This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo Of Asteroid Vesta Taken From The International Space Station

http://science.nasa.gov/ppod/y2003/02apr_vesta.htm
                                 
April 2, 2003
                                
Asteroid Vesta
          
Credit: Don Pettit, ISS Expedition 6 Science Officer, NASA

Explanation: Picture this: You're at home in your living room. It's
dark outside. A few of the brightest stars shine in through the
window. Meanwhile, two hundred million kilometers away, a nearly
invisible asteroid glides through space. You grab your camera, point,
click, and capture the space rock on film--right through your living
room window. No problem? 

It wasn't for International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit,
who enjoys space-dark skies and the clearest living room window in
the solar system. On March 24th he pointed his digital camera out the
station's Destiny Lab window and snapped this picture of asteroid
Vesta in the constellation Virgo. Vesta is so big--about 500 km wide--
that astronomers consider it to be a minor planet. Even so, distant
Vesta is barely visible to the naked eye from the darkest and
clearest observing sites on Earth. Taking its picture through any
window is remarkable. 

The brightest star in Pettit's photo is epsilon Viriginis. Also known
as Vindemiatrix, this star is 60 times more luminous than the Sun and
lies 100 light years away. The faintest stars in the photo are
approximately 16 times fainter than you can see with your naked eye--
i.e., the limiting magnitude was 9. In a larger version of this image
you might also notice some dim smudges. These are galaxies in the
Virgo Cluster about 50 million light years away. "The space station
functions very well as a platform for astrophotography," notes
Pettit.

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---