A Streamlined Form in Lethe Vallis, Mars This image shows a portion of Lethe Vallis, an outflow channel that also transported lava. This is one of only a few places on Mars where these pristine-appearing landforms have been identified. The channel formed by catastrophic floods, during which it produced the prominent crater-cored, teardrop-shaped island in
<em>Category</em> Actu Spatiale
Infrared Echoes of a Black Hole Eating a Star This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star, disrupted as it was being devoured by a supermassive black hole. The feeding black hole is surrounded by a ring of dust. This dust was previously illuminated by flares of high-energy radiation from the feeding
Where the Small Moon Rules Pan may be small as satellites go, but like many of Saturn’s ring moons, it has a has a very visible effect on the rings.
Space Station Flight Over the Southern Tip of Italy The southern tip of Italy is visible in this image taken by the Expedition 49 crew aboard the International Space Station on Sept. 17, 2016. The brightly lit city of Naples can be seen in the bottom section of the image. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft can
One Billion Base Pairs Sequenced on the Space Station NASA astronaut Kate Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles prior to loading it in the biomolecule sequencer. When Rubins’ expedition began, zero base pairs of DNA had been sequenced in space. Within just a few weeks, she and the Biomolecule Sequencer team had sequenced their
Hubble Views a Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star This star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core.
Tectonically Active Planet Mercury New NASA-funded research suggests that Mercury is contracting even today, joining Earth as a tectonically active planet. Images obtained by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft reveal previously undetected small fault scarps— cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps.
Water Swirls, Gulf of St. Lawrence Orbiting above eastern North America, a crew member on the International Space Station photographed a dense pattern of eddies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Caught briefly in the Sun’s “glint point,” reflections off the water surface show an interlinked mass of swirls and eddies in the shallow water
‘Pandora’s Cluster’ Seen by Spitzer This image of galaxy cluster Abell 2744, also called Pandora’s Cluster, was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Space Station’s Expandable Habitat The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is seen attached to the Tranquility module of the International Space Station. BEAM is an is an experimental expandable habitat. Expandable habitats, occasionally described as inflatable habitats, greatly decrease the amount of transport volume for future space missions.