Astronomy Picture of the Day 05-03-04

NASA ^ | 05-03-04 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2004 May 3

Comets Bradfield and LINEAR Rising
Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics)

Explanation: Comet Bradfield is easy to see on the left, but can you find Comet LINEAR on the right? Last week, just before sunrise from the northern hemisphere, two bright comets were visible in the same part of the sky at the same time. The above long-exposure image was taken on the morning of April 25 from Joshua Tree National Park in California, USA. Comet C/2004 F4 (Bradfield) is giving an unexpectedly good show as it recedes from the Sun and Earth and fades from view. Its tail is estimated by some to be about 10 degrees long. Having just rounded the Sun itself, Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is now moving toward the Earth. Although intrinsically fading, T7 will appear to brighten until about mid-May and so continue to be visible to the unaided eye before sunrise to southern hemisphere observers into June. Q4, the third coincidental naked eye comet, will become visible in mid-May to northern hemisphere observers.

[petuniasevan]

'Endurance' Looms on the Horizon
April 30, 2004

This image mosaic from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera was taken from a rover position approximately 70 meters (about 230 feet) from the rim of "Endurance Crater" on the rover's 93rd sol on Mars. The foreground highlights the now familiar ripples and dimples, common on the plains of Meridiani Planum. Some rock outcrop is seen emerging on the hill to the left, indicating that the rover is driving through the eroded remnants of the crater's ejecta blanket and is getting close to its rim. This light-colored outcrop is probably similar to the rocks seen at "Fram Crater" and "Anatolia," and studied in detail at "Eagle Crater." The Eagle Crater rocks are believed to have been deposited in an open body of water. The science team is intrigued by the darker rock on the far side of the crater wall. Just right of the center, on the far crater wall, rocks appear to form thick, massive layers, suggesting they may have been formed by a different geologic processes than the lighter rocks in the foreground. The greater thickness of layered rocks at Endurance Crater will provide the team with a longer record of geologic processes operating at Meridiani Planum.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

[petuniasevan]

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[sistergoldenhair]

Thanks for the ping.

[firewalk]

Thank you