NASA has long been known for being a digital pioneer, often making photos and videos available as soon as possible. Online, their pics are readily available with complete descriptions and fall under the public domain copyright (NASA is a government agency).
For more info on NASA’s image use guidelines, go here.
Below are the 10 photos I found to be fascinating, original and memorable from NASA’s Image of the Day database from January 2013.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a spectacular image of the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097.
NASA
Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy.
NASA
Snow-covered deserts are rare, but that’s exactly what the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite observed as it passed over the Taklimakan Desert in western China on Jan. 2, 2013.
NASA
File photo: In the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory, Robonaut 2 is pictured during a round of testing for the first humanoid robot in space
NASA / File
A replica of NASA’s Curiosity Rover and members of the Mars Science Laboratory science team pass the Presidential viewing stand and President Barack Obama during the Inaugural Parade on Monday Jan. 21, 2013, in Washington.
NASA
A NASA photo of air pollution in Beijing. At the time that this Jan. 14 image was taken by satellite, ground-based sensors at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported PM2.5 measurements of 291 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
NASA
TDRS-K is the first of three next-generation communications satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA
NASA
This new view of the historical supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, located 11,000 light-years away, was taken by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. Blue indicates the highest energy X-ray light, where NuSTAR has made the first resolved image ever of this source
NASA
This new view of spiral galaxy IC 342, also known as Caldwell 5, includes data from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR.
NASA
Got a favourite pic? Maybe something else I didn’t post?
