A beautiful and mesmerizing series of time-lapse videos taken by astronaut Ron Garan during his last weeks aboard the International Space Station, this must-see montage is made all the sweeter by a score from Peter Gabriel and an intro from Ron himself. Ron wrote in his blog entry on FragileOasis.org: Although the International Space Station…
Tag: planet
Into The Darkness
The rugged terrain of Mercury’s north pole is made clear in this image from MESSENGER, taken on June 17, 2011. The shallow angle of sunlight striking the surface of our solar system’s innermost planet sends shadows across its landscape and highlights every rise and ridge. This scene shows an area about 74 miles across. MESSENGER…
Mercury’s Curious Hollows
As part of a wealth of new information presented today by the MESSENGER science team, this image shows the interior of Sander Crater, located within Mercury’s vast Caloris Basin. Areas seen as bright spots in previous lower-resolution images have been revisited by MESSENGER once it entered orbit and began its science mission. The bright areas…
As The World Turns
Today is the autumnal equinox, when the Earth receives sunlight at its most direct angle relative to its equator and poles. As Earth orbits around the Sun over the course of a year, its axial tilt causes the angle of solar illumination to change – a predictable and regular change, but a change nonetheless. This…
Oh What a Relief it Is!
With the sun striking Mercury’s landscape at a low angle, MESSENGER got a great look at the hilly topography of a region along the southwestern rim of the Caloris Basin. This particular area had only previously been imaged by MESSENGER under direct sunlight, and thus the relief in the terrain was not nearly as evident. Mercury’s…
Juno Looks Back Home
It’s not the famous “pale blue dot” image, but it sure is close: on August 26 the Juno spacecraft turned its JunoCam to take this image of the Earth and the Moon from a distance of about 6 million miles. From that distance, our world is effectively reduced to a bright fuzzy dot, with a smaller,…
Where The Craters Have No Name
The latest in a series of new images coming in almost daily from the MESSENGER spacecraft currently in orbit around Mercury, this is a look at an unnamed crater on Mercury’s southern hemisphere. The smooth crater floor is likely due to impact melt that formed during the collision that produced the crater. Also visible are…
Curiosity in Action
Can’t see the video below? Click here. Here’s a very cool video, an animation created by the folks at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing the descent, landing and operation of the next rover headed to Mars: the Mars Science Laboratory, a.k.a. “Curiosity.” Curiosity just recently arrived in Florida after a cross-country flight from JPL’s facility…
A “Feast of New Observations” from Mercury
This image, a color view of the northwestern rim of the 32-mile-wide Degas crater on Mercury, is just one of the most recent images to come in from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. It has been in orbit around Mercury since March 18 – just under three months – and already its findings have revolutionized what we…
Crescent Mercury
MESSENGER’s latest image of Mercury!
An Astronaut’s View of Earth
Can’t see the video below? Click here. This really is a must-see… it’s a video by NASA TV showing our planet as it is experienced by the privileged few who have flown in space and spent time aboard the International Space Station. Looking down on the landscapes of our world from orbit, passing 225 miles…
Messages from Mercury
It’s been over two months since the MESSENGER spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Mercury, back on March 18, and it’s been enthusiastically returning image after image of our solar system’s innermost planet at a unprecedented rate. Which, of course, is just fine with me! The image above shows Mercury’s southern hemisphere and the bright rays…
Lights in the Dark 