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Watch for three things in this unusual eclipse video. First, watch for a big dark circle to approach from the right to block out more and more of the Sun. This dark circle is the Moon, and the video was made primarily to capture this partial solar eclipse last week. Next, watch a large solar prominence hover and shimmer over the Sun’s edge. A close look will show that part of it is actually falling back to the Sun. The prominence is made of hot plasma that is temporarily held aloft by the Sun’s changing magnetic field. Finally, watch the Sun’s edge waver. What is wavering is a dynamic carpet of hot gas tubes rising and falling through the Sun’s chromosphere — tubes known as spicules. The entire 4-second time-lapse video covers a time of about ten minutes, although the Sun itself is expected to last another 5 billion years. via NASA https://ift.tt/aTznZcK

Teams at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, recently completed stress testing on the Navy’s F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in Patuxent River, Maryland. via NASA https://ift.tt/wUcWZ0j

Why is the Lobster Nebula forming some of the most massive stars known? No one is yet sure. Cataloged as NGC 6357, the Lobster Nebula houses the open star cluster Pismis 24 near its center — a home to unusually bright and massive stars. The overall red glow near the inner star forming region results from the emission of ionized hydrogen gas. The surrounding nebula, featured here, holds a complex tapestry of gas, dark dust, stars still forming, and newly born stars. The intricate patterns are caused by complex interactions between interstellar winds, radiation pressures, magnetic fields, and gravity. The image was taken with DOE’s Dark Energy Camera on the 4-meter Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. NGC 6357 spans about 400 light years and lies about 8,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Scorpion. via NASA https://ift.tt/tWYlfS3

While observing the outer region of the Milky Way galaxy, our Spitzer Telescope captured this infrared image of a cloud of gas and dust that looks like the hollowed-out pumpkins we see every Halloween. via NASA https://ift.tt/7bVkE4Y

What is the most spook-tacular nebula in the galaxy? One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast cosmic bat flying amongst the stars on a dark Halloween night. Located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. Far from being a harbinger of death, this 12-light year-long filament of gas and dust is actually a stellar nursery. Glowing with eerie light, the bat is lit up from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars. via NASA https://ift.tt/x5QSPnj

What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth of course, on a dark and stormy night in 2013 at Hverir, a geothermally active area along the volcanic landscape in northeastern Iceland. Triggered by solar activity, geomagnetic storms produced the auroral display in the starry night sky. The ghostly towers of steam and gas are venting from fumaroles and danced against the eerie greenish light. For now, auroral apparitions are increasing as our Sun approaches a maximum in its 11 year solar activity cycle. And pretty soon, ghostly shapes may dance in your neighborhood too. via NASA https://ift.tt/zc6rJih

Part of a dark expanse that splits the crowded plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the Aquila Rift arcs through planet Earth’s skies near bright star Altair. In eerie silhouette against the Milky Way’s faint starlight, its dusty molecular clouds likely contain raw material to form hundreds of thousands of stars and astronomers search the dark clouds for telltale signs of star birth. This telescopic close-up looks toward the region at a fragmented Aquila dark cloud complex identified as LDN 673, stretching across a field of view slightly wider than the full moon. In the scene, visible indications of energetic outflows associated with young stars include the small red tinted nebulosity RNO 109 above and right of center, and Herbig-Haro object HH32 below. These dark clouds might look scary, but they’re estimated to be some 600 light-years away. At that distance, this field of view spans about 7 light-years. via NASA https://ift.tt/hczH2YI

Our James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new image of the famous Pillars of Creation—first imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995—that reveals new details about the region. via NASA https://ift.tt/RDwZHYS