Category Archives: Pictures

Space pictures

Pictures

MRO looking for debris fields on Mars

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Mars Reconnaissance Observer has been scanning the surface for signs of previous failed missions debris
Mars Reconnaissance Observer (MRO) has been scanning the surface for signs of previous failed missions debris

The MRO was checking out what is believed to have been the planned landing site of the failed Soviet Mars Lander 3 mission. This probe was meant to land on Mars in 1971 but went silent after its crash (landing) as its descent stage is believed to have malfunctioned. Mars Lander 2 was successful with its soft landing but malfunctioned shortly after. The HiRISE system took this image to try and help find the location of the Mars Lander 2 and 3 probes or what may still be left of them as debris fields.

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Pictures

Impact crater on Mimas

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Massive impact crater on Saturn's moon Mimas
Massive impact crater (Herschel) on Saturn’s moon Mimas

Dr. Paul Schenk from the Lunar and Planetary Institute used data collected by Cassini spacecraft over its first ten years of exploring Saturn and its moons. In this color mosaic of Saturn’s 396 kilometer wide moon Mimas, we can see the large impact crater which is called Herschel, after the German-British astronomer William Herschel who discovered it in 1789. The colors shown in this composite global mosaics are enhanced, relative to human vision, extending into the ultraviolet and infrared range.

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Pictures

Sextans A galaxy

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ESA
This picture of Sextans A was captured by the European Space Agency’s Herschel mission

About 4.5 million light-years from Earth in the Sextans constellation lies the small Sextans A galaxy. The above picture is a composite multi-wavelength capture by the ESA’s Herschel space observation mission. In it the purple areas are gases; blue areas represent  young stars and the orange and yellow dots are newly formed stars heating up the dust. The environment in the Sextans A galaxy does not feature elements heavier than hydrogen and helium which is considered similar to that of our infant universe because it also lacks in heavy metals.

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Pictures

Pockmarked surface of Mercury is full of craters

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Alver crater, Belgica Rupes and other features of Mercury
Alver crater, Belgica Rupes and other features of Mercury

Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and closest to (our) Sun. Its surface is pockmarked with craters of varying size, resulting from what we assume was a heavy dose of asteroids, comets and other space matter crashing into it. This picture was taken by the Messenger space probe which has been studying Mercury for over ten years. At the bottom right of this picture is the Alver crater, while the 760 kilometer long Belgica Rupes region can be seen at the top.

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Pictures

Indian subcontinent photographed from space

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ISRO
ISRO’s Mars orbiter took this picture of the Indian sub-continent last year

Space enthusiasts around the world were filled with excitement just over a month ago when the Indian Space Research Organization’s Mars Orbiter Mission successfully placed the space probe into Martian orbit. But in November 2013, while it was still in Earth’s orbit, it used its Mars Colour Camera, at a wide 3.53 kilometer resolution, to take this picture of Earth. The picture captured the Indian subcontinent along with the Middle-East, parts of China, Eurasia and Africa with interesting weather patterns visible over the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.

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