Happy Eighth Anniversary, Rover Curiosity !

Happy eighth anniversary, rover Curiosity !

Picture Description: NASA's Curiosity rover took this selfie on Oct. 11, 2019, the 2,553rd Martian day, or sol, of its mission.

The rover drilled twice in this location, nicknamed "Glen Etive" (pronounced "glen EH-tiv"). About 984 feet (300 meters) behind the rover, Vera Rubin Ridge rises up. Behind it lies the floor of Gale Crater, which Curiosity is exploring, and the northern rim of the crater. (Text adapted from nasa.gov)

Credits: NASA

Jets from Unusual Galaxy Centaurus A Image Credit: ESO/WFI (visible); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A. Weiss et al. (microwave); NASA/CXC/CfA/R. Kraft et al. (X-ray)

Mars as seen from Hubble, snapped on April 27th through May 6th, 1999.

Image Credit : NASA COMMONS

True colour (left) and false colour views of Uranus from Voyager 2 taken on 17th of January, 1986 from a distance of 5.7 million miles.

Credits : NASA

Arecibo Observatory Collapse

Happy Solstice 2020!

The evening began with a beautiful sunset:

...though pretty clouds meant Jupiter and Saturn's closest dance was a little fuzzy:

They'd traded places and moved much closer than on Saturday:

This longer Saturday exposure shows Saturn's biggest moon, Titan (arrow), and all four of Jupiter's Galilean moons:

...and here's Jupiter's moons plus Titan (arrow; another arrow points out Amalthea hugging its parent world) tonight:

Happy Great Conjunction Day!