Image of the Day: November 2012

Image of the Day Archives

For older Image of the Day pictures, please visit the Image of the Day archives. Pictured: NGC 2467.

Incoming

Thursday, November 1, 2012: The Expedition 33 crew managed to see the Soyuz rocket launching toward them on the International Space Station, Oct. 23, 2012. The rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as the ISS was passing over northeastern China (looking west here). Rocket trails can last for minutes to hours and sit high enough in the atmosphere to remain lit well after the sun dips below the horizon.

— Tom Chao

Three Is a Magic Number

Friday, November 2, 2012: The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope located atop the summit of Mauna Kea viewed these three spiral galaxies, NGC 4216/06/22 in the Virgo cluster, almost edge-on. Image released October 2012.

— Tom Chao

Ambiguous Undulations

Monday, November 5, 2012: A natural-colour view by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft shows the Nereidum Montes region on Mars. The image was taken on June 6, 2012. Mid-latitude regions on Mars commonly show undulations in crater floors, which may be a result of glacial movement.

— Tom Chao

Scarcely Visible

Tuesday, November 6, 2012: Saturn's moon Mimas appears as a tiny speck at the top center of this image near Saturn. The storms visible in the far northern and southern hemispheres of Saturn dwarf miniscule Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across). Cassini spacecraft took the image on Aug. 20, 2012. [See full gallery. Photos: Saturn's Glorious Rings Up Close.]

— Tom Chao

Under Green Canadian Skies

Wednesday, November 7, 2012: AuroraMAX automated camera tweeted this photo and wrote: "AURORAMAX GALLERY • Latest image of aurora borealis above Yellowknife, NWT taken at 02:30 MDT on October 23, 2012. http://twitpic.com/b6o4ry"

— Tom Chao

Changing My Shape

Thursday, November 8, 2012: Galaxy NGC 5010 is in a period of transition. The aging galaxy is changing from a spiral galaxy to an older type called an elliptical galaxy. Astronomers refer to NGC 5010 as a lenticular galaxy, which has features of both spirals and ellipticals. NGC 5010 is located around 140 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). Image released Nov. 5, 2012.

— Tom Chao

The Last Hurrah

Friday, November 9, 2012: Fireworks marked the arrival of space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Atlantis made a 10-mile trip from Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building to the visitor complex which will serve as its final home. Atlantis will go on display at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex beginning in the summer of 2013. Image released Nov. 2, 2012.

— Tom Chao

Bedrock City

Monday, November 12, 2012: This image taken by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows a geologically interesting area of the Martian surface. Most of the planet’s surface is covered with sand and soil, and only a few places show uncovered bedrock. Fractured basement rock, sedimentary layers and edges of scarps are all visible here.

— Tom Chao

That Wishful Wishing Well

Tuesday, November 13, 2012: The sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert holds a dazzling array of celestial objects. The Carina Nebula glows most intensely red in the middle of the image. The nebula is the brightest of its kind in the sky and contains several of the most massive stars in the Milky Way, including Eta Carinae. Below Carina Nebula lies the Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532), and to the right Lambda Centauri Nebula (IC 2944), nicknamed the "Running Chicken" Nebula. Three of the four Auxiliary Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer stand in the foreground.

— Tom Chao

From the (Hot) Air

Wednesday, November 14, 2012: SPACE.com reader Andrew Steel of Hot Air Balloon Cairns in Australia sent in this amazing photo of the eclipse taken on Nov. 13, 2012 (EST). He writes: "We had blue skies and great views of the full corona for the total solar eclipse from our hot air balloons." [See our full gallery.]

— Tom Chao