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Space pictures

Pictures

Lunar eclipse as seen from Mercury

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Messenger probe photographed the lunar eclipse while in Mercury's orbit
Messenger probe photographed the lunar eclipse while in Mercury’s orbit

While many of Earth were gazing up on October 8, 2014 to catch the total lunar eclipse, NASA’s Messenger space probe was also watching. It used the on-board narrow angle camera – from its far away station, in orbit of the planet Mercury to capture the eclipse. The picture of the left shows the normal view of the Earth and Moon from Mercury (two very bright points in space about 107 million kilometers away). During the lunar eclipse, the Moon disappears from view on Mercury as it makes its passage through the Earth’s shadow (as seen on the right).

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Pictures

Supernova explosion

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Three research platforms put together this image of a supernova
Three research platforms put together this image of a supernova

What would happen if Spitzer, Chandra(sekhar) and Newton got together to study a supernova?  Impossible to say for us but we do have a collaboration of the Spitzer Space Telescope,  Chandra X-Ray Observatory and XMM-Newton doing its best to learn more about exploding supernovas. 🙂

This image shows a delicate blend of infrared and X-ray light as a bubbly cloud from an irregular 10 light year wide shock wave, generated by a supernova that would have been witnessed on Earth 3,700 years ago. The remnant itself, called Puppis A, is around 7,000 light-years away from Earth. The bright, lit up areas result from the shock wave slamming into surrounding clouds of dust and gas that fill the interstellar space in this region.

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Pictures

Rosetta takes a selfie

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ESA's Rosetta spacecraft takes a selfie
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft takes a selfie

Everyone is doing it so why not Rosetta? Thanks to its onboard Comet Infrared and Visible Analyser (CIVA), this selfie picture was taken by the Philae lander and shows Rosetta spacecraft’s 52 foot long solar arrays, with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko just 16 kilometers away in the background. This picture is actually a combination of two selfies, of shorter and longer exposures, which when combined are able to show us both the lighter and darker portions of the scene outside Rosetta. This is the last image from Philae before the lander separates from Rosetta on November 12th and makes its rendezvous with the comet that it is circling.

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Curiosity’s tracks in Hidden Valley

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NASA
Curiosity rover photographs its tracks from “Hidden Valley” on Mars

These tracks on a familiar looking sandy surface aren’t from one of the many barren deserts on Earth but instead come to us from NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars. The rover was looking down down a ramp it had previously come up, at the northeastern end of “Hidden Valley” on Mars. In the distance we can also see the slopes of Mount Sharp within the Gale Crater. The rover’s Navcam was used to photograph this south facing view on its 717th day on Mars.

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California’s dwindling groudwater supplies

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NASA
Images taken over the last 12 years by GRACE satellite showing decline in California groundwater supply

The drought cycle in California has seen an immense increase in the pressure being felt by residents of the state and its surrounding region. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been taking satellite images of the declining level of groundwater/aquifers in California, with the loss in water supplies shown here transitioning down from 2002 to 2008 and finally at their lowest level so far in 2014.  The greatest losses have been suffered by the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins which include the fertile Central Valley – a large consumer of water used for agriculture.

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