Space Pictures This Week: Mars Scoop, Odd Spiral, More

Colorful Canyon

Photograph courtesy U. Arizona/NASA

Mars gigantic Coprates Chasma dominates a color-enhanced picture by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera and released October 10.

The view shows a portion of the top of the south wall of the canyon, looking down onto steep upper slopes. The colors indicate diverse rock types are present, according to the HiRISE team. (See another HiRISE picture of Mars.)

Published October 12, 2012

Auroras From Above

Photograph courtesy EO/Suomi NPP/NASA

Looking like wispy clouds, aurora borealis, or northern lights, light up the sky above Canada's Quebec and Ontario Provinces on October 8.

NASA satellites captured the view a few days after a coronal mass ejection (CME), a release of energetic particles from the atmosphere of the sun. CMEs stir up the magnetic field around Earth, producing the "gorgeous displays" of northern lights, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. (See "New Aurora Pictures: Solar Flare Sparks 'Snakes,' 'Spears.'")

Published October 12, 2012

What a Scoop

Photograph courtesy NASA/Caltech/MSSS

A scoop on NASA's Marsrover Curiosity shows soil particles too big to pass through a sample-processing sieve, through which only grains less than 0.006 inch (0.015 centimeter) wide can pass.

Curiosity is currently using two instruments to study a Martian rock dubbed Jake Matijevic, which initial results suggest has a chemical composition similar to some rocks on Earth. (See "Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Proof of Flowing Water—A First.")

Published October 12, 2012

Liftoff

Photograph by Joe Raedle, Getty Images

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, attached to its Dragon capsule, zooms through the atmosphere after it had lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on October 7.

For the second time in five months, SpaceX, a private company, has successfully docked its Dragon at the International Space Station (ISS)—this time on its first official cargo run under a supply contract with NASA.

Published October 12, 2012

Scorpius

Photograph by Louie Atalasidis, Your Shot

Don't worry, this scorpion doesn't sting. A two-panel mosaic reveals a region of the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. Taken from central Australia, the picture was submitted to National Geographic's My Shot photo community on October 8.

Scorpius, which rises during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, follows the ecliptic—or the path of Earth's orbit around the sun.

Published October 12, 2012

Ash Plume

Photograph courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS/NASA

A long plume of ash stretches from Russia's Shiveluch volcano following an eruption October 6, as captured by NASA's Aqua satellite.

The Kamchatka Volcanic Emergency Response Team in Alaska reported that the ash plume from Shiveluch—located near the coast of the Bering Sea—had reached an altitude of 9,800 feet (2,990 meters) above sea level, and had traveled some 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the volcano's summit.

(See "'Sleeping' Volcanoes Can Wake Up Faster Than Thought.")

Published October 12, 2012

Towering Lights

Photograph by Yuichi Takasaka, TWAN

Auroras tower over Lumby, British Columbia, in a picture submitted to the astronomy-education project The World At Night (TWAN) on October 9.

Auroras are created when charged solar particles slam into Earth's magnetic field and get funneled poleward. The particles collide with molecules in our atmosphere, transferring energy and making the air molecules glow.

"What a night yesterday," photographer Yuichi Takasaka said with his submission. (See "Aurora Pictures: Huge Solar Blasts Spark Rare Colors.")

Published October 12, 2012

See More of Our Favorite Space Pictures

Image courtesy Caltech/NASA

Published October 12, 2012