APOD 2.4

Yikes. Something bigger and more powerful than the A-bomb on Hiroshima? And not dropped by the United States? No, actually dropped by space. Where? Russia. When? June 30, 1908. What? A meteor. Why? Umm gravity? Actually yes, gravity. The meteor leveled trees, created a lake, and at 60 to over 1000 meters in diameter was large enough to level a metropolitan city. Is something like this, but more ginormous, what killed the dinosaurs? Maybe, but whatever it was it would have sucked to be a dinosaur. Or a tree in Siberia.

APOD 2.3

Hey the one person who reads this! We're covering the Comet Holmes again, which has continued to fascinate denizens of this universe with its newly gained brightness and visibility to the naked eye. When looking closer and past its blurry brightness, usually through the use of a high-resolution telescope, one can distinguish a blue tail on Holmes. Why is this so? Apparently solar wind is impacting the ions in Holmes's surrounding cloud and pushing them away from the sun, creating the tail effect. Since this is a recent development, it suggests that this increased brightness was not due to one singular happening but a continuing series of processes. We're quite lucky to have the chance to study a comet in such detail, as Halley is being a jerk and won't be seen for another few decades.

APOD 2.2

Whats happening to Holmes? Not Sherlock, mind you, but the comet that has recently gone from magnitude 17 to magnitude 3. When once you needed a really good telescope to spot it, it is now visible to the naked eye. What caused the gigantic increase in brightness? Maybe a release of gas and the sun reflecting off it. Or part of the comet's nucleus broke off, fissioning itself it seems. Apparently its going to remain in the northern sky for another two years, allowing us to study it possibly without a telescope for a while.