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| Venus Express Photographs the Earth and Moon |
| Nov 25, 2005 - Now on its way to our nearest planetary neighbour, Venus Express tested its VIRTIS optics system by taking pictures of the Earth and the Moon. ESA controllers ran the spacecraft through a commissioning phase to test all of its scientific instruments. It took pictures of the Earth and the Moon when it was 3.5 million kilometres away. The VIRTIS instrument is also on board the Rosetta spacecraft, which also took images of our planet. ESA scientists will be able to compare the images to ensure the instrument is working perfectly. (Full Story) |
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| Artist's impression of the stellar object MWC 297. Image credit: ESO Click to enlarge |
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| AMBER Instrument Combines Three Telescopes |
| Nov 25, 2005 - The newly installed AMBER instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer combines the light from two or three 8.2 metre telescopes creating a virtual telescope 40 - 90 metres across (131 - 295 feet). It was used to observe a young, newly forming star called MWC 297, and discovered that it's surrounded by a proto-planetary disc which is strangely truncated near the star. (Full Story) |
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| Mimas standing in front of Saturn's rings. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI Click to enlarge |
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| Death Star Mimas and Its Giant Crater Herschel |
| Nov 25, 2005 - In this Cassini image of Mimas perched in front of Saturn's moons, you can clearly see its giant crater Herschel. The 130-kilometer (80-mile) crater makes the moon look like the Death Star from Star Wars. Cassini took this image on October 13, 2005 when it was approximately 711,000 kilometers (442,000 miles) from Mimas. (Full Story) |
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