#Tag · bonfire.cafe

#PPOD: During its close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some of the most detailed imagery ever of Io’s volcanic surface. In this image, taken by the JunoCam instrument from about 1,500 kilometers above the moon, Io’s night side [left lobe] is illuminated by “Jupitershine,” which is sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface. Credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Image processing: Emma Wälimäki © CC BY

#space #science #planetaryscience

Image of Io showing the sunlit right side and the Jupitershine-lit left side in exquisite detail, revealing numerous volcanoes and lava plains scattered throughout.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 weeks ago

#space #science #planetaryscience

beka valentine boosted

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

#PPOD: Mimas, Saturn's innermost large moon, is a small, icy world with a mean diameter of 396 kilometers. The icy moon is notable for its heavily cratered surface, particularly the massive Herschel crater, which gives it a striking resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars franchise. This image was captured on January 30, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / CICLOPS

#space #science

Portrait of Saturn's moon Mimas, heavily cratered like a golf ball, seen lit from the right side and shown as a half moon.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

#space #science

Yogthos and 1 other boosted

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

#PPOD: What appears to be a ripple in space is actually a newborn planet eating its way through its dusty cradle as it orbits its host star. This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, is the first clear detection of a baby planet in a disc with multiple rings. The clear detection of the planet WISPIT 2b in this image represents a significant step forward in our understanding of how planets form. Credit: ESO/R. F. van Capelleveen et al.

#space #science

Surrounding a blocked out star in the center of this image are at least three distinct rings of dust. The innermost is bright white. Immediately next to it is a small, yellow spot at just past the three o'clock position, which is a forming planet. Beyond that are two more hazy, gray rings of dust. The outermost is twice the thickness of the middle and may expand farther out into space.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

#space #science

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 2 months ago

#PPOD: JWST has now captured images of all four gas giants in our solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These images are the first of their kind, and they offer a new and unprecedented view of these distant worlds.

The JWST's image of Jupiter is particularly stunning. The telescope's infrared vision allows us to see through Jupiter's thick clouds, revealing the planet's swirling atmosphere and its Great Red Spot. The planet's haze and auroras steal the show.

#space #science

Four images from JWST. Upper left: Jupiter in infrared, showing thick and thin cloud bands in white and blue. The Great Red Spot is white and near the four o'clock position. Upper right: Saturn in infrared, with bright rings and a dim planet. Lower left: Uranus in infrared, showing the bright rings and blue planet with a white glow in the middle. Lower right: Neptune in infrared, with faint bands, several tiny moons, and a gray-white planet with several bright spots that are storms.

Woozle Hypertwin boosted

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#PPOD: This image of Uranus’ aurorae was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 10 October 2022. These observations were made by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and include both visible and ultraviolet data. An international team of astronomers used Hubble to make new measurements of Uranus' interior rotation rate by analyzing more than a decade of the telescope’s observations of Uranus’ aurorae. Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, L. Lamy, L. Sromovsky

#space #science

Photo of Uranus taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, showing a blue orb that glows with blue aurorae at the nine and four o'clock positions. A faint ring can be seen around the planet, reaching nearly the edges of the image.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#space #science

Greg Lloyd boosted

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#PPOD: New images of Phobos, Mars' innermost natural satellite, taken from over the red planet by ESA's Mars Express and processed by Andrea Luck, show the tiny world above Olympus Mons. Captured on 14 May 2025. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Andrea Luck

#planetaryscience #space #science

Long landscape picture of the surface of Mars, seen from space, showing Olympus Mons to the right of center. Directly below the volcano, a small moon - Phobos - can be seen.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#planetaryscience #space #science

vruz and 1 other boosted

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#PPOD: A collision between two galaxies has resulted in a merged star system with an unusual appearance and bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) features a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames, the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI); Acknowledgment: S. Smartt (Institute of Astronomy) and D. Richstone (U. Michigan)

#space #science

Color image of a spiral galaxy seen at a 45-degree angle from lower left to upper right. Dark bands of dust swirl around the bright center, and numerous young blue stars and old red stars can be seen scattered throughout the outer bands. A faint halo of light surrounds the entire galaxy.

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 3 months ago

#space #science

SETI Institute

@setiinstitute@mastodon.social · 4 months ago

#PPOD: Astronomers combined observations from three different observatories to produce this colorful, multiwavelength image of the intricate remains of Supernova 1987A. The central structure visible inside the ring in the Hubble image has now grown to roughly half a light-year across. Most noticeable are two blobs of debris in the center of the supernova remnant racing away from each other at approximately 20 million miles per hour.

#science #space #fourthofjuly