Big pictures from space
Posted: Friday, April 25, 2008 7:31 PM by Alan Boyle
Pictures from outer space are among the biggest crowd-pleasers we have to offer here, and we're fortunate to have so many to choose from this week. Fifty-nine views of colliding galaxies were released to mark the 18th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's launch, and we're also presenting a separate set of spectacular images in our "Month in Space Pictures" roundup.
You may be wondering where you can get bigger versions of all these beauties, as well as more information about the science behind them. If so, you've come to the right place.
First, about those Hubble images: The Baltimore-based Space Telescope Science Institute has larger versions of all 59 galactic crashes at its Hubblesite online portal. You could have a new desktop image every week for the next year and still not run out. But Hubblesite offers much more than just pretty pictures.
In a video clip, reporter Mary Estacion and Caltech astronomer Aaron Evans explain how the images hint at the fate that awaits our own galaxy billions of years from now. Other videos show you the galaxies one by one and demonstrate the dynamics of the collisions.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's Hubble home page has its own take on the galaxies gone wild, including a nine-minute Hubblecast video from "Dr. J" (European Southern Observatory astronomer Joe Liske).
The "Month in Space" images are more of a mixed bag - and because of copyright considerations, not all of them are available in larger formats. But here are links to Web sources for the most photogenic views:
- A bigger space base: Check out NASA Human Spaceflight for a bigger view of the international space station.
- Super-size the Soyuz: Get higher-resolution versions of "Making History," "Russian Rocket Rises" and "Rough Landing" - plus the latest story about the Soyuz mission that ended with a bang.
- Alien dunes: The Web site for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, brings you weird Martian dunes and much, much more.
- X-wing freighter: I love this shot of Europe's Jules Verne ATV cargo ship, as seen on NASA Human Spaceflight.
- Like Martian water for chocolate: The Web site for the Thermal Emission Imaging System on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, known as THEMIS, give you the full story behind the Mars candy bar.
- Stephen Hawking's space vision: Get our highest-resolution version of the Associated Press picture showing the world-famous physicist in Washington - and don't miss our story about what he said there.
- Saturn's spinning top: NASA's Cassini Web site and the online home of the Cassini imaging team, or CICLOPS, both offer up a top-down shot of the ringed planet, and loads of other great shots. If you're in New York, stop by the Cassini photo exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.
- Dusty view of Mars: Cape Verde looms even larger at Cornell University's Pancam Web site, which also provides the story behind the picture.
- Geysers in space: NASA's Planetary Photojournal has the big picture of Enceladus' geysers as well as a detailed analysis showing that they contain organic chemicals.
- Oceanside launch: Check out a higher-resolution version of the European Ariane 5 satellite launch and learn more about the mission from Arianespace.
- Martian moon: The HiRISE Web site provides the full story behind the flyby of Phobos, one of Mars' moons.
- A rare ring: Learn more about Italy's Nardo Ring from NASA's Earth Observatory.
- An Earth odyssey: Get a better look at the Soviet space shuttle's strange ride and read a story about the trip.
- Pinwheel in space: My favorite picture of the month comes from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer.
For more beauties from beyond our planet, check out our Space Gallery. And if all these otherworldly wonders are whetting your appetite for more, you just might want to check out free planetarium programs such as Stellarium, Celestia and the venerable Google Sky.
I recently wrote about yet another such program, Microsoft's World Wide Telescope, which is still undergoing internal testing in preparation for the release of a public beta version. "The beta is not available yet, but soon," Curtis Wong of Microsoft Research told me in an e-mail update.
Do you have your own favorite windows for looking out at the universe's big pictures? Feel free to add them as comments below.
