Category Astronomy/Space

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view as it closed in on Jupiter’s north pole, about two hours before closest approach on Aug. 27, 2016. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the 1st-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas giant planets. Juno successfully executed the first of 36 orbital flybys on Aug. 27 when the spacecraft came about 2,500 miles above Jupiter’s swirling clouds. The download of 6 Mb of data collected during the 6h transit, from above Jupiter’s north pole to below its south pole, took one and a half days...

You can tell Earth and the moon’s shadows apart by their edges: Earth’s is fuzzy, while the moon’s is sharp and distinct. This is because Earth’s atmosphere absorbs some of the sun’s light, creating an ill-defined edge. On the other hand, the moon has no atmosphere, producing a crisp horizon. Credit: NASA/SDO

Early in the morning of Sept. 1, 2016, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, caught both Earth and the moon crossing in front of the sun. SDO keeps a constant eye on the sun, but during SDO’s semiannual eclipse seasons, Earth briefly blocks SDO’s line of sight each day – a consequence of SDO’s geosynchronous orbit. On Sept. 1, Earth completely eclipsed the sun from SDO’s perspective just as the moon began its journey across the face of the sun...

Images of Ceres made using combined Dawn and 2005 HST ultraviolet-visible wavelength images. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Philip Stooke/Ian Regan

Hubble observations of the dwarf planet Ceres have discovered the first evidence of sulfur, sulfur dioxide and graphitized carbon found on an asteroid. The sulfur species are likely associated with regions of recent activity, reports Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Amanda Hendrix. The discoveries were made by comparing Ceres’ UV-visible spectra to laboratory measurements. The new HST observations are complementary to observations being made by instrument on the Dawn spacecraft in orbit at Ceres, covering additional wavelengths.

The presence of graphitized carbon is consistent with weathering of carbonaceous material on t...