Blue Martian Sunset

Sunset on Mars

On May 19, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover's 489th Martian day. Because Mars is farther away, the Sun is less bright and only about two thirds the size seen from planet Earth. (NASA)

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M/Cornell

Earthrise

Earthrise View from Apollo 8

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts-Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders-held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis. (NASA)

New planets discovered by NASA may have liquid water

Kepler-62f

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water.

The size of Kepler-62f is now measured, but its mass and composition are not. However, based on previous studies of rocky exoplanets similar in size, scientists are able to estimate its mass by association.
(NASA)

The Home Planet

"Even as humanity ventures farther and farther into the solar system, the focus on our planet is as sharp as ever. Whether taken from astronauts in orbit, satellites circling above or spacecraft at the moon and Mars, NASA's stunning images of Earth highlight the diversity, fragility and beauty of the place we all call home. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who took the famous "Earthrise" photo above in 1968 noted later, "here we came all this way to the moon, and yet the most significant thing we're seing is our own home planet, the Earth."

See wonderful photos on NASA' site: http://www.nasa.gov/