Film & Animation

Tonight’s Sky: May 2014

Backyard stargazers get a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere’s skywatching events with “Tonight’s Sky.” May features the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, and could feature a meteor storm later in the month as Earth passes through the debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR. ... Read More

Evaporating Peaks: Pillars in the Monkey Head Nebula

The Monkey Head Nebula (also known as NGC 2174) is a star-forming region in which bright, newborn stars near the center of the nebula illuminate the surrounding gas with energetic radiation. This radiation, along with strong stellar winds, erodes away the lower density gas. Pockets of higher density gas resist this erosion, and form pillars and peaks along the inner edge of the roughly circular cloud.... Read More