Space Pictures This Week: Gamma-Ray Burst, Chile Volcano, More

Supply Run

Photograph courtesy NASA

Russia's Progress 45 spaceship approaches the International Space Station in a picture taken November 2. The unmanned supply ship docked with the station Wednesday, bringing propellant, water, experiment hardware, and other items to the three crew members on board.

The mission is the first successful flight of a Progress ship since an accident in late August destroyed the uncrewed Progress 44 vessel, temporarily grounding Russia's Soyuz rockets.

Russia now plans to go ahead with a November 13 launch of a crewed Soyuz flight to replace the current ISS astronauts, who will return to Earth November 22.

Published November 4, 2011

Cosmic Flashlight

Illustration courtesy L. Calçada, ESO

Light from a gamma-ray burst—one of the brightest explosions in the universe—shines through two young galaxies in an artist's rendering.

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile recently analyzed light from such a gamma-ray burst and recorded the chemical signatures in two galaxies in the early universe.

The findings revealed that the galaxies are surprisingly rich in heavy elements—produced inside stars—even though we're seeing the galaxies as they existed less than two billion years after the big bang.

Published November 4, 2011

Soul of the Heavens

Photograph by Babak Tafreshi, ESO/TWAN

Like flowers soaking up sunlight, telescope dishes seem to turn their faces toward the starry sky in a picture taken at the site of the ALMA observatory, high in Chile's northern desert.

The Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array, or ALMA, started collecting its first round of science data this fall. When the facility is complete in 2013, it will feature 66 antennas spread across 9.9 miles (16 kilometers), linked together to function as one telescope.

(See the first picture released from ALMA, a psychedelic view of the Antennae galaxies.)

Published November 4, 2011

Active Plume

Image courtesy Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, EO-1/NASA

A plume of white ash spreads from an active vent in a satellite picture of the erupting Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano complex in Chile. The plume towers about 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers), and high winds are carrying ash 75 to 160 miles (120 to 250 kilometers) from the vent, disrupting air travel.

(See a picture of lightning in the Chile volcano's plume.)

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle started erupting in early June, and this image was taken October 22 by NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The almost five months of activity has coated nearby lakes as well as the neighboring high plains of Argentina in gray ash.

Published November 4, 2011

Climate Probe Launches

Photograph by Andrew Satran, USAF

The launch of a Delta II rocket creates a bright arc over the California sky in a picture taken October 28. The rocket carried NASA's NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite successfully into orbit.

The latest addition to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), NPP is a next-generation Earth-observing probe that will collect data on long-term climate change and short-term weather conditions.

Published November 4, 2011

Thailand Flooding

Image courtesy Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, EO-1/NASA

Fields, roads, and buildings sit submerged by sediment-clogged floodwater in a satellite picture of the Thai city of Ayutthaya taken October 23 by NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. Heavy monsoon rains caused the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the southwestern part of the city, to overflow and fill surrounding floodplains.

Established in the 14th century, Ayutthaya was the second capital of Siam and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Thai government has asked UNESCO to help assess damages to the site's reliquary towers and gigantic monasteries caused by the flooding.

(See pictures of four natural wonders added to the World Heritage list in July.)

Published November 4, 2011

Saturn's Sponge

Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

If Saturn ever needs a sponge bath, the tiny moon Hyperion would likely be the tool of choice. Seen in a recently released portrait by NASA's Cassini orbiter, sunlight showcases the icy satellite's unusual texture, likely due to its low density, which astronomer think makes the moon relatively porous.

Cassini snapped this shot of Hyperion during a close flyby in September, when the probe passed about 55,000 miles (88,000 kilometers) from the small moon.

Published November 4, 2011