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Saturday 16 January 2016

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S BEST SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK XCIV


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Week’s Best Space Pictures: Saturn Shows Off and a Storm Brews
By
National Geographic News, 15 January 2016.

Feed your need for heavenly views of the universe with our picks of the most awe-inspiring space pictures. This week, a serpent of electrified gas above the sun’s surface collapses, Saturn flaunts its splendorous size, and Mars hints at its ancient, watery past.

1. Graceful Giant

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Saturn displays its full grandeur in this image from NASA’s Cassini probe. With a diameter of 116,500 kilometres (72,400 miles), the planet dwarfs its moons, including Tethys, the 1,066-kilometre-wide dot in the lower right.

2. Dust Bowl

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NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots a perfect example of a simple impact crater in Hellespontus, the borderlands west of Hellas Planitia basin. Arizona’s Meteor Crater also sports a bowl-like shape - and is just 200 metres smaller.

3. Solar Serpent’s Fiery End

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On December 16-17, 2015, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory witnessed the collapse of a solar filament, an arc of electrified gas above the sun’s surface. Its eruption generated cascades of magnetic arches, seen here.

4. Going with the Flow

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Early in Mars’ history, liquid water carved the surface, forming channels such as this one south of the Vastitas Borealis lowlands. It’s unclear what kickstarted the waters’ downhill flow: rainfall, snowmelt, or springs.

5. No Pain, No Gain

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Hubble spotted an unusually lively elliptical galaxy, called NGC 3597, some 150 million light-years away that was formed by two colliding galaxies. The crash has sparked new rounds of star birth.

6. Early Riser

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On January 11, NASA’s Terra satellite witnessed tropical storm Pali strengthen into a hurricane. Pali is the earliest hurricane ever recorded over the Central Pacific Basin in a calendar year, perhaps spurred on by El Niño.

7. Young and the Restless

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NASA’s New Horizons probe spies Sputnik Planum, Pluto’s vast plain of nitrogen ice. Sputnik Planum is less than 10 million years old, a sign of shockingly recent geological activity on small, cold Pluto.

8. Smoke on the Water

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Battles in Libya on January 4-6 sparked fires at oil production and storage facilities near the coastal city of Sidra. NASA’s Aqua satellite spotted the fires’ smoke plumes extending the Mediterranean.

9. Captivating Clays

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NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter zooms in on the interior of Mars’ McLaughlin Crater. Its three terrain types - and hints of ancient groundwater - make it a compelling landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.

[Source: National Geographic News. Edited. Some links added.]

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