Images
Univ. of Mich. |
Click for video: An
artist's conception shows
a dust devil on Mars. Click
on the image to watch
time-lapse imagery of
a dust devil from 2007.
|
Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are providing an advance peek at what the Phoenix Mars Lander will be running up against when it lands near the planet's north pole later this month: The spacecraft will be coming down in the middle of a spring thaw, and based on the pictures released this week, there just might be some Martian mini-tornadoes swirling through the scene.
Two of the twisters, known as dust devils, show up on an April 20 image of Phoenix's projected landing area, taken by MRO's Context Camera. The Martian whirlwinds are similar to the desert mini-twisters often seen on Earth - and have previously been caught on camera by the Mars Pathfinder lander as well as NASA's Spirit rover. You can watch a dust devil spin through Spirit's line of sight in this year-old video clip.
CONTINUED >>
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.
CONTINUED >>
Researchers have created a first-ever simulation of three black holes circling and colliding, graphically demonstrating how Einstein’s version of gravity differs from Newton's.
They say their supercomputer cluster can juggle the interactions of as many as 22 black holes – and help other researchers recognize the signatures of such rare phenomena on the cosmic frontier.
CONTINUED >>
Twentieth Century Fox |
Click for video: Watch a spooky
scene from the movie "Shutter."
|
For more than a century, photographers have been capturing spooky stuff on film: semi-transparent figures standing in the cemetery, for example, or glowing clouds of "ectoplasm" above a seance table, or orbs floating in a forest, or arcs of light encircling someone's head.
Ghostly pictures play a key role in the plot for the horror flick "Shutter" - and the movie's producers are asking people to upload their own spirit photographs. Is there anything substantial behind the spookiness?
CONTINUED >>
ESA |
What's behind the vortex on Venus? Astronomers have been studying the atmospheric swirl at the Venusian south pole for more than three decades, and the latest crop of imagery from the European Space Agency's Venus Express orbiter documents quick changes in what appears to be the eye of a 1,200-mile-wide (2,000-kilometer-wide) hurricane. But they still haven't figured out the exact mechanism behind the vortex.
The fresh view of Venus' giant swirlie is just one of the curiosities documented in this week's wave of interplanetary imagery - taking its place alongside fresh close-ups of a mysterious Saturnian moon and dark halos on the planet Mercury. Read on for more of the highlights:
CONTINUED >>
 Microsoft Research |
The galaxy M81 makes its
appearance in a screenshot from
the WorldWide Telescope. Click on
the image for a larger version.
|
After weeks of rumblings in the blogosphere, Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope was brought out in the open for the first time today, at the annual TED conference in Monterey, Calif. The software program knits together terabytes of online data into a seamless, zoomable experience - and lets users create their own guided tours of the deep sky.
Even though the free program was demonstrated today, it's still said to be in private alpha mode, which means it could be several weeks before you can try it out for yourselves.
CONTINUED >>
ESA / MPS / DLR / IDA |
Pictures from Europe’s Venus Express orbiter are providing new insights - and raising new questions - about Venusian weather systems that are fueled not by water, as on Earth, but by sulfuric acid.
CONTINUED >>
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell |
NASA's Spirit rover captured this view looking northward from the north edge of the
Home Plate plateau, where it will be spending the Martian winter as a stationary
"weather station." Click on the image for a larger version.
|
Life on ancient Mars just got tougher.
Not only was Martian water highly acidic in ancient times, but it was also extremely salty, researchers reported today in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
CONTINUED >>
NASA / JPL-Caltech / CfA |
This false-color image from the Spitzer Space Telescope shows
the main cloud of the Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region.
|
One of our galaxy's closest star-forming regions provides the canvas for a glittering baby portrait from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. In the infrared image, infant stars nestle within the folds of a dusty hydrogen cloud around Rho Ophiuchi.
CONTINUED >>
Phil Walter / Getty Images |
After weeks of delay, the crew members of the shuttle Atlantis are finally ready for their voyage to the international space station this week - a trip primarily aimed at giving science a big orbital boost. Thanks to the Internet, you can go on your own virtual voyages across the universe from the comfort of your own computer. Here's a selection of online destinations:
CONTINUED >>
