Every other issue I like to walk you through some awe-inspiring views of different parts of God’s Cosmos. May these views of the heavens truly turn our gaze heavenward.

Space shuttle Atlantis re-enters the atmosphere during the Space Shuttle Program’s 135th and final flight. An astronaut on the International Space Station took this nighttime image on July 21, 2011 of the shuttle’s trail of super-heated plasma. Though the Shuttle Program is over, American astronauts will launch again from US soil in four years or so through public-private partnerships with companies like as Space Exploration Technologies. In the interim, American astronauts will launch to the space station from Russia. Image credit: NASA.

Here’s a brand-new image of Vesta, the largest asteroid and second-largest object in the Asteroid Belt (the largest being the dwarf planet Ceres). NASA’s Dawn spacecraft just pulled into orbit of this tiny world a few weeks ago and will map the surface from orbit before leaving for Ceres. Vesta may be a small world, but meteorites from it show it to have been a very geologically active little world. Can you find a snowman in the craters? Image credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech. 

The Soccer Ball Planetary Nebula was only discovered in January of this year by an amateur astronomer in Austria named Matthias Kronberger. This nebula was named in his honor as Kronberger 61 (or Kn 61, for short). Even though this is called a planetary nebula, it has nothing to do with planets and is only called that because it superficially resembles a planet. The blue ball used to be the outer layers of the blue-white star you see in the middle, and this is how the Sun will appear in five billion years--as long as God allows the Universe wind-down after Christ’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Image credit: Gemini Observatory.

NASA’s Mars rover named Opportunity, which has been roving Mars since 2004, is approaching the rim of a large crater named Endeavor. The drive has taken the better part of three years! This image from Mars’ surface was taken on Saturday, July 30th (what were you doing then?). In the hazy distance you can see the far rim of the crater. With all the exposed layers of rocks, this should be an astro-geologic gold mine! Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has an unblinking eye fixed on the star we know best—the Sun. If your eyes could see into the ultraviolet—the kind of invisible light that gives sunburns—this is what it might look like to you. Other stars in the night sky would look similar if we had a zoom lens powerful enough. Image credit:NASA/GSFC.

Articles by this Author:

Mars Rock

  This past summer, I was blessed to have an internship in association with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Near the end of my 10 week internship, my group and I participated in an in-depth tour of NASA’s meteorite curation facility. This pristine laboratory contains tens of thousands...

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Optimistic Outlooks

Shackleton crater may be a future landing site, and it’s located almost exactly at the Moon’s south pole (cross hairs). Image Credit: NASA/Arizona State University. This summer I am working as an intern at NASA and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX. I will be studying the moon but...

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The Heavens on Display

It’s time again for a photographic walk through the Solar System! Remember, God is a God of beauty, and through our advanced technology we’re able to see what His creation is like in other parts of the Solar System.     Where in the Solar System is this? While astronauts are treated to...

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More Space for the Christian Perspective

Christian astronaut Charlie Duke collecting geological samples by a small crater on the Moon. You can see the lunar rover behind him on the far side of the crater. He, along with fellow astronaut John Young, explored the lunar Descartes Highlands in 1972."Image credit: NASA/Charlie Duke Since the end of the...

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