Space Image of the Day Gallery (August 2013)

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You Wear My Polar Collar

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Thursday, August 29, 2013: Cassini spacecraft has now seen Titan's polar collar in ultraviolet light; previously it was observed by Voyager 2 and the Hubble Space Telescope. Researchers studying the collar’s cause and evolution believe it to be seasonal in nature. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Titan. Cassini spacecraft took the image on April 13, 2013 at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from Titan.

— Tom Chao

Blow, Winds

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum

Friday, August 30, 2013: The Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) consists of a glowing cloud of ionized gas excited by the surrounding hot, massive young blue stars. Strong winds of particles blow from these stars, shaping the residual gas left from a spent star formation region, creating these structures with striking appearances.

— Tom Chao

Tom Chao
Tom Chao
Tom Chao has contributed to SPACE.com as a producer and writer since 2000. As a writer and editor, he has worked for the Voyager Company, Time Inc. New Media, HarperCollins and Worth Publishers. He has a bachelor’s degree in Cinema Production from the University of Southern California, and a master’s degree from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Tom on Google+.