| | February 23
Moon and Star | | | |
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| Tonight … Moon near Aldebaran | | Not just near. In fact, the moon occults (covers over) Aldebaran tonight. We're in the midst of a series of 49 monthly occultations of Aldebaran that began in 2015 and will conclude this September 3. | | | Violent blast from Sinabung volcano | | Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupted violently on February 19. See video of the dramatic first moments of the eruption. | | | Watch an octopus get spiky | | Octopuses and cuttlefish have an amazing defense tactic. They can erect 3D spikes from their skin, hold them for an hour, then retract them and swim away. | | | Mars rover finds possible rock stripes | | The long-lived Opportunity Mars rover keeps finding surprises, including these possible stone stripes. On Earth, similar features result from repeated freezing and thawing of wet soil. | | | | | |
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| The EarthSky Store | | Help us keep presenting your world, and cosmos, to you. Plus get some cool astronomy swag while doing so! | | | | | |
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|  | | Tonight … Moon near Aldebaran | Bright star Aldebaran on the moon’s dark edge, just before the moon passed in front of this star on last March. Photo by Michael Caruso in Morgantown, West Virginia. | | | | | |
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 | | Violent blast from Sinabung volcano | On February 19, Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano erupted violently. NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the eruption just a few hours after it began. See video of the dramatic first moments of the eruption here. | | |
