Pages

Saturday 16 April 2016

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S BEST SPACE PICTURES THIS WEEK CVI


wps6E6A.tmp
Week's Best Space Pictures: A Cosmic Spider Creeps Into View
By Michael Greshko,
National Geographic News, 15 April 2016.

This week, Venus's clouds cast striking shadows, a Martian crater shows off its multi-coloured deposits, and a supersonic jet screams past the sun.

1. Tangled Web

wps2E6D.tmp

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured the infrared glow of IC 417, a nebula about 10,000 light-years away. The space cloud is often called a cosmic spider, as it seems to be hunting its small neighbour NGC 1931.

2. Smashing Composition

wpsB4F.tmp

Viewed in infrared and visible light by a NASA orbiter, the western rim of Mars's Holden Crater takes on a rainbow of hues. The colours represent diverse rock types that have been jumbled by impacts.

3. Shock and Awe

wpsA194.tmp

Using a 150-year-old photography technique called schlieren imagery, NASA created this image of shock waves triggered by a U.S. Air Force T-38C jetfighter as it passed in front of the sun at supersonic speed.

4. Twinkling and Windy

wps3EB2.tmp

On April 5, International Space Station commander Tim Kopra of NASA captured this image of night-time lights in the city of Chicago.

5. Better Late Than Never

wpsBD76.tmp

The Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki is finally orbiting Venus after a five-year delay caused by technical difficulties. The spacecraft recently snapped this infrared shot of Venus's cloudy atmosphere.

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

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.