Hourly Cosmos

NASA image release December 7, 2011 This oblique view of Bartok (a crater on Mercury) accentuates the central peaks and terraced walls of this complex crater. Bright material is visible on the central peaks, which may be due to the presence of hollows, like those that have been discovered on the central peak-ring mountains of the Raditladi impact basin and at many other locations on Mercury. This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-kilometer/pixel (0.6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington NASA image ...

Behold Bartok - From Goddard Space Flight Center - https://flic.kr/p/aRUuX8

PJ27 ENCOUNTER Data processed from Nasa Juno JNCE_2020154_27C00019_V01 www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?id=JNCE_20201... Nasa/SwRI/MSSS/AndreaLuck

Jupiter, Jet N6 - Nasa’s Juno PJ27 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2mj2gLM

Mosaic of 52 MastCam 34mm pictures taken on sol 2596 (25 November 2019) at approximately 1:20 pm local time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mosaïque de 52 photos acquises par la caméra MastCam 34 mm au sol 2596 (25 novembre 2019) à 13h20 heure locale.

Curiosity's deck - sol 2596 - From Thomas Appéré (thomasappere.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2hSDgS2

Download full size image 7k: www.flickr.com/photos/192271236@N03/54386920493/sizes/o/ Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY Image created using data processed from: psa.esa.int/ Mission: ESA Mars Express Orbit: 24544 Instrument: HRSC Time: 2023-06-09T08:08:57.411Z Filters: RE3+GR3+BL3 Product IDs: HO544_0000_RE4 HO544_0000_GR4 HO544_0000_BL4 Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY Feel free to share, giving the appropriate credit and providing a link to the original media: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Mars - Terra Sabeae and Noachis - ESA Mars Express - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2qRZbDK

This view of Saturn was snapped by Cassini's camera system, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) during its "Storm Watch" observations. This composite is made of images that were taken on February 26, 2014 and received on Earth February 27, 2014. The camera was pointing toward HELENE (Saturn's moon Helene must have been behind Saturn at the time these images were taken), and the images were taken using the CB2, MT3, MT2, BL1, CL1 and CL2 filters. Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / Val Klavans

Saturn within the rings - From Val Klavans (valklavans.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/kyN6Yw

Orbit (Perijove) 42 IO IMAGE 2022-05-23 Altitude: 640205 km Credit: ©Nasa/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/AndreaLuck Image created using data processed from Nasa's Juno www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?id=13092 Product ID: JNCE_2022143_42C00003_V01 ©Nasa/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/AndreaLuck twitter.com/andrluck/status/1528892901279019008?s=20&... fosstodon.org/@andrealuck/108354056886362140 Feel free to share, giving the appropriate credit and providing a link to the original image or tweet: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Jupiter, Io and Europa - Three Worlds in one shot - Nasa’s Juno PJ 42 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2nnsZDr

Mariner 9 narrow angle camera mosaic of the Martian south polar cap, taken on January 10, 1972. This image was one of the first high-resolution images ever returned of the south pole, revealing for the first time fine layered deposits exposed in the walls of massive ice canyons. These layers show the climate conditions that Mars has experienced over the last few hundred thousand years. This image mosaic was acquired by Mariner 9 during its 116th orbit around Mars. Image Credit: NASA / JPL / Justin Cowart

Mariner 9 - Mars South Polar Cap - From Aster Cowart (terrasabaea.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/FQFTs8

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. What's not at all apparent in this view is that this one of the largest buildings in the world. It could hold three Empire State Buildings inside its cavernous, one-story interior. The NASA logo covers 16,000 square feet.

VAB at Dusk - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/aLG4Wg

Strawberry Reservoir, Utah

Moonrise at Strawberry Reservoir - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2nEmbK1

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface. Young crater rays, extending radially from fresh impact craters, appear light blue or white. Medium- and dark-blue areas are a geologic unit of Mercury's crust known as the "low-reflectance material", thought to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral. Tan areas are plains formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas. The crater in the upper right whose rays stretch across the planet is Hokusai. To watch a movie of this colorful view of Mercury as a spinning globe go here: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8497927473 Young crater rays, extending radially from fresh impact craters, appear light blue or white. Medium- and dark-blue areas are a geologic unit of Mercury's crust known as the "low-reflectance material", thought to be rich in a dark, opaque mineral. Tan areas are plains formed by eruption of highly fluid lavas. The giant Caloris basin is the large circular tan feature located just to the upper right of center of the image. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the So...

False Color View of Mercury - From Goddard Space Flight Center - https://flic.kr/p/dWWbct

In this location, there are a series of benches or terraces high up on the channel wall. By looking at the topography it should be possible to tell if (1) these are produced by sediments being left at these elevations; (2) the erosive fluid dropped in stages and thus did more erosion at certain levels; or (3) the wall of the channel was slumping inward as a series of landslides. Image cutout is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 273 km (170 mi). For full observation details including images with scale bars, visit the source link. www.uahirise.org/ESP_028473_1840 NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Topography of a Flood Carved Channel - From UAHiRISE (NASA) (uahirise.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2rbJPsM

Credit: UAESA/MBRSC/HopeMarsMission/EXI/AndreaLuck Downaload video here: www.flickr.com/video_download.gne?id=52856486316 Full size zoomable image here: flic.kr/p/2nptsKF ----------------------------- Filters: f635+f546+f437 Spacecraft altitude: 12008 km 2021-03-16 Orbit 25 Raw Data from: sdc.emiratesmarsmission.ae/ ---------------------------------- Credit: UAESA/MBRSC/HopeMarsMission/EXI/AndreaLuck Feel free to share, giving the appropriate credit and providing a link to the original image or tweet: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Mars - Valles Marineris - Hope Mission, Orbit 25 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2owKiTA

All about Surface Morphology NASA/JPL/University of Arizona (255 km above the surface) www.uahirise.org/PSP_006245_1580

PSP_006245_1580 - From UAHiRISE (NASA) (uahirise.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/23kG3E7

Gazing into deep this dusty maelstrom using near-infrared filters, Hubble reveals many stars and star-forming activities that might otherwise be obscured by dust. Strongly red spots indicate [Fe II] emission. There are only a few tiny splotches of those. Make of that what you will. Data from the following proposal were used to create this image: Peering to the Heart of Massive Star Birth Red: WFC3/IR F164N Cyan: WFC3/IR F160W Blue: WFC3/IR F110W North is 45.51° counter-clockwise from up.

RAFGL 5180 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2jcRWq8

ESP_011792_0980 - From UAHiRISE (NASA) (uahirise.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/ef2PgG

Good night moon. Good night Mars. Good night rocket launching to Mars. Floodlights on the launchpad the night before an Atlas rocket sent the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity, to the Red Planet. Update, November 29, 2011: She's on her way! Update, August 5, 2012: tonight she lands!

Goodnight Curiosity - From Bill (ridingrobots.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/aKQrug

In this comparison image the photo at the top was taken by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 1995 and shows the spot at a diameter of just under 21 000km; the second down shows a 2009 WFC3 photo of the spot at a diameter of just under 18 000km; and the lowest shows the newest image from WFC3 taken in 2014 with the spot at its smallest yet, with diameter of just 16 000km. -- Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth -- has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured. According to Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across. Astronomers have followed this downsizing since the 1930s. Historic observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis. NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across. In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across. Beginning in 2012, amateur observations revealed a noticeable increase in the rate at which the spot is shrinking -- by 580 miles per year -- changing its shape from an oval to a circle. Read more: 1.usa.gov/1mvuo0R Credit: NASA/ESA NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientifi...

NASA's Hubble Shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Smaller than Ever - From Goddard Space Flight Center - https://flic.kr/p/nC7Cmf

VENUS 2nd FLY BY Spacecraft: NASA MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) ©NASA/JHUAPL/CIW/AndreaLuck Raw Data processed from: pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/ Time: 2007-06-05 21:18 Altitude 60337 km PRODUCT IDs: CW0089565646I_RA_5, CW0089565656G_RA_5, CW0089565661F_RA_5 FILTERS: 1000nm BW 15(Used for Red Channel), 750nm BW 5 (Used for Green Channel), 430nm BW 40 (Used for Blue Channel) ©NASA/JHUAPL/CIW/AndreaLuck Feel free to share, giving the appropriate credit and providing a link to the original image or tweet: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Venus 2nd Fly-By - NASA's Messenger 2007 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2o1cNNH

This one looks like a piece of jade to me with these colors. The colors are, of course, representative or "false" color, depending on how you want to word that. As an example, here is another rendition of this nebula using almost the same data. For this, the bluer patches indicate slightly stronger OIII emissions while the greener ones are slightly stronger in H-alpha. There are tiny little red things to the left and right of the nebula glowing in NII which look something like slightly smudged stars. I presume they are tiny FLIERS. Red: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f658n_wf_sci Green: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f656n_wf_sci Blue: hst_11956_04_wfpc2_f502n_wf_sci North is NOT up. It's 33.3° clockwise from up.

IC 289 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/ihJRKD

NOTE: Click here for the complete 1080p HD version of this video: smu.gs/ZPVxMC This video is a tour of the Great Nebula in Carina (NGC 3372) in both optical and infrared light. The music was composed specifically for this animation by my longtime friend Thomas Regin. This majestic nebula is one of the largest nebulae in the sky and lies about 7,500 light years distant in the Southern constellation of Carina, The Keel. Several star clusters containing some of the brightest and most massive stars known are found here, including the extremely luminous hypergiant star Eta Carinae - one of the prime candidates for the next supernova explosion in our galaxy. Traditional images of the Carina Nebula taken in visible light primarily display the striking magenta colour from glowing Hydrogen gas, as well as large dark obscuring clouds of dust. But infrared light penetrates these clouds better and allows for a deep peek into the heart of the nebula, revealing complex details and thousands of young stars that are otherwise completely invisible. These stars shine primarily in the infrared and appear as golden red in this image. Only a minority of these are even visible in traditional images. Click here to see the two high resolution images that were used to make this animation: Carina Nebula in Optical Light Carina Nebula in Near Infrared

Hidden Treasures of the Carina Nebula - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - https://flic.kr/p/eaSj7g

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Brian Swift

CP18_38_21_1 - From Brian Swift (bswift.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/24gPP2B

The dunes of Titan rotated into view as Cassini snapped these consecutive photos on the final three days of 2015

2015 Titan — 3 Days in December - From Ian Regan - https://flic.kr/p/D9aWL7

Opportunity MARS NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / j. Roger

Opportunity (36) - From Jacint Roger (landru79.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2iKWyuu

"Observation 004" panorama from the Chang'e 3 Lander Terrain Camera. Mosaic uses 41 frames acquired on December 17, 2013. Image Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Space Administration / The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration / Justin Cowart

Chang'e 3 - December 17, 2013 - From Aster Cowart (terrasabaea.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/DMd8Lh

Those power lines get in the way so often I wish I could cut them down. Granted, half of Los Angeles would lose power, but, um, that might actually help with the light pollution........ Taken from Santa Clarita in a deeply light polluted neighborhood.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE - From Kevin M. Gill (kevinmgill.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2jmS6nD

Galaxy M 83. 1st March 2020 (actually, 2nd March 2020, 2:30am - 6:00am) from Siding Spring Observatory. 40x5 min exposures, almost perfect guiding, processed with Siril, color/stretch with Photoshop, using Skywatcher Black Diamond 80 and ZWO ASI178MC. No light pollution filter, no flats, only 2 darks used.

M 83 from SSO - From Ángel López-Sánchez - https://flic.kr/p/2iAMe9K

Anonymous galaxy in Virgo. Part of a search for intermediate mass black holes and attempt to discover any correlation between them and galactic bulges. See Proposal 10596. Not the cleanest data or resulting image in the world but who else is looking? Red: HST_10596_14_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci Green: Pseudo Blue: HST_10596_14_ACS_WFC_F435W_sci North is NOT up. It is 84.8° clockwise from up.

Virgo Spiral - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/qEJZf8

This is Intuitive Machines' IM-2 lander that once again toppled over after trying to land on Mons Mutons near the lunar south pole. The picture had lots of detail hidden in the shadows which I brought out in processing. The picture was reprojected to a rectilinear image with a precise, photogrammetry derived camera model. Alt: Fisheye picture from the lunar surface taken by a camera attached to the top of the IM2 lander. The lander has fallen over on it's side and the legs point towards the small half lit earth in the far distance. The lander partially lies in the shade, which covers most of the foreground. A small hill is visible on the horizon. Original: flic.kr/p/2qQywoe Credit: Intuitive Machines Additional Processing: Simeon Schmauß

IM-2 Athena sideways on the Moon - From Simeon Schmauß (stim3on.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2qRd6RU

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of solar evaporation ponds outside the city of Moab, Utah. There are 23 colorful ponds spread across 400 acres. They are part of a large operation to mine potassium chloride—more commonly referred to as muriate of potash (MOP)—from ore buried underground. MOP is in high demand as fertilizer because there are no easy substitutes for potassium, an essential nutrient for plant growth. Each pond color indicates a different state of evaporation. The deep, royal blue color is due to a dye that is added to a full pond of potash brine and water in order to speed up the rate of heat absorption. The seafoam green colors indicate shallower waters (with less dye) that are well into the evaporation process. The tan colored ponds are nearly dry; salt crystals (the final product) are left over in the pond and ready for collection. Image credit: NASA Read more NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Solar Evaporation Ponds Near Moab, Utah - From NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - https://flic.kr/p/XH9JL4

Imaged from La Crescenta, CA, using an APM 140mm doublet, asi1600mm mono camera and ZWO Ha and Oiii filters. Approx 2 hours integration.

NGC-7923 The Helix Nebula in Narrowband - From Ryan Kinnett (rkinnett.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2mmkLgs