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| Impact! (February 3, 2010) |
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This Hubble Space Telescope image shows what may be the debris from a collision between two asteroids. At first, astronomers assumed this was a comet, but a detailed look at its structure (shown in detail, inset) shows little resemblance to comets. At the time this image was snapped, in late January 2010, the object was about 90 million miles from Earth, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt. Asteroid collisions should be fairly common, but no debris from such an impact has ever been observed. [NASA/ESA/D. Jewitt (UCLA)] |
| Bright Encounter (January 27, 2010) |
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The full Moon sweeps past the planet Mars this week. They are low in the east at nightfall (shown in this illustration), and climb high across the sky later on. Mars, which is closest to Earth for the year, and also at its brightest, looks like a brilliant orange star. [Tim Jones] For more information, see our January 28 program. |
| A Dose of Magnesium (January 20, 2010) |
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The element magnesium glows blue-green in this X-ray image of the remains of an exploded star. The star created magnesium by combining the nuclei of lighter elements, then spewed the material into space when it exploded as a supernova. The explosion took place about 10,000 years ago as seen from Earth, creating a cloud of material that is still expanding into space. This cloud is known as N49B, and was imaged by the space-based Chandra X-Ray Observatory. [NASA/CXC/Penn State/S.Park et al.] For more information, see our January 20 program. |
| High Lights (January 17, 2010) |
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A brilliant aurora glows around the north magnetic pole of Jupiter in this Hubble Space Telescope image. Although Jupiter's "northern lights" are much stronger than Earth's, they emit most of their energy in wavelengths that are invisible to human eyes. Hubble used an ultraviolet detector to snap this image. The aurora is much wider than Earth. [NASA/ESA/John T. Clarke (University of Michigan)]
For more information, see our January 17 program. |
| Cold Astronomy (January 13, 2010) |
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Astronomers are building a giant neutrino detector in the ice beneath the South Pole. Known as IceCube, it is located in the cluster of sheds and vehicles at right center of their aerial view. In this 2006 shot, IceCube was just beginning to take shape. Today, it is more than 75 percent complete, with more underway this month during the short southern summer. The detector consists of long strings of light detectors buried more than a mile beneath the ice. [Forest Banks/IceCube] For more information, see our January 13 radio program. |
| Just Hanging Around (January 11, 2010) |
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Earth shines above the surface of the Moon in this picture snapped by an Apollo 17 astronaut in December 1972. From any point on the lunar hemisphere that faces Earth, our planet always hangs in the same position in the sky, neither rising nor setting. Right now, Earth is in its gibbous phase as seen from the Moon, so it would appear even bigger and brighter than in this picture. [NASA] For more information, see our January 11 show. |
| First Snapshot (January 7, 2010) |
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Stars and a faint gas cloud highlight the first look at the sky from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a new space telescope. NASA unveiled the image on January 6, at an astronomy conference in Washington, D.C. WISE will image the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, which are invisible to the human eye. The infrared is produced by relatively cool objects, such as the clouds of gas and dust that give birth to stars, the disks of dust around stars that give birth to planets, and the "failed stars" known as brown dwarfs. This view, which covers an area roughly three times the size of the Moon, is in the southern constellation Carina. WISE was launched in December, and is beginning its science mission after a 30-day checkout in orbit. [NASA/JPL/WISE Team] |
| Saturn's Hexagon (January 5, 2010) |
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Clouds form a hexagon pattern around Saturn's north pole in this mosaic of images from the Cassini spacecraft. Planetary scientists are not certain what creates the hexagon, which was first seen in the 1980s. The image has been contrast-enhanced to bring out subtle details in Saturn's clouds. [NASA/JPL/SSI] For more information, see our January 5 program. |
| A Hole in Mars (December 29, 2009) |
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A huge asteroid that smacked into Mars billions of years ago created one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. Known as Hellas Basin, it is the dark blue oval at the bottom of this topographic map of Mars, which was compiled with data from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The basin is bigger than Texas and several miles deep. A larger but shallower basin, which might have held an ancient ocean, is the light blue region at top. [NASA/GSFC] For more information, see our December 29 program. |
| A Moon is Born? (December 23, 2009) |
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An artist's concept shows a planet-smashing collision in the star system HD 172555. The collision, which involved one body the size of Mercury and another the size of the Moon, probably took place a few thousand years ago. The impact vaporized much of the material in both bodies, spewing hot gas into space. Some of this material may coalesce to form a moon. A similar collision 4.5 billion years ago between Earth and a Mars-sized planet may have led to the birth of our own Moon. Spitzer Space Telescope discovered the infrared glow of collision's aftermath. [NASA/JPL] For more information, see our December 23 program. |
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