Space is spectacular! But many
of us have no idea some of the
incredible photos, videos, and
sounds that have been captured
of space. So here is what I consider
to be the most amazing real media
of space.
On July 19, 2013, NASA's Cassini
spacecraft dipped into the shadow
of Saturn and captured one of
the most amazing photographs ever;
The Day The Earth Smiled. Since
the Sun is eclipsed, you can easily
see Saturn's rings, a few of its
moons, Mars, Venus, and Earth.
The image gets its name because
it was the first time that people
on Earth knew in advance that
they were going to be photographed
from interplanetary distances.
On this day, over 20,000 people
waved at Saturn from Earth.
Also related to Saturn is Saturn's
hexagon storm. Seeing such a symmetrical
storm in nature is fascinating!
We have actually been able to
recreate this effect in labs,
so it's no longer as mysterious
as it once was. But it's still
just as amazing!
Although poor quality, the photos
of the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 colliding with Jupiter are spectacular.
Not only was this the first time
humans witnessed a collision between
two significant Solar System bodies,
but the result of the 21 collisions
left scars on the planet for months.
The most powerful of the 21 collisions
was from fragment G. The collision
released energy equivalent to
about 6 million megatons of TNT,
about the energy of 400 million
atomic bombs!
Perhaps one of the most iconic
and well known images in our list
is the famous Earthrise photo.
The photo was captured by Apollo
astronaut William Anders on December
24, 1968. He later stated, "We
set out to explore the moon and
instead discovered the Earth."
While not the best quality video
ever, the first flight of Ingenuity
certainly deserves a place in
this list! This was the first
powered flight on another planet.
Not only was this event amazing,
but so were the thousands of
aerial photos Ingenuity took of
the Martian surface during its
lifetime.
Another low resolution but amazing
thing from another planet is this
audio and these photos of the
surface of Venus. Captured during
the Russian Venera missions, this
audio is the real sound of Venus.
Real audio from a planet with
an atmosphere so extreme that
the lander was destroyed within
an hour.
This panorama from Venera 9
is composed of the first images
ever taken from the surface of
another planet.
To this day, the Russian Venera
and Vega landers are the only
landers to successfully land on
Venus, the last of them being
in 1984.
Earth also produces interesting
noises, although in this case
the "sound" is not vibrations
in the air but instead very low
frequency radio waves which have
been digitally converted to sound.
These are known as whistler-mode waves.
There are a few different types
of these. One of these is whistler
waves, which are caused by lightning
strikes on Earth. The lightning
creates a range of frequencies
and, since the higher frequencies
travel faster, the wave has a
falling pitch, giving them the
name whistler.
Then there is chorus.
And plasmaspheric hiss, which
is much less beautiful and honestly
a bit creepy.
Earth isn't the only planet
to have strange and eerie radio
emissions though. Saturn's plasma
waves sound very odd, although
in this case the audio is being
played back around 34 times faster
than real time.
Oh, I should specify that although
all this media is real, it is,
of course, enhanced and may be
be at different speeds than real
time or may be composited from
many different images.
Our Sun is beautiful, especially
the images captured by NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory while
orbiting Earth. The SDO has been
watching the Sun nearly non-stop
for 15 years! In that time it
has captured solar eclipses, the
transit of Venus, the transit
of Mercury, and just so much more.
Being able to observe the Sun
like this is amazing!
It even captured a comet disintegrating
as it grazed the Sun!
Anyway, as cool as that is,
this video is about more than
just the Sun.
The Juno mission has captured
some of the most amazing photos
of Jupiter! From the Great Red
Spot to the poles to moons to
moon shadows...Juno has really
captured Jupiter's design like
nothing else has! And even an
incredible time lapse of the Jovian
system as the spacecraft approached
the planet.
Since its launch in 2021, or
rather since its first images
in 2022, the James Webb Space
Telescope has not disappointed!
It is now responsible for capturing
some of the most breathtaking
photos of deep space objects.
And even some photos of objects
in our Solar System.
Of course, it's predecessor,
the Hubble Space Telescope, is
also responsible for some of the
most incredible photos of space!
It has captured over 1.6 million
images since 1990.
Even newer than the James Webb
Space Telescope is the Rubin Observatory
which has captured some absolutely
amazing and incredibly high-resolution
photos of space!
And in addition to all that
has already been shown, there
are thousands of other incredible
images from many different missions!
Oh and if you know of some amazing
media which wasn't included in
this list, I actually asked the
BlenderTimer community what space
themed media was their favorite.
So if you want to be part of the
next survey, consider joining
our community Discord server so
you can get notified whenever
there's a new community post!