Cassini outdoes itself.
A mosaic of Saturn passing in front of the Sun from the point of view of Cassini.
There is a high-resolution version, an annotated version, and a description of the image.
Automated Transfer Vehicle Albert Einstein burns up on re-entry over the Pacific Ocean after resupplying the ISS back in June.
Poster for Stephen Hawking’s 2009 Time Travellers party, which was not advertised, naturally, until after the event had happened. By Peter Dean.
A scale model of an X-48C blended-wing aircraft in a NASA wind tunnel in Langley, Virginia. The model has been sprayed with fluorescent oil to enable scientists to study airflow patterns.
The brain of an individual suffering from lissencephaly, a rare disorder in which the cerebral cortex fails to develop ridges and folds, resulting in much-diminished surface area.
The brain is part of a collection at the University of Texas and, although it is labelled with a reference number, all that is known of the original patient is that they were a resident of the North Texas State Hospital, and died in 1970. Their name and any other details of their condition and case history are lost. This photograph is one of a series of such pictures taken by Adam Voorhes.
From October to November 2012 and April to May 2013, the instruments on Voyager 1 measured vibrations in interstellar plasma. These vibrations are within the range of human hearing.
Amplified and played back through a speaker, this is what space sounds like.
Accidental scans of Gabonese forest elephants taken by a LIDAR (ground-laser scanner) system being used by @SimonLLewis to estimate forest structure and biomass.
Aurora oder Matuta, a watercolour sketch of comet Aurora, 1587, author and illustrator unknown.
One of several great comet illustrations on BibliOdyssey’s post about the 16th Century Kometenbuch. Scans of the book, of which two copies exist today, are available on the website of the Universitätsbibliothek Kassel.
In 1960, scientists at Bell Labs were developing button-based telephones which would ultimately replace rotary dialing. They tested hundreds of key layouts before settling on the one still largely in use today.
Ray Bradbury reading his poem “If Only We Had Taller Been”
Happy birthday, Ray Bradbury! So sad we lost you in 2012. To celebrate this amazing writer, here is his poetic ode to exploration.
Bradbury is joined at JPL by Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan.
