Saturday, January 15, 2011

Astronomy, Me and NASA

Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 11:17:13 -0600 (CST)
Subject: The Road Less Traveled
The Road Less Traveled
Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:00:00 -0600

On Jan. 4, 2004, Spirit--the first of two NASA Mars Exploration Rovers--landed on the Red Planet for what was to be a 90-day mission. This image, acquired on sol 127 (May 12, 2004), shows the path the rover traveled on its way to the base of the "Columbia Hills." The hills can be seen silhouetted against the horizon on the far left side . Since sol 2210 (March 22, 2010), Spirit has been silent, and the project's scientists continue to listen for Spirit with the Deep Space Network and Mars Odyssey orbiter. The project is also conducting a paging technique called "Sweep & Beep" to stimulate the rover. Since the period of peak solar activity occurs in mid-March 2011, leaving Spirit plenty of occasion to respond. Spirit's sister spacecraft Opportunity continues to explore Mars, arriving in December 2010 at the 80-meter (262-foot) diameter Santa Maria crater on its journey to Endeavour crater. Image Credit: NASA

More Cool Pictures from NASA...


503569main_PIA13614_full(1)


503762main_image_1815_Saturn ring


507193main_m82_hst_big_full(Messeir M82 galaxy)
































507669main_pia13448-full_full


507865main_iss026e013123_full (florida peninsula on 28 dec 2010)


Venus
This hemispheric view of Venus was created using more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, and is centered on the planet's North Pole. The Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98 percent of the planet Venus and a mosaic of the Magellan images (most with illumination from the west) forms the image base. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar in a region centered roughly on 0 degree latitude and longitude, and with a neutral tone elsewhere (primarily near the south pole). This composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Gaps in the elevation data from the Magellan radar altimeter were filled with altimetry from the Venera spacecraft and the Pioneer Venus missions. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS


The Andromeda GalaxyTwo European Space Agency observatories combined forces to show the Andromeda Galaxy in a new light. Herschel sees rings of star formation in this, the most detailed image of the Andromeda Galaxy ever taken at infrared wavelengths, and XMM-Newton shows dying stars shining X-rays into space. ESA’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories targeted the Andromeda Galaxy, the nearest large spiral galaxy, which like our own Milky Way contains several hundred billion stars. This is the most detailed far-infrared image of the Andromeda Galaxy ever taken and clearly shows that more stars are on their way. In this image, Herschel’s infrared image of the Andromeda Galaxy shows rings of dust that trace gaseous reservoirs where new stars are forming and XMM-Newton’s X-ray image shows stars approaching the ends of their lives. Both infrared and X-ray images convey information impossible to collect from the ground because these wavelengths are absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. For more information and images, visit the ESA site. Image Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/J.Fritz, U.Gent/XMM-Newton/EPIC/W. Pietsch, MPECourtesy NASA News Services and Image of the Day Gallery. For more details, please visit the official NASA website.

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