Space Pictures This Week: Double Moonbow, Twilight Comet

Twilight Comet

Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

Sky-watching fans in the Southern Hemisphere got a sneak peek at the recently discovered comet PanSTARRS, pictured here at twilight above Melbourne, Australia, in February.

Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere will get a chance to see the comet as it comes into view this month. (Related: "Comet PanSTARRS: How to See it in March 2013.")

Published March 4, 2013

Laser Light

Photograph courtesy Gerhard Huedepohl, ESO

Researchers with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) test their latest laser, PARLA, in an image released February 25.

Astronomers with the VLT in Chile will use the laser to calibrate the telescope to correct for distortions in their images due to the Earth's atmosphere. It will allow them to move adjustable mirrors on the telescope in real time to produce much sharper images. (Read about giant telescopes in an article in National Geographic magazine.)

Published March 4, 2013

Crater Cupcake

Image courtesy Arizona State University/NASA

In an image released February 27, NASA's Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter captures the Schiaparelli E crater on the moon.

Located in Oceanus Procellarum, on the western edge of the near side of Earth's moon, the impact crater shows smoother regions on its floor and areas littered with debris. Light-colored boulders litter the crater like powdered sugar on a cupcake.

Schiaparelli E is named for the 19th-century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, whose observations of "canals" on Mars sparked the popular idea that intelligent life on the red planet dug channels across the surface to irrigate their world. (Related photos: "Looking Back at Visions of Life on Mars.")

Published March 4, 2013

Smoke Signal

Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS/NASA

A brush fire in southeastern Australia sends a plume of smoke wafting south over the Bass Strait (map) in an image released February 28.

Captured by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite, lightning sparked several fires, two of which merged into this large conflagration near Grampians National Park. (Related photos: "Wildfires Scorch Australia Amid Record Heat.")

Published March 4, 2013

Double Lunar Rainbow

Photograph courtesy Dale P. Cruikshank, NASA

A double lunar rainbow, or moonbow, arcs over the Pacific Ocean in this photograph taken February 26 from Kaanapali, Maui (map).

Rainbows form when water droplets refract sunlight into its component colors. The same principle applies to lunar rainbows, but instead of using direct sunlight, moonbows form when reflected sunlight from the moon is refracted by atmospheric moisture. (Watch a video of moonbows in Yosemite National Park.)

Since the reflected light from the moon is fainter than direct sunlight, colors are harder to see with the naked eye in moonbows. Long exposure photographs, such as the 20-second exposure pictured, enable us to see the colors of the rainbow. (See related photos of a quadruple rainbow.)

Published March 4, 2013

See More of Our Favorite Space Pictures

Image courtesy T.A. Rector and H. Schweiker, UAA/WIYN/NOAO/NSF

Published March 4, 2013