In photos: Here are top 10 iconic space photos of all time
Since the advent of space exploration, cameras have been silent companions on nearly every mission, capturing some of the most extraordinary sights ever witnessed.
With the advancement of technology, high-performance cameras are being designed to be increasingly ultra-lightweight for space where every gram counts. However, the pursuit of bettering the quality remains uncompromised to illuminate distant worlds in stunning detail through the lenses of astronauts, robotic explorers, and powerful telescopes.
As India established a step ahead in its space program, with Shubhanshu Shukla at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission, we take a look at the top 10 most iconic space photographs ever clicked.
On Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders captured the first colour photograph of Earth rising above the lunar horizon. The blue-and-white sphere of Earth, set against the stark gray of the Moon, was taken during humanity's first journey around the Moon.
The 'Blue Marble' was taken by the Apollo 17 crew en route to the Moon, showing a fully illuminated Earth. Captured with a hand-held Hasselblad camera, it reveals Africa, Antarctica, and the swirling clouds of our atmosphere.
During the first Moon landing, Neil Armstrong photographed Buzz Aldrin standing on the lunar surface, with Armstrong and the lunar module reflected in Aldrin's visor. This image captures the achievement of the Apollo program.
NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission delivered the Sojourner rover to the surface of Mars, where it sent back images of the Martian terrain and itself exploring the rocky landscape. These photos marked the first time a rover operated on another planet.
The Curiosity rover has sent back several self-portraits from Mars, stitched together from images taken by its robotic arm.
As Voyager 1 left the solar system, it turned its camera back toward Earth and captured our planet as a tiny dot suspended in a sunbeam. This image was made famous by Carl Sagan.
On July 19, 2013, as NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured a mosaic of Saturn, its rings, and several moons, it also photographed Earth as a tiny blue dot nearly 900 million miles away. Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, who led the imaging team, encouraged people around the world to reflect on their place in the cosmos and to step outside and 'smile' as their photo was being taken from deep space.
Shortly after its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope captured its 'first light' image. Though not as visually stunning as later Hubble images, this photograph demonstrated the telescope's power and set the stage for decades of discovery.
Hubble's high-resolution image of Jupiter and its moon Europa reveals intricate details of the planet's atmosphere and the icy surface of its moon.
This Hubble image shows the irregular galaxy NGC 4449, a star-forming galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.
(With inputs from Space, NASA, ESA, BBC)
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(Photo: Hiroshima University) Ryugu, a part of a larger parent body formed between 1.8 and 2.9 million years after the solar system's beginning, originated in its outer regions. This parent body contained water and carbon dioxide in ice form. Heating by radioactive decay melted the ice, which generally remained below 50C. This environment contrasts with enstatite chondrites, where djerfisherite is known to form from high-temperature gases. Djerfisherite's formation could result from two processes: intrusion from another source during Ryugu's parent body's formation or intrinsic formation when Ryugu's temperature exceeded 350C. Preliminary evidence favours the intrinsic formation hypothesis, prompting further isotopic studies to explore the origins of this and other Ryugu grains. The next research steps aim to reconstruct the early mixing processes and thermal histories of small bodies like Ryugu. "Ultimately, our goal is to reconstruct the early mixing processes and thermal histories that shaped small bodies like Ryugu, thereby improving our understanding of planetary formation and material transport in the early solar system," stated Miyahara. This discovery not only challenges the current understanding of Ryugu's compositional uniformity but also opens new avenues for research into the complexity and formation of primitive asteroids, potentially reshaping longstanding theories about material transport in the early solar system. The rocks and soil samples from asteroid Ryugu have provided new insights into the nature of primitive asteroids and the formation of the Solar System. A research team from Hiroshima University has identified the mineral djerfisherite, a potassium-containing iron-nickel sulfide, in a sample from this C-type asteroid. 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