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This remarkable scene combines multiple exposuresrecorded on the evening of January 18th from a waterside perspective inHong Kong, China.It follows a young crescent Moon,with brilliant planet Jupiter to itsleft, as they set together in the western sky.Their two luminous trails are faintly paralleled bytrails ofbackground stars.But easier to pick out are the short, bright airplane trailsconverging toward the horizon and the Hong Kong InternationalAirport that seem to offer a frenzied imitation of thecelestial tracks.Of course, the reflection of city lights and boat trafficfollows the water’s surface.Streaking car lights define thespan of the cable-stayed Ting Kau bridge.

It’s spring for the northern hemisphere of Mars andspring on Mars usually meansdust storms.So the dramatic brown swath of dust (top) marking the otherwisewhite north polar cap in this picture of theRed Planet is not reallysurprising.Taking advantage of the good viewsof Mars currently possiblenear opposition and its closest approach to planet Earth in 2010,this sharp image showsthe evolving dust storm extending from the large dark region known asMare Acidalium below the polar cap.It was recorded on February 2nd with the 1 meter telescope atPic Du Midi, amountain topobservatory in the French Pyrenees.

The ancient text has no known title, no known author,and is written in no known language:what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations? The mysterious book was once bought by anemperor, forgotten on a library shelf,sold for thousands of dollars, and later donated toYale. Possibly written in the 15th century,the over 200-page volume is known most recently as theVoynich Manuscript, after its (re-)discoverer in 1912. Pictured above is an illustration fromthe bookthat appears to be somehow related to the Sun.The booklabels some patches of the sky with unfamiliar constellations. The inability of modern historiansof astronomy to understand the origins of these constellations is perhaps dwarfed by the inability ofmodern code-breakers to understandthe book‘s text. Can the eclectic brain trust ofAPOD readers make any progress?If you think you can provide any insight, instead ofsending us email pleaseparticipate in a fresh online discussion.The book itself remains inYale’s rare book collection under catalog number “MS 408.”