NASA Space Probe Snaps Spectacular Image Of Saturn

"Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none are more strikingly unusual than those taken from Saturn's shadow," the lead of the Cassini imaging team at the Space Science Institute, Carolyn Porco, said of the new image in a written statement released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 The Cassini mission is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The institute is based in Boulder, Colorado. [via huffingtonpost]

The glorious back-lit photograph--actually a mosaic of images taken in the violet, visible, and near-infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum taken when Cassini was about 500,00 miles from Saturn--was snapped on Oct. 17, 2012, during the probe's 174th orbit around the planet, according to the statement. At the time, the space probe was situated in what space scientists call a "very scientifically advantageous and coveted viewing position" (peering back toward the sun while in Saturn's shadow)


Cassini Pictures Of Saturn And Its Moons:

With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.

A quartet of Saturn's moons, from tiny to huge, surround and are embedded within the planet's rings in this Cassini composition.

This stunning false-color view of Saturn's moon Hyperion reveals crisp details across the strange, tumbling moon's surface. Differences in color could represent differences in the composition of surface materials. The view was obtained during Cassini's very close flyby on Sept. 26, 2005. 
Hyperion has a notably reddish tint when viewed in natural color. The red color was toned down in this false-color view, and the other hues were enhanced, in order to make more subtle color variations across Hyperion's surface more visible. 

Saturn sits nested in its rings of ice as Cassini once again plunges toward the graceful giant. 
This natural color mosaic was acquired by the Cassini spacecraft as it soared 39 degrees above the unilluminated side of the rings.

570 Megapixel Camera Photographs Galaxies Up To 8 Billion Light Years Away.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is designed to probe the origin of the accelerating universe and help uncover the nature of dark energy by measuring the 14-billion-year history of cosmic expansion with high precision. More than 120 scientists from 23 institutions in the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Germany are working on the project. This collaboration built the extremely sensitive 570-Megapixel digital camera, DECam, and mounted it on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory high in the Chilean Andes. Starting in Sept. 2012 and continuing for five years, DES will survey a large swath of the southern sky out to vast distances in order to provide new clues to this most fundamental of questions. [via DES]

"The achievement of first light through the Dark Energy Camera

 begins a significant new era in our exploration of the cosmic

 frontier," said James Siegrist, associate director of science for

 high-energy physics at the US Department of Energy, which 

oversaw the instrument's construction.

"The results of this survey will bring us closer to understanding 

the mystery of dark energy

 and what it means for the Universe."

This is the first image from the world's most powerful digital camera.

NGC 1365 is a barred spiral galaxy around 60 million light years from Earth, located in the Fornax galactic cluster.

Over the next five years, scientists plan to create these massive colour photos of 1/8th of the night sky, capturing 300 million galaxies, 100,000 galaxy clusters, and even 4,000 supernovae.

Photo of the Dark Energy Camera's 62 CCD sensors 

The goal is to discover the nature of dark energy, which is

theorised to be responsible for the ever-faster expansion of

 the Universe.

Billionaire Guy Laliberte's Photographs From Space

These are some images taken by Canadian Billionaire Guy Laliberte (founder of Cirque du Soleil) on his trip into space in 2009 via the Russian Soyuz rocket. The images were taken from 220 miles above earth while travelling at 17,500mph aboard the space station

Laliberte returned from his 11 day space travels with thousands of photos of Earth that he shot using a Nikon D3S and Nikon D3X. 102 of those epic photos are collected in the book "Gaia,". Laliberte said of the project "All the proceeds and my royalties go to raise money for the One Drop Foundation, (which he established in 2007 to address shortages of clean potable water around the world.) Eventually there will be a photo exhibition and we’ll sell the prints. This photo project has the potential of raising $10 million for One Drop."

Kazakhstan, off the coast of the Caspian Sea

Turkey, the Euphrates by Guy Laliberte

Chad, at the foot of the Emi Koussi volcano.

"When you're on Earth as a kid, I would lie on the grass and see the clouds in motion -- just reverse that. I was in space and looking at Earth, and living the same relationship. So when I started taking pictures I was playful, trying to take pictures of shapes and animals. The framing is intentional. I was doing it for myself. " ~  Guy Laliberte

 Kazakhstan, Caspian Sea,

 Kazakhstan, off the coast of the Caspian sea.

Mongolia, western region, Lake Har Us Nuur

Chad, Sahara Desert

Tibet Lake Duli Shihu

 China, Hotan region

Kazakhstan on the border of Lake Tengiz

Guy in space with his Nikon D3X