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Space pictures

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Volcanoes on Io

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The Galileo spacecraft found many interesting landforms on Jupiter’s moon Io. Included are some that look like volcanoes, with active lava streams.

Io NASA
Many features of Io, including volcanoes

Several high-temperature volcanic hot spots have been detected in this region by both the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) and the solid state (CCD) imaging system on-board Galileo. The temperatures detected in this part of Io are consistent with active silicate volcanism in lava flows or inside irregular depressions called calderas (lava lakes).

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Pictures

Alpha Centauri

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Alpha Centauri is the closest star to Earth (after the Sun), with its light taking just over 4 years to reach us (4.37 light years from the Sun).

Alpha Centauri NASA
Alpha Centauri star from the constellation of Centaurus

Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star in our night sky and can be found in the Centaurus constellation. Alpha Centauri is a binary star system composed of two stars – Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. A third star, Alpha Centauri C or Proxima Centauri is a much fainter red dwarf star also in the mix.

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Pictures

Comet Hale-Bopp

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Comet Hale-Bopp (designated C/1995 O1) was discovered on July 23, 1995 and was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century.

Hale Bopp - NASA
Comet Hale Bopp photographed by Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope‘s Wide Field planetary camera tool these series of pictures of the comet between 1995 and 1996. They chronicle changes in the evolution of the nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp as it moved closer to the sun and was hence warmed by it. Hale-Bopp passed perihelion on April 1, 1997 and was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997. Its lengthy period of visibility and extensive coverage in the media made Hale-Bopp one of the most-observed and talked about comets in history. This lead to all sorts of claims about it, including those associating it with UFOs and people who believed that Comet Hale-Bopp was actually Nibiru or Planet X.

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Minos Linea region on Europa

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Minos Linea on Jupiter’s moon Europa, is named after “Minos” in Greek mythology. Minos was a king of Crete and was the son of Europa and Zeus.

Minos Linea - NASA
Minos Linea region on Jupiter’s moon Europa

This false colour picture of Minos Linea on Europa was taken by the Galileo spacecraft on 28 June, 1996 and shows its triple bands, lineae and mottled terrains, which appear in brown and reddish tones. They appear to be red and brown due to the likely presence of contaminants in the ice. The icy plains can be seen behind them in bluish hues. This  composite image was produced using images with effective wavelengths at 989, 757, and 559 nanometers.

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Streaking comet Siding Spring

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Streaking Comet - NASA
Streaking comet Siding Spring C/2007 Q3

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) took this picture of a comet during its ongoing infrared survey of the whole sky. The Siding Spring comet, also known as C/2007 Q3 was an Aussie discovery and is comprised of a snowball-like mass of ice and dust.  It is believed that this comet spent billions of years orbiting in the very cold Oort Cloud but was then knocked out of its old orbit and moved closer to the sun. The heat then warmed the comet and lead to it shedding the ice and dust in a long tail, which trails behind it. The comet appears red because it is still more than ten times colder than the stars around it.

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