Hi everybody!

Here's the latest article from the Astronomy site at BellaOnline.com.

The Sun - Facts for Kids
The Sun is a star and it's a big one. It's bigger than 90% of the other stars in the Milky Way and contains almost all of the mass of the whole Solar System. Find out more about the star that makes life on Earth possible.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32333.asp

*Earthrise recreated*

On Christmas Eve 1968 the Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to see the Earth rise over the Moon. Iconic is an overused word, but the image certainly is. It still moves me to see how fragile and beautiful Earth looks. To celebrate Earth day NASA used hi res footage from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and historical images and sounds to recreate the moments when Lovell, Anders & Borman saw our planet appear from behind the Moon. The video plays for just under a minute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0N8yvxCsrBk

*Jupiter and Saturn*

Sander van den Berg used unprocessed images from NASA's Cassini and Voyager missions to make this lovely video. The music (The Cinematic Orchestra's “That Home”) goes beautifully with it. Be sure to watch it full screen. http://vimeo.com/40234826

*Jupiter and a selection of satellites*

I've been looking out for the planets at sunset for several months, but I haven't seen anything quite like this picture. It's a sliver of a crescent moon with earthshine and a streak of light that shows the trail of the International Space Station. Jupiter is low down in the sky and the APOD caption says that “close inspection of the photo will reveal tiny pin pricks of light“ which are the Galilean moons. I can just make out one in the five o'clock position. Can you see more than that? The photo is by Stefan Seip. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1204/MoonJupiterISS_Seip900.jpg

You can read more about Jupiter's Galilean moons at http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art42279.asp.

I wish you clear skies.  Please visit astronomy.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Astronomy.

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Mona Evans, Astronomy Editor
http://astronomy.bellaonline.com

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