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Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
11.01.2004
Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest of all!
Two Worlds, One Sun
10.01.2004
Two Worlds, One Sun, is the legend emblazoned on the Spirit rover's camera calibration target. Resting on the rover's rear deck, it also doubles as a sundial, allowing students to determine the solar time at Spirit's landing site on Mars.
Sol 5 Postcard from Mars
9.01.2004
A martian Sol - the average martian solar day - is about 39 minutes longer than Earth's familiar 24 hour day. Operating on martian time, the Spirit rover recently sent back this color postcard image, recorded on Sol 5 of its stay on the martian surface.
The Hills of Mars
8.01.2004
Distant hills rise above a rocky, windswept plain in this sharp stereo scene from the Spirit rover on Mars. When viewed with red/blue glasses, the picture combines left and right images from Spirit's high resolution panoramic camera to yield a dramatic 3D perspective.
Red Mars from Spirit
7.01.2004
Rocks are strewn across the broad, flat Gusev crater floor in this sharp color picture from NASA's Spirit rover. Recorded by the rover's panoramic camera, the picture is part of Spirit's first color image of Mars - the highest resolution picture yet taken on the surface of another planet.
Spirit s 3D View Towards Sleep Hollow
6.01.2004
Working late, tired mission members nicknamed the smooth-looking depression to the left of center in this image from the martian surface, Sleepy Hollow. The picture is a portion of the 3D panorama of the Spirit rover's landing site released yesterday, constructed with data from the Mars rover's navigation cameras.
Spirit Pan from Gusev Crater
5.01.2004
After a seven month voyage of nearly 500 million kilometers through interplanetary space, NASA's Spirit Rover has reached the surface of Mars. Scroll right and see a mosaic panorama of Spirit's first images returned from its landing site in Gusev Crater!
Deimos: A Small Martian Moon
4.01.2004
Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos. Pictured above is Deimos, the smaller moon of Mars. In fact, Deimos is one of the smallest known moons in the Solar System measuring only nine miles across.
Comet Wild 2s Nucleus from Stardust
3.01.2004
What does a comet nucleus look like? Yesterday the robot spacecraft Stardust answered this question by returning the most detailed images yet of the center of a comet. The icy centers of comets are usually hidden from Earth-bound telescopes by opaque dust and gas that boils off during approach to the Sun.
An Apollo 12 Panorama
2.01.2004
The Apollo 12 mission was the second ever to land humans on the Moon. The mission was dedicated to studying the Moon, developing techniques, and developing instruments that could be used in future lunar landings.
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