Modern satellites equipped with advanced observation and information collection systems, as well as innovative telescopes, allow us to learn more and more about the planets that make up the solar system. Below you will find the best photographs of planets ever taken by man or machine.
Mercury
Taken from NASA's Messenger spacecraft, this is the best image of Mercury ever taken. It was compiled on February 22, 2013.
Venus
This is a slightly older photo from the 1996 Magellan mission. It has been in orbit since 1989, but this is one of the best images it took during its entire flight. The dark spots across the planet's surface are meteorite tracks, and the large light area in the center is the Ovda Regio, a massive mountain range.
Earth
40 years after publishing the famous Blue Ball image that showed what our planet looks like from space, NASA has released this updated version, photographed by the Suomi NPP satellite.
Mars
In the case of Mars, we have to go back to 1980. Recent advances in the exploration of Mars have given us many ultra-detailed images of this planet, but all of them were taken from close range or now from the surface. And this picture, again in the form of a “Marble Ball,” is one of the best in the entire history of the Red Planet. This is a mosaic image taken from the Viking 1 orbiter. The crack in the middle is Valles Marineris, a huge canyon running along the planet's equator, one of the largest in our solar system.
Jupiter
The best image of Jupiter was taken, believe it or not, by the Cassini probe in November 2003, which was actually flying towards Saturn. What's interesting is that everything you see here is actually a cloud, and not the surface of the planet itself. White and bronze rings are different types of cloud cover. What makes this photo stand out is that these colors are very close to what the human eye would actually see.
Saturn
And when the Cassini probe finally reached its destination, it took these extraordinary images of Saturn and its moons. This photo was compiled from images taken during the Saturn equinox in July 2008, a mosaic of 30 images taken over the course of two hours.
Uranus
Poor Uranus. In 1986, when Voyager 2 passed the first "ice giant" on its way out of the solar system, it looked like nothing more than a green-blue sphere with no special features. The reason for this was the methane clouds that make up the upper layer of the frozen gas atmosphere of this planet. There is an opinion that there are water clouds somewhere underneath them, but no one can say for sure.
Neptune
The last planet to be considered a planet by scientists, Neptune was only discovered in 1846, and even then it was discovered through mathematics rather than observation—changes in the orbit of Uranus led astronomer Alexis Bouvard to believe there was another one beyond it. planet. And this image is not very high quality, because Neptune was visited only once, by the Voyager 2 probe in 1989. It is difficult to imagine what is actually happening on this planet - the temperature on it is slightly above absolute zero, the strongest winds in the solar system blow on it (up to 2 thousand kilometers per hour), and we have an extremely vague idea of how this planet was formed in the first place and exists.
Pluto
Yes, Pluto is a “dwarf” planet and not a regular planet. But we can't ignore it, especially since it's the last major celestial body in our solar system - which also means we have very little information about what it looks like or what's going on there. This is a computer-generated image based on photographs from the Hubble telescope; the color is synthesized based on guesswork, and the planet's surface isn't necessarily blurred since we don't actually know what it looks like at all.
Interplanetary robotic probes from NASA, the European Space Agency and others are currently collecting information about our solar system. Right now, spacecraft are in orbit around the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn, while others are flying towards small space objects.
Thanks to the astronauts and all the automatic mechanical scouts in space, we have the opportunity to look at “family” photographs of our Solar System.
This is Pan-STARRS - a non-periodic circumsolar comet. In March 2013, it could be observed with the naked eye, while it was near perihelion. It is named after the Pan-STARRS telescope located on the island of Maui (Hawaii).
This photo of the comet was taken on March 15, 2013 from Stereo Behind, part of one of the most unusual projects to study the Sun. So, one device moves in an orbit located to the Sun a little closer than the Earth’s, the other - a little further. As a result, Stereo Ahead and Stereo Behind send pictures taken from different points at the same time. This allows you to form a three-dimensional picture of observations.
Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun in the Solar System. In its physical characteristics, Mercury resembles the Moon. It has no natural satellites, but has a very rarefied atmosphere. The temperature on the surface of Mercury ranges from −180 to +430 °C. The photo was taken from the American automatic interplanetary station Messenger for the study of Mercury.
Mercury is the smallest terrestrial planet. Its radius is only 2440 ± 1.0 km, which is less than the radius of Jupiter's moon Ganymede and Saturn's moon Titan. Comparative sizes of the planets (from left to right: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars):
Kertesz Crater on Mercury. It is named after Andre Kertesz, an American photographer of Hungarian origin. The diameter of the crater is 33 km.
This is Venus - the second inner planet of the solar system. Its relative dimensions are shown in the 4th photo. Venus is classified as an Earth-like planet and is sometimes called "Earth's sister" because the two planets are similar in size, gravity, and composition. By cosmic standards, Venus is a young planet, and the surface of Venus is approximately 500 million years old.
In ancient times, Venus is believed to have become so hot that the Earth-like oceans it is thought to have evaporated completely, leaving behind a desert landscape with many slab-like rocks. The atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus is 92 times greater than on Earth.
Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide walked into outer space from the ISS, November 1, 2012. Contrary to popular belief, space is not completely empty space - it contains a very low density of some particles (mainly hydrogen), as well as electromagnetic radiation. Also, there is still no consensus on what to consider as a factor in the beginning of space, since the atmosphere gradually thins out as it moves away from the earth’s surface.
According to NASA scientists, contrary to popular belief, when entering outer space without a protective suit, a person will not freeze, explode, or instantly lose consciousness, and his blood will not boil. Instead, there will be rapid death from lack of oxygen.
Northern Lights in Alaska, March 17, 2013. 1000–1100 km - the maximum height of the auroras, the last manifestation of the atmosphere visible from the Earth's surface.
A crater lake is a body of water formed when a volcanic crater fills with water. This satellite photo of Quebec shows two circular crater lakes not covered with snow - Pingualuit and Couture. Both craters were formed millions of years ago by the impact of meteorites on the Earth's surface.
Test launch of the Antares rocket, developed by the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation and intended to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, April 21, 2013. We have already talked about this launch in detail.
December 7, 2012 was 40 years since the launch of Apollo 17, the manned spacecraft that carried out the sixth and final landing of men on the Moon as part of the Apollo program. This photo was taken in 1972 from Apollo 17. The Earth can be seen rising above the lunar horizon.
The Curiosity rover is monitored by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in Martian orbit. This image shows rover tracks on the surface of the Red Planet, January 2, 2013.
Aeolis or Mount Sharp - the central peak of Gale Crater on the planet Mars, September 20, 2012. The main goal of the Curiosity rover's scientific mission is to conduct research in the area at the foot of Mount Sharp.
On February 8, 2013, the American rover Curiosity drilled a hole in Mars (diameter 1.6 cm, depth 6.4 cm) and obtained a soil sample.
Gullies on the Vesta asteroid. It is one of the largest asteroids in the main asteroid belt. Among asteroids it ranks first in mass and second in size after Pallas. Vesta was discovered on March 29, 1807 by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers and, at the suggestion of Karl Gauss, received the name of the ancient Roman goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.
Currently, there are many ways to observe space, these are optical telescopes, radio telescopes, mathematical calculations, and data processing from artificial satellites. Every minute, probes from NASA, the European Space Agency, and others collect information about our solar system. Now the ships oversee the orbits of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn; a few more are on their way to small bodies, and a few more are on their way out of the solar system. On Mars, the rover called Spirit was officially declared dead after two years of silence, but its twin Opportunity continues its mission, spending 2,500 days on the planet instead of the planned 90. Here are photos of the Earth's and outer group of planets.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the Moon passing the sun on May 3. (NASA/GSFC/SDO)
Detailed view of the surface of the sun. Part of a large sunspot in active region 10030, imaged on July 15, 2002 using the Swedish telescope in La Palma. The width of the cells at the top of the image is about a thousand kilometers. The central part of the spot (umber) is dark because strong magnetic fields here stop the rise of hot gas from within. The filamentous formations around the umber make up the penumbra. Dark nuclei are clearly visible in some bright filaments. (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
On October 6, 2008, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully completed its second flight around Mercury. The next day, photographs taken during this flight reached Earth. This amazing photo was the first, it was taken 90 minutes after the ship came within close range of the planet. The bright crater south of center is Kuiper, seen in Mariner 10 images from the 1970s. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
Mosaic of the Spitteler and Hallberg craters on Mercury on March 30. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
The South Pole and the boundary of light and shadow on Mercury from an altitude of 10,240 km. The temperature of the surface at the top of the image, bathed in the sun's rays, is about 430 degrees Celsius. In the lower dark part of the image, the temperature quickly drops to 163 degrees, and in some parts of the planet the sun's rays never reach, so the temperature there remains as low as -90 degrees. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
The second planet from the Sun, Venus. The photo was taken on June 5, 2007. Thick clouds of sulfuric acid clouded the planet's surface, reflecting sunlight into space but keeping it warm at 460°C. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
This image was taken by NASA's rover of Aitken Crater, including its central peak and northern walls. The width of the surface in the image is about 30 kilometers. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
A plume of post-crater emissions from an unnamed crater with a radius of 1 km on the Moon. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
Apollo 14 landing site. The footprints left by NASA astronauts on February 5 and 6, 1971 are still visible today. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
This detailed view of our planet comes primarily from observations of the Terra moon. The image focuses on the Pacific Ocean, part of an important water system that covers 75% of our planet's surface. (NASA/Robert Simmon and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, based on MODIS data)
An image of the Moon distorted by layers of the atmosphere. The photo was taken by astronauts from the ISS over the Indian Ocean on April 17. (NASA)
Panorama of central South America. (NASA)
On October 28, 2010, astronauts on the ISS captured this image of Earth at night with Brussels, Paris and Milan brightly lit. (NASA)
Snowfall over 30 US states last February - from the Great Plains to New England. (NOAA/NASA GOES Project)
South Georgia is an arched island lying 2000 km east of the southern tip of South America. Along the eastern coast of the continent, the Neumayer Glacier snakes toward the ocean. Photo taken January 4, 2009. (NASA EO-1 team)
This photo was taken by James Spann at Poker Flats, Alaska, where he was attending a scientific conference on the study of the northern lights, on March 1. (NASA/GSFC/James Spann)
This is how ISS astronauts greet the sunrise. (NASA)
An amazing double crater with a common rim and lava deposits. Apparently, these two craters formed at the same time. The photo was taken on Mars using a camera on the rover in February of this year. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
A sand formation on the surface of Mars in the Sinus Sabaeus crater. Photo taken on April 1st. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
This image was taken by the Opportunity rover camera perched on the edge of Santa Maria Crater (dark dot top left). Opportunity's tracks leading to the right can be seen in the center. The photo was taken on March 1, after Opportunity had been studying the area for several days. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The Opportunity rover looks at the surface of Mars. Somewhere in the distance you can see a small crater. (NASA/JPL)
The area of Holden Crater, one of four candidates for the landing site of the Curiosity rover, January 4, 2011. NASA is still considering the landing site of its next Mars rover, scheduled for November 25. The rover is scheduled to land on Mars on August 6, 2012. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The Mars rover "Spirit" at the place where it was last seen. He was stuck in the sand under the sun. For a year now, his radio had stopped working, and last Wednesday NASA engineers sent out a final signal in hopes of getting an answer. They didn't receive it. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The first, raw image of the asteroid Vesta taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The image was taken on May 3 from a distance of about 1 million km. Vesta in a white glow in the center of the photo. The huge asteroid reflects so much sun that its size appears much larger. Vesta is 530 km in diameter, the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. The ship's approach to the asteroid is expected on July 16, 2011. (NASA/JPL)
An image of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Telescope on July 23, 2009, after an asteroid or comet entered the planet's atmosphere and disintegrated. (NASA, ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, Jupiter Impact Team)
An image of Saturn taken by Cassini on April 25. In it you can see several satellites along the rings. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
A detailed view of Saturn's small moon Helena as Cassini flies past the planet on May 3. Saturn's atmosphere occupies the background of the image. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Ice particles fly out of cracks in the south of Saturn's moon Enceladus on August 13, 2010. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Vertical features on Saturn's main rings rise sharply from the edge of the B ring, casting long shadows across the ring. The photo was taken by the Cassini spacecraft two weeks before the equinox in August 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Cassini looks at the dark side of Saturn's largest moon. The halo-like ring is formed by sunlight at the periphery of Titan's atmosphere. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus with the planet's rings in the background. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus pass by the planet's rings and surface below on May 21. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
The shadows of Saturn's rings on the surface of the planet appear as thin stripes. The photo was taken almost on the day of the equinox in August 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Science
Outer space full of unexpected surprises and incredibly beautiful landscapes that today astronomers can capture in photographs. Sometimes space or ground-based spacecraft take such unusual photographs that scientists still They've been wondering for a long time what it is.
Space photos help make amazing discoveries, see details of planets and their satellites, draw conclusions regarding their physical properties, determine the distance to objects, and much more.
1) Glowing gas of the Omega Nebula . This nebula, open Jean Philippe de Chaizeau in 1775, located in the area constellation Sagittarius Milky Way galaxy. The distance to us from this nebula is approximately 5-6 thousand light years, and in diameter it reaches 15 light years. Photo taken with a special digital camera during the project Digitized Sky Survey 2.
New images of Mars
2) Strange lumps on Mars . This photo was taken by the panchromatic context camera of the automatic interplanetary station Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which explores Mars.
Visible in the picture strange formations, which formed on lava flows interacting with water on the surface. Lava, flowing down the slope, encircled the bases of the mounds, then swelled. Lava Swelling- a process in which the liquid layer, which appears under the hardening layer of liquid lava, lifts the surface slightly, forming such a relief.
These formations are located on the Martian plain Amazonis Planitia- a huge territory that is covered with frozen lava. The plain is also covered a thin layer of reddish dust, which slides down steep slopes, forming dark stripes.
Planet Mercury (photo)
3) Beautiful colors of Mercury . This colorful image of Mercury was created by combining a large number of images taken by NASA's interplanetary station "Messenger" for a year of work in Mercury orbit.
Of course it is not the real colors of the planet closest to the Sun, but the colorful image reveals the chemical, mineralogical and physical differences in Mercury's landscape.
4) Space lobster . This image was taken by the VISTA telescope European Southern Observatory. It depicts a cosmic landscape, including a huge glowing cloud of gas and dust, which surrounds young stars.
This infrared image shows the nebula NGC 6357 in the constellation Scorpion, which is presented in a new light. The photo was taken during the project Via Láctea. Scientists are currently scanning the Milky Way in an attempt to map the more detailed structure of our galaxy and explain how it was formed.
Mysterious mountain of the Carina Nebula
5) Mysterious mountain . The image shows a mountain of dust and gas rising from the Carina Nebula. The top of a vertical column of cooled hydrogen, which is about 3 light years, is carried away by radiation from nearby stars. Stars located in the area of the pillars release jets of gas that can be seen at the tops.
Traces of water on Mars
6) Traces of an ancient water flow on Mars . This is a high resolution photo that was taken January 13, 2013 using a spacecraft European Space Agency Mars Express, offers to see the surface of the Red Planet in real colors. This is a shot of the area southeast of the plain Amenthes Planum and north of the plain Hesperia planum.
Visible in the picture craters, lava channels and valley, along which liquid water probably once flowed. The valley and crater floors are covered with wind-blown, dark deposits.
7) Dark space gecko . The picture was taken with a ground-based 2.2-meter telescope European Southern Observatory MPG/ESO in Chile. The photo shows a bright star cluster NGC 6520 and its neighbor - a strangely shaped dark cloud Barnard 86.
This cosmic couple is surrounded by millions of luminous stars in the brightest part of the Milky Way. The area is so filled with stars that you can hardly see the dark background of the sky behind them.
Star formation (photo)
8) Star Education Center . Several generations of stars are shown in an infrared image taken by NASA's space telescope. "Spitzer". In this smoky area known as W5, new stars are formed.
The oldest stars can be seen as blue bright dots. Younger stars highlight pinkish glow. In brighter areas, new stars form. Red indicates heated dust, while green indicates dense clouds.
Unusual nebula (photo)
9) Valentine's Day Nebula . This is an image of a planetary nebula, which may remind some of rosebud, was obtained using a telescope Kitt Peak National Observatory in the USA.
Sh2-174- an unusual ancient nebula. It was formed during the explosion of a low-mass star at the end of its life. What remains of the star is its center - white dwarf.
Usually white dwarfs are located very close to the center, but in the case of this nebula, its the white dwarf is located on the right. This asymmetry is associated with the interaction of the nebula with the environment that surrounds it.
10) Heart of the Sun . In honor of the recent Valentine's Day, another unusual phenomenon appeared in the sky. More precisely it was done photo of an unusual solar flare, which is depicted in the photo in the shape of a heart.
Saturn's satellite (photo)
11) Mimas - Death Star . Photo of Saturn's moon Mimas taken by NASA spacecraft "Cassini" while it approaches the object at the closest distance. This satellite is something looks like the Death Star– a space station from a science fiction saga "Star Wars".
Herschel Crater has a diameter 130 kilometers and covers most of the right side of the satellite in the image. Scientists continue to explore this impact crater and its surrounding areas.
Photos were taken February 13, 2010 from a distance 9.5 thousand kilometers, and then, like a mosaic, assembled into one clearer and more detailed photo.
12) Galactic duo . These two galaxies, shown in the same photo, have completely different shapes. Galaxy NGC 2964 is a symmetrical spiral, and the galaxy NGC 2968(top right) is a galaxy that has a fairly close interaction with another small galaxy.
13) Mercury colored crater . Although Mercury does not boast a particularly colorful surface, some areas on it still stand out with contrasting colors. The pictures were taken during the spacecraft mission "Messenger".
Halley's Comet (photo)
14) Halley's Comet in 1986 . This famous historical photograph of the comet as it made its final approach to Earth was taken 27 years ago. The photo clearly shows how the Milky Way is illuminated on the right by a flying comet.
15) Strange hill on Mars . This image shows a strange, spiky formation near the Red Planet's South Pole. The surface of the hill appears to be layered and shows signs of erosion. Its height is estimated 20-30 meters. The appearance of dark spots and stripes on the hill is associated with the seasonal thawing of a layer of dry ice (carbon dioxide).
Orion Nebula (photo)
16) Orion's beautiful veil . This beautiful image includes cosmic clouds and stellar wind around the star LL Orionis, which interacts with the stream Orion Nebula. The star LL Orionis produces winds that are stronger than those of our own middle-aged star, the Sun.
Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici (photo)
17) Spiral galaxy Messier 106 in the constellation Canes Venatici . NASA Space Telescope "Hubble" with the participation of an amateur astronomer, took one of the best photographs of a spiral galaxy Messier 106.
Located at a distance of about 20 million light years away, which is not that far away by cosmic standards, this galaxy is one of the brightest galaxies, and also one of the closest to us.
18) Starburst galaxy . Galaxy Messier 82 or Galaxy Cigar located at a distance from us 12 million light years in the constellation Big Dipper. The formation of new stars occurs quite quickly in it, which puts it at a certain phase in the evolution of galaxies, according to scientists.
Because the Cigar Galaxy is experiencing intense star formation, it 5 times brighter than our Milky Way. This photo was taken Mount Lemmon Observatory(USA) and required a holding time of 28 hours.
19) Ghost Nebula . This photograph was taken using a 4 meter telescope (Arizona, USA). The object, called vdB 141, is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus.
Several stars can be seen in the nebula region. Their light gives the nebula an unattractive yellowish-brown color. Photo taken August 28, 2009.
20) Powerful hurricane of Saturn . This colorful photo taken by NASA "Cassini", depicts Saturn's strong northern storm, which at that moment reached its greatest power. The contrast of the image has been increased to show troubled areas (in white) that stand out from other details. The photo was taken March 6, 2011.
Photo of the Earth from the Moon
21) Earth from the Moon . Being on the surface of the Moon, our planet will look exactly like this. From this angle, the Earth too phases will be noticeable: Part of the planet will be in shadow, and part will be illuminated by sunlight.
Andromeda Galaxy
22) New images of Andromeda . In a new image of the Andromeda Galaxy, obtained using Herschel Space Observatory, the bright streaks where new stars are forming are visible in especially detail.
The Andromeda Galaxy or M31 is the closest large galaxy to our Milky Way. It is located at a distance of about 2.5 million years, and is therefore an excellent object for studying the formation of new stars and the evolution of galaxies.
23) Star cradle of the constellation Unicorn . This image was taken using a 4-meter telescope Inter-American Observatory of Cerro Tololo in Chile January 11, 2012. The image shows part of the Unicorn R2 molecular cloud. This is a site of intense new star formation, especially in the red nebula region just below the center of the image.
Satellite of Uranus (photo)
24) Ariel's scarred face . This image of Uranus's moon Ariel is made up of 4 different images taken by the spacecraft. "Voyager 2". The pictures were taken January 24, 1986 from a distance 130 thousand kilometers from the object.
Ariel has a diameter about 1200 kilometers, most of its surface is covered with craters with a diameter of 5 to 10 kilometers. In addition to craters, the image shows valleys and faults in the form of long stripes, so the landscape of the object is very heterogeneous.
25) Spring "fans" on Mars . At high latitudes, each winter carbon dioxide condenses from the Martian atmosphere and accumulates on its surface, forming seasonal polar ice caps. In the spring, the sun begins to heat the surface more intensely and the heat passes through these translucent layers of dry ice, heating the soil underneath.
Dry ice evaporates, immediately turning into gas, bypassing the liquid phase. If the pressure is high enough, the ice cracks and gas escapes from the cracks, forming "fans". These dark "fans" are small fragments of material that are carried away by the gas escaping from the cracks.
Galactic merger
26) Stefan Quintet . This group is from 5 galaxies in the constellation Pegasus, located in 280 million light years from the Earth. Four of the five galaxies are undergoing a violent merger phase and will crash into each other, eventually forming a single galaxy.
The central blue galaxy appears to be part of this group, but this is an illusion. This galaxy is much closer to us - at a distance only 40 million light years. The image was obtained by researchers Mount Lemmon Observatory(USA).
27) Soap Bubble Nebula . This planetary nebula was discovered by an amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich July 6, 2008 in the constellation Swan. The picture was taken with a 4-meter telescope Mayall National Observatory Kitt Peak V June 2009. This nebula was part of another diffuse nebula, and it is also quite faint, so it was hidden from the eyes of astronomers for a long time.
Sunset on Mars – photo from the surface of Mars
28) Sunset on Mars. May 19, 2005 NASA Mars rover MER-A Spirit took this amazing photo of the sunset while being on the edge of Gusev crater. The solar disk, as you can see, is slightly smaller than the disk that is visible from Earth.
29) Hypergiant star Eta Carinae . In this incredibly detailed image taken by NASA's space telescope "Hubble", you can see huge clouds of gas and dust from the giant star Eta of Kiel. This star is located at a distance from us more than 8 thousand light years, and the overall structure is comparable in width to our Solar System.
Near 150 years ago a supernova explosion was observed. Eta Carinae became the second most luminous star after Sirius, but quickly faded away and ceased to be visible to the naked eye.
30) Polar Ring Galaxy . Amazing Galaxy NGC 660 is the result of the merger of two different galaxies. It is located at a distance 44 million light years from us in the constellation Pisces. On January 7, astronomers announced that in this galaxy there is powerful flash, which is most likely the result of the massive black hole at its center.
Currently, there are many ways to observe space, these are optical telescopes, radio telescopes, mathematical calculations, and data processing from artificial satellites. Every minute, probes from NASA, the European Space Agency, and others collect information about our solar system. Now the ships oversee the orbits of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn; a few more are on their way to small bodies, and a few more are on their way out of the solar system. On Mars, the rover called Spirit was officially declared dead after two years of silence, but its twin Opportunity continues its mission, spending 2,500 days on the planet instead of the planned 90. Here are photos of the Earth's and outer group of planets.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the Moon passing the sun on May 3. (NASA/GSFC/SDO)
Detailed view of the surface of the sun. Part of a large sunspot in active region 10030, imaged on July 15, 2002 using the Swedish telescope in La Palma. The width of the cells at the top of the image is about a thousand kilometers. The central part of the spot (umber) is dark because strong magnetic fields here stop the rise of hot gas from within. The filamentous formations around the umber make up the penumbra. Dark nuclei are clearly visible in some bright filaments. (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
On October 6, 2008, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft successfully completed its second flight around Mercury. The next day, photographs taken during this flight reached Earth. This amazing photo was the first, it was taken 90 minutes after the ship came within close range of the planet. The bright crater south of center is Kuiper, seen in Mariner 10 images from the 1970s. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
Mosaic of the Spitteler and Hallberg craters on Mercury on March 30. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
The South Pole and the boundary of light and shadow on Mercury from an altitude of 10,240 km. The temperature of the surface at the top of the image, bathed in the sun's rays, is about 430 degrees Celsius. In the lower dark part of the image, the temperature quickly drops to 163 degrees, and in some parts of the planet the sun's rays never reach, so the temperature there remains as low as -90 degrees. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
The second planet from the Sun, Venus. The photo was taken on June 5, 2007. Thick clouds of sulfuric acid clouded the planet's surface, reflecting sunlight into space but keeping it warm at 460°C. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)
This image was taken by NASA's rover of Aitken Crater, including its central peak and northern walls. The width of the surface in the image is about 30 kilometers. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
A plume of post-crater emissions from an unnamed crater with a radius of 1 km on the Moon. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
Apollo 14 landing site. The footprints left by NASA astronauts on February 5 and 6, 1971 are still visible today. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
This detailed view of our planet comes primarily from observations of the Terra moon. The image focuses on the Pacific Ocean, part of an important water system that covers 75% of our planet's surface. (NASA/Robert Simmon and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, based on MODIS data)
An image of the Moon distorted by layers of the atmosphere. The photo was taken by astronauts from the ISS over the Indian Ocean on April 17. (NASA)
Panorama of central South America. (NASA)
On October 28, 2010, astronauts on the ISS captured this image of Earth at night with Brussels, Paris and Milan brightly lit. (NASA)
Snowfall over 30 US states last February, from the Great Plains to New England. (NOAA/NASA GOES Project)
South Georgia is an arched island lying 2000 km east of the southern tip of South America. Along the eastern coast of the continent, the Neumayer Glacier snakes toward the ocean. Photo taken January 4, 2009. (NASA EO-1 team)
This photo was taken by James Spann at Poker Flats, Alaska, where he was attending a scientific conference on the study of the northern lights, on March 1. (NASA/GSFC/James Spann)
This is how ISS astronauts greet the sunrise. (NASA)
An amazing double crater with a common rim and lava deposits. Apparently, these two craters formed at the same time. The photo was taken on Mars using a camera on the rover in February of this year. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
A sand formation on the surface of Mars in the Sinus Sabaeus crater. Photo taken on April 1st. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
This image was taken by the Opportunity rover camera perched on the edge of Santa Maria Crater (dark dot top left). Opportunity's tracks leading to the right can be seen in the center. The photo was taken on March 1, after Opportunity had been studying the area for several days. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The Opportunity rover looks at the surface of Mars. Somewhere in the distance you can see a small crater. (NASA/JPL)
The area of Holden Crater, one of four candidates for the landing site of the Curiosity rover, January 4, 2011. NASA is still considering the landing site of its next Mars rover, scheduled for November 25. The rover is scheduled to land on Mars on August 6, 2012. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The Mars rover "Spirit" at the place where it was last seen. He was stuck in the sand under the sun. For a year now, his radio had stopped working, and last Wednesday NASA engineers sent out a final signal in hopes of getting an answer. They didn't receive it. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The first, raw image of the asteroid Vesta taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The image was taken on May 3 from a distance of about 1 million km. Vesta in a white glow in the center of the photo. The huge asteroid reflects so much sun that its size appears much larger. Vesta is 530 km in diameter, the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. The ship's approach to the asteroid is expected on July 16, 2011. (NASA/JPL)
An image of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Telescope on July 23, 2009, after an asteroid or comet entered the planet's atmosphere and disintegrated. (NASA, ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, Jupiter Impact Team)
An image of Saturn taken by Cassini on April 25. In it you can see several satellites along the rings. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
A detailed view of Saturn's small moon Helena as Cassini flies past the planet on May 3. Saturn's atmosphere occupies the background of the image. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Ice particles fly out of cracks in the south of Saturn's moon Enceladus on August 13, 2010. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Vertical features on Saturn's main rings rise sharply from the edge of the B ring, casting long shadows across the ring. The photo was taken by the Cassini spacecraft two weeks before the equinox in August 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Cassini looks at the dark side of Saturn's largest moon. The halo-like ring is formed by sunlight at the periphery of Titan's atmosphere. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus with the planet's rings in the background. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus pass by the planet's rings and surface below on May 21. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
The shadows of Saturn's rings on the surface of the planet appear as thin stripes. The photo was taken almost on the day of the equinox in August 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
