APOD 2.6

This picture of the Orion launch was made Astronomy Picture of the Day on December 6. Destined two orbit the Earth twice and then splash in the Pacific, the rocket launched Friday at 7:05 AM. The Orion spacecraft travelled farther than any other spacecraft designed for manned usage since the Apollo missions, traveling 15 times farther than the orbit of the International Space Station. The module reached speeds of up to 20,000 miles an hour and temperatures up to 4000 degrees during its re-entry into Earth orbit.

APOD 2.5

This picture of the 'seahorse of the Large Magellanic cloud was made Astronomy Picture of the Day on November 30, 2014. The 'seahorse' in the picture is a curious smoke pillar in the Large Magellanic cloud roughly 20 lightyears long. In the photo, newly-formed star cluster NGC 2074 can be seen right off the center of the seahorse. These newly-formed stars will actually erode the pillars over time.