Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of October 23, 2023
Another tour around the solar system, with images from an asteroid, moons Io and Enceladus, Mars, and an artistic look at the annular eclipse.
Monday, October 23, 2023
Asteroid Surface
This image was taken by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft's MINERVA-II-b rover ("OWL") as it bounced across the surface of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 23 September 2018. Each bounce lasted about 15 minutes, in which time the tiny rover covered about 15 meters.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Annular Eclipse
This gorgeous composite photo of the recent annular eclipse was taken on October 14, 2023, from Reflection Canyon in Utah. The relative size of the Sun is purely artistic.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Processing & Copyright: Ted Stryk & Fernando García Navarro
Volcanic Moon Io
Jupiter's moon Io as seen from NASA's Juno spacecraft during the most recent flyby, when the spacecraft passed within 12,000 kilometers above the active volcanic world. Taken by JunoCam.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Mars from Ingenuity
This image of the Martian surface was acquired by Ingenuity's high-resolution color camera and corrected for color balance, light levels, and strong vignetting. Taken on Thursday, 12 October 2023, during the helicopter's 62nd flight.
Friday, October 27, 2023
JWST Spots Enceladus Plume
Images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) show a water vapor plume jetting from the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, extending out 40 times the size of the moon itself. The inset, an image from the Cassini orbiter, emphasizes how small Enceladus appears in the Webb image compared to the water plume.
