Category Archives: Pictures

Space pictures

Spongy Hyperion

Saturn's moon hyperion with very sponge like features
Saturn’s moon hyperion with very sponge like features

From this view, one may think they were looking at a rock or an organism under a microscope. But in fact this is a picture of Hyperion, one of Saturn’s moons. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took this picture (from 38,000 km) of the odd shaped moon using its narrow angle camera.

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Supernova sites

Areas of the universe where where dead stars once exploded
Areas of the universe where where dead stars once exploded

The Sloan Digital Survey used data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), to map out several parts of the universe where dead stars once exploded. Six of the galaxies that experienced these type Ia supernovae are shown above. From left to right (and top to bottom) these galaxies are NGC 6038 (SN 1999cc), UGC 5234 (SN 2003W), A112539+2249 (SN 2004as), A225942-0000 (SN 2005ku), M+05-54-41 (SN 2006en), UGC 14 (SN 2006sr), UGC 8162 (SN 2007F) and IC 807 (SN 2007cp).

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Opportunity touches Athens

Getting up close and personal to the Athens rock
Getting up close and personal to the Athens rock

Mars Opportunity Rover is seen here examining the “Athens” rock on the red planet. This picture was taken on March 25, 2015 by Opportunity’s wide angle Hazcam and shows the robotic arm extended as it explores the lighter coloured Athens rock formation.

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Anaglyph of Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this anaglyph of Ceres
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took this anaglyph of Ceres

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took a series of photographs of the dwarf planet Ceres this past month from a distance of 13,600 kilometers. This analglyph –  which is the name given to the stereoscopic 3D image – was part of the set of photos. The 3D image of Ceres was taken by Dawn’s framing camera using red and cyan filters (one for each eye) can truly be appreciated by anyone that has a pair of basic 3D glasses, to see the stereoscopic image of Ceres with its craters and other surface features.

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Fluvial streams on Mars

Fluvial features on Mars golden crater
Fluvial features on Mars golden crater

An ancient river on the golden crater of Mars?  That is what this looks like as NASA scientists examine the crater floor with what appear to be inverted channels, rounded lobe-like landforms, and light-toned layered deposits. These fluvial channels were captured in this enhanced colour image by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its HiRISE camera.

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