Picture This – Page 69 – Astronomy Now

Galactic get-together has impressive light display

12 December 2014 Astronomy Now

NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are two colliding galaxies in the constellation of Ursa Major some 130 million light-years from Earth. Between them they have produced one of the most bountiful collections of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) known.

Craters Hipparchus and Albategnius

4 December 2014 Mark Armstrong

First or last Quarter Moon is the best time to see some of the magnificent crater chains near the centre of the Earth-turned lunar hemisphere. Marnix Praet from Belgium provides this high-resolution view of the Hipparchus and Albategnius region.

The Pleiades in all their glory

26 November 2014 Mark Armstrong

The Pleiades in Taurus, otherwise known as the Seven Sisters, is an unrivalled open cluster of late autumn and winter Northern Hemisphere skies. This marvellous portrait of M45 was taken by Ian Aiken.

3D view of Philae’s descent to comet

24 November 2014 Astronomy Now

Put on your red-blue 3D glasses to appreciate this view of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by Philae’s ROLIS imaging system from a distance of 2 miles (3 km).

NASA's reworked image of Europa based on late 1990s data from the Galileo spacecraft.

NASA’s ‘remastered’ view of Europa

21 November 2014 Astronomy Now

NASA uses modern processing techniques to rework a mosaic of images sent back by the Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s, delivering a high-resolution view of this icy ocean world in natural colours.

Saturn’s swirling palette

18 November 2014 Astronomy Now

The fluid dynamics of Saturn’s upper cloud layers are interpreted in artistic terms in this 23rd August 2014 image from the Cassini-Huygens mission.

Spiral galaxy NGC 986 in the constellation of Fornax

Hubble captures spiral galaxy in the Furnace

17 November 2014 Ade Ashford

This new Hubble image is a snapshot of NGC 986 — a barred spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Fornax (The Furnace), discovered by James Dunlop in 1828.

Rosetta camera captures Philae’s descent to the comet

13 November 2014 Astronomy Now

Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera witnessed Philae’s descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Top ten Rosetta images from 10km

11 November 2014 Astronomy Now

On the eve of Philae’s landing, the European Space Agency has released its top ten images of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera from its lowest orbit just 10 kilometres from the centre of the nucleus.

Crescent Saturn and Titan seen by Cassini

7 November 2014 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft — in its 11th year orbiting Saturn — has spotted the gas giant and its haze-covered moon Titan suspended in the blackness of space like diamonds in the rough.