ESA’s new Proba-2 solar observation satellite captured this stunning image of the annular eclipse that as visible across Africa and Asia on January 15. In an annular eclipse the moon is further from the Earth than it would be during a total eclipse, so part of the Sun remains visible. This eclipse has been the…
Tag: astronomy
Prometheus Passing
Prometheus, shepherd moon of Saturn’s F ring, is featured in this dramatic image from Cassini taken as it passed by at a distance of 23,000 miles (37,014 km) on January 27, 2010. This is the closest Cassini has come to Prometheus. The image above has been extensively cleaned up in regard to CCD pixel noise…
Let’s Go Streaking
Streaks of swirling pastel colors mark eroded, windswept bedrock within a large crater on Mars in this HiRISE image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The enhanced colors highlight the differences in surface texture…the original RGB image in approximate true-color can be seen here. The full map-projected enhanced color image of the region can be found…
Diagonal Dunes
Symmetrical dune ridges line up within the basin of a Martian crater in this HiRISE image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken on December 28, 2009. Rocks and boulders line the crater floor between them. With the MRO’s computers now back online observation of the Martian surface can resume in full effect, providing us with…
A Stormy Star
This video from the SOHO solar observatory spacecraft shows a a partial rotation of the Sun seen in ultraviolet light (the green color is from the specialized camera filter, corresponding to emissions at 1.5 million degrees Kelvin.) In the Sun’s northern hemisphere an energetic area of solar prominences can be seen, tens of thousands of…
Remembering Titan
This image was first released five years ago today, on January 15, 2005. It shows the murky surface of Saturn’s moon Titan as seen by the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe after it made its historic descent through the moon’s thick haze and clouds and landed in a frozen plain of methane mud and icy…
Groovy
Concentric ringlets within Saturn’s wide B-ring create a mesmerizing pattern in this raw image from the Cassini spacecraft, taken on January 11. Click for a full-size version; for me, looking at the bright ringlets too long can have a disorienting effect. Nearly 16,000 miles wide, the B ring system is estimated to be less than…
And still they come…
Watching a video of SOHO images today, I noticed two more comets diving toward the Sun (located behind the white circle on the blue disc), on the 8th and the 9th. Both came from the same direction, from the lower left as seen in the still above. Watch the video here. With over 1500 comets…
Cruisin’
Another look at Daphnis, this time in a beautiful color-calibrated RGB image by Gordan Ugarkovic. Click for a larger view. Image: NASA/JPL/SSI/Gordan Ugarkovic. Used with permission.
The Outside Track
This quick animation was created from 6 raw images taken by Cassini on January 7. Focusing on Saturn’s rings from above, the little shepherd moon Daphnis can be seen emerging from the planet’s cast shadow. Traveling within the Keeler gap, 5-mile-wide Daphnis pushes the ring material in front of it into scalloped waves and kicks…
Jet Setter
The icy Enceladus shows off its southern geysers, stately hovering in orbit around Saturn in this raw image from the Cassini spacecraft, taken on Christmas day. It is impressive to get such a clear view of the geysers with the low phase angle of the sunlight. Typically the geysers are only seen when the sun…
A Visit to Prometheus
This raw image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on December 26, 2009 (on a certain space blogger’s birthday, by the way) shows an amazing view of Prometheus, one of Saturn’s many shepherd moons. This is the closest yet that Cassini has come to the 96-mile-long oblong moon. Details of its cratered surface are visible, as…
Lights in the Dark 