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Italy Glint
Photograph courtesy NASA
December 21, 2009--Bright golden waters surround the toe of Italy's "boot" in a recent picture taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. Although the shot might look like a photographic negative, the picture is actually the result of an effect called sun glint, in which sunlight hitting the water's mirror-like surface is reflected directly toward the photographer.
The unusual picture also highlights two cloud patterns over the peninsula: Fluffy cumulus clouds at lower altitudes seem to be smudged by the gray altostratus clouds above, which are being stretched by higher-level winds. (See pictures of what could become the first new cloud type named since 1951.)December 23, 2009
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Star Deaths
Images courtesy NASA/CXC/UCSC/L. Lopez et al.
December 17, 2009--Kepler's supernova remnant (right) and the remnant G292.0 1.8 represent two distinct ways a star can die, according to a recent study based on Chandra X-ray Observatory pictures. The study uncovered a way to match a remnant's shape to the way its star exploded.
Some supernova remnants, including Kepler's, form when a white dwarf star steals so much matter from a nearby star that the white dwarf heats up until it explodes. These so-called Type-Ia supernovae usually leave remnants with symmetrical, puffball-like appearances. (See some of the more famous "puffball" supernova remnants.)
By contrast, very massive stars such as G292.0 1.8 can explode when they run out of hydrogen and helium and start creating heavier elements. A build up of iron in the core eventually causes the core to collapse, producing an explosion that leaves behind an asymmetrical remnant.December 23, 2009
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Shadow on Saturn
Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
December 18, 2009--A titanic shadow seems to punch a hole below Saturn's rings in a recently released picture taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is about 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) wide and orbits on average 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) away from the gas giant. The hazy moon (not pictured) might be the first body in our solar system other than Earth known to have an active liquid "cycle," albeit with methane rather than water.December 23, 2009
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Testing a Safety Net
Photograph courtesy ATK
December 16, 2009--The future of human spaceflight got a little safer last week, with the successful test of a full-scale motor (pictured) that's part of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle's launch-abort system.
Together with the Ares rocket, Orion will be the next-generation craft to carry humans into space after NASA retires the space shuttle program. (Watch a recent test flight of the Ares I-X rocket.)
Orion's launch-abort system is designed to steer the crew module away from the Ares rocket and toward a safe landing in the event of an emergency after launch but before the craft has left Earth's atmosphere. The attitude-control motor, shown during a test firing, is meant to keep Orion on a controlled flight path if the crew module jettisons.December 23, 2009
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Stellar Nursery
Image courtesy ESA and the SPIRE & PACS consortia, Ph. André (CEA Saclay) for the Gould"e;s Belt Key Programme Consortia
December 15, 2009--Two newborn stars glow baby blue inside a dusty stellar nursery that's part of a mysterious ring of stars called Gould's Belt. Normally too shrouded in dust to be visible, the stars were captured by the supersensitive infrared eye of the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. The picture is is the first new release from OSHI, the Online Showcase of Herschel Images.
Bright points of light amid the fiery background are signs of dust and gas condensing to become the seeds of future stars. Astronomers estimate 700 such objects appear in this image.December 23, 2009
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