Celestial Phenomena

The selected images below highlight the beauty and wonder of natural phenomena in the sky. Several of these were chosen from NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website.  Others are reproduced from NASA's JPL sites.  I have been fortunate to view a few special events.  Students from my Astronomy course (GSC 116) have also contributed  photographs to this collection.

Click here to view separate Powerpoint slide shows of the May 15, 2003 Lunar Eclipse as observed by Professor Jon Nourse (instructor of GSC 116) and by Johnny Ng (GSC 116 student).

2nd stage of Lunar Eclipse of May 15, 2003.  Photograph by Johnny Ng.    Final phase of May 15 Lunar Eclipse.  Photograph by Johnny Ng.

Waning crescent Moon at sunrise in NW Sonora, Mexico.          Waning crescent Moon at sunrise.  Photograph taken by J. Nourse from                  Photograph by J. Nourse.                                                                El Pinacate National Park, Sonora, Mexico

Comet Hale-Bopp over Val Parola Pass, Italy.  Photograph by A. Dimai.                M42, the Orion Nebula. Photograph by J. P. Gleason.

Jupiter's clouds as imaged by Cassini.  Photograph courtesy of NASA.                        Venus unveiled.  Image from the Magellan Project, JPL

June 8 , 2004 transit of Venus.  Photograph by Jimmy Westlake.            Double transit of the sun (airplane and Venus); JPL NASA                     

Transit of Venus viewed through clouds.  JPL NASA                    Hurricane Katrina approaches New Orleans August 29, 2005.  Photographed

                                                                                                           by  GOES satellite, NOAA

Alignment of planets during late March, 2004.                                    Moon, Venus, Mars, and Aldebaran line up on March 23, 2004.  Photograph by    

                                                                                                                Wojtek Rychlik.                 

Retrograde motion of Mars over a period of months.             Saturn casts shadow on its rings.  Photograph from the Cassini Imaging Team.

Time-lapse image courtesy of NASA