Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of August 22, 2022
Many moons, a galaxy and weird life on Earth – we are surrounded by beauty.
Monday, August 22, 2022
Credit: Fabien Michenet (https://buff.ly/3Tbg6a2 )
Aliens of Earth
During a night dive off the coast of Tahiti, a juvenile sharpear enope squid. Measuring about 3 cm long, the squid floated motionless 20 m below the surface. The squid's bioluminescent organs can be seen brightly in the image.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Center
Io from New Horizons
This montage of images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io, was taken by the New Horizons spacecraft's flyby in early 2007. The Jupiter image is an infrared color composite taken by the spacecraft's near-infrared imaging spectrometer on Feb. 28, 2007. The infrared wavelengths used highlight variations in the altitude of the Jovian cloud tops, with blue denoting high-altitude clouds and hazes, and red indicating deeper clouds. The prominent bluish-white oval is the Great Red Spot.
The Io image, taken on March 1, 2007, is a nearly true-color composite. The image shows a major eruption in progress on Io's night side, at the northern volcano Tvashtar. Incandescent lava glows red beneath a high volcanic plume, whose uppermost portions are illuminated by sunlight. The plume appears blue due to scattering of light by small particles in the plume.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Martian Moon
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. This image shows a close-up of the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. Individual boulders are visible on the near rim of the crater, and are presumed to be ejecta blocks from the impact that formed Stickney. Some of these boulders are enormous - more than 50 meters (160 feet) across. Also crossing at and near the rim of Stickney are shallow, elongated depressions called grooves. This crater is nearly half the size of Phobos and these grooves may be fractures caused by its formation.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/Martin Pugh
NGC 1512 with Hubble Data
NGC 1512, a member of the Dorado Group of galaxies, is a barred spiral approximately 38 million light-years away in the constellation Horologium. This image shows the beautiful double ring structure and long spiral arms. Below NGC 1512 and to the right is nearby dwarf lenticular galaxy NGC 1510. The two galaxies are going through a slow merger, gravitationally interacting.
Friday, August 26, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/J. Major
Io by Galileo
Jupiter's moon Io, a color-composite made from images captured by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on September 6, 1996. On September 21, 2003, Galileo ended its mission with a dive into Jupiter's atmosphere.
