A meteor falling into Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia, and the resulting shot looks like there's a green beam of light shooting up from the crater. photo: Gunarto Song
Correction to the link sourced by OP! The Artemis II team did not take these photographs. These were shot by a Ukrainian student named Ildar Ibatullin sometime in the last year or so. Furthermore, the Moon does not have these actual colors in reality; Ildar does a lot of post processing and compositing to saturate the colors in order to artistically represent the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
If you would like to see photos taken by the astronauts aboard Artemis II (and more!), here is the repository that NASA is keeping.
The stable, geometric arrangements of mind-bogglingly huge vortexes are still unexplained and may hint at new physics.
At the poles of Jupiter, enormous cyclones swirl in neat geometric patterns that stay stable for years at a time, a phenomenon that remains unexplained and that scientists have said hints at the need for new physics.
“Since 2017 the Juno spacecraft has observed a cyclone at the north pole of Jupiter surrounded by eight smaller cyclones arranged in a polygonal pattern,” the researchers said in the study. “It is not clear why this configuration is so stable or how it is maintained.”
“The polygons and the individual vortices that comprise them have been stable for the four years since Juno discovered them,” the team added. “The polygonal patterns rotate slowly, or not at all….In contrast, Saturn has only one vortex, a cyclone, at each pole.”
On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II astronauts flew around the Moon, observing the far side – which we never see on Earth thanks to tidal locking – with their own eyes and with cameras.
See more of the Moon:
A crescent Earth setting behind the Moon’s horizon.
Earth setting behind the Moon as seen by the Artemis II crew. Over half the left side of the image is filled by the gray lunar surface, pocked with craters.
A close view of the Moon. Jagged circles of craters dot the gray surface, fading to dark on the left side of the image.
A close view of the edge of the Moon. Jagged circles of craters dot the dark gray lunar surface, which arcs across the image.
A close-up view of the Moon, filling most of the frame. Along the left side of the image, the terminator divides the illuminated and darkened sides of the Moon.
A close-up view of the Moon, filling most of the frame. Along the left side of the image, the terminator divides the illuminated and darkened sides of the Moon.
Earth just as it set behind the Moon, as seen by the Artemis II crew. The dark gray surface of the Moon, pocked with craters, arcs from the bottom left corner of the image to the top right.
Check out more photos from the lunar flyby, including astronaut selfies and the solar eclipse only they experienced.
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The first photos are coming in from Artemis II, and they are stunning. Photos of our home planet from humans we are sending further than anyone has gone before.
And now two more. The first of which being taken by Commander Reid Wiseman just minutes from the other Blue Marble picture seen above, showcasing the effect of different camera setting on space photography. Pictures of our home, where all but four of us are looking up from.
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