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High Resolutionalignments: Eclipse on Jupiter, photographed by Galileo, 22nd May 2000.
Shadow of Europa. The storm at top right is the Great Red Spot.
Image credit: NASA/JPL.
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High Resolutionmetempsychosis: Surface of Mars, photographed by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 9th June 2007.
“Distal end of Lethe Vallis”, around 4N 156E on the Elysium Planitia.
Lethe Vallis is named for the River Lethe, which runs through the Katmai National Park in Alaska. The River Lethe, in turn, is named after Lethe (Λήθη), the river of forgetfulness that ran through Hades. The dead were required to drink from Lethe, erasing the memory of their former life, before being reincarnated.
Detail of a larger image.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/UoA.
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High Resolutionwrit in water: Saturn, rings and shadows, photographed by Cassini, 9th December 2012.
Showing one of Cassini’s distinctive glitch modes; here, a curiously organic series of rings and arcs.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI.
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High Resolutionlakes: Surface of Mars, photographed by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 24th August 2008.
Detail of Tikhonravov Crater interior at 13°N 35°E. Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900-1974) was a Soviet rocket and spacecraft designer.
It appears that this is an ancient lake bed, now filled with dust. A paper by Fasset and Head groups Tikhonravov with other lakes that survived until the end of the Noachian or early Hesperian era (about 3.5 billion years ago) and estimates that it had a greater volume than the largest freshwater lake on Earth.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/UoA.
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High Resolutionalleghenies: Surface of the Moon, photographed from Apollo 11, July 1969.
Keeler Crater, at 10°S 161°E on the farside, named for American astronomer James Edward Keeler, 1857-1900. Amongst other things, Keeler first observed the Encke Gap in Saturn’s rings. The Keeler Gap is named for him, as is a crater on Mars. His ashes are interred under a telescope at the Allegheny Observatory, Pennsylvania.
Frame #5571 from Hasselblad magazine O (#38).
Image credit: NASA/JSC/ASU.
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bela lugosi’s dead: Surface of Mars, photographed 4 times by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, June-September 2012.
“Repeat monitoring of active dune gullies in Kaiser Crater” at 46°S 20°E. The crescent dune seen here measures about 1.2km from tip to tip.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/UoA. Animation: AgeOfDestruction.
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High Resolutiontime’s dead flowers: Surface of Mars, photographed by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 9th November 2008.
“Streamlined features in Hooke Crater” at 44°S 316°E on the northern edge of the Argyre Planitia basin. Hooke is a 140km crater named for the 17th century British physicist, best remembered for first describing elasticity with Hooke’s Law: F=-kx.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/UoA.
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High Resolutionsee you shake: Saturn, photographed 10 times by Hubble Space Telescope, February 2005.
Note Saturn’s polar aurora. From Proposal 10156, a study of Saturn’s magnetosphere and auroral processes in concert with Cassini.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScl. Animation: AgeOfDestruction.
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High Resolutionlong halloween: Saturn, rings, and Mimas, photographed by Cassini, 31st October 2005.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/SSI.
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High Resolutionwhat are days for?: Pandora and Saturn’s rings in minimalist mode, photographed by Cassini, 10th December 2005.
More Space Minimalism.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/SSI.
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High Resolutionblood&gold: The Moon, photographed from Apollo 11, July 1969.
11°S 28°E. The large crater at centre is Theophilus, one of three lunar craters named for obscure saints (Theophilus of Alexandria, 4th century Pope of the Coptic Church). Critic and chronicler Edward Gibbon described Theophilus as a man “whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood”.
Above (east) is Mädler Crater (19th century German astronomer Johann Heinrich von Mädler). The plain to the right is the Mare Nectaris (Sea of Nectar). The pear-shaped crater at top left is Torricelli (17th century Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli).
Hasselblad frame #6241, from magazine U (#42).
Image credit: NASA/LPI.
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High Resolutionhounds: Jupiter and Ganymede, photographed by Hubble Space Telescope, April 2007.
Ganymede is just about to vanish behind the limb of Jupiter. See also: Ganymede and Jupiter, photographed by New Horizons.
From Proposal 10468.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScl.
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High Resolutionsarabande: Surface of Mars, photographed by 2001 Mars Odyssey, 1st November 2005.
A section of Gemini Scopuli at 80°N 29°W. Layered terrain, exposed by escarpments near the north pole.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU.
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High Resolutioncalme: Titan, photographed by Cassini, 29th November 2012.
Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres— Paul Verlaine.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/SSI.
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High Resolutionshamal: Saturn’s E-Ring, photographed by Cassini, 14th July 2011.
The E ring, second furthest out of Saturn’s rings, is made up of particles ejected from Enceladus’ cryovolcanos.
Image credit: NASA/ESA/SSI.
