Links to Great Images
(In addition to the following images, you also may find these sites interesting: Astronomy Picture of the Day; The Space Telescope Science Institute; Other interesting links.)
Images
Here are some lovely images of our solar system.
Sun
- This is the sun in a cool blue color
- An erupting sun prominence is also awesome to see.
- This is an entire view of the sun with a large prominence
- In this photo you can watch the sun leak as particles stream away from the surface.
- This x-ray image of the Sun seems to suggest that there is a cloud around the sun's equator.
Mercury
- This surface view of Mercury looks very similar to the surface of the moon.
- Here is an amazing close-up view of a fault line on Mercury
- Mariner 10 took this photo of the surface of Mercury
Venus
- Beneath Venus' clouds the surface looks sort of similar to that of the earth.
- The Galileo spacecraft took this nifty image of Venus
- In this overview of Venus without the cloud layer you can see Venus' mountainous region.
- This computer generated image shows an incredible view of a Venusian volcano face-on.
Earth and Moon
- This stunning picture shows both a crescent Earth and Moon
- Everyone knows what the sunrise looks like but how about an Earthrise?
- This is a familiar but still lovely image of Earth
- Here is an up-close view of a full Moon when it is opposite the sun in its orbit.
Mars
- This view is a composite of 102 images of the surface of Mars
- This image is so detailed that the sand dunes of a Martian valley can be seen.
- This image of a Mars dust storm reveals a drastically different Martian surface compared to the photograph taken by the Mars Pathfinder
Jupiter and its moons
- This color image shows Jupiter and its four Galilean moons
- In addition to its moons, Jupiter also has several rings
- This is a cool collage of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
- This amazing photograph is the closest photograph ever taken of Europa
- This is another close-up image of Europa's full ice-covered surface
- In this image Io bears a resemblance to a pepperoni pizza
- Have you ever seen a volcano on Io?
- Here a plume of gas is ejected by a volcano. The plume can also be seen reflected by the sunlight
- In this true-color image of Jupiter's moon Callisto it is hard to see the crater-filled surface
- Here is a cool-looking mosaic of Ganymede -the largest moon in the solar system.
- This is what the surface of the ice-covered moon Ganymede would look like.
- Here is one of the closest photographs ever taken of Ganymede.
Saturn and its moons
- This is a cool computer-enhanced image of Saturn's rings
- This is Saturn photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in infrared light
- Here is another Hubble photo where Saturn's rings are lined-up sideways.
- These are images of Saturn's inner and smaller moons Mimas, Enceladus, and Tethys.
- This is Saturn's largest moon Titan
Uranus and its moons
- An image of Uranus taken by the Voyager 2 — the only telescope to visit the planet.
- A lovely image of Uranus taken by the Hubble in infrared light.
- These are Uranus's smaller but still nifty moons Oberon, Titania, and Umbriel
Neptune and moon Triton
- The Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to visit Neptune, photographed this image of the planet
- Neptune's Great Dark Spot looks very similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
- In this close-up image you can see geysers on Triton
Pluto and Charon
- Pluto and its only moon Charon in a colored image.
- This is Pluto and Charon in black and white.
Asteroids
- A colored image of Gaspara, which is one of the most studied asteroids.
- This is an image of the asteroid Ida and its tiny moon Dactyl
- This image of Asteroid 9969 Braille was taken by the probe Deep Space 1 in the closest approach of a spacecraft to an asteroid.
Comet Hale-Bopp
- Comet Hale-Bopp seen over a mountainside.
- A color image of Comet Hale-Bopp with the Andromeda Galaxy
- Yet another image of Comet Hale-Bopp over snow covered mountains.
Protoplanetary Disks and Extra-Solar Planets
- You can see four protoplanetary disks and their location in the Orion Nebula.
- Here are the up-close images of the protoplanetary disks in the Orion Nebula
- These are six images of protoplanetary disks taken by the Hubble
- In these Hubble images the gap in stellar disks where perhaps swept out by a planet.
- This is a cool image of gas and dust swirling around a new star AB Aurigae
- In this image of Beta Pictoris there is suggestion that a planet is orbiting the star.
- An artist's conception of what a planet might look like around the star Upsilon Andromedae
Galaxies
- These are a few of the Messier spiral galaxies — Galaxy M33, Galaxy M81, and Galaxy M83.
- This Galaxy Gallery shows three different types of spiral galaxies.
- Here is an image where two galaxies have already collided.
- These two colliding spiral galaxies are the brightest object in the local universe.
- The Hercules Galaxies, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Hercules.
- The Needle Galaxy
- An image of a barred spiral galaxy
- Galaxies, galaxies, everywhere! An image made by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Space Station and Spacecraft
- An image of the space station MIR orbiting above the earth.
- Here is an image of the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit around the Earth.
- Here is an image of the the Hubble Space Telescope being serviced by astronaut Story Musgrave.