I'm Being Followed By Moon Shadows
Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015: Astrophotographer Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, sent in a composite photo showing the rare triple shadow transit of Jupiter's moons, Io, Callisto and Europa, on Jan. 24, 2015. These transits occur when the natural satellites of Jupiter pass in front of the sun, as seen from the planet. When the larger Galilean satellites do so, their shadows can be seen from Earth. A triple shadow transit occurs on Jupiter only about once or twice a decade, on average, and the next one will occur in 2032. The smaller photos in the image show the progression of the event, starting at the left and moving clockwise.
— Tom Chao
Spaceballs
Friday, Jan. 30, 2015: Star-forming features nicknamed "yellowballs" appear in the center of this image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The yellow balls form during the creation of massive stars before they carve out cavities in the surrounding gas and dust (appearing as green-rimmed bubbles with red interiors here). The yellow balls stretch several hundred to thousands of times the size of our solar system. Image released Jan. 27, 2015.
— Tom Chao
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