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Image of the Day Archives
Credit: NASA, ESA and Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University)
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Happy Labor Day!
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Monday, September 3, 2012: Happy Labor Day from SPACE.com. Here’s a photo of some American workers doing what they do best: landing a rover on Mars! The entry, descent and landing team of the Mars Science Laboratory mission celebrated inside the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, as they learned that Curiosity rover successfully touched down on the red planet, August 5, 2012 (August 6 EDT). Bobak Ferdowsi, NASA’s “Mohawk Guy,” appears 5th from left in the front row (mohawk partially obscured).
— Tom Chao
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A Hot Pink Shell Of My Former Self
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum
Tuesday, September 4, 2012: Sh2-188, a planetary nebula, consists of a one-sided shell of material colliding with the interstellar medium, triggering shock wave structures. The planetary nebula phase is a short period during the evolution of a sun-like star in which for some tens of thousands of years the star ejects its outer layers into outer space. (Planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets, but were misnamed by astronomer
William Herschel, who thought they resembled Uranus, which he discovered.)
— Tom Chao
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Shoot for the Stars
Credit: ESO/J. Girard
Wednesday, September 5, 2012: A powerful laser beam from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) sweeps through the night sky over the Chilean Atacama Desert. A 30-minute exposure caused the laser beam to appear spread out, as well as stretching the stars into curved trails as the Earth rotated beneath the sky. The laser creates an artificial star used to assist in correcting the blurring effect of the atmosphere. Image released on August 20, 2012.
— Tom Chao
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Double Impact
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
Thursday, September 6, 2012: Two interconnected craters in the Ladon basin appear in sharp relief in this photo taken by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. Scientists believe the craters, Sigli and Shambe, formed when a large meteorite fragmented into two pieces before impact. The craters show extensive fracturing. The image centers on the area around 18°S and 329°E.
— Tom Chao
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One of These Is Not Like the Others
Credit: Adam Block and Vic Eden/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Friday, September 7, 2012: Adam Block of the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter in Arizona produced this photo of Stephan’s Quintet in July 2012. The five galaxies of the quintet include NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317, all yellowish in color. They can be seen interacting with each other about 300 million light-years from Earth. Bluish NGC 7320 lies closer than the other four, at a distance of only 40 million light years.
— Tom Chao
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A Quiet, Normal Galaxy
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Monday, September 10, 2012: A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 5806, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo (the Virgin). It lies around 80 million light years from Earth. Also visible in this image is a supernova explosion called SN 2004dg, a faint yellowish dot near the bottom of the galaxy. Aside from the supernova, NGC 5806 doesn’t possess any remarkable qualities, as far as spiral galaxies go. Image released August 27, 2012.
— Tom Chao
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9/11 Remembered
Credit: GeoEye
Tuesday, September 11, 2012: Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite collected this image of Manhattan, New York at 11:54 a.m. EDT on Sept. 15, 2001. The image shows the remains of the 1,350-foot towers of the World Trade Center, and the debris and dust that settled throughout the area. Also visible are many emergency and rescue vehicles in the streets. IKONOS orbits 423 miles above the Earth's surface at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
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“We Choose to Go to the Moon”
Credit: Rice University Public Affairs
Wednesday, September 12, 2012: 50 years ago, on September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University that has reverberated through the years to this day. In it, he famously remarked, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard …” At the start of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, this speech laid out the necessity for the US to lead the world in space exploration. [See
full story.]
— Tom Chao
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The Klumps
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Thursday, September 13, 2012: Clumpy particles in Saturn’s lighter B-ring (at left) contrast with ringlets seen at right in this view presented by the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn’s B-ring is the largest and brightest of the gas giant’s rings, influenced by the moon Mimas, which is thought to cause the clumping. This image was taken in visible light on July 10, 2009, from a distance of 198,800 miles (320,000 km) from Saturn.
— Tom Chao
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Circle Sky
Credit: AuroraMAX
Friday, September 14, 2012: AuroraMAX observatory took this image of an auroral display over Yellowknife, Canada, on September 12, 2012.
— Tom Chao
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Big Light in Sky
Credit: Dale Cupp/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter
Monday, September 17, 2012: Zodiacal light was visible at the Mt. Lemmon Skycenter in Arizona on September 15, 2012. This sky phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflecting off the dust cloud surrounding the sun, concentrated in the plane of the solar system.
— Tom Chao
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ALMA by Starlight
Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi
Tuesday, September 18, 2012: This panoramic photography of Chajnantor Plateau in Chile depicts the antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) against a dramatic night sky. The plateau stands at 5,000 meters altitude in the Chilean Andes. Photo released September 17, 2012.
— Tom Chao
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The Edge
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Wednesday, September 19, 2012: NGC 4634, a spiral galaxy, appears side-on to Earth observers. The disc of the galaxy shows slight warping caused by ongoing interactions with a nearby galaxy. Clearly defined dust lanes and bright nebulae lie scattered across the galaxy.
— Tom Chao
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Deep in the Heart of Texas
Credit: Katherine Skipper
Thursday, September 20, 2012: SPACE.com reader Katherine Skipper sent in this photo of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft carrying shuttle Endeavour over Austin, TX, on September 20, 2012. The shuttle is bound for Los Angeles, where it will reside in the California Science Center.
— Tom Chao
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In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Bar
Credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers
Friday, September 21, 2012: This tool shed, nicknamed the Tiki Bar, stands in the area where space shuttle Endeavour will be demated from the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). It is scheduled to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. The shuttle will go on display in the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion later in fall 2012.
— Tom Chao
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Shoot to Kill
Credit: Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
Monday, September 24, 2012: Air Force Space Command celebrated its 30th anniversary on September 1, 2012. This photo illustration depicts a milestone in the history of the command. On September 13, 1985, the first Air-Launched Anti-Satellite Missile (ASAT) successfully destroyed its target. Maj. Wilbert "Doug" Pearson flew a highly modified F-15A over Edwards Air Force Base, CA, and scored a direct hit on a satellite in orbit 340 miles above the Earth.
— Tom Chao
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Forest Fire
Credit: NASA
Tuesday, September 25, 2012: The Mustang Complex wildland fires in Idaho burned 300,000 acres and forced hundreds of people to flee the area. An Expedition 33 crew member aboard the International Space Station took this photo while orbiting at the Earth at an altitude of approximately 260 statute miles. Photo released Sept. 19, 2012.
— Tom Chao
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Floating on a Bubble
Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Wednesday, September 26, 2012: Abell 39, a planetary nebula, lies about 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. The planetary nebula stage occurs late in a star's life cycle, as the outer part of the star is blown outward by strong stellar winds. (Planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets. The term was coined by William Herschel, when he mistook the celestial objects for giant planets.) Image obtained in June 2012.
— Tom Chao
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Red Red Sun
Credit: NASA/SDO
Thursday, September 27, 2012: The orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught these magnetic loops rising above the sun September 17-19, 2012. The spiraling loops appear when particles spinning along magnetic field lines emerge from beneath the Sun's surface. This image taken in the 171 Angstrom wavelength was tinted red for effect.
— Tom Chao
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Eater-of-Worlds
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum
Friday, September 28, 2012: An unusual space object appears as if about to devour a spiral galaxy. Cometary globule CG4 consists of a gas cloud with a dusty trail, reminiscent of a comet, though otherwise completely unlike a ice-and-rock clump. The apparent imminent devouring of the spiral galaxy at left results from a trick of perspective, as the galaxy actually lies a hundred million light-years distant from CG4.
— Tom Chao
