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The Chameleon is a small constellation near thesouth celestial pole.Boasting no brightstars, itblends inconspicuously with the starrysouthern sky.But, taken in dark skies over Namibia, this image reveals a stunningaspect of the shy constellation — a field of dusty nebulae and colorfulstars.Blue reflection nebulae are scatteredthrough the scene, but mosteye-catching is the complex of silvery dust clouds that only faintlyreflectstarlight, punctuated by dense dark nebulae.The dark nebulae stand out because they block out background stars.This view of the cosmic dust clouds spansabout 4 degrees on the sky.

This dramatic skyscape was recorded during theAugust 2008 total solar eclipse.The Moon’s silhouette surrounded by a glistening solar corona hangsabove the Jiayuguan Fort alongthe western edge ofthe Great Wall of China.Lined-up along theecliptic plane, all the planets ofthe inner solarsystem, Mercury, Venus, Mars, (and Earth!) can also be seenalong with Saturn and bright star Regulus,as theMoon’s shadow tracks across the landscape.Beyond the Moon’s shadow, outside the total eclipse track,sunlight still brightens the sky over mountains on the horizon30 – 50 kilometers away. Much anticipated, the2009July 22nd total solar eclipse will againbe visible from China.Planets and bright stars will briefly appear indarkened daytime skies,though a total eclipse won’t be seen from the Great Wall.Still, major cities and populated areas lie along the2009 total eclipse trackthat begins in India andsweeps eastward across Asia and into the Pacific Ocean.

What lights up thiscastle of star formation? The familiarEagle Nebula glows bright in many colors at once. Theabove image is a composite of three of these glowing gas colors. Pillars of dark dustnicely outline some of the densertowers ofstar formation. Energetic light from young massive starscauses the gas to glow and effectivelyboils away part of thedust and gas from its birth pillar. Many of these stars willexplode after several million years,returning most of their elements back to the nebula which formed them. This process is forming anopen cluster of stars known asM16

Noctilucent or night-shining clouds lie near theedgeof space.From about 80 kilometers above Earth’s surface,the icyclouds can still reflect sunlight even though the Sun itself isbelow the horizon asseen fromthe ground.Usually occurring at high latitudes in summer months, the diaphanousapparitionsare also known aspolar mesospheric clouds and may be connected toglobal changein the lower atmosphere.This impressive 360 degree panorama made from 34 separate imagescaptures an impressivedisplay of noctilucent clouds all over the sky.It was recorded last month from Vallentuna, Sweden.The photographer reports that the display was like a noctilucent cloudstorm, one of the best he’s ever witnessed