Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of November 8, 2021
Sunrise on Mars, a silhouette of Pluto, an aurora on Jupiter and more. . . Our solar system is amazing!
Monday, November 8, 2021
Ready for a Close Up!
This is 162173 Ryugu, a Cb-type asteroid, imaged by the MASCOT probe as part of the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. This color view was captured at night, under red, green, and blue LED illumination.
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
Jupiter's Aurora
The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) camera on the Juno spacecraft captured Jupiter’s infrared aurora near its southern pole in 2019. Jupiter’s poles experience auroral activity in both the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths.
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Victoria Crater, Mars
View over the 730-meter wide Victoria Crater captured by NASA's Opportunity rover when she was still roaming the martian land. Taken on October 31, 2006.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Pluto, backlit
As the New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto, it looked back and took this silhouetted shot. Along with newly processed images that provide a dim peek at the planet’s dark side, the images revealed details of Pluto's hazy nitrogen atmosphere.
Friday, November 12, 2021
Martian sunrise
Above the Martian arctic circle, the Sun does not set during the peak of the Martian summer. On Sol 86, or the 86th Martian day after NASA's Phoenix Lander landed on the red planet, the Sun fully set behind a slight rise to the north for about half an hour. This red-filter image taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager shows the Sun rising on the morning of sol 90, Aug. 25, 2008, the last day of the Phoenix nominal mission.
