 |
| Launch of the Dawn mission to explore Vesta and Ceres in the asteroid belt. |
Viewed: 671 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
In January of 2007, Comet McNaught provided a spectacular show in the skies of
Earth's southern hemisphere. This spectacular image of the comet's tail was captured
from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia by Robert H. McNaught.
Credit: Robert H. McNaught |
Viewed: 1061 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Ulysses' long looping orbit carries it far from the sun. Every six years the
spacecraft travels from the inner solar system to the realm of Jupiter and back
again.
Credit: NASA |
Viewed: 657 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
An artist's rendition of Ulysses' 1996 encounter with Comet Hyakutake. Currently,
the spacecraft is continuing it's orbit over the Sun's poles, studying the Sun and
its influence on the space environment.
Credit: NASA
|
Viewed: 605 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
The asteroid Apophis caused some concern in 2004 when scientists thought it might
come dangerously close to the Earth in 2029. However, further research showed that
our planet will be safe from any destructive collision. This image shows the most
likely trajectory (in blue) of Apophis during its close approach in 2029.
Credit: NASA
|
Viewed: 723 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
| Comet impacts pose a serious threat to life on Earth. |
Viewed: 484 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Jupiter can act as a shield, soaking up impacts as happened in 1994 with comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. |
Viewed: 586 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Horner´ graph simulates impact rates on the Earth over a ten million year timescale. Changing the mass of Jupiter has a dramatic effect. |
Viewed: 693 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Recolonization of the underside of the fusion crust by Chroococcidiopsis sp. following atmospheric entry of the FOTON capsule.
(a) Rock exposed to atmospheric entry. White lines are light reflected from glass surface.
(b) Control non-flight rock.
|
Viewed: 739 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| The FOTON spacecraft after atmospheric entry (vehicle is 2.22 m in diameter). The white circle marks the location of the sample. |
Viewed: 586 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
| Sample after Earth atmospheric entry. (Scale bar is 1 cm.) |
Viewed: 574 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Scanning electron micrograph of inocula of Chroococcidiopsis sp. CCMEE 029 within the non-flight control rock (white arrow shows one colony of organisms). |
Viewed: 529 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Sandia researcher, Mark Boslough, led the team that used a supercomputer to simulate
how a 'fireball' might form from an asteroid exploding in the Earth's atmosphere.
Credit: Sandia/Randy Montoya
|
Viewed: 683 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Mezö-Madaras, Romania, ordinary chondrite. This close-up of a cut and polished face of Mezö-Madaras measures ~ 7 cm from left to right. Chondrites are named for the nearly spherical, silicate-rich objects they contain called chondrules, which were among the first objects to have formed in our solar system. As is evident in this picture, Mezö-Madaras has abundant large chondrules. Photo by D. Ball, Arizona State University. |
Viewed: 775 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Asteroid 2007 TU24 taken by the Catalina Sky Survey, Oct. 12, 2007.
Credit: Steve Larson and Ed Beshore, Catalina Sky Survey
|
Viewed: 585 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
The illustration from an amateur astronomer shows the asteroid's track on the sky
for 3 days near the time of the close Earth approach as seen from the city of
Philadelphia.
Image courtesy: Dr. Dale Ireland, Silverdale, WA.
|
Viewed: 614 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| These low-resolution radar images of asteroid 2007 TU24 were taken over a few hours by the Goldstone Solar System Radar Telescope in California's Mojave Desert. Image resolution is approximately 20-meters per pixel. When the asteroid passes close to Earth, a combination of several telescopes will provide higher resolution images. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech |
Viewed: 715 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Close up of low-resolution radar images of asteroid 2007 TU24. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. |
Viewed: 466 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Stardust impact tracks and light gas gun impacts of sulfide in aerogel both display
metal beads with sulfide rims indicating that GEMS-like objects in Stardust are
generated by impact mixing of comet dust with silica aerogel. (left) Stardust
GEMS-like material and (right) light gas gun shot GEM-like material. GEMS in
cometary IDPs do not contain sulfide-rimmed metal inclusions.
Credit: Hope Ishii, LLNL |
Viewed: 618 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
2001 SN263 has now been revealed as the first near-Earth triple asteroid ever found.
Credit: Cornell University / Arecibo Observatory
|
Viewed: 509 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
Planetary geologists had thought that stony meteorites would be destroyed when they
passed through Earth´ atmosphere. This one struck ground near Carancas, Peru, at
about 15,000 miles per hour. Brown University geologists have advanced a new theory
that would upend current thinking about stony meteorites.
Credit: Peter Schultz, Brown University
|
Viewed: 578 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Chroococcidiopsis, which was used in this study, is shown here living in a rock from the Negev Desert in Israel. The green line running across the top of the rock is a thin endolithic film formed by the organism. These microbes live just below the surface of the rock, protected from the Sun's UV radiation.
Credit: Gerda Horneck
|
Viewed: 458 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Carbon cenospheres are tiny, carbon-rich particles that form when coal and heavy fuel are heated intensely. Scientists have now learned that cenospheres can form in the wake of asteroid impacts, too.
Credit: Mark Harvey / Indiana University |
Viewed: 442 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Deep-sea hydrothermal vents, such as this one on the Juan de Fuca Ridge off the Pacific coast of Washington State, spew super-hot mineral-rich fluids into the surrounding ocean water. Credit: MBARI |
Viewed: 553 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| McCollum carried out his amino-acid experiments in flexible gold-titanium reaction cells, about the size of a roll of pennies, like the one shown here. Credit: Cody Lazar |
Viewed: 447 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
| Schematic drawing of the experimental apparatus used to study the decomposition of amino acids under hydrothermal-vent conditions. |
Viewed: 459 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
2008 HJ is the fastest rotating natural object known in the solar system. The asteroid made almost a complete revolution in the time it took to take this picture.
Credit: Dr Richard Miles
|
Viewed: 538 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
The observation was made using the Faulkes Telescope in Australia. The aim of the Faulkes Telescope Project is to provide free access to robotic telescopes and a fully supported education program. This image shows one of the Faulkes Telescopes in construction.
Credit: Faulkes Telescope Project |
Viewed: 597 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
The main belt is between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and contains countless asteroids.
Credit: diagram courtesy of the Minor Planet Center; image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
|
Viewed: 493 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Asteroids which have been imaged directly are impressively detailed.
Credit: NASA/NEAR
|
Viewed: 543 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
Many asteroids have strange shapes.
Credit: Johns Hopkins Univ. APL
|
Viewed: 456 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
The team has produced a model that matches observations from binary asteroids, shedding light on how these unique pairs form.
Credit: University of Maryland
|
Viewed: 534 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Today fallen trunks of trees are still present at the Tunguska site, with the taiga growing in between them. By studying peat samples from the area, scientists have determined that the Tuguska catastrophe was possibly caused by a C-type asteroid.
Image Credit: Evgeniy M. Kolesnikov/ Lomonosov-Universität Moskau |
Viewed: 413 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
This image of the comet Borelly was captured by NASA's Deep Space 1 mission. Researchers now believe that the Tunguska event could have been caused by a C-type asteroid like Borelly.
Image Credit: NASA |
Viewed: 536 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Meteorite 00506, found in Antractica in 2000.
Credit: NASA |
Viewed: 412 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
This image shows the orbital path of 2008 KV42 if you are looking along the plane of the solar system.
Image Credit: CFEPS |
Viewed: 349 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
The MMT telescope, located near Tucson, Arizona, was used for follow-up observations.
Image Credit: Howard Lester, MMTO |
Viewed: 500 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Iron meteorite on the surface of Mars, as imaged by the Mars Exploration
Rover Opportunity |
Viewed: 358 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Artist's impression of the metallic asteroid, Kleopatra
Credit: NASA |
Viewed: 494 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
Artist's impression of asteroid impact with early Earth that led to lunar formation
Credit: ESA |
Viewed: 420 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
| The first angrite ever discovered, "Angra dox Reis", which fell to Earth in 1869 near the town of Angra dos Reis in Brazil. Scale bar is in centimeters. Credit: courtesy / Maria Zucolotto (Museu Nacional; Brasil) |
Viewed: 370 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| A transmission electron microscope image (magnified 5,000 times) of a slice of the Inti particle, which NASA´ Stardust spacecraft collected in 2004 and returned to Earth two years later. Preparation of the sample caused some breakage. Scale bar is one micron, or one millionth of a meter. Credit: University of Chicago |
Viewed: 454 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Microscopically magnified image of track 25, created by a particle from comet Wild 2 during its capture in aerogel, more informally known as "solid smoke." Four cometary particles are circled, including the ones designated Inti-B and Inti-C. Scientists had removed the larger Inti particle from the end of the track at right before the image was taken. The track measures less than a tenth of an inch long. Credit: University of Washington |
Viewed: 335 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| High-magnification view from a scanning transmission electron microscope showing individual mineral grains in the comet sample called Inti. The scale bar is 100 nm long. Credit: University of Washington |
Viewed: 342 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Model of the glycolaldehyde molecule. Credit: IRAM |
Viewed: 463 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
 |
| Halley's Comet becomes visible to the unaided eye about every 76 years as it nears the sun. Image credit: Lick Observatory |
Viewed: 353 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Diagram showing the position of the Oort Cloud. Credit: Southwest Research Institute |
Viewed: 442 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| "Tara," an asteroid being tracked by TAU researchers. |
Viewed: 345 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Field image of the achondrite meteorite GRA 06128, found in blue ice of the Graves Nunatak region of the Antarctica during the ANSMET 2006/2007 field-season. Credit: Image courtesy of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET 2006-2007 PI - Ralph Harvey, Case Western Reserve University). |
Viewed: 303 times
01/14/09 |
|
 |
| Prof. James Day looking at a portion of the meteorite in the University of Maryland's isotope geochemistry lab. Credit: University of Maryland |
Viewed: 401 times
01/14/09 |
|
|
