Pluto still has our heart 💙⁣
⁣
90 years ago today,
astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto!
Flip through to see some of its majestic features.
⁣
⁣
📷
2:
Pluto’s mysterious icy heart which contains three kinds of ices – frozen nitrogen,
methane and carbon monoxide.
⁣
⁣
📷
3:
The smooth expanse of the informally named icy plain Sputnik Planum (right)
flanked to the west (left)
by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet high.
⁣
⁣
📷
4:
Pluto in true color.
Four images from our New Horizons'
Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI)
were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this global view of Pluto. ⁣
⁣
Image Credit:
NASA /
JHUAPL /
SwRI⁣
⁣ #NASA #Pluto #Planets #Love #SolarSystem #OTD

A postcard from the edge of space.

These electric-blue clouds are only visible when the Sun is below the Earth's horizon and illuminates them.

Pictured from 269 miles above the South Pacific on an orbiting International Space Station,
noctilucent clouds,
or night shining clouds,
are the highest clouds in the Earth's atmosphere.

Image Credit:
NASA #NASA #Space #clouds #horizon #spacestation

A Cygnus takes flight!
🦢
🚀
Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft launched today on a mission to deliver supplies to @iss.

Lifting off from our Wallops Flight Facility (@nasawallops)
in Virginia,
the spacecraft is carrying over 7,500 pounds of cargo and scientific investigations,
including a new miniature scanning electron microscope,

a tissue and cell culturing facility and a study of the effects of microgravity on bacteriophages.
On Tues.,
Feb.
18,
it will arrive at the space station.
Astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and grapple the spacecraft.

Images Credit:
NASA/Aubrey Gemignani #launch #rocket #nasa #virginia #wallops #liftoff