Space Pictures This Week: Purple Auroras, Mysterious Moon

Purple Haze

Photograph by Brad Goldpaint

Evergreen trees along the steep slopes of the rim of Oregon's Crater Lake National Park are silhouetted against a sky lit up by vibrant purple auroras on May 31.

"With adrenaline pumping, I raced to the edge of the caldera, set up a time-lapse sequence, and watched northern lights dance until sunrise," said photographer Brad Goldpaint. (See aurora pictures from February and March.)

"The moon rose around 2 a.m. and blanketed the surrounding landscape with a faint glow, adding depth and texture to the shot."

Published June 7, 2013

"Invisible" Clouds

Image courtesy Robert Simmon, USGS/NASA

A recently released satellite photo of what once was one of the largest inland seas in the world, Russia's Aral Sea, shows a mostly dried-up lakebed only a tenth of its original size (seen in black).

The image, taken in March, is partially obscured by wispy, high-altitude cirrus clouds that were previously invisible to satellites.

But NASA's new Landsat Earth-observation satellite can detect the specific wavelength of light that bounces off the ice crystals in cirrus clouds, which helps scientists capture the true atmosphere of the photograph.

For instance, a natural-color image of the Aral Sea taken on the same day (not pictured) revealed no clouds. (Related photos: "Dried-up Aral Sea Aftermath.")

"Cirrus clouds can be so thin that they won't be visible in a typical image," Pat Scaramuzza, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a statement.

Published June 7, 2013

Mysterious Moon

Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

Previously hidden dark features are revealed in this April 13 image taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it swung by Saturn's largest moon Titan. (Also see "Saturn Moon Has Tropical 'Great Salt Lake,' Methane Marshes.")

The orbiter's near-infrared detectors are able to pull back the curtain of the methane-riddled smog that blankets this mysterious moon, showcasing its detailed topography despite being at a distance of approximately 1.117 million miles (1.797 million kilometers).

Published June 7, 2013

Cosmic Sprinkler

Image courtesy Rolando Ligustri

Like a cosmic sprinkler system, the comet Pan-STARRS appears to spread its fanlike tail, spewing gas and dust into space.

On the night of April 28, on its journey toward the outer solar system, the icy interloper appeared to pose with a ruddy-colored cloud of gas and dust dubbed Ced 214. (Related: "Pictures: Comet Pan-STARRS Debuts in Southern Hemisphere.")

Although the two cosmic objects may look close together in this image, it's only an optical illusion, since the comet is less than 60 million miles (100 million kilometers) distant—while the nebula lies some 2,700 light-years away.

Published June 7, 2013

Ashy Peak

Image courtesy Robert Simmon, Landsat/NASA

Dark ash covering the western slopes of northeastern Russia's Karymsky Volcano lies in stark contrast to late-season snow blanketing the surrounding terrain in this NASA Landsat 8 orbiter snapshot taken May 20 and released June 3.

Karymsky is the most active of many volcanoes that dot the Kamchatkan Peninsula, and is believed to have formed inside a three-mile-wide (five-kilometer-wide) caldera about 12,000 years ago.

Published June 7, 2013

See More Space Pictures

Illustration courtesy Caltech/NASA

Published June 7, 2013