Is this star winking at us?
The central object in today’s animation is not one but two stars. XZ Andromedae, indicated by the bold lines, is an Algol-type eclipsing binary with a nearly edge-on orbit from Earth’s perspective. The bottom light curve shows the amount of light from the system dim and brighten as the cooler star eclipses its hotter, brighter companion. Analysis of several XZ Andromedae light curves indicates there may be two other stars orbiting the system. This particular light curve was created with Citizen Astronomy, an open-source software for differential photometry. The software takes the difference in brightness between a target and comparison star and traces its behavior over time. This technique reduces most variations from the instrument and Earth’s atmosphere. In addition to eclipsing binaries, this analysis is useful for studying transiting exoplanets, accreting black holes, supernovae, and many more time-varying astronomical phenomena. Astrophotographers: try it out on your own data!
Astronomy.co.uk Star Naming Service
Name a star for yourself or for that special person as the perfect gift that will sparkle for a lifetime! Ideal for any occasion, birthdays, christenings, anniversaries and memorials. Reserve a place in the heavens for your loved ones
Th Sky Tonight - May 2025
https://www.astronomy.co.uk/the-sky-tonight/
The Pinwheel Galaxy -NASA
The first Full Moon of 2022, known as the Wolf Moon, will occur tonight! Throughout cold January nights, the howling of wolves could be heard around villages in both Europe and America, so the January Full Moon became widely known as the Wolf Moon.
The exact time of the Full Wolf Moon is January 17, 2022, 23:48 GMT
The Lagoon Nebula - Hubble
This is a small section of the Cygnus supernova blast wave which appears as a delicate streak of light.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Blair; acknowledgment: Leo Shatz
An exploding star !
Hubble
The station crew sees 16 sunrises a day, and they officially started 2022 at 12am GMT.
The Snow Angel Nebula - Hubble
Crescent Earth
The Earth as seen from the Moon on the Command Module of Apollo17 on December 16, 1972.
Credit: @NASA (image #AS17-152-23274); Processing: @JPMajor
Dolphin head nebula located near the center of the constellation Canis Major
DEM L249, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is an unusual supernova remnant.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Chou (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)