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NASA and Russia finally cement a plan to retrieve stranded astronauts on the ISS

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  A rescue plan has taken shape to bring home the two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut  stranded  on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA and Russia finally cement a plan to retrieve stranded astronauts on the ISS © Provided by Inverse Last month, a Russian Soyuz MS-22 crew capsule docked at the ISS sprung a massive leak. The material was liquid coolant, and with so much lost to space, NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos had to determine if the trio that rode the MS-22 into space could safely return to Earth come March, at the end of their mission. But they found that the vehicle was unsafe for a crew to ride back home because the thermal protection system was now compromised. Roscosmos will launch an empty Soyuz MS-23 in February to retrieve NASA astronaut  Frank Rubio  and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. “The Soyuz MS-22 will be replaced by the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft that will launch to the space station without a crew on Monday, Feb. 20,”
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25 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky

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  Do you know the names of some of the brightest stars? It's likely that you do, even though some bright stars have names so old they date back to near the beginning of written language. Many world cultures have their own names for the brightest stars, and it is culturally and historically important to remember them. In the interest of clear global communication, however, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has begun to designate standardized star names. Featured here in true color are the 25 brightest stars in the night sky, currently as seen by humans, coupled with their IAU-recognized names. Some star names have interesting meanings, including Sirius ("the scorcher" in Latin), Vega ("falling" in Arabic), and Antares ("rival to Mars" in Greek). You are likely even familiar with the name of at least one star too dim to make this list: Polaris. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
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Apollo 17 VIP Site Anaglyph

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  Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo scene from Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon! The color anaglyph features a detailed 3D view of Apollo 17's Lunar Rover in the foreground -- behind it lies the Lunar Module and distant lunar hills. Because the world was going to be able to watch the Lunar Module's ascent stage liftoff via the rover's TV camera, this parking place was also known as the VIP Site. Fifty years ago, in December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead. The crew returned with 110 kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than from any of the other lunar landing sites. Cernan and Schmitt are still the last to walk (or drive) on the Moon.
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A selfie taken by NASA's Orion Spacecraft while half-way to the Moon for the Artemis I mission, taken on November 19th, 2022.

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This is an image taken from Orion during it's mission.  
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Full Moon, Full Mars

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  On December 8 a full Moon and a full Mars were close, both bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. In fact Mars was occulted, passing behind the Moon when viewed from some locations across Europe and North America. Seen from the city of Kosice in eastern Slovakia, the lunar occultation of Mars happened just before sunrise. The tantalizing spectacle was recorded in this telescopic timelapse sequence of exposures. It took about an hour for the Red Planet to disappear behind the lunar disk and then reappear as a warm-hued full Moon, the last full Moon of 2022, sank toward the western horizon. The next lunar occultation of bright planet Mars will be in the new year on January 3, when the Moon is in a waxing gibbous phase. Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a fraction of the Earth's surface, though. The January 3 occultation of Mars will be visible from parts of the South Atlantic, southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean.
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Lunar Dust and Duct Tape

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  Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, the history of constant micrometeorite bombardment has blasted away at the rocky surface creating a layer of powdery lunar soil or regolith. For the Apollo astronauts and their equipment, the pervasive, fine, gritty dust was definitely a problem
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An Artful Sky over Lofoten Islands

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  Can the night sky be both art and science? If so, perhaps the featured image is an example. The digital panorama was composed of 10 landscape and 10 sky images all taken on the same night, from the same location, and with the same camera. Iconic features in the image have been artfully brightened, and the ground nearby was artfully illuminated. Visible in the foreground is the creative photographer anchoring an amazing view from the rugged Lofoten Islands of Norway, two months ago, by holding a lamp. Far in the distance are three prominent arches: our Milky Way Galaxy on the left, while a scientifically-unusual double-arced aurora is documented on the right. A meteor is highlighted between them. Other notable skylights include, left to right, the Andromeda Galaxy, the planet Jupiter, the star Vega, and the stars that compose the Big Dipper asterism.
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