APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) Calendar - December 2022
Since 1995, Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell have created, authored, organised, and edited Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). The APOD repository has the internet's biggest collection of captioned astronomy photos.
03-Dec-2022 - APOD NASA Calendar
- Stereo Mars near Opposition
- Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi
Explanation: Mars looks sharp in these two rooftop telescope views captured in late November from Singapore, planet Earth. At the time, Mars was about 82 million kilometers from Singapore and approaching its opposition, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky on December 8. Olympus Mons, largest of the volcanoes in the Tharsis Montes region (and largest known volcano in the Solar System), is near Mars' western limb. In both the images it's the whitish donut-shape at the upper right. The dark area visible near center is the Terra Sirenum region while the long dark peninsula closest to the planet's eastern limb is Sinus Gomer. Near its tip is Gale crater, the Curiosity rover's landing site in 2012. Above Sinus Gomer, white spots are other volcanoes in the Elysium region. At top of the planet is the north polar cap covered with ice and clouds. Taken about two days apart, these images of the same martian hemisphere form a stereo pair. Look at the center of the frame and cross your eyes until the separate images come together to see the Red Planet in 3D.
02-Dec-2022 - APOD NASA Calendar
- Merging Galaxy Pair IIZw096
- Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, L. Armus, A. Evans
Explanation: Bright at infrared wavelengths, this merging galaxy pair is some 500 million light-years away toward the constellation Delphinus. The cosmic mashup is seen against a background of even more distant galaxies, and occasional spiky foreground stars. But the galaxy merger itself spans about 100,000 light-years in this deep James Webb Space Telescope image. The image data is from Webb's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). Their combined, sharp infrared view follows galactic scale restructuring in the dusty merger's wild jumble of intense star forming regions and distorted spiral arms
01-Dec-2022 - APOD NASA Calendar
- Artemis 1: Flight Day 13
- Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1
Explanation: On flight day 13 (November 28) of the Artemis 1 mission the Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth. In fact, over 430,000 kilometers from Earth its distant retrograde orbit also put Orion nearly 70,000 kilometers from the Moon. In the same field of view in this video frame from flight day 13, planet and large natural satellite even appear about the same apparent size from the uncrewed spacecraft's perspective. Today (December 1) should see Orion depart its distant retrograde orbit. En route to planet Earth it will head toward a second powered fly by of the Moon. Splashdown on the home world is expected on December 11.
Bob and Jerry are two skilled astronomers who spend the majority of their time studying the universe. Jerry is a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Bob is a professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. They are two married, calm, and indolent men who may look normal to an unwary visitor. They have discovered new and strange methods to bother people, such as staging astronomical disputes. Most individuals are taken aback when they hear that they have created the ideal random number generator.
Source & Image Credit - NASA APOD