Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: This Cloud's Going Places
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-sees-monstrous-cloud-boomerang-back-to-our-galaxy">Saxton/Lockman/NRAO/AUI/NSF/Mellinger</a>01SPoW-Jan29-02b
Hundreds of enormous, high-velocity gas clouds whiz around the outskirts of our galaxy, but the Smith Cloud is unique because its trajectory is well known. Discovered in the 1960s, astronomers believe it was launched from the outer regions of the galactic disk around 70 million years ago. It’s now on a return collision course and is expected to plow into the Milky Way in about 30 million years, where it will ignite a spectacular burst of star formation. The Smith Cloud is made of hydrogen gas and can’t be seen in visible light. This image a false-color composite created by Hubble to show its size and location in space.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/pluto-s-widespread-water-ice"> NASA/JHUIAPL/SwRI</a>02SPoW-Jan29-07
This false-color image, derived from observations in infrared light by the Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) instrument, shows where the spectral features of water ice are abundant on Pluto’s surface. It is based on two LEISA scans of Pluto obtained on July 14, 2015, from a range of about 67,000 miles.
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1603a/"> ESO</a>03SPoW-Jan29-01
Many galaxies are chock-full of dust, while others have occasional dark streaks of opaque cosmic soot swirling in amongst their gas and stars. However, the small galaxy IC 1613 is veritable clean freak! IC 1613 contains very little cosmic dust, allowing astronomers to explore its contents with great clarity. This is not just a matter of appearances; the galaxy’s cleanliness is vital to our understanding of the Universe around us.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia18351/a-half-enceladus"> NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute</a>04SPoW-Jan29-05
This half-lit view of Enceladus bears a passing resemblance to similar views of Earth's own natural satellite, but the similarities end there. Earth's rocky moon is covered in dark, volcanic basins and brighter, mountainous highlands — both exceedingly ancient. The surface of icy Enceladus is uniformly bright, far brighter than Earth's moon. Large areas of Enceladus' surface are characterized by youthful (on geologic timescales), wrinkled terrains.
<a href=”http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-finds-misbehaving-spiral"> ESA/Hubble & NASA</a>05SPoW-Jan29-06
This edge-on spiral galaxy might not look like much, but it’s actually quite the misfit. Known as LO95 0313-192, the galaxy has massive radio jets, outbursts of superheated gas moving close to the speed of light. Though not visible in this image, these giant jets were previously associated with spiral galaxies. Since its discovery over a decade ago, astronomers have located three more spiral galaxies with radio-emitting jets, raising more questions about how these jets are formed in galaxies and thrown out into the cosmos.
<a href=”http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/plutos-blue-atmosphere-in-the-infrared"> NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI</a>06SPoW-Jan29-03
A first look at Pluto’s atmosphere in infrared wavelengths, and the first image of the atmosphere made with data from New Horizon’s LEISA instrument. The sunlight is coming from above and behind Pluto. The blue ring is caused by sunlight scattering from haze particles common in Pluto’s atmosphere. Scientists believe the haze is a photochemical smog resulting from the action of sunlight on methane and other molecules, producing a complex mixture of hydrocarbons such as acetylene and ethylene. These hydrocarbons accumulate into small particles — a fraction of a micrometer in size — which scatter sunlight to make the blue haze.
