Happy Valentine’s Day from outer space, everyone! This image shows 2 galaxies – cataloged as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 and sometimes called antenna galaxies – in the middle of the collision. Image via APOD.
Happy Valentine’s Day! We share love by celebrating some of the many heart-shaped objects you can find from the exit in the depths of space to closer to our neighborhood in the solar system here on Earth.
Larger view. | Here is IC1805, aka the Heart Nebula – a popular target for astrophotographers – through EarthSky community member Justin Ng.
The 2021 monthly calendars are here. A few left. Order yours before you leave!
We love Pluto too! The New Horizons mission, which swept closest to Pluto on July 13, 2015, revealed unique surface markings, including this light-colored area that draws a huge heart on the planet. Image via NASA / APL / SwRI.
Mars has a lot of heart! These 10 images of craters with distinctive heart shapes were made by the Mars Global Surveyor between 2001 and 2004. Image by NASA / JPL / Malin Space Science Systems.
Let’s show a little love for this little heart-shaped depression on the surface of the moon, photographed during the Apollo 12 extravehicular activity on November 19, 1969. The legs of astronaut Charles Conrad Jr. can be seen in the background. Image via NASA.
Back on Earth, we find this heart-shaped island in the Republic of Croatia, which is only 50 meters wide. It is Galesnjak, nicknamed the Island of the Lover. This wonderful blow was made by ALOS, the Japanese Earth observation satellite. Image via ESA.
This dark green lake is part of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan with a heart shape that seems to bleed a thin stream of emerald liquid. Maybe his heart is breaking, because this falling sea is considered one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet. Image by World Top Top.
Heart-shaped leaves are common on Earth, and sometimes you can also find heart-shaped flowers, such as this bleeding heart plant. Image by annie pm / Unsplash.
Bottom line: The shape of hearts is ubiquitous in the universe, as seen in these photos from small petals on Earth to galaxies in the distant universe.
