Pictures

Ring of fire

Image
Spitzer space telescope captures the ring of stellar fire in galaxy NGC 1291
Spitzer space telescope captures the ring of stellar fire in galaxy NGC 1291

What do new young stars look like as they heat up the surrounding space dust? The Spitzer Space Telescope looked out to the galaxy NGC 1291 and captured an infrared image of quite the firestorm created by this awe inspiring phenomenon. The distinctive outer red ring in this 12 billion year old galaxy from the Eridanus constellation, consists of new stars and is the “Ring of Fire“. The older stars lie in the central blue coloured “S” area of the galaxy and produce shorter-wavelength infrared light.

Continue reading →

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail
Pictures

MRO looking for debris fields on Mars

Image
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.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail
Pictures

Impact crater on Mimas

Image
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.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail
Pictures

Sextans A galaxy

Image
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.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail
Pictures

Pockmarked surface of Mercury is full of craters

Image
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.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail