Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of December 12, 2022
HiRISE, JWST, Cassini – oh the things we can see!
Monday, December 12, 2022
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Judy Schmidt
"Spanish Dancer" Galaxy
Enjoy this new image from JWST's MIRI of spiral galaxy NGC 1566. The colors in this image come from the emission of dust, although hardly any stars are visible. The reddish areas correspond with star formation.
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Credit: NASA
Read for a Close-Up
The optical navigation camera mounted on the Orion spacecraft captured this view of the Moon’s surface. On flight day 20 (December 5) of the Artemis I mission, the spacecraft made its second and final close approach to the Moon before its returned powered flyby burn.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/M. Zamani/B. Robertson/S. Tacchella/E. Curtis-Lake/S. Carniani/JADES Collaboration (h/t Paul Byrne)
JWST Deep Field
Take a look at the newest deep field image from JWST, taken as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey. The blue six-pointed features are stars in the Milky Way, while every other object is a galaxy. In this image, light at 1.15 microns is blue, light at 2.0 microns is green, and at 4.44 microns is red.
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech/SSI/J. Major
Satellite Siblings
Saturn's moons Tethys (front) and Titan (back) beyond the planet's rings, as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft eleven years ago on December 8, 2011. Tethys is 1,062 km wide; Titan is 5,151 km wide. Titan is the destination of the future Dragonfly mission.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona/HiRISE
Terraced in Utopia
This type of crater formation has been used in Arcadia Planitia to estimate the thickness and radar properties of mantling units, but there don’t seem to be very many here in Utopia Planitia, Mars. Existing images have significant shadows. Stereo will help us to also look at boulders and polygons.
