PIX4645627: Spitzer space telescope - Artist's view - Artwork of Spitzer space telescope - Spitzer space telescope observes the universe in infrared; it was launched and put into orbit in August 2003. The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was launched into space by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 25 August 2003 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671029: Halo around the Sun - Sun Halo - Halos are due to the light of the Sun reflected by high-altitude clouds, cirrostratus, composed of ice crystals. They bend the light and cause a perfect circle around the Sun. Halos are caused by sunlight being refracted by cirro - stratus clouds. These are thin clouds, very high in the atmosphere, and are composed of ice crystals. They bend light at a 22 degree angle, which creates a halo around the sun that is 44 degrees in diameter / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671117: Rainbow - Rainbow - Rainbow - Arc - en - ciel observed in Brittany on 2 May 2005. 23 minutes before the sun sets, a contrasting rainbow appears in the east. It is very high (the lower the Sun, the higher the bow). Note at the level of the “feet” of the rainbow the difference in luminosite between the interior of the rainbow (under the main arch) and the band between the main arch and the secondary arch (lower and higher). This dark band is called Alexander's Band. It should also be noted that blue is almost absent from the rainbow, because the Sun is setting, therefore orange, betrays a blue light faults that can be seen at the level of the rainbow. May 2, 2005. 23 minutes before the sunset, a contrasted rainbow appear toward the East. It's a tall rainbow, because the Sun is low. Notice the difference of luminosity at the “” feet”” of the rainbow between the inside of the rainbow (under the main arc) and the band located between the main and secondary arcs (fainter and higher). This darker band is called the Alexander's dark band. Notice too that the blue tints are missing in the rainbow, because the sun is setting, so is orange, which means that its blue tints are absent / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671138: Rainbow at sunrise - Rainbow at sunrise - Arc - en - ciel observes 17 December 2005. At sunrise, the glowing light of the Sun caused an almost complete absence of blue and green colors in the rainbow. December 17, 2005. Rainbow seen at sunrise. Blue and green colors are almost invisible, because of this bright reddish sunshine / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671365: Parhely - Sun dog - Parhelies are optical phenomena due to the interaction of solar light on ice crystals. Sundogs appear generally when the sun is low, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds; they are caused by the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671636: Noctulescent clouds - Noctilucent clouds - Noctilucent clouds, very high altitude clouds, photographs in July 2009 in Russia. These rare clouds are called noctilucent or “” night shining” as they seem to glow in the dark. They are caused by ice crystals at about 80 km altitude. These crystals reflect sunlight when the sun is well below the horizon. They are properly known as polar mesospheric clouds and are under intense study as it remains a mystery as to how they are formed. Image taken in july 2009 in Russia / Bridgeman Images
PIX4645800: James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors (JWST) - Testing of the JWST's mirrors: Six of the 18 JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) mirrors seen at Nasa's Marshall Space Center. These mirrors will be tested there to ensure they will withstand the extreme temperatures of space vacuum. The JWST will replace the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. Team with a 6.5 m mirror, he will observe the universe mainly in infrared - Six of the 18 James Webb Space Telescope mirror segments are being moved into the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, or XRCF, at Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to eventually experience temperatures dipping to a chilling -414 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure they can withstand the extreme space environments. The test chamber takes approximately five days to cool a mirror segment to cryogenic temperatures. Marshall's X-ray & Cryogenic Facility is the world's largest X-ray telescope test facility and a unique, cryogenic, clean room optical test location. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in 2018. Equipped with a large mirror 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter, it will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy and will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth / Bridgeman Images
PIX4645823: James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - JWST in clean room: View of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at Nasa's Goddard Space Center on May 4, 2016. The JWST will replace the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. A rare view of the James Webb Space Telescope face-on, from the NASA Goddard cleanroom observation window / Bridgeman Images
PIX4645970: GAIA - Artist's view - GAIA - Artist's view - View of the European satellite GAIA to be launched in 2011. The goal of the Gaia mission is to make the largest possible census of the stars of our Galaxy and to create a 3D map of them with great precision. The satellite will determine the position, color and proper movement of a billion stars / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646049: Euclid Satellite - Illustration - Euclid Satellite. Artwork: Artist's view of the European satellite Euclid. This satellite, which is planned to launch around 2020, will study dark energy. - Artist's impression of the Euclid spacecraft, a dark energy and dark matter mission planned for launch in 2020 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646124: Satellite Herschel - Illustration - Artist's view of the European satellite Herschel. The Herschel Space Observatory, launched in 2009, studies the formation of galaxies, stars and planetary systems in the infrared. This satellite measures nearly 7 metres high by 4.3 metres wide and weighs 3.25 tonnes. Its telescope has a 3.5-meter mirror, making it the largest mirror ever made for a scientific space mission. Herschel is in orbit around Lagrange 2, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. ESA's Herschel Space Observatory (formerly called Far Infrared and Submillimetre Telescope or FIRST) studies the mystery of how stars and galaxies were born. Objects such as other planetary systems, or processes like the birth of galaxies in the early universe, can best be studied with infrared space telescopes in space. This is the reason for Esa's Herschel. ESA's Herschel Space Observatory is bigger and better than any of its predecessors. Moreover, it observes at wavelengths never covered before. It is located 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, farther than any previous space telescope. Launched in 2009, Herschel is one the Cornerstone missions ESA's Horizons 2000 programme. Herschel is a key project space astronomy in the next millennium / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646287: The points of Lagrange and the satellite SOHO - Lagrangian points with Soho spacecraft - Schema showing the different points of Lagrange and the position of the satellite SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), place near the point of Lagrange L1. Launched in December 1995, this satellite observes the Sun. Artwork showing the different Lagrange points with the Soho spacecraft located around the L1 point / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646322: Satellite Picard - Artist's view of the Picard satellite in orbit around the Earth. This microsatellite should study the Sun and the links between the solar cycle and the Earth's climate. Satellite Picard seen above the Earth. This english microsatellite will study the Sun and the relations between the sun and the Earth's climate / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646670: Exit extra - vehicular 04/1983 - Astronauts extravehicular activity. 04/1983 - Exit extra - vehicle for astronauts Story Musgrave (left) and Don Peterson on April 7, 1983. Astronauts Story Musgrave, left, and Don Peterson float in the cargo bay of the Earth - orbiting space shuttle Challenger during their April 7, 1983, spacewalk on the STS - 6 mission. Their” floating” is restricted via tethers to safety slide wires. Thanks to the tether and slide wire combination, Peterson is able to translate, or move, along the port side hand rails. First called STA-099, Challenger was built to serve as a test vehicle for the Space Shuttle program. Challenger, the second orbiter to join Nasa's Space Shuttle fleet, arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 1982. Challenger launched on her maiden voyage, STS - 6, on April 4, 1983 and saw the first spacewalk of the shuttle program, as well as the deployment of the first satellite - - the Tracking and Data Relay System. The orbiter launched the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space on mission STS - 7 and was the first to carry two U.S. female astronauts on mission STS - 41 - G. The first orbiter to launch and land at night on mission STS - 8, Challenger also made the first Space Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS 41 - B. Spacelabs 2 and 3 flew aboard the ship on missions STS 51 - F and STS 51 - B, as did the first German - dedicated Spacelab on STS 61 - A. A host of scientific experiments and satellite deployments were performed during Challenger's missions. Challenger's service to America's space program ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds into mission STS - 51L, a booster failure caused an explosion that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts, as well as the vehicle / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646707: Shuttle Challenger - STS - 7 06/1983 - Space shuttle Challenger in space taken by the SPAS satellite - Shuttle Challenger STS - 7 in orbit from SPAS 01A (Shuttle Pallet Satellite). 27/06/1983. Challenger in space, seen beyond the Earth's horizon, taken by the SPAS satellite. Its cargo bay is open, revealing its contents. Visible in the cargo bay are the protective cradles for the Palapa - B and Telesat F. communications satellites, the pallet for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA - 2), the remote manipulator system (RMS) arm in the shape of the numeral seven and the KU - band antenna. A number of getaway special (GAS) canisters are also visible along the port side / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646720: Lighting on Challenger STS - 8 08/1983 - Lightning strikes Space Shuttle Challenger - Lightning on the firing pitch before launching the Challenger STS shuttle - 8. 08/1983. Lightning strikes Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39A in the hours preceding the launch of Challenger on mission STS-8. Aug 1983 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646822: Discovery Shuttle Discovery 04/1990 - Launch of Shuttle Discovery STS - 31. Apr 24 1990 - Decolation of the shuttle Discovery (STS-31 mission) with Loren Shriver, Charles Bolden, Steven Hawley, Bruce McCandless and Kathryn Sullivan on board as well as the Hubble space telescope. 24/04/1990. The Space Shuttle Discovery soars into the morning skies above Florida, carying a crew of five and the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch of Space Shuttle Mission STS - 31from Pad 39B occurred at 8:33:51 a.m. EDT, April 24. Crew members are Commander Loren J. Shriver; Pilot Charles F. Bolden Jr.; and Mission Specialists Kathryn D. Sullivan, Steven A. Hawley, and Bruce McCandless II / Bridgeman Images
PIX4646964: STS-47: Weightless crew in Spacelab - STS-47 crew portrait in zero gravity: The crew of the STS-47 mission poses weightlessly in the Spacelab aboard the shuttle Endeavour. From left to right, in the last row: Robert L. Gibson and Curtis L. Brown, in the middle: N. Jan Davis, Jerome Apt and Mae C. Jemison, in front: Mark C. Lee and Mamoru Mohri. It was during this mission that Mae C. Jemison was the first black woman in space and Mark C. Lee and Jan Davis were the first American married couple to fly into space. Portrait of the crew of STS-47 aboard Spacelab-Japan (SLJ). Pictured, left to right, back row are Commander Robert L. Gibson and Pilot Curtis L. Brown; middle row, Mission Specialist (MS) N. Jan Davis, MS Jerome Apt and MS Mae C. Jemison; front row, Payload Commander (PLC) Mark C. Lee and Payload Specialist (PS) Mamoru Mohri. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4647073: Marsha Ivins en weightlessness - Marsha Ivins in the space shuttle Columbia: Astronaut Marsha Ivins weightless in space shuttle Columbia. Together with astronaut Pierre Thuot, on the right, she performs a thermal analysis of the crew compartment. March 1994. STS-62 Mission Specialists Marsha Ivins and Pierre Thuot performing an infrared thermal survey of the Columbia orbiter crew compartment / Bridgeman Images
PIX4647124: Decolving the shuttle Endeavour STS - 68 09/1994 - Launch of the space shuttle Endeavour - 09/1994 - Decolving the shuttle Endeavour STS - 68 with Michael Baker, Terrence Wilcutt, Thomas Jones, Peter Wisoff, Daniel Bursch and Steven Smith as well as the SRL-2 (Space Radar Laboratory). 30/09/1994. Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Pad 39A. Aboard are a crew of six astronauts and the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2). Sep 30 1994 / Bridgeman Images