreira recheada de êxitos.

Ricardinho está para o futsal nacional como Cristiano Ronaldo está para o futebol. Ambos já foram galardoados cinco vezes como os melhores jogadores do mundo nas respectivas modalidades, mas para a sua consagração faltava um troféu ao serviço de Portugal. CR7 desfez a lacuna em Paris, há menos de dois anos; R10 seguiu-lhe o rasto na Eslovénia.

Até o dramatismo que envolveu estas duas conquistas teve pontos em comum. Em Paris, Ronaldo lesionou-se logo no arranque da final com a equipa anfitriã, mas a sua infelicidade motivou os seus companheiros, com o improvável Éder a apontar o golo solitário do triunfo.

Em Ljubljana, Ricardinho foi obrigado a abandonar a partida depois de ser derrubado por um adversário, mas já no início da segunda parte do prolongamento. Viu do banco o golo da vitória de Bruno Coelho no último minuto do tempo extra.

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Raquel Taraborrelli - "Quintal florido" - Pintura impressionista

"Quintal florido"

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 10 - Roadster, Starman, Planet Earth

Roadster, Starman, Planet Earth 
Image Credit: SpaceX

Explanation: Don't panic. It's just a spacesuited mannequin named Starman. As the sunlit crescent of planet Earth recedes in the background, Starman is comfortably seated at the wheel of a Tesla Roadster in this final image of the payload launched by a Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6. Internationally designated 2018-017A, roadster and Starman are headed for space beyond the orbit of Mars. The successful Falcon Heavy rocket has now become the most powerful rocket in operation and the roadster one of four electric cars launched from planet Earth. The other three were launched to the Moon by historically more powerful (but not reusable) Saturn V rockets. Still, Starman's roadster is probably the only one that would be considered street legal.

Steve Hanks - "Caminhando sobre as pedras" - Aguarela

Caminhando sobre as pedras

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 9 - Total Solar Lunar Eclipse

Total Solar Lunar Eclipse 
Composite Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Letian, Zhang Jiajie

Explanation: This digitally processed and composited picture creatively compares two famous eclipses in one; the total lunar eclipse (left) of January 31, and the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. The Moon appears near mid-totality in both the back-to-back total eclipses. In the lunar eclipse, its surface remains faintly illuminated in Earth's dark reddened shadow. But in the solar eclipse the Moon is in silhouette against the Sun's bright disk, where the otherwise dark lunar surface is just visible due to earthshine. Also seen in the lunar-aligned image pair are faint stars in the night sky surrounding the eclipsed Moon. Stunning details of prominences and coronal streamers surround the eclipsed Sun. The total phase of the Great American Eclipse of August 21 lasted about 2 minutes or less for locations along the Moon's shadow path. From planet Earth's night side, totality for the Super Blue Blood Moon of January 31 lasted well over an hour.

Raquel Taraborrelli - "Tropical" - Pintura impressionista

"Tropical"

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 8 - Bow Tie Moon and Star Trails

Bow Tie Moon and Star Trails 
Image Credit & Copyright: Haitong Yu

Explanation: On January 31, a leisurely lunar eclipse was enjoyed from all over the night side of planet Earth, the first of three consecutive total eclipses of the Moon. This dramatic time-lapse image followed the celestial performance for over three hours in a combined series of exposures from Hebei Province in Northern China. Fixed to a tripod, the camera records the Full Moon sliding through a clear night sky. Too bright just before and after the eclipse, the Moon's bow tie-shaped trail grows narrow and red during the darker total eclipse phase that lasted an hour and 16 minutes. In the distant background are the colorful trails of stars in concentric arcs above and below the celestial equator.

Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 February 7 - NGC 7331 Close-Up

NGC 7331 Close-Up 
Image Credit & License: ESA/Hubble & NASA/D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University)

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebulaand is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy's disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth. In this Hubble Space Telescope close-up, the galaxy's magnificent spiral arms feature dark obscuring dust lanes, bright bluish clusters of massive young stars, and the telltale reddish glow of active star forming regions. The bright yellowish central regions harbor populations of older, cooler stars. Like the Milky Way, a supermassive black hole lies at the core of of spiral galaxy NGC 7331.