Image Gallery: Alpha Centauri as Seen from Saturn

Photo Credit: NASA
Alpha Centauri as seen from Saturn. Click image for larger version. Photo Credit: NASA

This image shows the stars Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B just above the edge of the cloud tops in Saturn’s atmosphere, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. The two stars are part of the Alpha Centauri triple star system, which is the closest star system to our Solar System, but is still almost 30,000 times farther away from us than Saturn is.

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Image Gallery: Delicate rock formations on Naukluft Plateau

Long, spindly and delicate rock formations created by blowing sand. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Long, spindly and delicate rock formations created by blowing sand. Click image for larger version. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This image from the Curiosity rover on sol 1294 shows some very delicate rock formations on Naukluft Plateau, shaped by blowing Martian sand. The thin atmosphere and lower gravity also help in the formation of such spindly protrusions. Similar ones have also been seen before by the rover.

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Image Gallery: Enceladus and its geysers

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Michael Benson/Kinetikon Pictures
Enceladus and its geysers. Click image for larger version. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Michael Benson/Kinetikon Pictures

A beautiful image of Saturn’s moon Enceladus with its active water vapour geysers, taken by the Cassini spacecraft. The left side of the moon is lit by the Sun and the right side is illuminated by light reflected from Saturn, or “Saturnshine.” The geysers, over 100 known, originate from a subsurface global ocean and are known to contain water vapour, ice particles, salts and organics. The water vapour reaches the surface through cracks in the outer icy crust.

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Image Gallery: Conical hill and sand dunes in Ganges Chasma

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Conical hill and sand dunes in Ganges Chasma. Click for larger image. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Another odd but beautiful image of Mars, showing a cone-shaped hill with sand dunes wrapping around it. The formation is in the Ganges Chasma region, and the image was taken by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Mars has a lot of diverse geology, and this is another good example of that. Original images are here.

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Image Gallery: the hazy blue atmosphere of Pluto

The hazy blue atmosphere of Pluto. @NASA/JPL/Roman Tkachenko
The hazy blue atmosphere of Pluto. Image Credit: NASA/JHU-APL/SwRI/Roman Tkachenko

Another beautiful view of Pluto, taken by New Horizons as it passed by the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015. Pluto is backlit by the Sun, showing the hazy blue colour of its thin atmosphere, a view never possible from Earth. Image processing by Roman Tkachenko. It is also now the current header image for the blog. Larger version available here.

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