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Starry Lagoon
Image courtesy ESO
Condensing dust and gas light up newborn stars in a picture of Messier 8, aka the Lagoon Nebula, released on April 19 by the European Southern Observatory.
About a hundred light-years across, the stellar nursery is among the few such nebulae visible to the naked eye. It boasts a number of huge, hot stars that are sculpting the clouds with their strong radiation.Published April 20, 2010
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Iceland Volcanic Ash Seen From Space
Image courtesy Robert Simmon, NASA
A dark plume of ash blankets the skies over Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, as seen by a NASA satellite on April 17. The picture highlights the current, explosive phase of the volcano's eruption, which began on April 14. (See "Iceland Volcano Pictures: Lightning Adds Flash to Ash.")
With the current eruption taking place beneath the volcano's ice cap, geologists say the event could be both plinian—characterized by tall columns of ash driven by gases exploding from silicate-rich lava—and phreatic, caused by steam plumes created when hot lava contacts water.Published April 20, 2010
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Stars in the Making
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
The star-forming region known as IC 1795 lights up the bottom right corner of a picture from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope released on April 16.
The region, part of the Perseus arm of our Milky Way galaxy, appears mostly dark in visible light. But the gases and dust light up in infrared. The colors in this picture represent different infrared wavelengths coming from the dust cloud and the hot, young stars inside.
Published April 20, 2010
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Iceland's Volcanic Curve
Image courtesy ESA
A brownish gray ash plume curves to the southeast of Iceland's erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano, as seen by a European Space Agency satellite on April 19.
At about 250 miles (400 kilometers) long, the plume has been drifting over European skies, wreaking havoc on air travel and prompting some health concerns.
Published April 20, 2010
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Wisconsin Fireball
Image courtesy University of Wisconsin - AOS/SSEC
A webcam on the roof of a University of Wisconsin-Madison building caught the final moments of a meteor that created a bright fireball over Wisconsin on April 14. (See "'Major,' Green Meteor Lights Midwest Night Sky" [story and video].)
The small space rock disintegrated high in the atmosphere, creating a sonic boom heard by numerous witnesses. Peanut-size pieces of the meteor found after the blast went on display at the university's geology museum April 20.
Published April 20, 2010
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