ARSE Digest: Only The Best Space Pics You Deserve

We love you so much.

You guys came out in force and supported SpaceAustralia.com.au in a huge way this past Black Friday.

So, we've curated the most profoundly awesome pics of space from the past week. 

Marvel with us at the powerful yet peaceful grandeur of Venus, say goodbye to a stalwart of space exploration here on Earth, congratulate a return to the moon, and enjoy a nostalgic look at ourselves from a very dear friend.

Enjoy this ARSE digest.

 

Creamy Caramel Swirl On venus

Learning about Venus' creamy upper atmosphere was a treat for us thanks to NASA's Mariner 10 mission. Although the data was collected in 1974, the data has been rendered to create this moody, latte look. We'll get a modern looks at Venus in 2024 when India's maiden Venutian encounter to launch an orbiter probe.

 

Goodbye Arecibo, And Thank You

 

December 1st, 2020.
Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
The last day of the iconic Arecibo Observatory dish after a support cable snapped,dropping the 900 tonne platform 140 metres into the dish below. 

The irreparable damage means the end for the dish.

There are currently no plans on replacing the dish, as radio interference gradually made the accuracy and efficacy of the telescope obsolete.

 

China's Chang'e 5 Moony Panorama

 

China's Chang'e 5 moon lander successfully touched down on the moon's silty surface for a sample return mission on Monday the 30th of Nov, AEST. The mission will mark the first time since 1976 that lunar samples have made it to Earth.

"The spacecraft is performing well and communication with ground control is normal," officials with China's National Space Administration (CNSA) said Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.

The image was snapped moments after the long legs of the lander made contact with the moon's regolith.

 

Gaia Mission's Magellanic Clouds

 

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia mission spotted the Milky Way's second closest satellite galaxy in succulent, gassy detail. The little Large Magellanic Cloud is about one one-hundredth the size of the milky way and is predicted to collide with us in approximately 2.4 billion years.

When the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) meets up with our own galaxy, the event will likely awaken the supermassive black hole at its center. Resulting in the black hole taking in huge amounts of gas and other material before growing eight times its current size and emitting tremendous quantities of radiation in the process. 

Can't wait.

 

Hubble spots a strange galaxy

 

This is the galaxy NGC 2770.
What makes it unusual?
It has been the site of four different observed supernovae in recent (in universe terms) years. the odds of us seeing a supernovae are quite rare, let alone four in a localised position such as a single galaxy. One of the supernovae spotted in the galaxy, SN 2015bh, was first thought to possibly not be a supernova but rather a strange outburst from an old, massive star. However, it was later correctly classified as a supernova created when a star 8-50 times as massive as our sun died.

 

Curiosity Rover Sees Earth from Mars for 1st Time (2014)

 

A blast from the past.
Curiosity watched the Martian sunset and then sent this endearing photo home. So far, yet so close to our hearts. The Mars rover Curiosity snapped this photo of Earth to celebrate its 529th day on the Martian surface. Not really, who celebrates that. But we romanticise anything with rovers, get used to it.

It marked the first time the Rover could spot Earth given the variance in the Martian and Earth orbits. The $2.5 billion rover has been exploring the vast Gale Crater on Mars since August 2012 and has long outlived its expected shelf life of only two Earth years.

 

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