All Images

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Brightest images Saturn (left) and Mars (right) frame the head of the Constellation Scorpius. Both planets are quite close, Saturn at 1300 (10^6) km and Mars at 82(10^6) km with the stars in the head of Scorpius at 400-585 Ly. Antares also shown below the head is at 604 Ly away. Above and to the right of Antares is the star Al Niyar 734.59 LY away. The three stars forming the head of Scorpius are (bottom and up and to the left) Pi Sco (585.56 LY), Dschubba (401.67 LY) and Acrab (530.334 LY) away, respectively. The planets formed much later, in relation to the stars, so, looking through the frame of the planets gives a view to a much older part of the universe. Compare to distance to our nearest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, which is 2.54 million LY or 778 kilo parsecs from Earth.

Note - small screen devices will not show the detail shown by full screen computer monitors. The stars in the head may not show due to their small size.

Canon S2IS with 12X optical zoom, ISO 400, f8, 1/1250

Cannon S2IS 48 X with Optical and Digital zoom. ISO 1600, f8 and 1/1600.

The "Blue Moon" of once in a blue moon fame is actually the second moon occurring in months where there are two full moons, as occurred this past July. Old Farmer's Almanac 2015 says that this occurs roughly every 2-1/2 years. The probability of an individual randomly stepping out and encountering a blue moon would be 0.001, or, a very small likelihood. Canon S2IS, ISO 400, 1/400, f/8.

Super rare event, 073115

Mars on March 23rd, imaged by Christopher Go with a 14-inch scope. South is up. The big white patch at top is not the South Polar Cap or Cloud Hood but the Hellas basin, which often fills with clouds or frost. The big dark peninsula at dead center is Syrtis Major; always look for Hellas due south of it. - See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/mars-opposition-best-showing-in-a-decade/#sthash.M9OqHyjJ.dpuf

Jigsaw puzzle image from Hubble image

M81 pencil sketch by Howard Barach, with permission, see also S&T May 2016. Distance 11.8 +/- 0.4 Mly

The black hole is well defined in the center of this sketch, shown better here than in photographs. Surrounding the black hole is the accretion disk which is feeding into the black home, from the known universe. This scenario is repeated for the other billion or so black holes in the cosmos.

Inverse of M81 pencil sketch by Howard Barach, with permission, see also S&T May 2016 Distance 11.8 +/- 0.4 Mly

M82 Pencil sketch by Howard Barach with permission, see also S&T May 2016 Distance 11.4-12.4Mly

Inverse of M82 Pencil sketch by Howard Barach with permission, see also S&T May 2016 11.4-12.4Mly