22 March 2011
NASA recently published a wonderful image of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The picture was acquired in infrared light, by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft, on 27 September 2010, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million km from Titan. It shows a huge, arrow-shaped storm, evolving in Titan’s thick, hazy atmosphere.
19 March 2011
On 18 March 2011, after voyaging in interplanetary space for more than 6 years, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Mercury, the innermost planet. This is the first mission to orbit Mercury. Its objects are to study Mercury’s surface, geochemistry and space environment, for a year. The acronym MESSENGER stands for MErcury, Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry and Ranging.
14 March 2011
NASA recently published a wonderful image of the Sun, showing two spectacular solar eruptions, taking place, almost simultaneously, in the Sun’s tenuous hellish atmosphere. The image was captured on 28 January 2011, by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 36,000 km.
10 March 2011
NASA recently published an interesting image of a bizarre Saturnian moon, known as Dione. The image was acquired by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft, on 17 October 2010, when Cassini passed approximately 41,000 km from icy rugged Dione. The view is dominated by a large 120-km-wide crater at the center of the image.
06 March 2011
NASA recently published a wonderful spaceborne image of a snow-covered Russian volcanic island, located near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain, in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The image was acquired by an astronaut, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting Earth at an altitude of about 350 km.
02 March 2011
On 19 February 2011, dust blew off the coast of northern Africa, and stretched into the Mediterranean Sea, for the second consecutive day. NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired the above natural-color image, on the same day.
27 February 2011
NASA recently published an exquisite natural-color satellite image of the recent violent eruption of Shinmoe-dake Volcano, Kyushu, Japan. The image was taken on the morning of 3 February 2011, by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Shinmoe-dake Volcano is 1,421 m high, and is located among the Kirishima group of volcanoes.
24 February 2011
On 29 January 2011, a dust storm blew out of Egypt and spread into the Mediterranean Sea. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of Egypt the same day.
21 February 2011
NASA recently published a wonderful image, a family portrait of the Solar System, showing six planets, acquired by the Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft. The planetary panorama is a composite picture, produced by combining 34 individual images, obtained by MESSENGER, in November 2010.
14 February 2011
NASA recently published a wonderful image of Saturn’s bizarre, small moon, Enceladus. The image was acquired by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. It shows numerous craters and tectonically deformed terrain on Enceladus, and also captures Saturn’s magnificent rings, stretching diagonally, in the background, from the upper left corner to the right. The craters on Enceladus’ icy surface represent older, less evolved features.