Images of space – what’s available online

Steph P. Bianchini January 5, 2017 8 Comments

There’s nothing better for space lovers that seeking (and finding) beautiful images of near and far space objects, some of them in amazing resolutions. I have already mentioned, in another post, Hubble Telescope’s online repository (waiting for James Webb new Space Telescope, of course). Today I wanted to mention NASA Picture of the Day, which every day of the year features something different, adding often good descriptions and even links for further analysis.

This is what I’ve found out on January 4, 2017. Labelled “Hues in a Crater Slope”, it displays in wallpaper resolution size (i.e., good for printing) Mars’s craters and shows how impacts “expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the surface clean of dust, revealing a variety of hues, like in this enhanced-color image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, representing different rock types. The bright reddish material at the top of the crater rim is from a coating of the Martian dust. The long streamers of material are from downslope movements. Also revealed in this slope are a variety of bedrock textures, with a mix of layered and jumbled deposits. This sample is typical of the Martian highlands, with lava flows and water-lain materials depositing layers, then broken up and jumbled by many impact events.”

Considering what is going to happen with the Cassini mission this year (the Gran Finale), I’m sure we can expect astonishing pictures in this gallery later in 2017. Worth a bookmark in your favourites.