Picture This – Page 2 – Astronomy Now

24 January 2021

OSIRIS-REx stirs up a rocky blizzard tagging an asteroid in search of samples

23 October 2020 Astronomy Now

OSIRIS-REx kicked up a storm of rocky debris during its dramatic 20 October attempt to snag samples from the asteroid Bennu. Frames from a stop-action movie provide a bird’s eye view.

Hubble captures a barred spiral galaxy aglow with blazing stellar nurseries

9 October 2020 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope, working with the ALMA radio observatory to characterize galactic environments conducive to star formation, captures a prime example in splendid detail.

Thirty Hubble exposures blended to reveal stunning view of a face-on spiral

4 October 2020 Astronomy Now

Thirty Hubble exposures captured over nine hours provide a stunning look at a face-on spiral galaxy that has hosted two recent Type 1a supernovae.

Juno probe captures Jupiter’s polar cyclones in all their psychedelic glory

27 September 2020 Astronomy Now

A composite, extreme false-colour image of Jupiter’s northern polar regions based on data from NASA’s Juno orbiter highlights a striking assembly of huge cyclones roiling the giant planet’s atmosphere.

Infrared map of Enceladus shows “tiger stripes” and hints of recent resurfacing

22 September 2020 Astronomy Now

Researchers using data from the Cassini mission have put together a new global spectral map of Enceladus, a moon with icy jets spewing into space from a sub-surface ocean.

Hubble captures spectacular new view of Jupiter and Europa

17 September 2020 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope checks in on Jupiter, capturing another sunning view of the giant planet, its Great Red Spot and a colourful tapestry of turbulant cloud bands.

A new angle on the Andromeda galaxy wins astrophotography prize

14 September 2020 Astronomy Now

French photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux has beaten thousands of amateur and professional photographers from around the globe to win the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s title of Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020.

Previewing the Sun’s fate: a white dwarf blazing in the colourful shroud of a planetary nebula

10 September 2020 Astronomy Now

The Hubble Space Telescope’s view of a colourful planetary nebula 4,000 light years away previews the fate of the Sun, showing a hot white dwarf illuminating the blown-off outer layers of its atmosphere.

A familiar face-on spiral hosts stars galore and a supermassive black hole

7 September 2020 Astronomy Now

The spiral galaxy M61, mistaken for a comet by Charles Messier in 1779, is an anchor tenant of the Virgo galaxy cluster, a beehive of rapid star birth.

Of supernova remnants and stellar nurseries in the Large Magellanic Cloud

2 September 2020 Astronomy Now

One of the Large Magellanic Cloud’s lesser known regions, NGC 2035, shows off a stellar nursery in vast clouds of gas and dust along side a colourful supernova remnant in this close-up view from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.