アメリカ航空宇宙局（NASA）は7月8日、冥王星に巨大なハートマークがあることを示す写真を公開した。
冥王星に接近中の無人探査機「ニューホライズンズ」が、約800万キロの距離から撮影した。写真の右下に、横幅が約2000kmになる巨大なハート形の地形があるのが確認できる。通信トラブルから復帰した直後の7日に撮影した。
ニューホライズンズは14日に冥王星に最接近する予定だ。47NEWSによると、NASAの研究者は「これより500倍も詳細な画像が撮影できるはずだ」と期待している。
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太陽系の惑星たち
水星(01 of29)
IN SPACE - JANUARY 14: The planet Mercury is shown from a distance of approximately 17,000 miles, taken by NASA\'s Messenger spacecraft January 14, 2008 at the spacecraft\'s closest approach to planet. The image shows features as small as six miles in width. Similar to previously mapped portions of Mercury, this hemisphere appears heavily cratered. On the upper right is the giant Caloris basin, including its western portions never before seen by spacecraft. Formed by the impact of a large asteroid or comet, Caloris is one of the largest, and perhaps one of the youngest basins in the solar system. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images) (credit:NASA)
水星(02 of29)
IN SPACE: In this handout from NASA, Mercury is seen from the Messenger spacecraft January 14, 2008. Messenger was about 17, 000 miles from the closest planet from the Sun on its first of three passes by Mercury before settling into orbit in 2011. (Photo by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington via Getty Images) (credit:NASA)
水星(03 of29)
IN SPACE: In this handout from NASA, the surface of Mercury is seen in a picture taken by NASA\'s Messenger spacecraft as it approached the planet January 14, 2008. The image was taken from about 11,000 miles from the planet and shows a region 300 miles across. Messenger will make two other passes by Mercury before settling into orbit around the planet closest to the Sun in 2011. (Photo by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington via Getty Images) (credit:NASA)
金星(04 of29)
Venus via Galileo using violet and infrared and simulated green.\n\nImage Credit: NASA/JPL/Galileo/Processed by Kevin M. Gill (credit:NASA)
金星(05 of29)
Colorized image of Venus from raw Messenger images (on its way to Mercury) showing lots of clouds. Once again, I was too lazy to figure out which grayscale images were from which bands so I got lucky in the color - it sort of matches how I think Venus would sort of look. Kind of. (credit:NASA)
地球(06 of29)
Of all the planets NASA has explored, none have matched the dynamic complexity of our own. Earth is constantly changing, and NASA are working constantly to explore and understand the planet on scales from local to global.\n\nThough Earth science has been a key part of NASAâs mission since the agency was founded in 1958, this year has been one of the peaks. Two new Earth-observing satellites have already been launched and put to work: the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2). Three more missions are set to take off in the next six months: the wind-measuring ISS-RapidScat, the ISS Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP). And research planes have been flying over polar ice, hurricanes, boreal forests, and pollution plumes.\n\nAll of these new efforts complement an existing fleet of Earth-observing satellites. In visible light and many invisible wavelengths, NASA and its science partners are observing the entire planet every day. The image above was captured on March 30, 2014, by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. The composite image of the eastern hemisphere was compiled from eight orbits of the satellite and ten imaging channels, then stitched together to blend the edges of each satellite pass.\n\nRead more: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84214&eocn...\n\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS imagery from NOAA\'s Environmental Visualization Laboratory. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.\n\nCredit: NASA Earth Observatory\n\nNASA image use policy. \nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\nFollow us on Twitter\nLike us on Facebook\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
地球(07 of29)
There are three low pressure systems around the U.S. and they resemble dragons on satellite imagery. NOAA\'s GOES-13 and GOES-15 satellite image from March 31 shows the low pressure systems in the eastern Pacific Ocean, over the nation\'s Heartland, and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. All three lows have the signature comma shape that make them appear to be curled up dragons.\n\nAccording to the National Weather Service, the low pressure area approaching the northwestern U.S. is expected to bring rainfall to the coast and areas of snow that stretch from western Washington state south toward the four corners region. The low in the middle of the country is located over Nebraska and dropping snow to the north and west of it. That same low is bringing rain from southern Minnesota south to eastern Texas. Meanwhile, the third low pressure system is bringing rain and snow to parts of New England.\n\nNOAA\'s GOES-East satellite sits in a fixed orbit in space capturing visible and infrared imagery of all weather over the eastern U.S. and Atlantic Ocean.\n\nThe data to create this image was taken on March 31 at 17:45 UTC/1:45 p.m. EDT by NOAA\'s GOES-East or GOES-13 satellite and made into an image by NASA/NOAA\'s GOES Project at NASA\'s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.\n\nTo create the image NASA/NOAA\'s GOES Project takes the cloud data from NOAA\'s GOES-East satellite and overlays it on a true-color image of land and ocean created by data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument that flies aboard NASA\'s Aqua and Terra satellites. Together, those data created the entire picture of the storm and show its movement. After the storm system passes, the snow on the ground becomes visible.\n\nGOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. Geostationary describes an orbit in which a satellite is always in the same position with respect to the rotating Earth. This allows GOES to hover continuously over one position on Earth\'s surface, appearing stationary. As a result, GOES provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes.\n\nFor updated information about the storm system, visit NOAA\'s NWS website: www.weather.gov\n\nFor more information about GOES satellites, visit: www.goes.noaa.gov/ or goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/\n\nRob Gutro\nNASA\'s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.\n\nNASA image use policy.\n\nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\nLike us on Facebook\n\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
地球(08 of29)
Compare this original, faded and scratched 1972 NASA image to my enhanced and restored image.\n\nHere are just a few of the things that I enhanced and restored:\n\n1. Filled in clouds blocked by window on the left.\n2. Restored density (D-Max) and faded color.\n3. Sharpened image caused by motion blur. Notice blur of stars (in the LARGE version) due to hand-held camera using slow shutter speed (hey, the astronauts didn\'t have "Image Stabilization" on their 1972 Hasselblad cameras :)\n4. Removed spots and scratched that come from rough negative handling (look at the center [near Baja] and near the North Pole region of the LARGE version and you\'ll see some major scratches). (credit:NASA)
地球(09 of29)
July 16, 1969: The Earth photographed by the Apollo 11 crew on their first day in orbit.\n\nImage credit: NASA\n\n_____________________________________________\nThese official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin... (credit:NASA)
火星(10 of29)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) U.S. Forest Service scientist Bill Massman will be measuring atmospheric gas swirls (known as eddies) as they interact with the atmosphere and the ground as part of his assignment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administrationâs (NASA) Mars Exploration Program. The Mars Exploration Program has made understanding the structure and processes operating in the Martian boundary its highest priority climate science goal. Massman was invited to join the NASA-funded gases project to develop an eddy covariance instrument for the Mars planet exploration. Photo of Mars courtesy NASA. (credit:NASA)
火星(11 of29)
Mars planet (Nasa image enhanced) (credit:NASA)
火星(12 of29)
Mars planet 2 (Nasa image enhanced) (credit:NASA)
火星(13 of29)
Date: 3 Sep 1976\n\nThe boulder-strewn field of red rocks reaches to the horizon nearly two miles from Viking 2 on Mars\' Utopian Plain. Scientists believe the colors of the Martian surface and sky in this photo represent their true colors. Fine particles of red dust have settled on spacecraft surfaces. The salmon color of the sky is caused by dust particles suspended in the atmosphere.\n\nColor calibration charts for the cameras are mounted at three locations on the spacecraft. Note the blue star field and red stripes of the flag. The circular structure at top is the high-gain antenna, pointed toward Earth. Viking 2 landed September 3, 1976 -- about 4,600 miles from its twin, Viking 1, which touched down on July 20.\n\nCredit: JPL (credit:NASA)
火星(14 of29)
Here\'s a quickie mosaic of about 10-12 images acquired by Curiosity\'s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on Sol 612-613 (April 27, 2014) showing a "selfie" of the rover and the interior of Gale Crater, with Mt Sharp in the background.\n\nRead more here: www.universetoday.com/111569/hello-from-mars-curiosity-sm...\n\nCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Edit by Jason Major (credit:NASA)
木星(15 of29)
This full-disc image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April 2014 with Hubble\'s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).\n\n\n--\n\nJupiter\'s trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth -- has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured.\n\nAccording to Amy Simon of NASA\'s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across. Astronomers have followed this downsizing since the 1930s. \n\nHistoric observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis. NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across. In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across.\n\nBeginning in 2012, amateur observations revealed a noticeable increase in the rate at which the spot is shrinking -- by 580 miles per year -- changing its shape from an oval to a circle.\n\nRead more: 1.usa.gov/1mvuo0R\n\nCredit: NASA/ESA\n\nNASA image use policy.\n\nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\nLike us on Facebook\n\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
木星(16 of29)
Three moons and their shadows parade across Jupiter near the end of the event at 07:10 UT on January 24, 2015. Europa has entered the frame at lower left. Slower-moving Callisto is above and to the right of Europa. Fastest-moving Io is approaching the eastern limb of the planet. Europa\'s shadow is toward the left side of the image and Callisto\'s shadow to the right. (The moons\' orbital velocities are proportionally slower with increasing distance from the planet.)\n\nCredit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)\n\nMore info: Firing off a string of snapshots like a sports photographer at a NASCAR race, NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope captured a rare look at three of Jupiter\'s largest moons zipping across the banded face of the gas-giant planet: Europa, Callisto, and Io. Jupiter\'s four largest moons can commonly be seen transiting the face of the giant planet and casting shadows onto its cloud tops. However, seeing three moons transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only once or twice a decade. Missing from the sequence, taken on January 24, 2015, is the moon Ganymede that was too far from Jupiter in angular separation to be part of the conjunction.\n\nNASA image use policy. \nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\nFollow us on Twitter\nLike us on Facebook\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
木星(17 of29)
Hubble Catches Jupiter\'s Largest Moon Going to the \'Dark Side\'\n\nHST/WFPC2 Image of Jupiter and Ganymede Taken April 9, 2007\n\nNASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope has caught Jupiter\'s moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp Hubble image, Ganymede is shown just before it ducks behind the giant planet.\n\nGanymede completes an orbit around Jupiter every seven days. Because Ganymede\'s orbit is tilted nearly edge-on to Earth, it routinely can be seen passing in front of and disappearing behind its giant host, only to reemerge later.\nComposed of rock and ice, Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It is even larger than the planet Mercury. But Ganymede looks like a dirty snowball next to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter is so big that only part of its Southern Hemisphere can be seen in this image.\n\nHubble\'s view is so sharp that astronomers can see features on Ganymede\'s surface, most notably the white impact crater, Tros, and its system of rays, bright streaks of material blasted from the crater. Tros and its ray system are roughly the width of Arizona.\n\nThe image also shows Jupiter\'s Great Red Spot, the large eye-shaped feature at upper left. A storm the size of two Earths, the Great Red Spot has been raging for more than 300 years. Hubble\'s sharp view of the gas giant planet also reveals the texture of the clouds in the Jovian atmosphere as well as various other storms and vortices.\n\nAstronomers use these images to study Jupiter\'s upper atmosphere. As Ganymede passes behind the giant planet, it reflects sunlight, which then passes through Jupiter\'s atmosphere. Imprinted on that light is information about the gas giant\'s atmosphere, which yields clues about the properties of Jupiter\'s high-altitude haze above the cloud tops.\n\nThis color image was made from three images taken on April 9, 2007, with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in red, green, and blue filters. The image shows Jupiter and Ganymede in close to natural colors.\n\n\nFor additional information go to:\n\nhubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/42/\n\n\nCredit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)\nNASA image use policy.\n\nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\nLike us on Facebook\n\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
木星(18 of29)
New level 8 Jupiter texture for Orbiter by "Schimz," based on Cassini imagery, available at orbithangar.com. Note that this is a screen shot in Orbiter, not a NASA image (although the textures were of course created from NASA imagery). (credit:NASA)
土星(19 of29)
Date: 6 Oct 2004\n\nWhile cruising around Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into this large global natural color view of Saturn and its rings.\n\nThis grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering one end of Saturn\'s rings to the other and the entire planet in between. The images were taken over the course of two hours on Oct. 6, 2004, while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million km (3.9 million miles) from Saturn. Since the view seen by Cassini during this time changed very little, no re-projection or alteration of any of the images was necessary.\n\nThree images (red, green and blue) were taken of each of 42 locations, or "footprints," across the planet. The full color footprints were put together to produce a mosaic that is 8,888 pixels across and 4,544 pixels tall.\n\nThe smallest features seen here are 38 km (24 miles) across. Many of Saturn\'s splendid features noted previously in single frames taken by Cassini are visible in this one detailed, all-encompassing view: subtle color variations across the rings, the thread-like F ring, ring shadows cast against the blue northern hemisphere, the planet\'s shadow making its way across the rings to the left, and blue-grey storms in Saturn\'s southern hemisphere to the right. Tiny Mimas and even smaller Janus are both faintly visible at the lower left.\n\nThe Sun-Saturn-Cassini, or phase, angle at the time was 72 degrees; hence, the partial illumination of Saturn in this portrait. Later in the mission, when the spacecraft\'s trajectory takes it far from Saturn and also into the direction of the Sun, Cassini will be able to look back and view Saturn and its rings in a more fully-illuminated geometry.\n\nImage Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute\n\nCredit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute (credit:NASA)
土星(20 of29)
This is an archive image from 2003, part of our "Think Pink" gallery, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157625045060125/\n__________________________________________________________\n\nOne of a series, this ultraviolet image of Saturn was taken when the planet\'s rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the sun, much the same way Earth does. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. Every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn\'s South Pole and the southern side of the planet\'s rings. \n\nBetween March and April 2003, researchers took full advantage to study the gas giant at maximum tilt, using NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of Saturn\'s Southern Hemisphere and the southern face of its rings. \n\nImage credit: NASA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)\n\nView original image:\nwww.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1074.html\n\nMore about NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope:\nwww.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html (credit:NASA)
土星(21 of29)
Processed from Blue/CB2 data. Simulated green, color curves adjusted to approximate true color. \n\nImage Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, Processed by Kevin M. Gill (credit:NASA)
土星(22 of29)
Color-composite of Saturn made from raw images acquired by the Cassini spacecraft on March 20, 2014.\n\nCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI. Composite by Jason Major. (credit:NASA)
天王星(23 of29)
hubblesite.org (credit:NASA)
天王星(24 of29)
Original image taken from the same NASA planetary size comparison chart as Jupiter and Saturn: solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Plan...\n\nLooks like the closest version I can find of this comes from NASA\'s Uranus fact sheet, but I cannot find a source for the image itself (though it\'s probably Voyager 2): nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/uranusfact.html (credit:NASA)
天王星(25 of29)
I recently found a great place to get raw data from spacecraft that have explored the solar system. Here\'s a first pass at a colorized image of Uranus (pronunciation guide and here - so much for that fun... (For non-native English speakers, "Uranus" reminds some people of a scatological reference to a body part that should be obvious if you break the word down into syllables)) from Voyager 2 images. (credit:NASA)
海王星(26 of29)
Date: 20 Aug 1989\n\nThis picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the Voyager 2 narrow angle camera. The images were taken at a range of 4.4 million miles from the planet, 4 days and 20 hours before closest approach.\n\nThe picture shows the Great Dark Spot and its companion bright smudge; on the west limb the fast moving bright feature called "Scooter" and the little dark spot are visible. These clouds were seen to persist for as long as Voyager\'s cameras could resolve them. North of these, a bright cloud band similar to the south polar streak may be seen.\n\nCredit: NASA (credit:NASA)
海王星(27 of29)
Neptune in 1989 by Voyager II using Orange and Blue filters.\n\nImage Credit: NASA/JPL/ISIS3/Kevin M. Gill (credit:NASA)
海王星(28 of29)
NASA image release July 12, 2011\n\nNeptune: 23:09 UT (June 25, 2011)\n\nToday, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope has taken these "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.\n\nNeptune is the most distant major planet in our solar system. German astronomer Johann Galle discovered the planet on September 23, 1846. At the time, the discovery doubled the size of the known solar system. The planet is 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun, 30 times farther than Earth. Under the Sun\'s weak pull at that distance, Neptune plods along in its huge orbit, slowly completing one revolution approximately every 165 years.\n\nTo read more go here\n\nNASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAâs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAâs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencyâs mission.\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\nLike us on Facebook\n\nFind us on Instagram (credit:NASA)
冥王星(29 of29)
現在では「準惑星」とされている。探査機「ニューホライズンズ」が2015年7月7日に撮影。 (credit:NASA)