Mars' Spring Storms
Early spring typically brings dust storms to northern polar regions of Mars. As the north polar cap begins to thaw, the temperature difference between the cold frost region and recently thawed surface results in swirling winds. The choppy dust clouds of at least three dust storms are visible in this mosaic of images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in 2002.
Currently, the Phoenix Mars Lander is exploring the Red Planet's northern region. For Phoenix's latest discoveries, visit www.nasa.gov/phoenix.
At the center of spiral galaxy M81 is a supermassive black hole about 70 million times more massive than our sun.
A new study using data from Chandra and ground-based telescopes, combined with detailed theoretical models, shows that the supermassive black hole in M81 feeds just like stellar mass black holes, with masses of only about ten times that of the sun. This discovery supports Einstein's relativity theory that states black holes of all sizes have similar properties.
This montage of planetary images was taken by spacecraft managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows:
1. The Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10, 2. The Venus image by Magellan, 3. T the Earth image by Galileo, 4. The Mars image by Viking, and 5. The Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were taken images by Voyager.
Pluto is not shown as no spacecraft has yet visited it.
The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, moon and Mars) are roughly to scale to each other; the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other.
На самом деле галактика называется I Zwicky 18. Она состоит из старых звезд, сформировавшихся на заре космоса, но окружающие ее более молодые галактики в силу своей гравитации заставляют процессы звездной эволюции в ней идти в обратном направлении. Отсюда ее молодой вид, из-за которого она названа создателями снимка Дорианом Греем.
Фото дня NASA. 04 апреля 2008
Перемещение песков на Марсе Так как в Северном полушарии Марса наступает весна, дюны возле полюса, начинают таять. Углекислый газ и водяной лед сейчас сублимируются в тонкую атмосферу, превращаясь в газ. Более тонкие слои льда обычно при этом вначале размораживают обнажающийся песок, темный цвет которого лучше поглощает солнечный свет и ускоряет таяние. Процесс может даже вызвать к жизни песчаные джеты, прорывающиеся через утончающийся лед. К лету пятна расширятся и охватят все дюны. Марсианский Северный полюс Марсианина окружен многими подобными полями песчаных барханных дюн, странные, гладкие дуги которых образованы постоянными Марсианскими ветрами. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1036.html Фото можно скачать там в 4 форматах.
Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 showed that the planet's internal heat plays a significant role in generating atmospheric disturbances. This visible-light image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was taken on May 11, 2007.
Understanding such phenomena is important for Earth's meteorology where storms are present everywhere and jet streams dominate the atmospheric circulation. Jupiter is a natural laboratory where atmospheric scientists study the nature and interplay of the intense jets and severe atmospheric phenomena.
A clear, beautiful and blistery cold night made for perfect viewing of February's lunar eclipse. This image was taken at 9:36 p.m. EST on Feb. 20 from Buffalo, N.Y., by an amateur photographer and astronomer, who "took the picture by balancing the lens of the camera on the lens of the telescope." While not the most high-tech means of photographing such phenomenon, the picture still shows the beauty and wonder of our solar system.