Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: Saturn’s Moon Gets Tipsy After Polar Wander
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According to research from NASA’s Cassini mission, on Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn, the line through north and south poles has reoriented. Because the moon has tipped 55 degrees away from its original axis, terrain close to the moon’s original equator is now moved to the poles. The phenomenon, known as true polar wander, likely happened over a million years ago.
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This image of the International Space Station shows ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet peering out of the window. After a six-month mission, he returned to Earth on June 2.
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NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this partial solar eclipse, which lasted almost an hour on May 25. At the peak of its journey, the moon covered 89% of the sun.
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The jagged lines in this image indicate when a tiny meteoroid hit the left Narrow Angle Camera on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Using a computer model of the camera, the team determined that the meteoroid was likely half the size of a pinhead, moving at 4.3 miles per second.
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Taken from ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, this image shows the moon (lower left) and Venus (above and to the right).
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This aerial image of the Grand Canyon was captured by an EarthKAM student-controlled camera on the International Space Station. Through the program, middle school students and teachers can sign up to remotely photograph Earth’s topography.
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This close-up of the Keeler Gap, near the outer edge of Saturn’s main rings, was taken by the Cassini spacecraft. The image shows how the gravitational influence of Daphnis, one of Saturn’s moons, creates waves in the edges of the Keeler Gap.
