Pictures of the year 2013: Space
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The document provides a summary of notable space and astronomy pictures from 2013, including: 1) Hubble telescope photos of the Horsehead Nebula and a map of relic radiation from the Big Bang composed from Planck satellite data. 2) Photos from Mars including the Curiosity rover drilling into a rock and findings suggesting Mars could have once supported life. 3) Photos of Saturn from Cassini including its rings, hexagonal polar vortex, and storms; and photos of the Milky Way from space and Earth.
Pictures of the year 2013: Space
- 3. Pictures of the year 2013: Space
- 4. Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to photograph the Horsehead Nebula in a new, infrared light to mark the 23rd anniversary of the famous observatory's launch aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. Although the nebula is shadowy in optical light, it appears transparent and ethereal when seen at infrared wavelengths.Picture: REX/NASA
- 5. A map of relic radiation (microwave sky) from the Big Bang, composed of data gathered by ESA's Planck satellite, launched in May 2009 to study Cosmic Microwave Background. The 50-million pixel, all-sky image, released in March, of the oldest light adds an edge of precision to some existing cosmological theories, defining more precisely the composition of the Universe and its age -about 80 million years older than previously thought. Picture: ESA / LFI & HFI Consortia
- 6. The Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space in a long and slow dance around our galaxy, nearly 200 000 light-years from Earth. Picture: ESA/HUBBLE/AFP
- 7. The Milky Way arcs over Aspen, Colorado, in this composite picture by Thomas O'Brien. He stitched together 24 shots - the shutter was open for about 25 seconds each exposure.Picture: THOMAS O'BRIEN / CATERS NEWS
- 8. This highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way. The remnant, called W49B, is about a thousand years old and is at a distance of about 26,000 light years away. The supernova explosions that destroy massive stars are generally symmetrical, with the stellar material blasting away more or less evenly in all directions. However, in the W49B supernova, material near the poles of the doomed rotating star was ejected at a much higher speed than material emanating from its equator. Jets shooting away from the star's poles mainly shaped the supernova explosion and its aftermath.Picture: EPA/NASA / CXC / MIT / L. Lopez
- 9. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drilled into target rock John Klein, providing a view into the interior of the rock, as well as obtaining a sample of powdered material from the rock. The rock is part of the Sheepbed mudstone deposit in the Yellowknife Bay area of Gale Crater. Picture: Reuters/Nasa/JPL-Caltech
- 10. One of the most significant discoveries in the field of space science in 2013 was from the Mars Curiosity Rover. Drill tests and chemical analysis of fine-grained rocks in a dried-up lake bed by the Curiosity robot's science tools suggest conditions were right for the lake to have once supported microbial life, perhaps 3.6 billion years ago. Picture: NASA/AP
- 11. This image taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a patch of rock cleaned by the first use of the rover's Dust Removal Tool, a motorised, wire-bristle brush on the turret at the end of the rover's arm. Picture: NASA/JPLCaltech/MSSSHO/AFP/Getty Images
- 12. Astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted New York City, incredibly clear, before the trees have filled with leaves.Picture: Chris Hadfield
- 13. @Cmdr_Hadfield tweeted this picture, with the caption The full moon rises over the only planet we have ever called home.Picture: @Cmdr_Hadfield
- 14. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have probed the stormy atmosphere of a brown dwarf named 2MASSJ22282889431026., showing winddriven, planet-sized clouds enshrouding these strange worlds. Brown dwarfs form out of condensing gas, as stars do, but lack the mass to fuse atoms and produce energy. Hubble and Spitzer simultaneously watched the brown dwarf as its light varied in time,Picture: NASA/Rex Features
- 15. This photo of the Earth from space show light trails made by cities, star trails from the cosmos and even hundreds of thunderstorms lighting up the atmosphere. NASA astronaut Don Pettit shot this from the International Space Station orbiting 240 miles above the planet. The image was created by combining 18 separate long-exposure photographs. Pettit says he takes multiple 30-second exposures, then stacks them using imaging software.Picture: DonPettit/NASA/BNPS
- 16. Amateur solar-photographer Dave Tyler took this photograph of solar flares in his back garden near High Wycombe, Bucks. He used a refracting telescope equipped with a hydrogen alpha filter to capture these incredible shots from 93 million miles away.Picture: David Tyler / Barcroft Media
- 17. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observes fast-growing sunspots. The bottom two black spots on the sun appeared quickly over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013. These two sunspots are part of the same system and are over six Earths across.Picture: NASA/SDO/AIA/HMI/Goddard Space Flight Center/Rex Features
- 18. Every 25.34 days, the object, designated LRLL 54361, unleashes a burst of light. Although a similar phenomenon has been observed in two other young stellar objects, this is the most powerful such beacon seen to date. The heart of the fireworks is hidden behind a dense disk and envelope of dust. Astronomers theorise the flashes are caused by material suddenly being dumped onto the growing stars, known as protostars. A blast of radiation is unleashed each time the stars get close to each other in their orbits.Picture: EPA/NASA / ESA
- 19. Astro-photographer Robert Gendler has taken science data from the Hubble Space Telescope archive and combined it with his own ground-based observations to assemble this photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106 Picture: NASA/R. Gendler/ESA/Hubble Her. / Rex Features
- 20. This image of the Planetary Nebula Sh2-174, which may suggest a rose, was obtained with Mosaic 1 camera on the Mayall 4-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life. The core of the star remains and is called a white dwarf.Picture: REUTERS/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF
- 21. A composite of 25 separate images spanning the period of April 16, 2012 to April 15, 2013, revealing the zones on the sun where active regions are most common during this part of the solar cycle.Picture: NASA/GSFC/SDO / Rex Features
- 22. Amateur astronomer Ralph Smith photographed these close-ups of the sun from his garden. Ralph, from Deeral in Queensland, Australia, used off the shelf equipment to capture the detailed snaps. The results show huge bursts of flames - known as prominences - leaping from the Sun's surface. Others highlight giant sunspots - cooler areas on the Sun's photosphere - which are often larger in size than Earth itself.Picture: Ralph Smith / Barcroft India
- 23. A meteor contrail is seen while fragments of the meteor fall in the Chelyabinsk regionof Russia Picture: ITAR-TASS / Barcroft Media
- 24. Arianespace's unmanned Ariane 5 rocket, carrying the automated transfer vehicle (ATV) Albert Einstein in French Guiana. The ATV will resupply the International Space Station with 14,500 pounds of propellant, food, experiments, water and oxygen.Picture: Getty Images
- 25. Photographer Babak Tafreshi took this photo of star trails on the Chajnantor Plateau, at an altitude of 5000 metres in the Chilean Andes. The Hyperspace effect is created by the rotation of the Earth, revealed by the photographs long exposure.Picture: Caters News Agency
- 26. Another image from Chris Hadfield: Dubai, the Palm Island like a trilobite in the night.Picture: Chris Hadfield
- 27. A natural-color image of Saturn from space, the first in which Saturn, its moons and rings, and Earth, Venus and Mars, all are visible, is seen in this NASA handout taken from the Cassini spacecraft July 19, 2013 and released November 12, 2013. The image captures 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across Saturn and its inner ring system, including all of Saturn's rings out to the E ring, which is Saturn's second outermost ring. Cassini's imaging team processed 141 wide-angle images to create the panora Picture: NASA/Reuters
- 28. An image from Nasa's Cassini mission of the spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm resembling a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second).Picture: AFP
- 29. This Cassini Spacecraft image shows Saturn's north polar hexagon in the Sun's light now that spring has come to the northern hemisphere. Many smaller storms dot the north polar region and Saturn's signature rings, which appear to disappear on account of Saturn's shadow, put in an appearance in the background.Picture: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/AFP
- 30. The Cassini spacecraft shows a view that looks toward the sunlit side of the rings of Saturn from about 18 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on August 12, 2013 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 728 nanometers.The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 994,000 miles from Saturn.Picture: AFP PHOTO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
- 31. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, an Expedition 36 flight engineer, inside the Cupola of the International Space Station (ISS), using a 400mm lens on a digital still camera to photograph a target of opportunity on Earth some 250 miles (about 400 km) below him and the ISS. Cassidy has been aboard the orbital outpost since late March 2013 and will continue his stay into September Picture: EPA
- 32. A NASA Galaxy Evolution Explorer image of NGC 6744, one of the galaxies most similar to our Milky Way in the local universe. The galaxy is situated in the constellation of Pavo at a distance of about 30 million light-years Picture: AP/NASA
- 33. Photographer Andrew Whyte spent months working how to get the perfect picture - and had just a week to capture the Milky Way as it passed over the location of Hovis's famous advert showing the nostalgic scene as it's never been seen before.He was only able to capture the galaxy so clearly because of Dorset's 'no street lights' policy Photographer Andrew Whyte spent months working how to get the perfect picture - and had just a week to capture the Milky Way as it passed over the location of Hovis's famous advert showing the nostalgic scene as it's never been seen before.He was only able to capture the galaxy so clearly because of Dorset's 'no street lights' policy Picture: Andrew Whyte / Caters News
- 34. A view of Mars that was stitched together from images taken by NASA's Viking Orbiter spacecraftPicture: AP
- 35. A slow shutter photograph taken by David Sharp of the Milky Way above Stonehenge Picture: David Sharp/Solent Ne
- 36. Nasa's Cassini spacecraft captures Saturn's rings and Earth and its moon in the same frame Picture: AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech
- 37. A Chandra X-ray observatory image of a massive cloud of multimillion-degree gas in a galaxy about 60 million light years from Earth. The hot gas cloud is likely caused by a collision between a dwarf galaxy and a much larger galaxy called NGC 1232. If confirmed, this discovery would mark the first time such a collision has been detected only in X-rays, and could have implications for understanding how galaxies grow through similar collisions.Picture: EPA
- 38. In this long exposure photo, a streak appears in the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower above a roadside silhouette of a Spanish fighting bull in Villarejo de Salvanes Picture: AP Photo/Paul White
- 39. The Japanese robotic cargo spaceship HTV-4, also called Kounotori-4 ( 'White Stork' in Japanese ) docking at the ISS. The HTV-4 spacecraft reportedly delivered about six tonnes of cargo to the ISS, including a small talking robot called Kirobo.Picture: EPA
- 40. Robot astronaut Kirobo, a 34cm high robot in the International Space Station. The astronaut Kirobo has become the first robot to speak in outer space. The talking robot is to a 'companion' to Japanese astronaut Kochi Wakata, who is expected to take command of the ISS later this year.Picture: EPA
- 41. This drawing provided by the Houston Airport System shows various facets of the proposed spaceport at Ellington Airport, the current home to the Houston area's military and NASA flightsPicture: AP
- 42. The Milky Way glows bright in the clear Icelandic sky. Photographer Iurie Belegurschi, 30, from Reykjavik, took advantage of the clear sky while taking 15 people on a photo tour around the south of Iceland. The group were hoping to see the Northern Lights, but ended up being treated to an even better sight - an incredibly bright Milky Way.Picture: Iurie Belegurschi/Caters News
- 43. A colour-coded elevation image of Eden Patera, one of several sites on Mars that may be the footprints of ancient supervolcanoes. Mars may once have been rocked by titanic supervolcano eruptions that may have shaped the planet's climate, scientists believe. Crater-like features that could be the footprints of the cataclysmic events have been discovered at several sites in the Martian northern highlands.Picture: NASA/JPL/GSFC/Arizona State University/PA
- 44. Stephen Banks managed to capture this image of the centre of our galaxy through the stunning rock archway Durdle Door, Dorset. By setting his camera to a 30-second exposure time, and using a bright LED torch to illuminate the arch, the 24-year-old snatched the perfect moment.Picture: Stephen Banks/Caters
- 45. The Witch Head nebula, named after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked witch. Astronomers say the billowy clouds of the nebula, where baby stars are brewing, are being lit up by massive stars. Dust in the cloud is being hit with starlight, causing it to glow with infrared ligh. The Witch Head nebula is estimated to be hundreds of light-years away in the Orion constellation, just off the famous hunter's knee.Picture: JPL-Caltech/NASA
- 46. Karen L. Nyberg, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of Super-Typhoon Haiyan from space on November 9, 2013.Picture: ZUMA/REX
- 47. Galaxy NGC 4945, which is similar in overall appearance to our own Milky Way, but contains a much more active supermassive black hole within the white area near the top. Approximately 13 million light years from earth, X-rays from Chandra (blue), which have been overlaid on an optical image from the European Space Observatory (ESO), reveal the presence of the supermassive black hole at the centre of this galaxy.Picture: REUTERS/NASA/CXC/Univ degli Studi Roma Tre/A.Marinucci et al/ESO/VLT & NASA/STScI/Handout via Reuters
- 48. Before Comet Ison in November came Comet PANSTARRS, visible in March and April. It made its closest approach to Earth on March 5. Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere were able to see Comet Pan-STARRS for weeks at twilight, even without binoculars or a telescope. The comet came about 100 million miles (161 million km) from Earth at the closest point.Picture: REUTERS/University of Hawaii/Terry Lovejoy/Australia
- 49. The comet PANSTARRS is seen next to the waxing crescent moon off the western coast of Southern California, in Los Angeles Picture: REUTERS/Gene Blevins
- 50. Comet Ison was hyped as 'Comet of the Century' and star-gazer were wondering if it would be visisble in daylight in early 2014, but the 2 ton lump of dirty ice from the outer reaches of our solar system did not survive its close encounter with the sun in November.Picture: Damian Peach/Skyand Telescope.com/PA
- 51. Comet ISON (bottom) moves towards the sun in this image from ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured at 10:51 a.m. EST on November 28. This image is a composite, with the sun imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in the center, and SOHO showing the solar atmosphere, the corona. NASA spacecraft and scientists are watching the comet to see if it survives its perilous journey around the sun.Picture: NASA/AFP/GETTY
- 52. The Geminid Meteor display, taken at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay,Tyne and Wear at 4.30am on Saturday Picture: Thomas Heaton/ Geoff Robinson Photography.
- 53. China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in December, in the first such soft-landing since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat. A giant screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing shows an animated image of the Chang'e-3 lunar probe landing on the surface of the moon. Inset is a picture of the moon's surface broadcast by the lunar probe Picture: AFP/Getty Images
- 54. The Chinese Jade Rabbit lunar rover, taken by the camera on the Chang'e 3 probe during the mutual-photograph process. China aims to launch its next unmanned lunar probe in 2017, with the key aim of collecting and bringing back lunar samples Picture: REUTERS
- 55. First meteor shower of 2014
- 56. Quadrantid Meteor Shower 3-4 january 2014 Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor shower provides one of the most intense annual celestial fireworks displays, with a brief, sharp peak lasting only a few hours. The 2014 Quadrantid meteor shower will peak Friday Jan. 3 at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), in the middle of the day for most of North America, so the best meteor views will be in other parts of the world, where night has already fallen. At its best, the Quadrantids can dazzle observers with between 60 and 120 meteors an hour.
- 58. Eastern Asia will be in the best position to watch this year’s Quadrantid shower, during the dark hours before dawn January 4, 2014. The shadow line crossing the Pacific Ocean represents sunrise.
- 59. Tommy Eliassen Photography captured this photo on January 3, 2014.
- 60. Barry Simmons in Lake Martin, Alabama captured this Quadrantid meteor on the morning of January 3, 2014.
- 61. Quadrantid and Orion. Date and place: 03.01.2014, Sinaia (PH), Romania
- 62. Quadrantid over cabin. Date and place: 03.01.2014, Sinaia (PH), Romania
- 63. 6 Jan 2014 The first meteor shower in 2014. A meteor streaks past stars during the annual Quadrantid meteor shower in Qingdao, Shandong. Photo: Reuters
- 64. 6 Jan 2014 The first meteor shower in 2014. A meteor streaks past stars during the annual Quadrantid meteor shower in Qingdao, Shandong. Photo: Screenshot via QQ
- 65. cast Pictures of the year 2013: Space images credit www. Music Kitaro Matsuri created o.e. thanks for watching
- 66. end