| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 09/04/06 07:59 AM |
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APOD - the best ever astronomy pics
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in this thread i will put up some of my special favorites mainly from the NASA - Astronomy Picture Of the Day collection and space.com-IoD.
READ TOPIC THREADED!
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hey! the most beautiful, scaled picture of the solar system i have ever seen! i had to share..
high res version from APOD page
g
| masterlink78 |
| (Tourist) |
| 09/05/06 04:06 PM |
Re: APOD - the best ever solar sys pic
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pluto is not a planet
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 09/05/06 11:59 PM |
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Pluto
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wow! are you serious?!
according to the APOD picture it is a "Dwarf Planet".
actually this is a solar system object, member of the Kuiper-belt as far as i know, but let's see some trustable info from wikipedia:
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the solar system, orbiting 29 - 49 AU from the Sun. About a fifth the mass of the Moon, Pluto is primarily composed of rock and water ice. It has an eccentric orbit that is highly inclined with respect to the planets and takes it closer to the Sun than Neptune during a portion of its orbit. Pluto and its largest satellite Charon have often been considered a binary system because they are more nearly equal in size than any of the planet/moon combinations in the solar system, and because the barycentre of their orbits does not lie within either body. Two smaller moons named Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005. Pluto is smaller than several of the natural satellites or moons in our solar system.
From its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto was considered the ninth planet from the Sun. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many similar objects were discovered in the outer solar system, notably 2003 UB313 (nicknamed "Xena") which is slightly larger than Pluto. In August of 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefined the term "planet", and classified Pluto (along with several other trans-Neptunian objects and the asteroid Ceres) as a dwarf planet. Pluto is also classified as the prototype of a family of trans-Neptunian objects. more...
regards,
g
| Villaman |
| (Cartographer) |
| 09/06/06 12:16 AM |
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Re: APOD - the best ever solar sys pic
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Thank You syzygy (együttállás)!
I always forget the order of the planets! Now I just have to click here for a reminder.
Here is a nice picture from astroscience.org:
The sun is appearing that small from the Pluto, leaving the other stars
up night and day.
| Aulo |
| (Tourist) |
| 10/05/06 09:22 AM |
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Re: APOD - the best ever solar sys pic
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I think the Sun itself should be larger, its kind of "out of scale", too small compared to the rest of the planets. In the illustrated size, it wont make up 99,5% of the total mass of the solar system (i did the radius verification). Otherwise very nice find and thanks for sharing!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/05/06 10:36 AM |
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Re: APOD - the best ever solar sys pic
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hi aulo!
thanks for radius verification!
it means the size of sun even smaller than it should be on the picture.
as far as i know sun gives the 99,87% of the mass of sol sys.
regards,
g
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/16/06 02:02 PM |
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saturn -heavenly glory-
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In the Shadow of Saturn
Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and slightly scattering sunlight, in the above exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the above image. Visible in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth. APOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/26/06 01:36 AM |
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Help Search for Interstellar Dust !!!
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Help Search for Interstellar Dust!
Credit & Copyright: Stardust@Home , Project, Space Science Lab. , U.C. Berkeley , NASA
Explanation: What caused that hole? The hole in question appears as a small dark circle on the far right. If the above image of aerogel seems dull and uninteresting, then welcome to one aspect of real world science. The interesting part is that something created that dark hole, and it might well be one of the first pieces of matter ever captured from outside our Solar System. Whatever created that hole was captured by the aerogel of the robotic Stardust spacecraft that flew across our Solar System for years and then returned a capsule to Earth. Scientists are now poring over the aerogel, looking to see what particles have become trapped. Many particles are surely from local Comet Wild 2, which Stardust flew past in 2004. Just a few particles, though, perhaps 10 or less, are expected to be from outside our Solar System. It is so difficult to find them that the Stardust team has created a ***downloadable interactive program*** to allow anyone with a standard computer
to help inspect aerogel slices and look for interstellar dust tracks. Good candidate tracks will later be inspected in great detail by members of the Stardust team. APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/30/06 12:47 PM |
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Beauty of the Sky - by Éder Iván astrophotographer
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as part of my APOD selection let me introduce a great hungarian astrophotographer Éder Iván .
Crescent Venus and Moon
Credit & Copyright: Iván Éder
Explanation: There's something behind these clouds. Those faint graceful arcs, upon inspection, are actually far, far in the distance. They are the Earth's Moon and the planet Venus. Both the Moon and Venus are bright enough to be seen during the day, and both are quite capable of showing a crescent phase. To see Venus, which appears quite small, in a crescent phase requires binoculars or a telescope. In the above dramatic daytime image taken from Budapest, Hungary, the Moon and Venus shared a similar crescent phase a few minutes before the Moon eclipsed the larger but more distant world. About an hour later, Venus reappeared. APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 12/12/06 04:58 AM |
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IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula
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IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula
hi-res
Explanation: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just off the upper right edge of the full image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away. nasa - APOD page
GSky overlay from APOOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 12/26/06 01:57 AM |
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Upgrading ISS
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Upgrading the International Space Station
Credit: STS-116 Shuttle Crew, NASA
Explanation: The International Space Station (ISS) will be the largest human-made object ever to orbit the Earth. The station is so large that it could not be launched all at once -- it is being built piecemeal with large sections added continually by flights of the Space Shuttle. To function, the ISS needs trusses to keep it rigid and to route electricity and liquid coolants. These trusses are huge, extending over 15 meters long, and with masses over 10,000 kilograms. Pictured above earlier this month, astronauts Robert L. Curbeam (USA) and Christer Fuglesang (Sweden) work to attach a new truss segment to the ISS and begin to upgrade the power grid. -APOD page-
| Kempster |
| (Master Guide) |
| 12/26/06 06:54 AM |
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Re: Upgrading ISS
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Great photo, syzygy!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 12/26/06 07:00 AM |
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Re: Upgrading ISS
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Thanks!
it has brought me fame even on F&G!
i am beholden to ISS crew!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 01/20/07 09:27 AM |
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New Moon courting Venus & Comet McNaught arrives
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sorry for cross-posting this image of Comet McNaught but the time has come when i have to link a GEC topic.
The best ever pics of the comet made by members and by some "guys" who are possibly not bembers (yet)!
Exclusive amateur video from a member and a short pic-animation included!
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Today this is the Astronomy Picture Of the Day dedicated to You folks round here on GEC!
"Just prior to McNaught appearing, the New Moon was courting Venus!"
Comet McNaught as seen from the southern hemisphere.
"Bonus ! If you look closely, you will see a slight flare to the right that lasted about 5 minutes. Captured at 7:58 PM" (western Australia)
credit: no_stranger
| heamit |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 01/22/07 01:13 AM |
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Re: Beauty of the Sky - by Éder Iván astrophotogra
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Hi syzygy!
I've only just discovered this thread. Fantastic pictures! 5 stars - great work!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 01/29/07 05:14 AM |
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The Milky Way Over Paranal - animation
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hi heamit! i am glad you enjoy this selection! now here we go!
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The Milky Way Over Paranal
Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Guisard (Los Cielos de Chile)
Explanation: It's not the sky that's falling. More accurately, the Earth is rising. The Earth's rotation gives a continually changing view to all Earth observers, including those measuring the universe at the Paranal Observatory. The observatory's four, massive 8.2 meter telescope units are situated on top of the 2,600 meter high mountain, Cerro Paranal, in the dry Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The individual unit telescopes can be used separately or in combination. Their names, Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, are taken from the Mapuche language. Fittingly they translate to Sun, Moon, Evening Star, and Southern Cross. Together they are fittingly known as the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. A higher time resolution version of the above movie is available here.
more from APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 02/08/07 01:33 AM |
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Galaxies Away
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Anyone out there?
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA)
Acknowledgment: J. Blakeslee (Washington State University)
Explanation: This stunning group of galaxies is far, far away - about 450 million light-years from planet Earth - cataloged as galaxy cluster Abell S0740. Dominated by the cluster's large central elliptical galaxy (ESO 325-G004), this sharp Hubble view takes in a remarkable assortment of galaxy shapes and sizes with only a few spiky foreground stars scattered through the field. The giant elliptical galaxy spans over 100,000 light years and contains about 100 billion stars, comparable in size to our own spiral Milky Way. The Hubble data reveal a wealth of detail in even these distant galaxies, including magnificent arms and dust lanes, star clusters, ring structures, and gravitational lensing arcs.
full size image, credits & links
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 02/12/07 05:14 AM |
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'OIL SLICK' CLOUD
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On Jan. 25th, cold air from Canada descended over Ohio, producing scattered snow showers and some very unusual clouds. "My wife thought this cloud looked like an alien spacecraft," says photographer Ed Kreminski, "but my kids thought it looked like a blimp on it's way to cover a sporting event."
Photo details: Olympus E-1, 50-200mm lens, ISO 100
full size
A better analogy, says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley, might be "an oily pool in the sky."
"The colors of oil films on puddles appear when light reflected from the top and bottom of the film merges together," he explains. "Light waves interfere, strengthening some colors and weakening others."
The same thing is happening in this iridescent cloud--except instead of oil, we have tiny water droplets. "The cloud is thin and it contains many droplets of about the same size." This combination produces an interference effect akin to an oil slick--without the greasy residue.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 02/15/07 03:03 AM |
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Planetary Nebula NGC 2440
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Planetary Nebula NGC 2440
Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Noll (STScI)
Acknowledgment: Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA)
Explanation: Planetary nebula NGC 2440 has an intriguing bow-tie shape in this stunning view from space. The nebula is composed of material cast off by a dying sun-like star as it enters its white dwarf phase of evolution. Details of remarkably complex structures are revealed within NGC 2440, including dense ridges of material swept back from the nebula's central star. Near the center of the view, the star itself is one of the hottest known, with a surface temperature of about 200,000 kelvins. About 4,000 light-years from planet Earth toward the nautical constellation Puppis, the nebula spans over a light-year and is energized by ultraviolet light from the central star. The false-color image was recorded earlier this month using the Hubble's Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2(WFPC2), demonstrating still impressive imaging capabilities following the failure of the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
NASA - APOD
| swetepi |
| (Tourist) |
| 02/25/07 02:45 PM |
Re: APOD - the best ever astronomy pics
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Wow, that is georgeous.
How can I print a copy of that out?swetepi?
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 02/28/07 01:02 AM |
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Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 2170
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hi swetepi! welcome and thank you!
however do not really know what do you mean...
you can right click and save any images to your HDD and print them or you can print topic at the bottom of page!
now here we go with another beauty:
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Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 2170
Credit & Copyright: Russell Croman (Russell Croman Astrophotography)
Explanation: When stars form, pandemonium reigns. A textbook case is the star forming region NGC 2170. Visible above are red glowing emission nebulas of hydrogen, blue reflection nebulas of dust, dark absorption nebulas of dust, and the stars that formed from them. The first massive stars formed from the dense gas will emit energetic light and winds that erode, fragment, and sculpt their birthplace. And then they explode. The resulting morass is often as beautiful as it is complex. After tens of millions of years, the dust boils away, the gas gets swept away, and all that is left is a naked open cluster of stars.
credits and more infos from NASA APOD page
| no_stranger |
| (Master Guide) |
| 03/04/07 11:29 AM |
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Re: saturn -heavenly glory-
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Cassinis latest pictures of the " jewel of the solar system "
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/index.cfm
Enjoy !
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 03/05/07 01:23 PM |
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Hubble's latest - disk galaxy NGC 5866
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This is a unique view of the disk galaxy NGC 5866 tilted nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight. Hubble's sharp vision reveals a crisp dust lane dividing the galaxy into two halves. The image highlights the galaxy's structure: a subtle, reddish bulge surrounding a bright nucleus, a blue disk of stars running parallel to the dust lane, and a transparent outer halo. NGC 5866 is a disk galaxy of type "S0" (pronounced s-zero). Viewed face on, it would look like a smooth, flat disk with little spiral structure. It remains in the spiral category because of the flatness of the main disk of stars as opposed to the more spherically rotund (or ellipsoidal) class of galaxies called "ellipticals."
space.com
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 03/20/07 12:27 AM |
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A Blue Crescent Moon from Space
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Credit: Expedition 13 Crew, International Space Station, NASA
Explanation: What's happening to the Moon? Drifting around the Earth in 2006 July, astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) captured a crescent Moon floating far beyond the horizon. The captured above image is interesting because part of the Moon appears blue, and because part of the moon appears missing. Both effects are created by the Earth's atmosphere. Air molecules more efficiently scatter increasingly blue light, making the clear day sky blue for ground observers, and the horizon blue for astronauts. Besides reflecting sunlight, these atmospheric molecules also deflect moonlight, making the lower part of the moon appear to fade away. As one looks higher in the photograph, the increasingly thin atmosphere appears to fade to black.
more from NASA - APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 03/26/07 02:18 PM |
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Bullet Pillars in Orion
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Credit & Copyright: Gemini Observatory, AURA, NSF
Explanation: Why are bullets of gas shooting out of the Orion Nebula? Nobody is yet sure. First discovered in 1983, each bullet is actually about the size of our Solar System, and moving at about 400 km/sec from a central source dubbed IRc2. The age of the bullets, which can be found from their speed and distance from IRc2, is very young -- typically less than 1,000 years. As the bullets rip through the interior of the Orion Nebula, a small percentage of iron gas causes the tip of each bullet to glow blue, while each bullet leaves a tubular pillar that glows by the light of heated hydrogen gas. Pictured above, the Orion bullets were captured in unprecedented detail by the adaptive optics technology of the Gemini North telescope. M42, the Orion Nebula, is the closest major star forming region to us and filled with changing dust, gas, and bright stars. The Orion Nebula, is located about 1,500 light years away and can be seen with the unaided eye toward the constellation of Orion.
credits: NASA-APOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 03/31/07 02:41 AM |
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Sun in a new light -gallery-
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14 astonishing pics of the old Sun:
click to view gallery !
http://www.space.com
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 04/19/07 01:00 AM |
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NGC 5139: Omega Centauri
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Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh
Explanation: Centaurus is one of the most striking constellations in the southern sky. The Milky Way flows through this celestial expanse whose wonders also include the closest star system to the Sun, Alpha Centauri, and the largest globular star cluster in our galaxy, Omega Centauri (aka NGC 5139). This sharp telescopic view of Omega Centauri shows off the central regions of the cluster of about 10 million stars. Omega Cen itself is about 15,000 light-years away and 150 light-years in diameter - the largest of 150 or so known globular star clusters that roam the halo of our galaxy. Though most star clusters are composed of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way.
more from: NASA - APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 04/25/07 06:19 AM |
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Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble
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Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Explanation: In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebula. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. The Keyhole Nebula, visible left the center, houses several of the most massive stars known and has also changed its appearance. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Pictured above is the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula ever taken. The controlled color image is a composite of 48 high-resolution frames taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released to honor its 17th anniversary. Wide-field annotated and zoomable image versions are also available.
credits and more from:
NASA - APOD page
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 04/30/07 06:28 AM |
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LUNAR TRANSIT
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According to Eurocontrol, more than 7000 planes fly over Germany every day. On April 24th Martin Wagner of Sonnenbuehl-Genkingen, Germany, photographed one of them flying directly in front of the Moon: (click for larger image!)
Photo details: Canon EOS 300D, 10-inch Newtonian telescope
Just yesterday he caught another plane almost transiting the Moon. And he has photographed aircraft shilouetting the Sun many times.
It's not just Germany. On any given day, hundreds of thousands of flights cross-cross skies worldwide, and some of those planes are bound to fly in front of the sun and Moon. Indeed, one of the most common types of photo received by spaceweather.com is the "air transit."
credits & more from:
http://www.spaceweather.com
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 09/27/07 11:10 PM |
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A Hole in Mars Close Up
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Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA
In a close-up from the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this mysterious dark pit, about 150 meters across, lies on the north slope of ancient martian volcano Arsia Mons. Lacking raised rims and other impact crater characteristics, this pit and others like it were originally identified in visible light and infrared images from the Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. While the visible light images showed only darkness within, infrared thermal signatures indicated that the openings penetrated deep under the martian surface and perhaps were skylights to underground caverns. In this later image, the pit wall is partially illuminated by sunlight and seen to be nearly vertical, though the bottom, at least 78 meters below, is still not visible. The dark martian pits are thought to be related to collapse pits in the lava flow, similar to Hawaiian volcano pit craters.
credits and more from NASA APOD page
for comments and discussion please use THIS TOPIC!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/11/07 10:30 AM |
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Re: APOD - the best ever astronomy pics
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Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Two separate images of Jupiter and its moon, Io, combine here to make this striking picture. Instruments onboard the New Horizons spacecraft recorded the image data when it flew past Jupiter in early 2007.
In the picture of Jupiter, the near-infrared imaging spectrometer highlights variations in the Jovian clouds, rendering the Great Red Spot (the prominent oval) in a bluish-white shade. The observation was manipulated in order to correct distortion introduced by the rotation of the planet during the scan.
The Io image is an approximately true-color composite which shows an eruption in progress on Io's night side, at the northern volcano Tvashtar. Lava glows red beneath a high volcanic plume, illuminated by sunlight. The plume appears blue due to scattering of light by small particles within.
--NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute and SPACE.com Staff
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/18/07 09:49 AM |
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The Fantastic Skies of Orphan Stars
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What a view! It's late summer, after dark, and you're flat on your back in a sleeping bag watching the camp fire's last embers drift up to the heavens. Overhead a magnificent band of stars divides the night—it's the Milky Way.
The Milky Way above a country road in Texas.
Credit: Larry Landolfi of Rochester, New Hampshire.
Now, imagine that scene doubled in brightness and beauty.
No, that's not quite right.
Imagine an entire galaxy of stars spinning overhead. The galaxy's blue-white core of young stars is surrounded by yellow octopus-arms of older siblings. Off to one side a faint red column of gas meanders away from the starry whirlpool and turns in mid-sky toward … you.
read full article
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/20/07 08:24 AM |
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Circle of Confusion
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Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
The circular feature is 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) across and lies near the south pole of Mars – a mystery when first seen in Mariner 9 and Viking Orbiter images during the 1970s. Now the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken new high resolution images that may help scientists interpret this Martian feature.
Bright areas are covered by carbon dioxide frost, with a "swiss cheese" pattern common at the south polar residual cap. The circular evenness of the depression suggests an impact crater, but there is no evidence of a crater rim or debris unless it lies beneath the frost. While the depression may have formed by collapse, the image is missing the typical ground fractures that form around a collapse pit. Further analysis of the data may eventually uncover more clues.
more: space.com - IoD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 10/25/07 08:36 AM |
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Ring Scan
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Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
click for hi-res
Scroll right and cruise above the thin, icy rings of Saturn. This high resolution scan is a mosaic of images presented in natural color and recorded in May, over about 2.5 hours as the Cassini spacecraft passed above the unlit side of the rings. The rings themselves are seen to be composed of many individual ringlets. To help track your progress, the rings are labeled below, along with the distance from the center of the gas giant in kilometers. Major ring gaps are labeled above. The alphabetical designation of Saturn's rings is historical and related to their order of discovery; rings A and B are the bright rings separated by the Cassini division. In order of increasing distance from Saturn, the seven main rings run D,C,B,A,F,G,E. (Faint, outer rings G and E are not imaged here.)
more: NASA-APOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 11/17/07 03:34 AM |
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City of Tiny Lights
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composite image of Earth by night shows the city lights of the northern hemisphere and the illuminated crescent over Antarctica.
Credit: ESA 2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
The images were taken by the European Space Agency's Rosetta – the first mission designed to orbit and land on a comet – as the spacecraft made its closest approach to Earth during its second swing-by on November 13. The OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera captured the top image as Rosetta soared 49,700 miles (80,000 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean where local time approached midnight. The camera then snapped the bottom image as Rosetta was roughly 46,600 miles (75,000 kilometers) from Earth.
To find Baghdad, Hong Kong, or some other cities among the signs of human habitation that appear in the northern hemisphere, click here for more details.
After sending its picturesque postcard, Rosetta will head out to meet its comet target, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in 2014. The spacecraft originally launched in March 2004.
more from SPACE.com
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 12/26/07 04:15 AM |
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Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley
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Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics.com)
Explanation: Welcome to The World At Night. Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley, USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes. Buttes are composed of hard volcanic rock left behind after water eroded away the surrounding soft rock. The two buttes on the image left are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte is on the right. Recorded just last week, planet Mars is at the left of the skyscape, a glowing beacon of orange that is the brightest object in the frame. To the right of Mars lies the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse is the reddish star near the center and the Belt of Orion and the Orion Nebula are farther right. Finally, the bright blue star Rigel appears above Merrick Butte in this stunning view of The World At Night. NASA-APOD
check position at
36°59'21.85"N, 110° 5'2.77"W
Happy New Year!
g
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 12/29/07 03:06 AM |
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Saturn's Infrared Glow
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cassini data febr. 2006.
Credit: VIMS Team, U. Arizona, ESA, NASA
Known for its bright ring system and many moons, gas giant Saturn looks strange and unfamiliar in this false-color view from the Cassini spacecraft. In fact, in this Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) mosaic the famous rings are almost invisible, seen edge-on cutting across picture center. The most striking contrast in the image is along the terminator or boundary between night and day. To the right (day side) blue-green hues are visible sunlight reflected from Saturn's cloud tops. But on the left (night side) in the absence of sunlight, the lantern-like glow of infrared radiation from the planet's warm interior silhouettes features at Saturn's deeper cloud levels.
NASA-APOD
if anyone happen to know about an animation, please contact barnabu immediately!
his related Jupiter - Cassini Movie Overlay
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 01/08/08 02:41 AM |
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Bright Clumpy Moonlets and Cold Saturn Mittens
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Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Colorado
While the Cassini spacecraft was orbiting Saturn, it spotted a star blinking out behind the planet's F ring. The star occultation indicated that a solid moonlet might be present, which was nicknamed "Mittens" by researchers. This artist's conception shows how "Mittens" (the object to the right of the star) may appear to Cassini.
Observing the flickering of starlight passing through Saturn's rings, researchers discovered 13 objects in the F ring ranging in size from 30 yards to six miles (27 meters to 10 kilometers) in length. Since most of the objects were translucent, with some starlight passing through them, the researchers concluded they probably are temporary clumps of icy boulders that are continually shattering and reforming.
Cat names like "Mittens" and "Fluffy" were chosen for these moonlets, because they appear to unexpectedly appear and disappear, and have multiple lives.
Cassini became the first spacecraft to explore the Saturn system of rings and moons from orbit, when it entered planetary orbit on Jun. 30, 2004. It immediately began sending back intriguing images and data. The European Space Agency's Huygens Probe plunged down into the dense atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, in January 2005. Instruments on both spacecraft are providing vital data and the best views ever of this region of our solar system.
space.com IoD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 01/29/08 10:04 AM |
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What Do You See, Bright Eyes? - Mars
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An unblinking eye stares from this crater image captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
This is one of many Martian craters sitting in the northern lowlands area of Nilosyrtis, a region that marks the transition from the southern highlands on the Red Planet. Each crater center contains heavily eroded mounds of material that probably once buried craters in the region.
Closer inspection reveals scattered rocks that may have accumulated from distant impacts on the planet's surface. This marks a passage of time suggesting that the mounds are ancient sediments, perhaps once deposited in a primordial sea when water ran on Mars. The radial filaments or "eyelashes" probably come from more recent deposits of dust and sand trapped between the older mounds and crater walls.
— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
space. com IoD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 04/11/08 09:59 AM |
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Stickney Crater, moon Phobos, Mars
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Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA
Stickney Crater, the largest crater on the martian moon Phobos, is named for Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, mathematician and wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. Asaph Hall discovered both the Red Planet's moons in 1877. Over 9 kilometers across, Stickney is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself, so large that the impact that blasted out the crater likely came close to shattering the tiny moon. This stunning, enhanced-color image of Stickney and surroundings was recorded by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passed within some six thousand kilometers of Phobos last month. Even though the surface gravity of asteroid-like Phobos is less than 1/1000th Earth's gravity, streaks suggest loose material has slid down inside the crater walls over time. Light bluish regions near the crater's rim could indicate a relatively freshly exposed surface. The origin of the curious grooves along the surface is mysterious but may be related to the crater-forming impact.
nasa-apod
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 04/12/08 04:52 AM |
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Yuri's Planet
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Image Credit: ISS Expedition 7 Crew, EOL, NASA
(Image record from Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth)
hi-res version
On April 12th, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin became the first human in space. His remotely controlled Vostok 1 spacecraft lofted him to an altitude of 200 miles and carried him once around planet Earth. Commenting on the first view from space he reported, "The sky is very dark; the Earth is bluish. Everything is seen very clearly". Alan Shepard, the first US astronaut, would not be launched until almost a month later and then on a comparatively short suborbital flight. Born on March 9, 1934, Gagarin was a military pilot before being chosen for the first group of cosmonauts in 1960. As a result of his historic flight he became an international hero and legend. Killed when his MIG jet crashed during a training flight on March 27, 1968, Gagarin was given a hero's funeral, his ashes interred in the Kremlin Wall. On yet another April 12th, in 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle.
more: NASA-APOD
| bullet_time |
| (Tourist) |
| 08/14/08 05:03 AM |
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Re: Yuri's Planet
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Good work syzygy, you provided reading material and pictures for a few hours. They all are interesting and beautiful. I like the most Yuri's Planet - Image Credit: ISS Expedition 7 Crew, EOL, NASA. The hi-res version is just amazing!
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 08/14/08 08:14 AM |
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thanks and NGC 6888
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Thank you bt, i am glad you had found your counting in this selection!
In my APOOD selection you can check some astronomical beauties on their own place in GSky, the following included!
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NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Tony Hallas
hi-res
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This beautiful telescopic view combines a composite color image with narrow band data that isolates light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula. The oxygen atoms produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the detailed folds and filaments. NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away.
more from: NASA-APOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 09/29/08 01:17 AM |
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A True Image from False Kiva
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Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics.com/TWAN)
Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes. Pictured above is single exposure image spectacular near, far, and in between. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, taken with a long duration exposure. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band's left. Closer still are picturesque buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is a cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave was briefly lit by flashlight during the long exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave to take this image was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark for just the right exposure.
more from: NASA-APOD
| syzygy |
| (Master Cartographer) |
| 11/17/08 01:43 AM |
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A Bubble in Cygnus
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Image Credit & Copyright: Keith Quattrocchi, Mel Helm
Adrift in the rich star fields of the constellation Cygnus, this lovely, symmetric bubble nebula was only recently recognized and may not yet appear in astronomical catalogs. In fact, amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich identified it as a nebula on July 6 in his images of the complex Cygnus region that included the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). He subsequently notified the International Astronomical Union. Only eleven days later the same object was independently identified by Mel Helm at Sierra Remote Observatories, imaged by Keith Quattrocchi and Helm, and also submitted to the IAU as a potentially unknown nebula. Their final composite image is seen here, including narrow-band image data that highlights the nebula's delicate outlines. What is the newly recognized bubble nebula? Like the Crescent Nebula itself, this cosmic bubble could be blown by winds from a massive Wolf-Rayet star, or it could be a spherically-shaped planetary nebula, a final phase in the life of a sun-like star.
credits and more: NASA - APOD