Picture This – Page 30 – Astronomy Now

A final postcard from a venerable instrument

25 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Before it was decommissioned, the European Southern Observatory’s Visible Multi-Object Spectrograph captured this stunning view of two gravitationally interacting galaxies 110 million light years away. Over its 16-year career, VIMOS captured tens of thousands of galactic spectra, shedding light on how massive galaxies form and evolve.

Citizen-scientists fine tune Juno shots of Jupiter

22 May 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Juno spacecraft is helping scientists learn more about the giant planet’s interior structure and the dynamo that powers its magnetic field, but citizen scientists are keeping the public up to date with stunning images providing unique views of the planet’s mesmerising clouds.

Viewed from Saturn, nearest stellar neighbors offer compelling target

21 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Viewed from Saturn, Earth’s nearest stellar neighbors, the trinary Alpha Centauri system, offer a compelling view as they pass just above the ringed planet’s cloudtops in a 2008 occultation experiment to learn more about Saturn’s atmosphere.

Edge-on view highlights galaxy’s dust lanes, hides spiral structure

18 May 2018 Astronomy Now

As seen from Earth, galaxies can appear in any number of orientations, from face on, with spiral arms on glorious display, to edge on, with the arms hidden from view behind a flattened plane of stars and dust. While not as spectacular, perhaps, edge-on views provide key insights into galactic structure.

The gift that goes on giving – Cassini at Saturn

16 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Saturn’s rings cast sharp shadows across the planet’s northern hemisphere in a view captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2007 at a distance of about 1 million miles, using red, green and blue filters to produce a natural-colour view.

Peering into the heart of the Milky Way

15 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Data from ESA’s Planck spacecraft and the European Southern Observatory’s international APEX experiment are combined to produce a unique view across the entire plane of the Milky Way galaxy showing details large and small, from the galactic core to its outer neighbourhoods.

A tapestry of rippling sand dunes on Mars

12 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Surrounding about a quarter of Mars’ northern polar cap is a vast field of crescent-shaped barchan sand dunes covering an area larger than the U.S. state of California. Seen in summer when the dunes were free of frost, Odyssey captured a stunning tapestry of unearthly wind-blown beauty.

A planet, its rings and three moons – a postcard from Cassini

8 May 2018 William Harwood

A postcard from Cassini – a stunning edge-on view of Saturn, its rings, their shadow and three moons, captured by the orbiter in 2006 as it passed within about 2.7 million kilometres (1.7 million miles) of the sixth planet.

Solar Dynamics Observatory captures magnetic spectacle

4 May 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory routinely sends back stunning images of the sun, including this view of a currently active region showing a tapestry of magnetic field lines shining in ultraviolet light.

Gaia takes a fingerprint of the Large Magellanic Cloud

3 May 2018 William Harwood

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft collected proper motion data for several million stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, allowing astronomers to visualize its rotation in a unique fingerprint-like pattern.