APOD: 2024 July 7 Б Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
7.07.2024

Why are these clouds multi-colored? A relatively rare phenomenon in clouds known as iridescence can bring up unusual colors vividly -- or even a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These polar stratospheric clouds also, known as nacreous and mother-of-pearl clouds, are formed of small water droplets of nearly uniform size.

Up Close to Jupiter's Moon Io
7.06.2000

Above is the highest resolution photograph yet taken of the Solar System's strangest moon. The surface of Jupiter's moon Io is home to violent volcanoes that are so active they turn the entire moon inside out. The above photograph shows a region four kilometers across and resolves features only five meters across.

Missoula Crater on Mars
4.05.2004

Scroll right to see the rocks, craters, and hills that were in view for the Spirit rover last week as it continued its trek across Mars. Missoula crater, taking up much of the above frame, appeared from orbit to have ejecta from Bonneville crater inside it.

Saturns Moon Dione from Cassini
1.12.2004

What causes the bright streaks on Dione? Recent and likely future images of this unusual moon by the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn might help us find out. The above image was taken at the end of October from a distance of about one million kilometers.

Titan s Cryovolcano
10.06.2005

Investigators suspect the domed feature detailed above is an ice volcano, or cryovolcano, seen in infrared light through the hazy atmosphere on Saturn's moon Titan. Since Titan's surface temperature is around -180...

Snowstorm on Planet Earth
31.01.2000

Earth is an ocean planet. From low Earth orbit, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument onboard NASA's SeaStar spacecraft globally maps ocean color, tracking changes in the climate and biosphere of our water world.

A Sonic Boom
19.08.2007

Is this what a sonic boom looks like? When an airplane travels at a speed faster than sound, density waves of sound emitted by the plane cannot precede the plane, and so accumulate in a cone behind the plane.

Milky Way Over Spains Bardenas Reales
2.09.2013

What's that below the Milky Way? First, across the top of the above image, lies the faint band that is our planet's sideways view of the central disk of our home Milky Way Galaxy.

A Filament Across the Sun
20.08.2012

Is that a cloud hovering over the Sun? Yes, but it is quite different than a cloud hovering over the Earth. The long light feature on the left of the above color-inverted image is actually a solar filament and is composed of mostly charged hydrogen gas held aloft by the Sun's looping magnetic field.

A Super Moon s Halo
28.06.2013

A Full Perigee Moon rose as the Sun set last Sunday. At its closest to Earth it was, by just a bit, the year's brightest and largest Full Moon also known as a Super Moon.