Monday, January 17, 2022

A Christmas Comet
This spectacular composite photo of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was taken in Quebec during a frigid Canadian night in December 2021. The comet has spent most of the last 40,000 years inbound toward the Sun, and after reaching perihelion at the beginning of January, it will now likely exit our solar system. It is currently visible from the Southern Hemisphere.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Jupiter’s Bands of Clouds
This enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s bands of light and dark clouds was created by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.

Three of the white oval storms known as the “String of Pearls” are visible near the top of the image. Each of the alternating light and dark atmospheric bands in this image is wider than Earth, and each rages around Jupiter at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour. The lighter areas are regions where gas is rising, and the darker bands are regions where gas is sinking. Juno acquired the image on May 19, 2017, at 11:30 a.m. PST (2:30 p.m. EST) from an altitude of about 20,800 miles (33,400 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops.

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Beautiful Rings
A section of Saturn's rings imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in January 2007. The rings are made of ice and rock, and the pieces range in size from dust grains to house-sized chunks.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Saturn's moon Titan
This image of Titan was taken from the Huygens probe as it descended to the surface of the huge moon. The probe successfully landed at about 11:30 UTC on January 14, 2005. The resolution of the image is about ten meters per pixel.

Friday, January 21, 2022

Martian Book of Stone
Layered deposits in Gale crater, Mars, taken by Mastcam L on NASA's Curiosity rover during Sol 3354.