Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of January 15, 2024
Landscapes from Venus and Mars, Uranus' moon Miranda, and Jupiter's circumpolar cyclone in detail.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Venus Landscapes
Venus's surface as seen by Venera-14, a Soviet space mission launched in 1981. The lander touched down on 5 March 1982 and survived about an hour on the surface, nearly double the planned life. With a temperature of 465 °C and a pressure 94 times as strong as that of Earth, our "twin" planet is not at all hospitable to humans or machines.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Miranda
This misshapen orb is Uranus' moon Miranda, which is about 235 km in radius, and was imaged here by Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to ever visit the Uranian system. From this shot, it is pretty obvious that whoever put it together ran out of parts! Incredible little world...
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Jupiter's Circumpolar Cyclone
NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this close-up of Jupiter's circumpolar cyclone, processed in false color to emphasize small differences.
Friday, January 19, 2024
Mars Landscape
Distant boulders and dunes on the surface of Mars as seen from the Viking 1 lander in 1977. On the horizon, a crater rim can be seen. The Viking 1 lander touched down on the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold) on July 20, 1976. The Viking mission was planned to continue for 90 days after landing, but Viking Lander 1 made its final transmission to Earth on November 11, 1982.
