breathtaking !
Bright Sun and Crescent Earth from the Space StationCredit: STS-129 Crew, NASA
Explanation: This was just one more breathtaking view from the International Space Station. The Sun, a crescent Earth, and the long arm of a solar panel were all visible outside a window when the Space Shuttle Atlantis visited the orbiting outpost last week. Reflections from the window and hexagonal lens flares from the camera are superposed.
Terra Crescente: una foto dalla sonda ESA RosettaCredit & Copyright: ESA (MPS for OSIRIS Team), MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Explanation: Goodbye Earth. Earlier this month, ESA’s interplanetary Rosetta spacecraft zoomed past the Earth on its way back across the Solar System. Pictured above, Earth showed a bright crescent phase featuring the South Pole to the passing rocket ship. Launched from Earth in 2004, Rosetta used the gravity of the Earth to help propel it out past Mars and toward a 2014 rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Le leonidi sul Lago Mono (California) Credit & Copyright: Tony Rowell
Explanation: In the scene, recorded near the peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower (now subsiding) on November 17th, a meteor trails through the frigid predawn sky.
From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini’s wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings, and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun’s disk was exactly overhead at the planet’s equator. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, at a distance of approximately 847,000 km (526,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Un oggetto “non ancora identificato”, probabilmente un meteorite, è precipitato dal cielo nel nord della Lettonia, scavando un cratere profondo 15 metri e largo 5. I vigili del fuoco intervenuti sul posto hanno riscontrato che non ci sono tracce di contaminazione chimica o radioattiva. L’oggetto è caduto nel pressi di una fattoria nel villaggio di Mazsalaca, per fortuna nel bel mezzo di un campo. Una squadra di geologi è al lavoro per stabilire con certezza che si sia trattato di un meteorite.
(via Lettonia, meteorite scava un cratere di 15 metri - Galleria - Repubblica.it
)
The International Space Station Over Earth Credit: STS-128 Crew, NASA
Explanation: After undocking, the space shuttle Discovery crew got a memorable view of the developing International Space Station (ISS). Pictured orbiting high above Earth last month, numerous solar panels, trusses, and science modules of the ISS were visible.
Star Trails Over Oregon Credit & Copyright: Joshua Bury
il moto della terra in questa splendida foto !
Una Terra - Un cielo
Durant les prises de vue, effectuées entre l’été 2008 et l’été 2009, les astres du système solaire se sont invités dans le champ infini des étoiles : les éblouissantes planètes Vénus, Jupiter et Saturne, ainsi que, plus discrètes, les lointaines Uranus et Neptune, et même une comète à l’éclat vert émeraude, perdue parmi des dizaines de millions d’étoiles, et que vous aurez probablement bien du mal à trouver…
(via Le Ciel de la Terre )
(via Repubblica )
Una foto impossibile
Explanation: This vacation included a sight to remember. Pictured above, a picturesque starscape capped a serene seascape as seen from Turkey this past August. In the above digitally stitched panorama, the Gelidonya Lighthouse shines in the foreground before a calm Mediterranean Sea. On the left, Jupiter is the brightest point in the image and since on the same side of the Sun as the Earth, was near its yearly brightest. Glowing just shy of magnitude -3, Jupiter was brighter than any star in the sky, and brighter even than Mars was during its famously bright opposition of 2003 August. On the right, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy fades into distant atmospheric haze above the Jupiter is nearing the closest part of its elliptical orbit to the Sun and so will appear even brighter during its next opposition in 2010 September.
è bene dirlo “digitally stitched”— questo è l’esempio di una foto impossibile da fare !
Re mi do DO SOL
Explanation: Was Devils Tower once an explosive volcano? Famous for its appearance in films such as Close Encounters, the origin of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume that probably never reached the surface to become a volcano. The lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has now eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. High above, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy arches across the sky. Many notable sky objects are visible, including dark strands of the Pipe Nebula and the reddish Lagoon Nebula to the tower’s right. Green grass and trees line the moonlit foreground, while clouds appear near the horizon to the tower’s left. Unlike many other international landmarks, mountaineers are permitted to climb Devils Tower.
A Floral Aurora Corona Credit & Copyright: Zoltan Kenwell (Infocus Imagery)
Explanation: Few auroras show this level of detail. Above, a standard digital camera captured a particularly active and colorful auroral corona that occurred last week above Alberta, Canada. With a shape reminiscent of a flower, the spectacular aurora had an unusually high degree of detail. The vivid green and purple auroral colors are caused by high atmospheric oxygen and hydrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons. Many photogenic auroras have been triggered from a solar wind stream that recently passed the Earth. The auroras were unexpected because the initiating Sun has been unusually quiet of late.
After the most famous voyage of modern times, it was time to go home. After proving that humanity has the ability to go beyond the confines of planet Earth, the first humans to walk on another world — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — flew the ascent stage of their Lunar Module back to meet Michael Collins in the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. Pictured above on 1969 July 21, the ascending spaceship was captured by Collins making its approach, with the Moon below, and Earth far in the distance. Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the first human moon landing. Recently, NASA’s moon-orbiting Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent back the first pictures of most of the Apollo landing sites — including Apollo 11 — with enough resolution to see the Lunar Module descent stages left behind.
via apod.nasa.gov
A volcano on Krakatoa is still erupting. Perhaps most famous for the powerfully explosive eruption in 1883 that killed tens of thousands of people, ash from a violent eruption might also have temporarily altered Earth’s climate as long as 1500 years ago. In 1927, eruptions caused smaller Anak Krakatau to rise from the sea, and the emerging volcanic island continues to grow at an average rate of 2 cm per day. The latest eruption of Anak Krakatau started in 2008 April and continues today. In this picture, Anak Krakatau is seen erupting from Rakata, the main island of the Krakatoai group. High above, stars including the Big Dipper are clearly apparent.
APOD
Terra Crescente
Crescent Earth
The crescent Earth rises above the lunar horizon in this spectacular photograph taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program.
Image Credit: NASA
via —- http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1400.html
