2013 has been out of this world... literally! Most of the top science images of 2013 were not taken on Earth. These have been hand-picked by me for Death Ray Science News. In no particular order, here are my top science images of 2013:
#1: The first image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004. It shows the view of the Earth and Saturn on July 19 (the Earth is a little white dot to the bottom-right of Saturn - you can see it better by clicking on the image and making it bigger). Cassini was around 1.44 billion km away from Earth at this time.
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| Click on the image to see a much bigger version Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI |
#2: The Curiosity rover spent the year on Mars, improving our understanding of other planets and opening the way for further exploration. I got to speak to Dr Phil Christensen, a real Mars scientist who works for NASA.
I asked him: Is there life on Mars?
Dr C: We do not know yet if life ever existed or currently exists on Mars (or anywhere else besides Earth). The recent discovery by the Curiosity rover that Mars provided a habitable environment in the past suggests that the conditions for life probably existed at some time in Martian history. Note, however, that Curiosity does not carry experiments to detect life, nor does it have the ability to image microorganisms or their fossil equivalents. However, Curiosity's findings may shape future missions that would bring samples back to Earth for life-detection tests or for missions that could carry advanced life-detection experiments to Mars.
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| Curiosity takes a 'selfie' Source: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kramer |
#3: The word 'selfie' has been put in the dictionary. NASA seems to have acknowledged that when astronaut Mike Hopkins took a selfie during a space walk on Christmas Eve.
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| Selfie of the year Source: NASA |
#4: This photo was taken by the Hubble Telescope and is called the Horsehead Nebula. An infrared camera displays details such as the shadows and lights.
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| The Hubble Space Telescope took this image to celebrate 23 years since it was launched Source: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) |
#5: Robert Gendler worked closely with the STSI in Baltimore, the Hubble Telescope and his own observations to create this illustration of this M106 spiral galaxy.
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| M106. Boring name for this beauty Source: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team) |
#6: Typhoon Haiyan struck the Phillipines in November, destroying many properties, causing devastation and the loss of thousands of lives.
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| One of the most powerful storms ever Source: Japan's MTSat 2 and Eumetsat's Meteosat-7 spacecraft |
#7: Around May 13, the sun let loose four bursts of flares, an 'X-flare' which is the most intense type known to have ever come out of the sun. This image comes from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
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| These flares had the X-factor Source: NASA/SDO/GSFC |
#8: In the first 'soft' landing for 37 years, China has landed a rover on the moon. The Chang’e 3 (Jade Rabbit) rover from CNSA (the Chinese NASA-type group) successfully landed in December to begin an exploration program. The Chinese hope to send astronauts to the moon in 2020.
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| One small drive for a rover... Source: Xinhua |
#9: Comet Ison makes its way through the sky with a sprinkling of snow from its center in this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The "Comet of the Century" left astronomers disappointed when it was destroyed as it passed close to the Sun.
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| Ison before its fateful encounter with the Sun Source: Hubblesite.org |
#10: The last entry isn't really an image. It is a video of Chris Hadfield wringing out a towel of water... in space! I won’t spoil it, watch it yourself. This is one of the biggest science videos of 2013.
Also by Dylan
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