Surveyor Hops

1997-11-22

This panorama of the cratered lunar surface was constructed from images returned by the US Surveyor 6 lander. Surveyor 6 was not the first spacecraft to accomplish a soft landing on the Moon ... but it was the first to land and then lift off ...

Jowisz: Księżyc, pierścień i chmury

1997-11-21

An inner moon, an edge-on, planet-girdling ring, and high altitude cloud bands are visible in this mosaic of infrared images of gas giant Jupiter. The moon Metis, 25 miles wide and about 80,000 miles from the planet, is the bright spot at the ...

Escape From The Sun

1997-11-20

Twisted magnetic fields arching from the solar surface can trap ionized gas, suspending it in huge looping structures. These majestic plasma arches are seen as prominences above the solar limb. On September 14, this dramatic and detailed image ...

Kolce dyfrakcyjne: Kiedy gwiazdy...

1997-11-19

Unusual appendages around bright stars are commonplace, but never seem to be mentioned. What are they? First, a telescope brings starlight falling over a large area to a small area. To get at this small area, however, one must go inside a ...

W środku trapezu

1997-11-18

Start with the constellation of Orion. Below Orion's belt is a fuzzy area known as the Great Nebula of Orion or M42. In this nebula is a bright star cluster known as the Trapezium, shown above. New stellar systems are forming there in gigantic ...

Krater Barringera na Ziemi

1997-11-17

What happens when a meteor hits the ground? Usually nothing much, as most meteors are small, and indentations they make are soon eroded away. 49,000 years ago, however, a large meteor created Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, pictured above. ...

The Leonid Meteor Shower

1997-11-16

The Leonid Meteor Shower will likely reach its peak in the early hours this Monday morning. Though the Moon will be bright, Leo, the shower's radiant point, will be well above the eastern horizon from Western North America and the Pacific region ...

Uran: Przechylona planeta

1997-11-15

Uranus is the third largest planet after Jupiter and Saturn. This picture was snapped by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 - the only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus. Uranus has many moons and a ring system. Uranus is composed mostly of rock and ...

Galaktyka nieregularna Sextans A

1997-11-14

Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory. Their newly formed, bright, blue star clusters found along beautiful, symmetric spiral arms are guaranteed to attract attention. But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like this lovely, ...

Mars: A Sheer Close-up

1997-11-13

As the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft maneuvers toward its final mapping orbit, its cameras have been producing some sharp views of Mars. At a resolution of better than 30 feet per pixel, this image of a portion of the immense canyon, Valles ...