The big pictures in space

Posted: Monday, October 08, 2007 8:30 PM by Alan Boyle

NASA

CLICK FOR SLIDE SHOW  See the latest installment  of "Space Shots" by  clicking on the image.

Every time we present "Space Shots," our twice-monthly selection of the best images from the cosmos, we get inquiries from folks wondering where they can get those images of galaxies, nebulae and planetary vistas in larger formats, suitable for putting through your inkjet printer or splashing on your computer desktop.

Well, you need wonder no more: Here are pointers to bigger pictures, and in some cases video.

The following Web links will also give you more background about the science behind our latest crop of eye-popping imagery:

• Top of the world: Check out NASA's Earth Observatory for the inside story on shrinking Arctic sea ice. Two recent studies have shed more light on this important environmental issue.
  
  
• Discovery on stage: Kennedy Space Center's multimedia archive provides a great view of the shuttle Discovery's rollout to the launch pad, and much more about space missions launching from Florida. Our Human Spaceflight section will be providing continuing coverage of Discovery's flight to the international space station.
  
  
• Diamond cluster: To see bigger versions of the glittering star cluster NGC 3603, click on over to the Hubblesite - and learn more from this archived Cosmic Log posting. 
  
  
• Rising Dawn: You'll find bigger pictures of the Dawn spacecraft's launch at the KSC multimedia archive, and for the full story on Dawn's mission to Ceres and Vesta, check out this launch report as well as the official Dawn Web site.
  
  
• Martian cheese: The HiRISE imaging team's Web site gives you high-resolution images of the "Swiss cheese" terrain in Mars' polar regions, and fills you in on the science as well.
  
  
• Watch it go! You'll find plenty of YouTube videos that mesh well with The Associated Press' picture of the Dawn spacecraft's launch, as seen from Florida's Jetty Park. Here's one from NASA itself.
  
  
• Islands of the Four Mountains: Once again, NASA's Earth Observatory delivers when it comes to this stunning view of volcanic Aleutian islands off Alaska's coast.
  
  
• Home, sweet Home Plate: The Mars rover mission Web site explains what you're looking at in this panorama of Home Plate, an intriguing rock formation studied by NASA's Spirit rover.
  
  
• Thrown for a loop: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's Web site highlights pictures of the sun from the SOHO spacecraft as well as NASA's STEREO probes. This view of a magnetic loop erupting from the sun's surface came from STEREO. 
  
  
• Capital moon: Check out this story to learn the background behind the "harvest moon" seen over the U.S. Capitol in this AP picture.
  
  
• Eye on the aurora: SpaceWeather.com is the must-see Web site for thrilling views of aurorae and other sky phenomena.
  
  
• Sailing a cosmic ocean: This picture of the international space station floating above Earth is available through Earth Observatory, but to see galleries of pictures from the international space station as well as from shuttle missions, NASA's Human Spaceflight Web site is the place to go.
  
  
• Crescent Earth: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has bigger pictures of Earth as seen by the moon-bound Kaguya spacecraft, and this article tells you the full story behind the high-resolution image.
  
  
• Rock ‘n’ roll on Mars: NASA provides larger-resolution versions of the Opportunity rover's view of Victoria Crater on Mars, and you can get the full background on this and other Martian adventures from our "Return to the Red Planet" section.
  

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