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Explanation: Comet Leonard is now visible to the unaided eye -- but just barely. Passing nearest to the Earth today, the comet is best seen this week soon after sunset, toward the west, low on the horizon. Currently best visible in the north, by late December the comet will best be seen from south of Earth's equator. The featured image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was taken a week ago from California, USA. The deep exposure shows in great detail the comet's green gas coma and developing dust tail. The comet -- across our inner Solar System and only light-minutes...

Dogs and humans have a long history of friendship, and hunting has been one of the main reasons people have bred dogs over the centuries. There are ancient cave paintings depicting stories of dogs walking alongside man. The story goes back 20,000 years to the time of pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers. As far back as 12,000 years ago, there's evidence of dogs used for hunting, guarding and hauling weight. In most every culture, dogs have played a longstanding and important role. The ancient Chinese kept dogs as companions and for hunting. In Egypt, dogs held great cultural significance and were often mummified...

Explanation: Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe: a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with prominent dust lanes and a bright central core, this colorful composite image highlights youthful blue star clusters...

CASSELTON, N.D. (AP) — Pheasant hunting season brings out the best in Tess, a 5-year-old German wirehaired pointer who became a national champion despite the loss of one leg. "When you let her out of the truck, she's hunting from the second she jumps off that tailgate. Just like that," said the dog's owner, Keith Kemmer, snapping his fingers. "She never quits. The other dogs, by the end of the day, they'll come up and lay by the truck. Not her." It was Kemmer who accidentally ran over the dog's right rear leg with his pickup about four years ago....

Snatched Hunting Dog May Have Been Slated For Death At PETA's Norfolk Headquarters. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employee Andrea Florence Benoit will be arraigned today in Southampton County (VA) Circuit Court on a felony charge of stealing a local Animal Control officer's hunting dog. The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, which tracks PETA's program of killing adoptable dogs and cats at PETAkillsAnimals.com, is calling on the animal rights group to stop playing God with other people's pets. Benoit was indicted by a Grand Jury on July 16. Benoit was arrested in October 2006, shortly after allegedly...