Blog Archive

Opportunity contemplates Whim Creek, sol 3020 (July 23, 2012)

Pretty Panoramas: Opportunity at Whim Creek

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/30 01:11 CDT | 2 comments

I know it’s been all Curiosity, all the time on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and that’s not likely to change much for the next couple of weeks. But I don’t want people to forget that there’s another rover exploring Mars’ ancient geology. Opportunity has been taking spectacular photos of Whim Creek and Endeavour Crater this last week.

Photo by astronaut Don Pettit on Space Station Expedition 31, shortly before his return to Earth, taken on June 30, 2012.

Birth of a New Moon

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/07/05 12:01 CDT

As astronaut Don Pettit prepared for his return to Earth, he tweeted several beautiful shots from the Space Station.

Pretty picture: Meet Tethys

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/20 02:40 CDT

Just a pretty global view of one of Saturn's flock of icy moons, newly processed from archival data by Gordan Ugarkovic.

Pretty picture: Halo on a halo?

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/15 05:21 CDT | 6 comments

An interesting set of images of Titan that Cassini took recently shows a peculiar cap at Titan's south pole.

During the second close passage, the cores of the Milky Way and Andromeda appear as a pair of bright lobes. Star-forming nebulae are much less prominent because the interstellar gas and dust has been significantly decreased by previous bursts of star formation.

Artist's views of a night sky transformed by a galaxy merger

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/06/04 12:25 CDT | 2 comments

A measurement of the Andromeda galaxy's proper motion shows it's coming directly at us, and will collide with the Milky Way in 4 billion years. The event will transform the appearance of our night sky.