Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of July 18 2022
First images from JWST, Mars, Charon and more!
Monday, July 18, 2022
Credit: NASA
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IC 1396 Elephant Trunk Nebula in Cepheus
The Elephant Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus, about 2,400 light years away from Earth.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCl
Composition: NA Cabrol
Spectacular Edge-On Galaxy in the Southern Ring Nebula JWST Image
This planetary nebula is revealed in all of its glory in the new JWST image (upper left box). Located in the constellation Vela - 2,000 light-years away from the Earth - its beauty is stunning. Yet, perfection had to be added on top of perfection. The high-resolution image reveals a magnificent edge-on galaxy poking through the volutes of red gas. SETI Institute's Nathalie Cabrol extracted that section of the image so that you could enjoy the high-resolution. The arrow in the upper left box shows the location of the galaxy in the full image.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Image processing: Jason Major
Charon in Enhanced Color
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto's big moon Charon just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the spacecraft’s Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC); the colors are processed to best highlight the variation of surface properties across Charon. Charon’s color palette is not as diverse as Pluto’s; most striking is the reddish north (top) polar region, informally named Mordor Macula. Charon is 754 miles (1,214 kilometers) across; this image resolves details as small as 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers).
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Composition and processing: NA Cabrol
Cosmic Cliffs
SETI Institute scientist Nathalie Cabrol extracted a small section of the “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (JWST NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image) and did a bit of processing (simple contrast to bring up the various objects). This section is extracted from their original caption: "What looks much like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region known as NGC 3324. Called the Cosmic Cliffs, this rim of a gigantic, gaseous cavity is roughly 7,600 light-years away." (Here, only about 20% is shown.)
Friday, July 22, 2022
Credit: Emirates Mars Mission / EXI / Jason Major
South Polar Ice Cap
A view of Mars made from image data captured by the UAE's Hope Mars Mission on February 23, 2022, from a distance of about 30,000 kilometers.
