Image of the Day
Don't Leave Me High
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA
Stix Blog
It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag....
By Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC
A democracy cannot survive as a permanent form of government. It can last only until its citizens discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority (who vote) will vote for those candidates promising the greatest benefits from the public purse, with the result that a democracy will always collapse from loose fiscal policies, always followed by a dictatorship.---Lord Thomas MacCauley
Posts categorized "Space"
August 07, 2008
August 06, 2008
Image of the Day
I'm Ready for My Close-Up
— ESA and
SPACE.com Staff
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU
Berlin (G. Neukum)
August 04, 2008
Image of the Day
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
— University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
July 31, 2008
Image of the Day
Interstellar Overdrive
— CHFT, SEDS, NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/Coelum
July 30, 2008
Image of the Day
Slip Slidin' Away
— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
July 22, 2008
Image of the Day
Along the Red Ledge
— NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
July 18, 2008
Image ofthe Day
Around and Around
— NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
July 17, 2008
Image of the Day
Loves Me Like A Rock
— ESA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
July 16, 2008
Image of the Day
A Long Way Down
— ESA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
July 15, 2008
Image of the Day
Burst Onto the Scene
— NASA/JPL-Caltech/Subaru and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Subaru
July 10, 2008
Image of the Day
Puzzlin' Evidence
Space.com Image of the Day
July 08, 2008
Image of the Day
Swirling Takes Up All My Time
Space.com Image of the Day
July 07, 2008
Image of the Day
Is This Burning an Eternal Flame?
Space.com Image of the Day
June 26, 2008
Image of the Day
Credit: Gemini Observatory
Head On (Makes You Want to Blow the Stars from the Sky)
June 20, 2008
Image of the Day
Shaved Ice
June 19, 2008
Image of the Day
She's Giving Me Excitations
June 18, 2008
Image ofthe Day
— ESO and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Serge Brunier
Under the Milky Way (Again)
June 17, 2008
Image of the Day
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Washing of the Water
June 13, 2008
Image of the Day
It's All Right Now — In Fact, It's a Gas
June 11, 2008
Image of the Day
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Dusty Icefield
June 10, 2008
Image of the Day
(I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes)
June 04, 2008
Image of the Day
Here Comes the Flood
June 03, 2008
Image of the Day
Hold Your Breath and Clasp at Cassiopeia
June 02, 2008
Image of the Day
Summer and Smoke
May 29, 2008
Image of the Day
Space Ghost
May 28, 2008
Image of the Day
I haven't done the Space.com Image of the Day in a while.
May 21, 2008
Supernova
A bright flash of x-rays seen by NASA's Swift satellite in January 2008 (inset) signals the destruction of a star several times more massive than our sun in a galaxy called NGC 2770.
The event marks the first time astronomers have seen the "first light" from a supernova and could help efforts to predict the stellar explosions.
Image courtesy NASA/Princeton University/Gemini Observatories
Supernova by Liz Phair
May 19, 2008
Image of the Day
....
Also of note (pun intended), astronomers have discovered that the gas in the core of the cluster generates the lowest musical tone in the entire cosmos, a B-flat. No human will ever hear it, as it exists 57 octaves below middle C on a piano.
May 16, 2008
May 13, 2008
Boomdeyada! I Love the Whole World
Earthquakes in China, volcanoes spouting in Chile and Italy, stock market queezy, elections looming. Enough bad news in the world. Let this make your day lovely for a change.
Hat tip to The Anchoress at http://theanchoressonline.com/
Julia
May 07, 2008
May 05, 2008
May 02, 2008
Image of the Day
Bright Lights, No City
The Milky Way shines above the Paranal Residencia that houses astronomers studying at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile.
ESO astronomer Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo of the morning sky to capture the Milky Way's dark dust lanes and bright nebulae. The Zodiacal light of sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust is visible in the band of light that is inclined relative to the Milky Way by 40-50 degrees. Such light is only visible in places free from light pollution, such as the Paranal Observatory.
The high-altitude site and extreme dryness provide excellent observing conditions for astronomers, who may then escape to the Paranal Residencia for more comfortable surroundings. The building's unique design has even attracted filmmakers making the new James Bond film.
- Milky Way's Formation Theory Questioned
- Telescopes at SPACE.com
- SPACE.com Image Gallery: Great Observatories
— ESO and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: Yuri Beletsky (ESO)
April 30, 2008
Image of the Day
I Feel Right at Home in This Stunning Monochrome
Light-toned layered rocks form outcroppings in Hellas Planitia, the floor of an ancient Martian impact crater, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Hellas Planitia, also known as the Hellas Impact Basin, is roughly 1,240 miles across (2,000 kilometers) and includes the lowest points of the Martian surface. The site may have once held ancient lakes or seas where it sits in the southern hemisphere.
The rocks alternate between light layers fractured into angular boulders and blocks and dark layers that appear relatively smooth. The alteration corresponds with a stair-step like terrain in some places that suggest different rates of erosion, but other areas have relatively constant slopes. Such layered rocks could have been deposited through volcanic ash, wind-blown sand, and even river or lake deposits.
- VIDEO: Looking For Life in All the Right Places
- VIDEO: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- GALLERY: Ice on Mars
— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
April 28, 2008
Image of the Day
Everything Merges with the Night
April 25, 2008
Image of the Day
Bent Outta Shape
The Prometheus moon steals wispy material from Saturn's F ring, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft.
The irregular Saturnian moon acts as a gravitational tug that pulls away ring dust and debris onto different orbital paths and leaves an uneven pattern of kinks in the F ring. In that way Prometheus appears to live up to its namesake, who stole fire from the Greek Gods and gave it to humans.
The moon's sneaky activity is illuminated by both direct sunlight and reflected light from Saturn, captured by Cassini from 743,000 miles (1.2 kilometers) out. The "saturnshine" often brightens the night sides of Saturn's many moons.
- VIDEO: Enceladus, Cold Faithful
- IMAGES: Cassini's Latest Discoveries
- Special Report: Cassini's Mission to Saturn
— NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
April 24, 2008
Image of the Day
Can You Show Me the Shine of Your Japan
Tokyo glows green by night, as seen in the photography of International Space Station astronaut Dan Tani.
The greenish light reflects the widespread use of mercury vapor lighting, as opposed to the sodium vapor lighting that produces an orange-yellow light seen in other nighttime cities. Newer areas near the shore of Tokyo bay contain more orange sodium vapor lamps, but the majority of the urban area shines a cool blue-green.
Such a top-down view also reveals the city layout, with ribbons of light radiating outward from the city center following streets and railways. The regularly spaced lights along one of the westward-trailing ribbons are probably train stations lining a transit route, possibly the Chuo Line of Japan Railway.
- Satellites at SPACE.com
- Observing Earth: Amazing Views of Earth from Space, Part Two
- About Planet Earth
— NASA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA
April 23, 2008
Image of the Day
Mawrth Vallis Is Not a Star Wars Character
The Mars Reconnaissance Or
