All pictures have been taken from the NASA Astronomy ‘Picture of the Day Archive.'
Apollo Sunrise
Credit: Apollo 12 Crew, NASA
Astronauts took this shot from the Apollo 12, in November of 1969. It is a superb picture of the sun rising from behind the earth. What a heart-warming sight this must have been for our astronauts who'd been in Space for such a long time.
See a Martian sunset here
A Star is Formed
Credit: C. Smith (U. Michigan), Curtis Schmidt Telescope, CTIO, Chile
Stars are born in our universe all the time. It is touching to see a even a tiny kitten being born, how much more mind boggling it must be, to watch a brand new star emerge. This picture is a composite of 3 separate photographs, each of which were taken with lenses sensitive to only one specific chemical element. Each element is transmitted to the picture as a different colour. When put together, the result is this beautiful demonstration of the emergence of a new star.
See a picture of another star being born, here.
Vikings on Mars
Credit:The Viking Project, M. Dale-Bannister WU StL, NASA
NASA's Viking 1 Lander became the first spacecraft to land on Mars, on July 20, 1976. This landing was closely followed by the craft's twin, Viking 2 Lander. Together they explored the surface of Mars, taking numerous pictures and searching in vain for signs of Martian life.
This picture was taken by Viking 1 and it's a detailed shot of the Plain of Chryse, which is a huge Martian boulder. It looks like any old earth surface to me. The picture below is more 'space-like.'
See more pictures of Mars here
Beagle Crater on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA
Saturn's Moon Dione
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
This is Dione - Saturn's moon. She is made up of mostly ice. It was discovered that Dione has deep ice cliffs on her surface. It is said that these cliffs run across some of the many craters there, an observation which suggests to the scientists, that the process which created those cliffs happened later than the impacts which formed the craters. There is always the possibility that Dione's present shape is due to the fact that she has looked like that from the start, but I don't think that there are any takers for this theory.
Eclipsed Moon
Credit: Gain Lee
This is a partly eclipsed Moon which is seen rising over Huddersfield, England.
See more pictures of an eclipse here
Aurora
Credit: Michael Dolan (Michigan Tech.)
This picture of the aurora lights were taken over Lake Superior at dusk. The bright light that you can see at the lower left of the page is Venus.
Nebula IC
Credit: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)
A Nebula is a cloud of dust and gas in space. This heart nebula is a fantastic specimen which shows hydrogen emissions in green, sulphur in red, and oxygen in blue. This is gas and dust at their ultimate best.
See more nebula pictures here
If you've enjoyed these pictures, there are several others, chosen for their impact, which you can see in the other works by the same name. Not only do these pictures draw our attention to our amazingly vast and awesome universe, they also impress us with the vitality and beauty that exists in hidden places to which we may never venture.
Read the other works in this series.
A Handpicked Collection of Ultimate Space Pictures Part one
Part two
Part three
