Space Pictures This Week: Cosmic Gem, Sun Burp, Vegas

Epic Sun Belch

Image courtesy SOHO/NASA

On December 6 a long streamer of plasma (charged gas) that had been winding almost halfway around the sun suddenly erupted, releasing a torrent of solar material. Several satellites caught the action, including one of NASA's STEREO spacecraft, which took this picture, released Saturday.

(See another view of the snake-like filament from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.)

The STEREO system includes two sun-watching satellites whose data, when combined, allow scientists to see the structure and evolution of solar storms as they blast away from the sun.

Published December 15, 2010

Gaping Maw

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE

Looking like an iridescent shark jaw, the supernova remnant IC 443 glows amid an interstellar cloud of dust and gas, as seen in a picture from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, released December 9.

IC 443 is notable for having two distinct halves: a northern shell of sheet-like filaments (pink) and a southern shell of denser clumps and knots (blue). The top half is emitting light from iron, neon, silicon, and oxygen gases. The bottom is primarily emitting light from hydrogen gas.

Studying the odd structure can give scientists insight into how stellar explosions interact with their environments. The scientists think, for example, that the two halves are the result of shock waves that hit the interstellar medium—thin gases that float in the voids between stars—at different speeds.

Published December 15, 2010

Vegas Lights

Photograph courtesy NASA

Photographed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, the bright lights of Las Vegas and the surrounding metropolitan area create a blotch of color in the otherwise inky blackness of Nevada's Mojave Desert. The shot was taken November 30 and released on Monday.

The Las Vegas Strip (center) is reputed to be the brightest nighttime spot on Earth, due to the concentration of light from hotels and casinos, according to NASA.

Published December 15, 2010

Martian Perspective

Image courtesy ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

Taken at an angle, a picture released December 10 shows the soft ripples and sharp edges of a small crater within the Schiaparelli impact basin, as seen by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.

The inside of the smaller crater is filled with sediments that appear to form a terrace in the north and a delta-like structure near the center. Overall, the region shows how winds and water have sculpted the Martian landscape over time, according to ESA.

Published December 15, 2010

Midwest Blizzard

Image courtesy MODIS/NASA

Those aren't just clouds: Heavy snow blankets the upper U.S. Midwest in a NASA satellite picture taken shortly after a blizzard dumped more than 17 inches (43 centimeters) of the white stuff on the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota.

The image, released Monday, shows South Dakota, southern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and Indiana. (See pictures of snowy scenes sent in by National Geographic readers.)

In addition to the snow, 60-mile-an-hour (96-kilometer-an-hour) winds caused high snow drifts, spurring airport closures, road closures, and a number of automobile accidents.

Published December 15, 2010