Eight days after its final encounter with the Earth, the Galileo spacecraft looked back and captured this remarkable view of the Earth and Moon. The image was taken from a distance of about 6.2 million kilometers (3.9 million miles). The picture was constructed from images taken through the violet, red, and 1.0-micron infrared filters. The Moon is in the foreground, moving from left to right. The brightly-colored Earth contrasts strongly with the Moon, which reflects only about one-third as much sunlight as the Earth. Contrast and color have been computer-enhanced for both objects to improve visibility. Antarctica is visible through clouds (bottom). The Moon's far side is seen, the shadowy indentation in the dawn terminator is the south pole Aitken Basin, one of the largest and oldest lunar impact features. *Image Credit*: NASA
Moon Framed
title
Moon Framed
date
11.06.1998
description
Earth and its Moon are nicely framed in this image taken from the aft windows of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. Discovery - on mission STS-95 - was flying over the Atlantic Ocean at the time this image was taken. *Image Credit*: NASA
Hubble Space Telescope and E
…
Title
Hubble Space Telescope and Earth Limb
Full Description
Flyaround of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) after deployment on this second servicing mission (HST SM-02). Note the telescope's open aperature door.
Date
02/19/1997
NASA Center
Johnson Space Center
EVAtion
Title
EVAtion
Full Description
Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II, is seen further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut has ever been. This space first was made possible by the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack. After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. This stunning orbital panorama view shows McCandless out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.
Date
02/12/1984
NASA Center
Johnson Space Center
General Description
STS-114 Shuttle Mission Imagery
Fresh Tiger Stripes on Satur
…
Title
Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus
Explanation
The tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus might be active. Even today, they may be spewing ice [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=598 ] from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1995/31/image/e ]. Recent evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/index.cfm ] now orbiting Saturn [ http://www.nineplanets.org/saturn.html ]. Cassini detected a marked increase in particle collisions during its July flyby only 270 kilometers over a South Polar region of Enceladus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050317.html ]. Pictured above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06254 ], a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from the close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger ] stripes are visible on the left in false-color blue. Why Enceladus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?enceladus ] is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050308.html ], approximately the same size, appears quite dead [ http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/jokes/monty-python-parrot.html ].
Global Image of Io
Title
Global Image of Io
Full Description
NASA's Galileo spacecraft acquired its highest resolution images of Jupiter's moon Io on July 3, 1999 during its closest pass to Io since orbit insertion in late 1995. This color mosaic uses the near-infrared, green and violet filters (slightly more than the visible range) of the spacecraft's camera and approximates what the human eye would see. Most of Io's surface has pastel colors, punctuated by black, brown, green, orange, and red units near the active volcanic centers. A false color version of the mosaic has been created to enhance the contrast of the color variations. The improved resolution reveals small-scale color units which had not been recognized previously and which suggest that the lavas and sulfurous deposits are composed of complex mixtures. Some of the bright (whitish), high-latitude (near the top and bottom) deposits have an ethereal quality like a transparent covering of frost. Bright red areas were seen previously only as diffuse deposits. However, they are now seen to exist as both diffuse deposits and sharp linear features like fissures. Some volcanic centers have bright and colorful flows, perhaps due to flows of sulfur rather than silicate lava. In this region bright, white material can also be seen to emanate from linear rifts and cliffs. Comparison of this image to previous Galileo images reveals many changes due to the ongoing volcanic activity. North is towards the top of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from almost directly behind the spacecraft. This illumination geometry is good for imaging color variations, but poor for imaging topographic shading. However, some topographic shading can be seen here due to the combination of relatively high resolution (1.3 kilometers or 0.8 miles per picture element) and the rugged topography over parts of Io. The image is centered at 0.3 degrees north latitude and 137.5 degrees west longitude. The resolution is 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) per picture element. The images were taken on July 3, 1999 at a range of about 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its twenty-first orbit. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
Date
08/27/1999
NASA Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Multiwavelength M81
Title
Multiwavelength M81
Description
This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility. The galaxy's angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum.
Io Shadow
Title
Io Shadow
Explanation
Orbiting Jupiter [ http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/galileo/index.html ] once every 43 hours, the volcanic moon Io [ http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/Io/Overview.html ] cruises 500,000 kilometers above swirling, banded cloud-tops. Orbiting Earth [ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/ ] once every 1.5 hours, the Hubble Space Telescope watched as Io accompanied by its shadow crossed the face of the reigning gas giant [ http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/ Curriculum.Support/Space.Science/Our.Solar.System/Jupiter/ ] planet in 1997. This and other sharp false-color images [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/13/index.html ] have recently been chosen to celebrate [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/13/background.html ] the ninth anniversary of the Hubble's launch [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-31/mission-sts-31.html ] (April 24, 1990). Reflective patches of sulfur dioxide "frost" are visible on Io's surface while Io's round dark shadow is seen passing over brownish white regions of Jupiter's high altitude haze and clouds. In October and November of this year, the Galileo spacecraft currently operating in the Jovian system is scheduled to make two daring close approaches to Io [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/gem/gem1.html ], possibly flying through a volcanic plume [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970818.html ].
Hubble Spies Huge Clusters o
…
Title
Hubble Spies Huge Clusters of Stars Formed by Ancient Encounter
Spitzer Spies Spectacular So
…
Title
Spitzer Spies Spectacular Sombrero
Description
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes joined forces to create this striking composite image of one of the most popular sights in the universe. Messier 104 is commonly known as the Sombrero galaxy because in visible light, it resembles the broad-brimmed Mexican hat. However, in Spitzer's striking infrared view, the galaxy looks more like a "bull's eye." In Hubble's visible light image (lower left panel), only the near rim of dust can be clearly seen in silhouette. Recent observations using Spitzer's infrared array camera (lower right panel) uncovered the bright, smooth ring of dust circling the galaxy, seen in red. Spitzer's infrared view of the starlight, piercing through the obscuring dust, is easily seen, along with the bulge of stars and an otherwise hidden disk of stars within the dust ring. Spitzer's full view shows the disk is warped, which is often the result of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy, and clumpy areas spotted in the far edges of the ring indicate young star-forming regions. The Sombrero galaxy is located some 28 million light-years away. Viewed from Earth, it is just six degrees south of its equatorial plane. Spitzer detected infrared emission not only from the ring, but from the center of the galaxy too, where there is a huge black hole, believed to be a billion times more massive than our Sun. The Spitzer picture is composed of four images taken at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), and 8.0 (red) microns. The contribution from starlight (measured at 3.6 microns) has been subtracted from the 5.8 and 8-micron images to enhance the visibility of the dust features. The Hubble Heritage Team took these observations in May-June 2003 with the space telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Images were taken in three filters (red, green, and blue) to yield a natural-color image. The team took six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. This magnificent galaxy has a diameter that is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full Moon.
Moon Set over Earth
Title
Moon Set over Earth
Full Description
Moon set over the Earth limb taken from Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-70 mission.
Date
07/14/1995
NASA Center
Johnson Space Center
Mars at the Moon's Edge
Title
Mars at the Moon's Edge
Explanation
What was that bright "star" near the Moon last week? Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/extreme/ ] of course, as the Red Planet wandered near the waning gibbous Moon [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/ moon_phases.html ] early last Thursday morning, passing behind the lunar orb when viewed [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030716.html ] from some locations in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Florida. The Clay Center Observatory expedition to Bonita Springs, Florida produced this evocative picture of Mars grazing [ http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/2003marsgraze/ mars.htm ] the Moon's dark edge by digitally stacking and processing a series of telescopic images of the event. With the cratered Moon in the foreground [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020130.html ], the bright planet Mars seems [ http://www.greatnorthernaudio.com/sf_radio/ wow.html ] alarmingly [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/warworlds/ warw.html ] close, its global scale features and white south polar cap easily visible. Already impressive, the apparent size of the martian disk will continue to grow in the coming weeks, until, on August 27, Mars reaches [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/ planets/article_970_1.asp ] its closest approach to planet Earth in over 50,000 years.
Ganymede's Trailing Hemisphe
…
PIA01666
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title
Ganymede's Trailing Hemisphere
Original Caption Released with Image
In this global view of Ganymede's trailing side, the colors are enhanced to emphasize color differences. The enhancement reveals frosty polar caps in addition to the two predominant terrains on Ganymede, bright, grooved terrain and older, dark furrowed areas. Many craters with diameters up to several dozen kilometers are visible. The violet hues at the poles may be the result of small particles of frost which would scatter more light at shorter wavelengths (the violet end of the spectrum). Ganymede's magnetic field, which was detected by the magnetometer on NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1996, may be partly responsible for the appearance of the polar terrain. Compared to Earth's polar caps, Ganymede's polar terrain is relatively vast. The frost on Ganymede reaches latitudes as low as 40 degrees on average and 25 degrees at some locations. For comparison with Earth, Miami, Florida lies at 26 degrees north latitude, and Berlin, Germany is located at 52 degrees north. North is to the top of the picture. The composite, which combines images taken with green, violet, and 1 micrometer filters, is centered at 306 degrees west longitude. The resolution is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per picture element. The images were taken on 29 March 1998 at a range of 918000 kilometers (570,000 miles) by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URLhttp://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URLhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ]
Moon and Mars Tonight
Title
Moon and Mars Tonight
Explanation
The Full Moon and a brilliant, ruddy Mars will share the sky [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/sky_calendar.html ] tonight. Skygazers can easily enjoy the celestial [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/ 20dec_christmaseve.htm ] pairing as the two are separated by [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/scale.html ] a degree or even less. In fact, seen from parts of northern North America and Europe, the Moon will actually occult [ http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/planets/ 1224mars.htm ] (pass in front of) the Red Planet. Mars is so [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071206.html ] bright because it is near opposition, opposite the Sun in Earth's sky and near its closest approach to planet Earth. But Mars is not nearly as bright as the Moon, also opposite [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/ MoonPhase.html ] the Sun tonight. In this striking preview of tonight's sky show, backyard astronomer John Harms was able to photograph an almost Full Moon near Mars last month. His simple, single exposure relied on clouds to block some of the overwhelming moonlight [ http://www.stargazing.net/kevin/poetry.html ].
Phoebe: Comet Moon of Saturn
Title
Phoebe: Comet Moon of Saturn
Explanation
Was Saturn's moon Phoebe once a comet? Images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/index.cfm ] taken two years ago when entering the neighborhood of Saturn [ http://www.nineplanets.org/saturn.html ] indicate that Phoebe [ http://www.nineplanets.org/phoebe.html ] may have originated in the outer Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ]. Phoebe's irregular surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040614.html ], retrograde orbit [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrograde_orbit ], unusually dark surface, assortment of large and small craters, and low average density appear consistent with the hypothesis [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-releases-04/20040614-pr-a.cfm ] that Phoebe was once part of the Kuiper belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/kb.html ] of icy comets beyond Neptune before being captured by Saturn. Visible in the above image [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06064 ] of Phoebe are craters, streaks, and layered deposits of light and dark material. The image was taken from around 30,000 kilometers out from this 200-kilometer diameter moon [ http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/phoebe_unveiled_040615.html ]. Two weeks after taking the above image [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06064 ], Cassini fired its engines [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] to decelerate into orbit around Saturn.
Autumn Moon Encore
Title
Autumn Moon Encore
Explanation
Near its northernmost declination, tonight's Full Moon [ http://users.aol.com/JEBrown800/PressReleases/ HighestMoons120905.html ] will be a special one, arcing high [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/ article_1637_1.asp ] in northern hemisphere skies. But a Full Moon [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/ moon_phases.html ] won't occur on this calendar date for another 19 years, a period known as the lunar Metonic cycle [ http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/ LunarCycles.html ]. September 15th's lunar phase and date were notable too, marking the return of a gibbous Moon rising over the High Sierra mountains. That scene was captured in Ansel Adams' famous [ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4848982 ] photograph Autumn Moon from Glacier Point, Yosemite [ http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/index.htm ] National Park. Earlier this year [ http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips2005/september/ 091605.htm ], Texas State University physicists Donald Olson, Russell Doescher and students were able to pinpoint the location and (formerly uncertain) date the original Ansel Adams [ http://www.geh.org/taschen/htmlsrc15/ index.html#72:0065:0020 ] photo was taken - September 15, 1948. Accordingly, their astronomical detective work predicted that the lunar alignment and waxing gibbous phase would be repeated on Thursday, September 15, 2005, exactly three 19-year Metonic cycles later. On that day, about 300 photographers gathered at Glacier Point to record Ansel Adams' Autumn Moon encore [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1595_1.asp ].
Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon wi
…
Title
Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
Explanation
What lies at the bottom of Hyperion [ http://www.nineplanets.org/hyperion.html ]'s strange craters? Nobody knows. To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/index.cfm ] now orbiting Saturn [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(planet) ] swooped past the sponge-textured moon [ http://www.oceanicresearch.org/sponges.html ] again last week and took an image of unprecedented detail. That image, shown above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07740 ] in false color, shows a remarkable world strewn with strange craters and a generally odd surface. The slight differences in color likely show differences in surface composition. At the bottom of most craters lies some type of unknown dark material. Inspection of the image shows [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=605 ] bright features indicating that the dark material might be only tens of meters thick in some places. Hyperion [ http://www.planetary.org/saturn/hyperion.html ] is about 250 kilometers across, rotates chaotically [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050726.html ], and has a density so low that it might house a vast system of caverns [ http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave.html ] inside.
Earthrise from Moon-Orbiting
…
Title
Earthrise from Moon-Orbiting Kaguya
Explanation
What does the Earth look like from the Moon? A new version of this space age perspective [ http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/earthrise.htm ] was captured by the robotic Kaguya spacecraft [ http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/en/greeting/greeting_e.htm ] currently in orbit around Earth's Moon. Launched two months ago by Japan, the scientific mission [ http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/en/science/of_moon_e.htm ] of the Selenological [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenology ] and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), nicknamed Kaguya, is to study the origin [ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/origins.html ] and evolution of the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010809.html ]. Last month Kaguya [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SELENE ] reached lunar orbit and starting transmitting data and images. This frame [ http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/ 20071113_kaguya_e.html ] is from [ http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/ 20071107_kaguya_movie_e.html ] Kaguya's onboard HDTV [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV ] camera. An astronaut standing on the lunar surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030920.html ] would never actually see the Earth rise, since the Moon always keeps the same side toward the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051113.html ]. This Earthrise as well as the famous Earthrise captured 40 years ago [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051224.html ] by the crew of Apollo 8 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ apollo8info.html ], only occurs for observers in lunar orbit.
Reflections on the 1970s
Title
Reflections on the 1970s
Explanation
The 1970s are [ http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/elvis/elnix.html ] sometimes ignored by astronomers. In particular, this beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae in Orion - NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 - are usually overlooked in favor of the substantial glow from the nearby stellar nursery better known as the Orion Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060119.html ]. Found along Orion's sword just north of the bright Orion Nebula [ http://www.seds.org/billa/twn/n1976x.html ] complex, these reflection nebulae are also associated with Orion's [ http://www.starrywonders.com/m42new.html ] giant molecular cloud about 1,500 light-years away [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020530.html ], but are dominated by the characteristic blue color of interstellar dust reflecting [ http://leo.astronomy.cz/mix/mix.html ] light from hot young stars. North is down in this sharp [ http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au/images/ NGC197750pct.jpg ] color telescopic image from New South Wales, Australia [ http://www.martinpughastrophotography.id.au/ ], so the more familiar Orion Nebula borders the top of the view. NGC 1977 stretches across the field just above center, separated from NGC 1973 (below left) and NGC 1975 (below right) by darker regions of obscuring dust. Many northern hemisphere observers claim to see the general shape of a running man [ http://www.astrosurf.com/antilhue/ngc1977.htm ] in the cosmic dust cloud but, of course, they're looking at the view upside down [ http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/upsidedown/ ].
General Description
International Space Station Imagery
1-21 of 21
Please wait while the presentation is being created...
