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SPACE
STRIPED MOON
The icy surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus is covered with huge geysers. At its south pole they
erupt through the icy crust, creating features referred to as ‘tiger stripes’ by scientists. The
stripes are parallel to each other and are often evenly spaced. Shot in their distinguishable blue,
these cracks are continuously erupting with water ice. A combination of the moon’s
atmosphere, a thin south pole crust and deformation caused by the gravitational pull of Saturn
creates this decorative pattern. Photographs taken of Enceladus are unique because there are
no other known moons or icy planets with features like them.© NASASOMBRERO GALAXY
The flat disc in the sky that forms the Sombrero Galaxy is
captured in detail so fine that scientists have not yet pieced
together an understanding of its full composition.
Like a frisbee caught in the abyss, this image makes the
galaxy appear thin and fragile. However, with a mass 800
billion times that of the Sun, it is one of the largest known
objects. Deep in the centre there is thought to be a large
black hole surrounded by 2,000 globular clusters; this is
ten times as many of those found in our own Milky Way.© NASA/ Hubble Heritage team© NASA (NASA/CXC/Wesleyan Univ./R.Kilgard//STScI)GALACTIC GLITTER
Messier 51, otherwise known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, forms a
spectacular spiral. As a galaxy similar in shape to the Milky Way, it
sitting face-on to Earth helps us to understand the formation of our
own galactic home. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory imagery, shown
in purple, combines with optical imagery from the Hubble Space
Telescope, shown as the red and blue areas, to create a delightfully
detailed depiction of this stellar swirl.