Fuck Yeah Solar System!

latimes: Brace yourself for another asteroid flyby To quote...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:16:08 -0400

Brace yourself for another asteroid flyby

To quote science reporter Deborah Netburn:

It’s 1.7 miles long. Its surface is covered in a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a barbecue. If it impacted Earth it would probably result in global extinction. Good thing it is just making a flyby.

At approximately 1:59 p.m. PDT May 31, Asteroid 1998 QE2 will make a close (by galactic standards) pass by our home planet. Coming within just 3.6 million miles of Earth, the asteroid will be so close that many of its features will be visible on radar.

For more details on the asteroid, including its possible origin, at Science Now.

Photo: NASA / JPL / Caltech

jtotheizzoe: You guys like Saturn, right? Here’s a whole...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:46:59 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

You guys like Saturn, right? Here’s a whole gallery of Saturn GIFs, from rings to moons, captured by the Cassini spacecraft. They’re part modern art and part science.

Next to the Voyager twins, I think Cassini might be the best satellite NASA ever launched. Certainly takes the best pictures. Tumblr’s own staceythinx has an iPad app called Cassini HD that features even more photos, plus color, plus science.

(GIFs by framesandflames)

NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Essential Ingredients for Life in Ancient Rock Sample

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:00:00 -0400

NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Essential Ingredients for Life in Ancient Rock Sample:

by Ryan Grenoble, Huffington Post

This, of course, is a developing story.

"The asteroid packed a huge punch, the power of 20 Hiroshima bombs. It was a “city buster,” capable..."

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:41:21 -0500

“The asteroid packed a huge punch, the power of 20 Hiroshima bombs. It was a “city buster,” capable of flattening a modern metropolis and reducing it to rubble. It was a miracle that the asteroid exploded roughly 10 to 15 miles above ground: had there been a ground burst, it would have caused tens of thousands of casualties. If that asteroid had hit just a few seconds later, it would have created a tragedy on Earth.”

- Michio Kaku - Asteroid Apocalypse? Why Scientists Worry About 2036’s ‘Planet Buster’

I was unaware of the fact that it was so large and that it would have been such a problem if it would have struck ground. Fascinating. (via therecipe)

"It was an amazing spectacle, a rapid succession of giant asteroids blazing across the sky. First, on..."

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:27:27 -0500

“It was an amazing spectacle, a rapid succession of giant asteroids blazing across the sky. First, on February 15, Russia was hit with the biggest asteroid in 100 years. Barely a few hours later, an even bigger one made the closest approach to Earth ever recorded for an asteroid of its size. Then the residents of San Francisco, Cuba, and south Florida looked up and saw meteors streak across the sky, rattling their nerves.”

- Michio Kaku - Asteroid Apocalypse? Why Scientists Worry About 2036’s ‘Planet Buster’

Updates on Russian Meteor Shower

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:39:27 -0500

thepoliticalfreakshow:

At least 400 people have been injured after a meteor shower over central Russia blew out windows, interior ministry sources say. Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed into the Ural region - BBC News

As many as 950 people seek medical assistance after meteorite fragments fall in central Russia - @ria_novosti

Russian Emergency Ministry denies reports military shot down meteor over Urals; saying ‘took no action connected to the incident’ - @RT_com

Injury toll from Russian meteor is the largest known caused by an object from space, British expert says - @AFP

Meteor damaged some 3,000 buildings in Chelyabinsk, including 34 medical facilities and 361 schools, city administration says - @RT_com

Hole in Chebarkul Lake made by Russian meteor debris (PHOTO)#meteorite http://t.co/OlI9DoG4

voodoo-acid-zombie: polarbearsarebrilliant: Russian Meteor...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:38:43 -0500

voodoo-acid-zombie:

polarbearsarebrilliant:

Russian Meteor Strike, February 2013

[x] [x]

Mars Curiosity Rover Panorama!

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:03:47 -0500

Mars Curiosity Rover Panorama!

vurtual: The Moon (by Mario Moreno)

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 23:08:59 -0500

The Bear & The Moon

The Lynx & The Moon

he Giraffe & The Moon

vurtual:

The Moon (by Mario Moreno)

is that photo ohl of our galaxy to scale? because the size of the sun left me flabbergasted! i had always imagined the sun as waaaaay bigger than all the planets.

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:55:00 -0500

The scale looks to be waaaaay off. The Sun is larger than all of the other mass in our solar system combined. In fact, the Sun is almost ALL of the mass of our solar system: approx 99%!

Photo

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:29:17 -0500

"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean."

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:57:00 -0500

“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.”

- Arthur C. Clarke, author

ecocides: New images captured by a European space telescope of...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:30:18 -0500

ecocides:

New images captured by a European space telescope of the huge asteroid Apophis as it passes Earth, revealing it to be much bigger than previously thought. It has been described as a ‘doomsday asteroid’ because of a study that predicted a 2.7% chance of the rock hitting Earth when it passes within 22,364 miles of our planet in April 2029 | via guardian.co.uk

discoverynews: Genesis II: Extraterrestrial Oceans Could Host...

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 03:18:53 -0500

discoverynews:

Genesis II: Extraterrestrial Oceans Could Host Life by Ray Villard

At least six outer moons have subsurface oceans that could potentially be cozy places for life: Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Enceladus and Triton. Each of them could have as much if not more water than found in all of Earth’s oceans. In fact Earth is a comparatively dry world.

I say go go go to Europa!

mothernaturenetwork: What to look for in the Christmas night...

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:35:57 -0500

mothernaturenetwork:

What to look for in the Christmas night sky

Stargazers can catch a conjunction of the moon and planet Jupiter on Christmas night.

I know that last post about a possible habitable planet isn’t solar system related but you...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:32:00 -0500

I know that last post about a possible habitable planet isn’t solar system related but you know, amazing news such as the higgs boson being detected, Curiosity landing on Mars (in bad ass fashion!), and any news about H20 or possible life, is a MUST BLOG.

Hope you don’t mind.

- Keep looking up.

discoverynews: Is there a “habitable” world orbiting...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:25:14 -0500

discoverynews:

Is there a “habitable” world orbiting neighboring star Tau Ceti?

The planet of interest is estimated to be about 4.3 times more massive than Earth. If confirmed, the planet would be the smallest yet discovered in a star’s habitable zone, say scientists who will be publishing their research in an upcoming issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Now THAT is pretty significant. Read more

theatlantic: NASA Decided to X-Ray the Moon. This is What They...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:19:16 -0500

theatlantic:

NASA Decided to X-Ray the Moon. This is What They Saw.

[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT/GSFC]

jtotheizzoe: NASA Announces Mars Curiosity’s First Round of...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:31:54 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

NASA Announces Mars Curiosity’s First Round of Soil Analysis

The take-away message? There’s some very interesting “maybes” but no definite “wows”.

A week or so after the misunderstanding about how “groundbreaking” these findings would actually be, NASA’s Mars rover team announced the results of their first soil sample analysis today. Remember that this rover is primarily an interplanetary geology lab, outfitted with the most advanced mineral chemistry instruments ever plopped down on another planet. So any hints of Mars one day being able to support life are going to start with eating a whole bunch of dirt.

Here’s a quick summary of the recent findings (good summaries at MSNBC and LA Times, too):

These first few rounds of soil samples are useful, but one of their main purposes is to clean out the internal instruments and make sure the onboard, self-contained lab is working correctly. The laser-eye and other instruments are cool, but it’s the stuff inside that will most precisely determine the molecules and elements that exist in Martian soil.

Curiosity processed a few scoops of coarse sand so far, which NASA compared to the big salt grains on a pretzel, from a region of Gale Crater called Rocknest. The machinery is all working fine, and any contaminating substances from Earth have probably been washed out by now.

The rover has found hints of organic molecules (a huge family of carbon-based chemicals that are the precursors to anything that could later lead to life), as well as a chlorine chemical called “perchlorate” (also found by a previous rover in 2008). Normally perchlorate would be toxic, but super-tough microbes could eat it, mayyyyyyyybe … if they also found lots of carbon-based molecules. Which they only have hints of. Got it?

Otherwise the soil was a pretty unremarkable mix of volcanic crystals, which is not surprising on Mars, since it’s home to many volcanoes, including the Solar System’s biggest. They also found traces of water, which we knew Mars had, and isn’t sufficient for life by itself (even Mercury has water ice!).

The next step is to continue checking this data to make sure - absolutely sure - that the chlorine and carbon aren’t from Earth. Then they need to see if they are just random leftovers from old meteors or dust hitting the red planet. Then, and only then, will they be able to say whether these chlorine-carbon molecules are special.

In the end, this finding is a big “maybe”. But that should not disappoint anyone. Because these early days are about proving that the mission is ready to proceed and that everything is working correctly. And NASA gets an A+ on that. We have 2+ years of experiments, on all kinds of rocks, waiting for us!

So keep your “Curiosity” engaged …

therecipe: breakingnews: NASA spots water ice deposits on...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:57:16 -0500

therecipe:

breakingnews:

NASA spots water ice deposits on Mercury

Space.com: NASA’s Messenger spacecraft has spotted vast deposits of water ice on Mercury, the planet closest to the sun.

Temperatures on Mercury can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit, but around the north pole, NASA found a mix of frozen water and possible organic materials.

View more photos on Space.com.

Photo shows a mosaic of MESSENGER images of Mercury’s North Polar Region. All of the larger polar deposits are located on the floors or walls of impact craters. Deposits farther from the pole are seen to be concentrated on the north-facing sides of craters. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory)

Mercury and Messenger were all like, ” hey, don’t forget about us over here Mars and Curiosity. We got this.”