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Boomdeyada! I Love the Whole World
Earthquakes in China, volcanoes spouting in Chile and Italy, stock market queezy, elections looming. Enough bad news in the world. Let this make your day lovely for a change.
Hat tip to The Anchoress at http://theanchoressonline.com/
Julia
Image of the Day
Bright Lights, No City
The Milky
Way shines above the Paranal Residencia that houses astronomers studying at the
European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile.ESO
astronomer Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo of the morning sky to capture the
Milky Way’s dark dust lanes and bright nebulae. The Zodiacal light of sunlight
reflected by interplanetary dust is visible in the band of light that is
inclined relative to the Milky Way by 40-50 degrees. Such light is only visible
in places free from light pollution, such as the Paranal Observatory.The
high-altitude site and extreme dryness provide excellent observing conditions
for astronomers, who may then escape to the Paranal Residencia for more
comfortable surroundings. The building’s unique design has even attracted
filmmakers making the new James
Bond film.
- Milky
Way’s Formation Theory Questioned- Telescopes at SPACE.com
- SPACE.com
Image Gallery: Great Observatories— ESO and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Yuri Beletsky (ESO)
Image of the Day
I Feel Right at Home in This Stunning Monochrome
Light-toned layered rocks form outcroppings in Hellas Planitia, the floor of an ancient Martian impact crater, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Hellas Planitia, also known as the Hellas Impact Basin, is roughly 1,240 miles across (2,000 kilometers) and includes the lowest points of the Martian surface. The site may have once held ancient lakes or seas where it sits in the southern hemisphere.
The rocks alternate between light layers fractured into angular boulders and blocks and dark layers that appear relatively smooth. The alteration corresponds with a stair-step like terrain in some places that suggest different rates of erosion, but other areas have relatively constant slopes. Such layered rocks could have been deposited through volcanic ash, wind-blown sand, and even river or lake deposits.
- VIDEO: Looking For Life in All the Right Places
- VIDEO: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- GALLERY: Ice on Mars
— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Image of the Day
Everything Merges with the Night
Image of the Day
Bent Outta Shape
The Prometheus moon steals wispy material from Saturn’s F ring, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft.
The irregular Saturnian moon acts as a gravitational tug that pulls away ring dust and debris onto different orbital paths and leaves an uneven pattern of kinks in the F ring. In that way Prometheus appears to live up to its namesake, who stole fire from the Greek Gods and gave it to humans.
The moon’s sneaky activity is illuminated by both direct sunlight and reflected light from Saturn, captured by Cassini from 743,000 miles (1.2 kilometers) out. The "saturnshine" often brightens the night sides of Saturn’s many moons.
- VIDEO: Enceladus, Cold Faithful
- IMAGES: Cassini’s Latest Discoveries
- Special Report: Cassini’s Mission to Saturn
— NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Image of the Day
Can You Show Me the Shine of Your Japan
Tokyo glows green by night, as seen in the photography of International Space Station astronaut Dan Tani.
The greenish light reflects the widespread use of mercury vapor lighting, as opposed to the sodium vapor lighting that produces an orange-yellow light seen in other nighttime cities. Newer areas near the shore of Tokyo bay contain more orange sodium vapor lamps, but the majority of the urban area shines a cool blue-green.
Such a top-down view also reveals the city layout, with ribbons of light radiating outward from the city center following streets and railways. The regularly spaced lights along one of the westward-trailing ribbons are probably train stations lining a transit route, possibly the Chuo Line of Japan Railway.
- Satellites at SPACE.com
- Observing Earth: Amazing Views of Earth from Space, Part Two
- About Planet Earth
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA
Image of the Day
Mawrth Vallis Is Not a Star Wars Character
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter scopes out Mawrth Vallis, a deep channel region near the northern Martian lowlands that is one of four possible landing sites for the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission.
This site contains a rich mineral diversity reflected in its palette of colors, including clay minerals formed as water altered Martian rocks and loose "regolith," or soil. The wide range of minerals could also indicate that they formed from many different processes – something that MSL could investigate more thoroughly. But fascinating as the site is scientifically, the rough terrain could also make for a trickier landing.
The big-wheeled MSL rover is the size of a small SUV, dwarfing its smaller cousins Spirit and Opportunity that are already on Mars. However, the mission has run into cost overruns and has already seen its price tag hit $2 billion. Scientists still hope to keep everything on track for a September or October launch in 2009.
- VIDEO: Looking For Life in All the Right Places
- VIDEO: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- GALLERY: Ice on Mars
— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Image of the Day
Our First and Future and Finest Earth
SPACE.com wishes all its readers a great Earth Day with two photos that show how far mankind has come while riding Spaceship Earth.
The left photo of Earth was the first taken from the weather satellite TIROS-1, on April 1, 1960. Early photos provided meteorologists with new information on cloud systems, particularly spiral formations associated with large storms. The photo also displays the curvature of the globe.
The right photo was taken from behind space shuttle Discovery’s robotic arm during the STS-77 mission in 1996, and shows Earth laid out in splendor beneath the bright sun. Such images may serve to remind people that we live in an increasingly interconnected global society, and that Earth remains a precious and still-unique drop of life in the vast unknown.
- Satellites at SPACE.com
- Observing Earth: Amazing Views of Earth from Space, Part Two
- About Planet Earth
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA
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