Space Pictures This Week: Supernova Preview, Spacewalkers, More

Frosty Dunes

Image courtesy U. Arizona/NASA

Bright frost gathers in the ripples on Martian dunes in a newly released picture from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The image was taken when it was late fall in the red planet's southern hemisphere, and carbon dioxide frost was just beginning to accumulate on the pole-facing slopes. The dunes are now being monitored for changes such as gullies as Mars experiences southern winter.

Published February 24, 2012

Capturing Orion

Image by Matthew Dieterich, My Shot

On Sunday photographer Matthew Dieterich took this picture of the Orion Nebula—a star-forming cloud of dust and gas—from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Related: "Mystery Deepens Over Where Sun Was Born.")

Even though the nebula is about 1,500 light-years away, the space cloud can be seen with the naked eye under dark skies as part of the "sword" hanging from Orion's belt.

Published February 24, 2012

Walking the Path

Photograph by Jack Fusco, My Shot

A star-gazer in Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania, stops in his tracks to look at the zodiacal light—a faint cone of light that rises from the horizon along the ecliptic. This imaginary line—the plane of our solar system—is the path the sun and planets appear to travel in the sky.

Venus and Jupiter are also visible along the ecliptic in this frame.

Zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting and scattering off dust grains that lie between the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Published February 24, 2012

Going Boom

Photograph courtesy NASA

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov are seen during a spacewalk on February 16 as they work on maintenance and upgrades for the International Space Station.

During the six-hour, 15-minute spacewalk, the pair worked on a telescoping boom—used to move massive components outside the station—that's being prepared for replacement next year.

The cosmonauts also installed a new science experiment on the outside of the station and collected a sample from the insulation on the Zvezda service module to check for any biological contamination.

Published February 24, 2012

Expansive Nebula

Photograph by J.P. Metsavainio, My Shot

A long-exposure picture taken from Finland shows the wispy filaments of Simeis 147, a large supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus, the Bull.

The expanding cloud of gas and dust lies about 3,000 light years away and spans roughly 150 light-years. Astronomers think light from the stellar explosion that created Simeis 147 first reached Earth about a hundred thousand years ago.

Published February 24, 2012

Blending In

Image courtesy Cornell/Caltech/NASA

The Mars rover Opportunity appears camouflaged thanks to a coating of dust on its solar panels in a newly released "self-portrait" taken last December. The shot is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's panoramic camera as the robot was being readied to weather its fifth Martian winter.

The dusty panels further reduce the rover's power supply at a time when sunlight is at a premium, which means Opportunity's mobility will be limited until winter is over or wind cleans off the panels.

Published February 24, 2012

Partial Eclipse

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

On Tuesday NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched as part of the moon crossed in front of the sun, creating a partial solar eclipse that was visible only from space.

During the eclipse the moon briefly blocked an active region on the sun that had been spewing strong ultraviolet radiation into space. The resulting dip in the sun's extreme ultraviolet emissions could help scientists figure out exactly how much of the energy output can be attributed to the active region.

Published February 24, 2012

Next: Space Pictures This Week: Rocket Launch, Saturn "Snowman" (February 17)

Photograph by J.P. Metsavainio, Your Shot

Published February 24, 2012