Space Pictures This Week: Endeavour, Mars Rock, More

Solar Fireworks

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

A type of solar explosion called a coronal mass ejection sent solar radiation out from the sun this month at 900 miles per second, as seen in an image released by NASA on September 17.

The sudden burst of radiation didn't collide with Earth, but it did hit our planet's magnetic field, producing illuminated auroras in the sky in some parts of the world.

The corona is a thin layer of atmosphere nearly 620,000 miles (1 million kilometers) above the surface of the sun. A complex mix of gases, its temperature has been measured at nearly two million degrees Fahrenheit (about one million degrees Celsius).

(See "New Aurora Pictures: Solar Flare Sparks 'Snakes,' 'Spears.'")

Published September 21, 2012

Rock Study

Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

After 43 Martian days on the red planet, the Curiosity rover came across this rock, as seen in a September 19 picture.

Roughly 16 inches wide and 10 inches tall, the rock will be Curiosity's first chance to use its geologic-contact instruments, measuring the rock's components and what they might reveal about Mars's history.

Curiosity has two tools for close imaging. The Mars Hand Lens Imager can magnify a view for scientists on Earth, and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer will measure an object's elemental composition.

(See "Curiosity Mars-Rover Landing: 'Everything Worked Perfectly.'")

Published September 21, 2012

Annual Motion

Photograph by Tunç Tezel, TWAN

Known as an analemma, this figure eight-shaped phenomenon occurs in photo composites that mark the position of the sun at the same time each day throughout a single year.

This particular composite, released September 20 by the astronomy-education project The World at Night, includes 17 images that were taken looking east from the city of Baku, Azerbaijan.

Published September 21, 2012

Nighttime Insight

Photograph courtesy NASA

Night photos can sometimes reveal more than those taken during the day. This nighttime portrait of Kuwait City, released recently by NASA's Earth Observatory, shows the pace of development in the Persian Gulf metropolis.

The bright lights at the top of the photo show the booming financial center, surrounded by curved roads. Areas that appear green-yellow are newer residential districts. The dark strip of land on the image's right is an area being primed for residential construction.

Published September 21, 2012

Soft Landing

Photograph courtesy Carla Cioffi, NASA

The spacecraft Soyuz TMA-04M lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on September 17.

The capsule carried three astronauts who returned to Earth after a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Published September 21, 2012

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Photograph courtesy NASA

Published September 21, 2012