![The most spectacular photograph of last weekend’s Lyrid meteor shower
It’s only fitting that one of the most breathtaking photographs of this weekend’s Lyrid meteor shower would be captured from the rim of Oregon’s Crater Lake.
Last weekend’s dark, moonless nights made for some of the best meteor-spotting conditions in close to a year — conditions astrophotographer Brad Goldpaint had planned to take full advantage of, had it not been for Oregon’s crummy weekend weather. He claims to have spotted just one meteor the entire night, but if the photograph up top is any indication [click here for higher res], it was definitely worth the wait. Besides, I’d imagine it’s pretty hard to be bummed about a lack of meteor activity when your default backdrop is an absurdly beautiful view of the Milky Way. [Brad Goldpaint via Bad Astronomy]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m348n5USzo1qbkzabo1_500.jpg)
The most spectacular photograph of last weekend’s Lyrid meteor shower
It’s only fitting that one of the most breathtaking photographs of this weekend’s Lyrid meteor shower would be captured from the rim of Oregon’s Crater Lake.
Last weekend’s dark, moonless nights made for some of the best meteor-spotting conditions in close to a year — conditions astrophotographer Brad Goldpaint had planned to take full advantage of, had it not been for Oregon’s crummy weekend weather. He claims to have spotted just one meteor the entire night, but if the photograph up top is any indication [click here for higher res], it was definitely worth the wait. Besides, I’d imagine it’s pretty hard to be bummed about a lack of meteor activity when your default backdrop is an absurdly beautiful view of the Milky Way. [Brad Goldpaint via Bad Astronomy]
A breathtaking reminder of just how gigantic Jupiter really is
If you’re looking for a reminder of how impossibly huge Jupiter is, just take a gander at this image from Cassini. That tiny satellite in front is Io…which is almost the same size and relative distance as our own Moon.
Of course, other than their closeness in size - Io and the Moon are the 13th and 14th largest objects in the solar system, with the Moon about 86.8% the volume of the Moon - the two objects aren’t all that similar. While the Moon is more or less geologically dead, Io is the most volcanic body in the solar system. What’s amazing is that the distance of Io to Jupiter and the Moon to Earth are both roughly 350,000 to 400,000 kilometers. As you can probably remember from the Apollo photographs, Earth doesn’t look quite as big as Jupiter from such a distance.
NASA has some more information on this particular image
Gliding past Jupiter at the turn of the millennium, the Cassini spacecraft captured this awe inspiring view of active Io with the largest gas giant as a backdrop, offering a stunning demonstration of the ruling planet’s relative size. Although in the above picture Io appears to be located just in front of the swirling Jovian clouds, Io hurtles around its orbit once every 42 hours at a distance of 420,000 kilometers or so from the center of Jupiter. That puts Io nearly 350,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s cloud tops, roughly equivalent to the distance between Earth and Moon. The Cassini spacecraft itself was about 10 million kilometers from Jupiter when recording the image.
Cassini, of course, is better known for its photographs of Saturn, which it reached in 2004 after flying by Jupiter around New Year’s Eve 2000.
Via NASA.
Behold, a beautiful example of Earthshine
You’re looking at a stunning example of something astronomers and stargazers called “Earthshine.” Known by some as “the old Moon in the new Moon’s arms,” Earthshine is a phenomenon first formally described by Leonardo da Vinci some 500 years ago.
![High resolution images of Mars reveal a stunning, wind-battered landscape
Who would ever imagine that sand dunes could look so incredible? In this beautiful image, sand trapped in an impact crater in the Red Planet’s Moachis Terra region have been sculpted by the winds of Mars into a vast and variegated landscape.
But photos like this have far more to offer than their beauty — they also allow scientists to study one of the fastest, most dynamic geological processes in the universe, providing us with incredible insights into Mars’ history.
More than 21,000 images have been captured by NASA’s HiRISE telescope since it began taking photos of the Red Planet’s surface in late 2006. Photos like the one up top [hi-res available here] are of particular interest to scientists studying what are known as “aeolian processes” — i.e. the study of landforms formed by wind (Aeolus is the wind god in Greek mythology).
Unlike many other geological processes, which can take hundreds of thousands of years to change in any dramatic or visibly noticeable way, the wind-crafted sands of Mars’ surface are continually changing at a pace so rapid, we’ve managed to visualize their movement even in the few short years we’ve been observing them.
How fast various “aeolian bedforms” (dunes and ripples) migrate across the planet’s surface, how quickly they settle into the planet’s various topographical features, whether or not some bedforms even migrate at all — these are just a few examples of the questions planetary scientists are using images like this to understand; and the answers they find will help us make sense of Mars’ geological and climatological past, present, and future.
[Via NASA]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyf05bjwpZ1qbkzabo1_500.jpg)
High resolution images of Mars reveal a stunning, wind-battered landscape
Who would ever imagine that sand dunes could look so incredible? In this beautiful image, sand trapped in an impact crater in the Red Planet’s Moachis Terra region have been sculpted by the winds of Mars into a vast and variegated landscape.
But photos like this have far more to offer than their beauty — they also allow scientists to study one of the fastest, most dynamic geological processes in the universe, providing us with incredible insights into Mars’ history.
More than 21,000 images have been captured by NASA’s HiRISE telescope since it began taking photos of the Red Planet’s surface in late 2006. Photos like the one up top [hi-res available here] are of particular interest to scientists studying what are known as “aeolian processes” — i.e. the study of landforms formed by wind (Aeolus is the wind god in Greek mythology).
Unlike many other geological processes, which can take hundreds of thousands of years to change in any dramatic or visibly noticeable way, the wind-crafted sands of Mars’ surface are continually changing at a pace so rapid, we’ve managed to visualize their movement even in the few short years we’ve been observing them.
How fast various “aeolian bedforms” (dunes and ripples) migrate across the planet’s surface, how quickly they settle into the planet’s various topographical features, whether or not some bedforms even migrate at all — these are just a few examples of the questions planetary scientists are using images like this to understand; and the answers they find will help us make sense of Mars’ geological and climatological past, present, and future.
[Via NASA]
![A massive solar eruption may lead to the strongest radiation storm in seven years
Last week, a swelling solar storm on the surface of the Sun sent a stream of charged particles hurtling toward Earth, making for beautiful northern lights in the planet’s extreme latitudes. But late last night, at 10:59 p.m. EST, the now massive tempest unleashed an eruption that scientists expect will be responsible for Earth’s largest solar radiation storm since 2005.
How powerful are we talking? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that many plane flights scheduled for tomorrow can expect to be re-routed within the next few hours.
Cause for concern is due to the M9-class solar flare that was observed lashing out last night from a large sunspot — dubbed “1402” — on the Sun’s northeastern hemisphere. The image you see up top reveals the extreme flash of ultraviolet radiation that was emitted by the sunspot, as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory [Click here for a mesmerizing hi-res version].
The explosion’s M9-ranking puts it just below the threshold of an X-flare, the most powerful classification of solar eruption there is. It’s important to understand that while flares more violent than 1402’s are often observed on the surface of the Sun, it’s rare for one so powerful to eject subatomic particles in a wave aimed so directly at Earth; analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have released an animated forecast track [click through to see], which shows the leading edge of the particle ejection reaching Earth tomorrow morning, shortly after 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).
SpaceWeather.com reports the particles emitted by last night’s solar flare could “cause isolated reboots of computers onboard Earth-orbiting satellites and interfere with polar radio communications.” According to Kathy Sullivan, deputy administrator of NOAA, polar flights scheduled for tomorrow here on Earth are expected to be re-routed within the next few hours, so as to avoid any complications caused by the storm’s arrival.
Read more on NOAA, Spaceweather.com and SPACE.comTop image via NOAA](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly9u76pwp71qbkzabo1_r1_500.jpg)
A massive solar eruption may lead to the strongest radiation storm in seven years
Last week, a swelling solar storm on the surface of the Sun sent a stream of charged particles hurtling toward Earth, making for beautiful northern lights in the planet’s extreme latitudes. But late last night, at 10:59 p.m. EST, the now massive tempest unleashed an eruption that scientists expect will be responsible for Earth’s largest solar radiation storm since 2005.
How powerful are we talking? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that many plane flights scheduled for tomorrow can expect to be re-routed within the next few hours.
Cause for concern is due to the M9-class solar flare that was observed lashing out last night from a large sunspot — dubbed “1402” — on the Sun’s northeastern hemisphere. The image you see up top reveals the extreme flash of ultraviolet radiation that was emitted by the sunspot, as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory [Click here for a mesmerizing hi-res version].
The explosion’s M9-ranking puts it just below the threshold of an X-flare, the most powerful classification of solar eruption there is. It’s important to understand that while flares more violent than 1402’s are often observed on the surface of the Sun, it’s rare for one so powerful to eject subatomic particles in a wave aimed so directly at Earth; analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have released an animated forecast track [click through to see], which shows the leading edge of the particle ejection reaching Earth tomorrow morning, shortly after 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).
SpaceWeather.com reports the particles emitted by last night’s solar flare could “cause isolated reboots of computers onboard Earth-orbiting satellites and interfere with polar radio communications.” According to Kathy Sullivan, deputy administrator of NOAA, polar flights scheduled for tomorrow here on Earth are expected to be re-routed within the next few hours, so as to avoid any complications caused by the storm’s arrival.
Read more on NOAA, Spaceweather.com and SPACE.com
Top image via NOAA
