ben-newman-illustration:

The bootilicous James Wilson (aka Jambonbon) has made this wonderful animated GIF of Astro Cat…. So awesome to see Astro Cat blasting off into space. Thanks, James.

Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space is due out October 2013.

cosmoon:

NGC-2841

(via likeaphysicist)

R2-D2 to Curiosity: Good Fiction to Great Science (by NASAKennedy)

relishinrussia:

Postcard commemorating the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

fyeahuniverse:

^{Beautiful patterns on Mars}

^{This fantastic image by NASA’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera shows some of the remarkable patterns which criss-cross Mars’ surface. The Nili Patera dune field has some of the most beautiful patterns seen. Based on the imagery gathered by HiRISE shows that local wind speeds could reach ‘hurricane force’.}

^{(Image credit: NASA/HiRISE)}

(via throughascientificlens)

fyeahuniverse:

^{M45 | The Seven Sisters}

^{As one of the brightest known star clusters, it contains around 3,000 stars and is located around 4,000ly away.}

^{(Image credit: Greg Parker)}

(via likeaphysicist)

expose-the-light:

Approaching Enceladus near midnight

Cassini approached for its October 19, 2011 flyby of Enceladus from almost directly behind it — only the faintest sliver of crescent is illuminated. In the background, Saturn’s crescent sweeps past as Enceladus grows in Cassini’s view. Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI / animation by Emily Lakdawalla

(via scinerds)

the-star-stuff:

Astronaut Photographs Solar Eclipse’s Moon Shadow from Space

NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured spectacular photos of the moon’s shadow cast by an annular solar eclipse on Sunday (May 20). The images show a huge, black blemish on otherwise pristine white clouds over the Western Pacific Ocean.

CREDIT: Don Pettit 

(via newspace)

fuckyeahspaceexploration:

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits Earth with a complicated motion. This map shows the position of a particular pulsar (the Vela pulsar) inside the field of view of the telescope as it orbits around the Earth rocking north/south; rolls to keep its solar panels facing the Sun; and processes around its axis once every 54 days. It is a compound of these three motions that gives rise to this image.

(via moonpedia)

staceythinx:

Setareh Mohtarez’s space inspired Brightness Dawn collection will make you look like the fabulous star stuff that you are.

the-star-stuff:

Space Exploration by Richard J. Nabarro

unknownskywalker:

Progress 47 approaches the ISS

An unpiloted Progress resupply vehicle approaches the International Space Station, carrying 2.8 tons of food, fuel and supplies. The cargo delivery includes 1,988 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,703 pounds of spare parts, resupply items and experiment hardware for the residents of the space station.

Progress 47 docked to the station’s Pirs Docking Compartment at 10:39 a.m. (EDT) on April 22, 2012. In the background are the northeast part of the Greek Island of Corfu; the strait of Corfu (center); and the Greek-Albanian mainland (top-top right). The city of Kerkyra (Corfu) is on seen the island at bottom-center.

unknownskywalker:

A Dangerous Sunrise on Gliese 876d

On planet Gliese 876d, sunrises might be dangerous. Although nobody really knows what conditions are like on this close-in planet orbiting variable red dwarf star Gliese 876, the above artistic illustration gives one impression.

With an orbit well inside Mercury and a mass several times that of Earth, Gliese 876d might rotate so slowly that dramatic differences exist between night and day. Gliese 876d is imagined above showing significant volcanism, possibly caused by gravitational tides flexing and internally heating the planet, and possibly more volatile during the day.

The rising red dwarf star shows expected stellar magnetic activity which includes dramatic and violent prominences. In the sky above, a hypothetical moon has its thin atmosphere blown away by the red dwarf’s stellar wind. Gliese 876d excites the imagination partly because it is one of the few extrasolar planets known to be in or near to the habitable zone of its parent star.