Can’t see the video below? Click here to watch. In another view of Tuesday’s partial solar eclipse, the European Space Agency’s Proba-2 satellite captured this video of the Moon passing in front of the Sun from its position in low-Earth orbit. Taken in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, best for observing details of the Sun’s corona,…
From the LITD Archives: Final Flight
Originally posted on January 6, 2010. A reminder that our solar system is a dynamic place, where gravity is the rule of the game and there’s rarely a prize for second place. On January 3, the European Space Agency’s SOHO solar observatory spacecraft captured images of a comet flying towards the Sun….and then disappearing into…
A World Turned Inside Out
Take a nice long look at this beautiful image of Io, the most volcanically active world in our solar system! This was assembled by Ted Stryk from Voyager 1 images, taken as the spacecraft passed by on March 4, 1979. At 2,263 miles (3642 km) wide Io is the third largest of Jupiter’s moons and…
Lines of Light
The line of Saturn’s edge – or “limb” – glows brightly with backlit sunlight, as do its rings, in this wonderful image from Cassini, color-calibrated by Gordan Ugarkovic. Beige and blue colors can be seen in the layers of Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and the distant arc of the rings seem to sink into this before…
Partial Eclipse Over Holland
Here’s a gorgeous photo of this morning’s partial eclipse by Arjan Almekinders from the Netherlands! The eclipse was visible to most of Europe, as well as parts of north Africa and western Asia. While the amount of light in the sky was not diminished dramatically during this eclipse according to some observers, it was noted…
2010 in Review
I got my new WordPress report card for 2010…the results are below. Not sure if they grade on a curve but I would say I got at least a solid “B+”. 🙂 _______________ The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its…
At Crater’s Edge
Here’s a fantastic look at an inner wall of Santa Maria crater on Mars, the latest stop for the rover Opportunity on its travels across the Meridiani plain. Colorized by Stuart Atkinson for his Opportunity-dedicated blog The Road to Endeavour, this is a section of a larger panoramic image showing the crater’s rim and jumbled…
A Saturn-Sized Storm
Earlier this week the Cassini spacecraft captured this image of an eddying storm in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. Nearly as large as the Earth, the bright clouds have been visible to amateur astronomers for several weeks and on December 27 Cassini was able to get a nice view of its own from orbit! Fantastic. See more…
Blowing off Steam
Remind me again why I love Cassini? Oh yeah, because of images like this. 🙂
Backlit Dione
Here’s a beautiful new image just in from Cassini: the silhouette of 700-mile-wide Dione seen against the sunlit limb of Saturn, its rings seen edge-on just above the moon. Some of Dione’s heavily-cratered terrain can be discerned along its southeastern edge. I particularly like the light halo effects along the edges of the moon and…
When the Moon hits your eye…
Last night’s beautiful lunar eclipse – the first one occurring on the winter solstice in 426 years! – had the Moon at one point tinted a coppery-red and floating in the night sky amongst the stars…it almost felt like you could reach up and pluck it from the sky! It was wonderfully surreal. Without a…
On the Edge of Santa Maria
Opportunity has finally made it to the edge of her latest observation target: the crater named “Santa Maria”!
Lights in the Dark 