A spiral in profile!
🌀⁣
⁣
@nasahubble sees galaxies of all shapes,
sizes,
luminosities and orientations in the cosmos.
Sometimes,
the telescope gazes at a galaxy oriented sideways —
as shown here.
This galaxy,
called NGC 3717,
is about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (the Sea Serpent).
⁣
⁣
Seeing a spiral almost in profile,
as Hubble has here,
can provide a vivid sense of its three-dimensional shape.
Through most of their expanse,
spiral galaxies are shaped like a thin pancake.
At their cores,
though,
they have bright,
spherical,
star-filled bulges that extend above and below this disk,
giving these galaxies a shape somewhat like that of a flying saucer when they are seen edge-on.⁣
⁣
NGC 3717 is not captured perfectly edge-on in this image;
the nearer part of the galaxy is tilted ever so slightly down,
and the far side tilted up.
This angle affords a view across the disk and the central bulge (of which only one side is visible).⁣
⁣ #galaxy #cosmos #universe #hubble #outerspace⁣
⁣
Text credit:
ESA (European Space Agency)⁣
Image credit:
ESA/Hubble &
NASA,
D.
Rosario

Colors on the wind 🌬️⁣
⁣
In this view of Jupiter,
@nasajuno captures swirling clouds in the region of the giant planet’s northern hemisphere known as “Jet N4.”
⁣
⁣
Jupiter spins once every 10 hours,
and this fast rotation creates strong jet streams,
separating its clouds into dark belts and bright zones that stretch across the face of the planet.
More than a dozen prevailing winds sweep over Jupiter,
some reaching more than 300 miles per hour (480 km per hour)
at the equator.⁣
⁣
Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson created this enhanced-color image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager.
The raw image was taken on Sept.
11,
2019,
at 11:31 p.m.
EDT as Juno performed its 22nd close flyby of Jupiter.
At the time the image was taken,
the spacecraft was about 7,540 miles (12,140 km)
from the cloud tops at a latitude of 45 degrees.
⁣
⁣ #jupiter #clouds #juno #solarsystem #swirls⁣
⁣
Image data:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS⁣
Image processing by Björn Jónsson,
©
CC NC SA 3.0

#FallFashionInspo 🍂

Even though it looks like an autumn 2019 trend report,
it’s even more otherworldly!
This #EarthArt is a view of river mouths in Northern Madagascar captured by Christina Kock (@Astro_Christina)
from the International Space Station (@ISS).
These waters are often a rusty red year-round because they carry iron-rich sediment from highlands in the island’s interior where they originate.
Upon meeting the president of Madagascar,
one astronaut is said to have joked:
“Oh,
yes,
I know your country.
It is the one bleeding into the ocean.”
Photographing the Earth from the space station is an important way for @nasaastromaterials scientists to keep an eye on our ever-changing planet from a priceless perspective.
You could call it our own trend report of sorts!

Image Credit:
NASA/Christina Hammock Koch #NASA #earth #photography #fall #fallcolors #fallfashion #space #astronaut #inspo #art #colorpalette