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Mt. Etna Lava Plumes
| Title |
Mt. Etna Lava Plumes |
| Explanation |
Mt. Etna [ http://www.volcanolive.com/etna.html ] has been erupting for hundreds of thousands of years. Located in Sicily [ http://www.siol.it/Ricerca/Sicily_map.htm ], Italy [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/it.html ], the volcano [ http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/etna.html ] produces lava fountains over one kilometer high. Mt. Etna [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/current_volcs/etna/ ] is not only one of the most active volcanoes [ http://www.volcanolive.com/active2.html ] on Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ], it is one of the largest, measuring over 50 kilometers at its base and rising nearly 3 kilometers high. Pictured in 2001 May, the tops of two lava plumes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020121.html ] are visible near the center of the frame, while hot lava [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/glossary.html#lava ] flowing down the volcano [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/ ] is visible on the left. This panoramic shot [ http://www.educeth.ch/stromboli/etna/etna01/etna0105-en.html ] also includes the city lights of Calabria and Taormina on the left, and Catania on the right. The Earth's rotation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010110.html ] is discernable on this long duration image [ http://www.educeth.ch/stromboli/etna/etna01/etna0105-en.html ] as star trails [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000905.html ]. Orange Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ] can be seen rising just below the star Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980726.html ] far in the distance. |
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Venus On The Horizon
| Title |
Venus On The Horizon |
| Explanation |
The month of October [ http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/oct97sky.html ] features a sky full of planets, including Venus as the brilliant evening star. Besides the sun and moon, Venus is the brightest object [ http://www.seds.org/billa/nineplanets/venus.html ] visible in Earth's sky. This month, Venus appears in early evening near the red planet Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970528.html ] and Mars' red giant rival Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970922.html ] above the southwestern horizon. Because it is closer to the sun than Earth, Venus never strays far from the sun in its apparent position [ http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/courses/ast309/misc/DresdenCodex.html ] and is seen during the year as either a bright morning or evening star [ http://rowlf.cc.wwu.edu:8080/~skywise/legends.html#Evening Star ]. This beautiful sunset imaged from low earth orbit by the Atlantis space shuttle [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/atlantis.html ] crew in May 1989 also reveals the planet Venus blazing above Earth's horizon. It is a fitting image [ http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/STS30/10063311.htm ] for this mission and crew [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-30/sts-30-press-kit.txt ]. It was recorded following the successful release of the robot Venus-explorer Magellan [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/magellan.html ], the first planetary probe to be deployed from a space shuttle. |
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