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Moon photobombs atmospheric probe test

a quadcopter drone carries a wedge-shaped model aircraft in front of a large moon seen in the background

An atmospheric probe model attached upside down to a quad rotor remotely piloted aircraft ascends with the moon visible on Oct. 22, 2024. The quad rotor aircraft released the probe above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. (Image credit: NASA/Steve Freeman)

Monday, Dec. 9, 2024: NASA photographer Steve Freeman caught a lucky shot of the moon photobombing a drone carrying a model of an atmospheric probe being developed by NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The quad rotor carried the probe to a test altitude before releasing it over Rogers Dry Lake, a flight test area next to the NASA center.

That's no moon...

(Image credit: ESO/G. Vecchia)

Wednesday, December 4, 2024: Well, yeah, it's definitely not a moon, but it does sort of looks like a half-assembled Death Star in "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi", which is also not a moon. This is, in fact, the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction. The skeleton of one of ESO's flagship cosmic imager for the coming decades can be seen here coming together piece by piece in the mountains of Chile’s Atacama Desert. Once complete, ELT's enormous primary mirror will measure 128 feet (39 meters) across.

The cupola the keeps on giving

(Image credit: NASA)

Tuesday, December 4, 2024: Few things beat the view of a good sunset, even when that view happens on repeat 16 times a day. Thanks to the altitude and inclination of the International Space Station's orbit, that's exactly how many sunsets astronauts living aboard the orbital lab get to experience. In this photo, NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson peers out the station's cupola module as the sun sinks behind the shadowy face of Earth's night side. 262 miles below, the blue tint of the South Atlantic Ocean paints the faded arch of Earth's horizon with a soft glow, lit from the falling sun like Dyson's face as she stares at our home planet.

A stretch of Milky Way

(Image credit: ESO/J. C. Muñoz-Mateos)

Monday, December 2, 2024: Between these two blocky buildings, the arm of our Milky Way stretches into the night sky. This photo was taken from European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Very Large Telescope (VLT), high in the Chilean mountains. Pictured, the VLT's fourth Unit Telescope, stands like two pillars guiding the galaxy's arm. 

Archives

Check out our Image of the Day Archives for more awesome photos.

Image of the Day 2020 Archive

(Image credit: Josh Dinner)

Image of the Day 2019 Archive

(Image credit: Christina Koch/NASA)

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  • The Exoplanets Channel
    The images are truly breath-taking.
    Reply
  • rod
    The Exoplanets Channel said:
    The images are truly breath-taking.

    The Exoplanets Channel, what star and reddish exoplanet is shown in your picture, looks like about 8" angular separation? I use this site as my canonical reference to exoplanets, The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia Currently 4150 exoplanets are listed.
    Reply
  • spaceguy
    yes they are
    Reply
  • swiggly
    The Exoplanets Channel said:
    The images are truly breath-taking.

    My Comet Image:

    Neowise
    Reply
  • rod
    swiggly said:
    My Comet Image:

    Neowise
    This is a very good image here. In enjoyed some recent views of NEOWISE using my 90-mm telescope at 40x early, shortly after 0415 EDT. Bifurcated tail obvious too.
    Reply
  • Helio
    The IOD image for yesterday of the Veil nebula is stunning! The graphics are such that it's almost as if it has an oil film on top. It has both 3D and texture feel to it.
    Reply
  • Jack Colter
    The was no Artemis 13 mission. It was Apollo.
    Reply
  • Astro.Letizia
    I hope they start posting these daily again! I always start my day off with the newest image but it's been a couple of months now :(
    Reply
  • Helio
    APOD is a another great source for astro eye candy.
    Reply
  • Astro.Letizia
    Helio said:
    APOD is a another great source for astro eye candy.
    Thanking you!
    Reply