Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of November 6, 2023
Infrared images from Hubble and JWST, a composite image of October's annular eclipse, and sunny rocks on Mars.
Monday, November 6, 2023
Horsehead Nebula in Infrared
Here's a view of the famous Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), located 1,375 light-years away under the first star in Orion's belt. This is a color-composite image made from data acquired with the Hubble Space Telescope in wide-band infrared during October and November 2012. In optical light, the nebula appears dark.
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Annular Solar Eclipse Over Utah
This composite photograph is an eclipse sequence taken during last month's annular solar eclipse as the Moon was overtaking the rising Sun in the sky over Factory Butte in Utah. The rays flaring out from the Sun are an illusory result of camera aperture diffraction and are known as sunstar. The Moon is real, but it is artificially brightened to enhance its outline -- which helps the viewer better visualize the Moon's changing position during this ring-of-fire eclipse.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Download full-size image: (7140 × 4017) https://buff.ly/40tehci
Quartet of Ringed Giants
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as imaged by the NASA/ESA Webb Space Telescope's NIRCAM, or Near-Infrared Camera.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
A Day Warm(ish) on the Sand
Some rocks enjoying the daylight and (very relative) warmth of the sun on Mars, about 380,400,000 km away from Earth! This image was taken by the NASA Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater, Mars, with its Left Mastcam-Z camera on Friday, 3 November 2023 at a local time of a little before 1:00 pm.
