Science
NASA Picture of the Day
"The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, in a landing configuration was photographed in lunar orbit from the Command and Service Module Columbia. Inside the module were Commander Neil A. Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. The long rod-like protrusions under the landing pods are lunar surface sensing probes. Upon contact with the lunar surface, the probes sent a signal to the crew to shut down the descent engine."
Image Credit: NASA
Nasa Picture of the Day
"Galaxies don't normally look like this. That's because this image of NGC 3256 shows two galaxies that are slowly colliding. Quite possibly, in hundreds of millions of years, only one galaxy will remain.
Today, however, NGC 3256 shows intricate filaments of dark dust, unusual tidal tails of stars and a peculiar center that contains two distinct nuclei. Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies will directly collide, the gas, dust, and ambient magnetic fields do interact directly. NGC 3256, part of the vast Hydra-Centaurus supercluster of galaxies."
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI / AURA) – ESA/Hubble Collaboration, & A. Evans (UVa, NRAO, SUNYSB)
NASA Picture of the Day
"Eta Carinae, one of the most massive and unstable stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, has a profound effect on its environment.
Found in the South Pillar region of the Carina Nebula, these fantastic pillars of glowing dust and gas embedded with newborn stars were sculpted by the intense wind and radiation from Eta Carinae and other massive stars.
Glowing brightly in planet Earth's southern sky, the expansive Eta Carinae Nebula is a mere 10,000 light-years distant. Still, this remarkable cosmic vista is largely obscured by nebular dust and only revealed here in penetrating infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Eta Carinae itself is off the top left of this false-color image, with the bright-tipped dust pillars pointing suggestively toward the massive star's position. "
Image Credit: NASA, SSC, JPL, Caltech, Nathan Smith (Univ. of Colorado), et al.
NASA Picture of the Day
"NASA's Terra satellite was rounding the top of the globe, making its way from the eastern tip of Siberia and across the Arctic Ocean towards northern Norway and northwest Russia, when it captured this unique view of a total solar eclipse on Aug. 1, 2008.
In the area shown in the image, the sun was completely obscured for about two minutes. As Earth rotated, the shadow moved southeast across the surface. At the same time, the satellite crossed the Arctic with its path nearly perpendicular to the eclipse."
Image Credit: NASA