Planetary Picture of the Day - Week of May 5, 2025

Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of May 5, 2025

We present a mixed bag of amazing images, from JWST and Hubble to the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Plus, a pair of astrophotographers provides us with two impressive pictures!

Monday, 5 May 2025

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, O. Jones (UK ATC), G. De Marchi (ESTEC), and M. Meixner (USRA). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI), N. Habel (USRA), L. Lenkic (USRA) and L. Chu

NGC 346
NASA's JWST spacecraft has peered deep into yet another nebula to reveal star- and planet-forming processes previously invisible to us. The space telescope's near-infrared camera captured this beautiful and intriguing image of star cluster NGC 346, showing clouds packed with dust and hydrogen-the building blocks of future worlds.

Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Branched Features on the Floor of Antoniadi Crater
Exquisite view of fossil dendritic channels on Mars. This remarkable HiRISE image, taken in March 2009, shows dark channels filled with a rocky material that is harder than the surrounding softer sediment. As the softer material eroded, the dark rocky material composing the channel bed was left behind as an inverted relief. The shape of the channels suggests they were formed by groundwater sapping rather than surface runoff. These features are observed in the Antoniadi crater on Mars, 21.5N/299.2W. The image is about 1 km across.

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

Credit: NASA/ESA and L. Ricci (ESO)

Proplyd 181-825
One of 42 proplyds-ionized protoplanetary disks-discovered in the Orion Nebula in 2009 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Proplyd 181-825 is one of the bright proplyds that lies relatively close to the nebula's brightest star, Theta 1 Orionis C. Resembling a tiny jellyfish, this proplyd is surrounded by a shock wave caused by stellar wind from the massive Theta 1 Orionis C interacting with gas in the nebula.

Thursday, 8 May 2025

Credit: Andrew McCarthy / Cosmic Background Studios

ISS and the Moon
Once again, photographer Andrew McCarthy has stunningly captured the ISS transiting the Moon. He noted, "[There is] something so ethereal about seeing something we built juxtaposed against the grandeur of a celestial body."

Friday, 9 May 2025

Credit: Sebastian Voltmer Photography

Saturn's Missing Rings
Back in January, we mentioned in a SETI Live that one of the interesting celestial events happening this year would be the seeming disappearance of Saturn's rings from our perspective on Earth. Astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer recently captured this view of the gas giant, sans rings, using his C11 EdgeHD telescope. Saturn was very close to the Sun in the sky, so please do not look for the planet without proper solar protection.