Jupiter (filtered) By Judith Schmidt.

Stars again

500,000 Suns by Paul Blake

These beautiful Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds were spotted over Lincolnshire on December 19th. They form between two layers of air, one of which is moving faster than the other. Although that situation is not very unusual, the conditions have to be just right for visible clouds to form at that interface between layers, and the clouds themselves are typically short-lived. This set is particularly lovely with its smooth curves and breaking wave form. If you, like me, love these clouds but never manage to see them yourself, you can always try wearing some instead! (Image credit: A. Towriss; via BBC News; submitted by Vince D.)

Asteroid J002E3’s orbit in 2002-2003.

Lightning inside a volcanic ash cloud in Patagonia.

Comet Hyakutake

What is this dark spot in the center of the image?

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy.

The prominent dark patch, close to the centre of the cluster is a so called Bok globule: this is an isolated and relatively small dark nebula, containing dense dust and gas. These objects are still subjects of intense research as their structure and density remains somewhat a mystery.

Credit: NASA & ESA, Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, Spain)

Betelgeuse is still there, but had to check