Seen from space, many intriguing features are found on the worlds of our solar system, from ancient craters on Earth to dunes on Mars, Saturn's hexagon, and Io's volcanoes. Now, we can add observations from Earth that will discover new details in space, involving the brand-new NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory.
Credit: NASA, International Space Station Expedition 59
Monday, 8 September 2025
More than 214 million years ago, a five-kilometer-wide asteroid collided with Earth, forming the Manicouagan Crater, a prominent feature of the planet today. Seen from space, the vast, annular reservoir surrounds a central island that is uplifted. Known as the "Eye of Quebec," the island fills the crater's 70-kilometer inner ring, a vivid sign of a massive asteroid strike from the Triassic Period.
Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA; Processing: Włodek Głażewski via APOD
Tuesday, 9 September 2025
Many Martian dunes are known to be covered unevenly with carbon dioxide (dry ice) frost, creating patterns of light and dark areas. Carbon dioxide doesn’t melt; instead, it sublimates, directly turning into a gas. Carbon dioxide is also a greenhouse gas, even in its solid form, so it can trap heat beneath the ice and sublimate from the bottom up, causing geyser-like eruptions.
During Martian spring, these eruptions can cause a pattern of dark defrosting spots, where the darker sand is exposed. This image, however, was taken during Martian autumn, when the weather is getting colder, making these stripes particularly puzzling. One hypothesis is that they are caused by cracks in the ice that form due to weaker eruptions or thermal stress as part of the day-night cycle; however, research continues. Watching these dunes and others through additional Martian seasons may provide us with more clues to solve this mystery.
Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SSI, CICLOPS; Processing: Maksim Kakitsev
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Saturn viewed at infrared wavelengths, as imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2014. The hexagon at the top represents a giant jet stream, approximately 29,000 to 30,000 kilometers wide, with sides approximately 14,500 kilometers long – longer than Earth's diameter. This massive storm spans 75 to 300 kilometers high and is a long-lived atmospheric feature centered around Saturn's north pole.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing by Gerald Eichstädt
Thursday, 11 September 2025
The north polar region of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io was captured by NASA’s Juno during the spacecraft’s 57th close pass of the gas giant on Dec. 30, 2023. Using data from recent flybys, scientists have discovered that the volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io are each likely powered by their own chamber of roiling hot magma rather than an ocean of magma.
Credit: NSF, DOE, Rubin Obs., Paulo Assunção Lago (Rubin Obs.)
Friday, 12 September 2025
From the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory reaches for the "Milky Road" above. The new facility will spend a decade creating the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, a cosmic history that will capture every visible change in the southern sky. Named for the pioneering astronomer Vera C. Rubin, this new observatory uses the world's largest digital camera to explore the cosmos. Here, it stands sentinel under the brilliant band of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The composite image, taken in May 2025, features the airglow on the horizon and arcs across the sky from horizon to horizon. The Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy can be seen in the lower left.
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