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| Ultimi arrivi - The Universe Inside |
JustlikeIo.jpgJust like Io!105 visiteCaption NASA:"Volcano Tungurahua erupted spectacularly last year. Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud of dark ash is seen being ejected toward the left.
Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance.
The above image was captured last year (2006) as ash fell around the adventurous photographer. Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years since for the last 1300 years. Volcano Tungurahua has started erupting again this year and continues erupting at a lower level even today".
Nota: i colori sono stati alterati dallo STAFF Lunexit, così da rendere l'immagine più esotica e, a nostro parere, più simile a quello che potrebbe essere un vulcano situato sulla Luna Galileiana "Io".
Chiediamo scusa al Dr Tashler (l'Autore dell'immagine originale) per la manipolazione.MareKromiumSet 23, 2007
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StairWaytoHaeven.jpgStairway to Haeven...59 visite"...Ciò che mi muove, in questa Vita, è la curiosità.
La curiosità di "vedere che cosa c'è oltre".
Oltre questa Terra, questo Mare, questo Cielo...Oltre questo Oggi ed oltre il Domani che verrà.
Oltre le nostre idee, le nostre paure, le nostre ipotesi e le nostre convinzioni.
Ti faccio un esempio: se, un giorno, mi capitasse di imbattermi in una scala che, poggiata sulla terra nuda, si alza verso l'Infinito, non credo che mi porrei troppe domande sulla sua Origine ed i suoi Scopi.
Penso che la guarderei, per qualche istante, e poi inizierei a salire, così, un gradino dopo l'altro, senza guardare giù...
Così: tanto per vedere sino a che punto sarei capace di arrivare, prima di sentire un brivido scorrere lungo la schiena ed il collo, e quindi rendermi conto che il mio Tempo, al pari del mio Cammino, è finito..."
P.C. Floegers - "Conversations"MareKromiumSet 23, 2007
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Voyagers-00.gifTowards the "Terra Incognita" (1)62 visiteInterstellar Mission - Mission Objective
The mission objective of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) is to extend the NASA exploration of the Solar System beyond the neighborhood of the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun's sphere of influence, and possibly beyond. This extended mission is continuing to characterize the outer Solar System environment and search for the heliopause boundary, the outer limits of the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of the solar wind. Penetration of the heliopause boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium will allow measurements to be made of the interstellar fields, particles and waves unaffected by the solar wind.
The VIM is an extension of the Voyager primary mission that was completed in 1989 with the close flyby of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Neptune was the final outer planet visited by a Voyager spacecraft. Voyager 1 completed its planned close flybys of the Jupiter and Saturn planetary systems while Voyager 2, in addition to its own close flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, completed close flybys of the remaining two gas giants, Uranus and Neptune.
At the start of the VIM, the two Voyager spacecraft had been in flight for over 12 years having been launched in August (Voyager 2) and September (Voyager 1), 1977. Voyager 1 was at a distance of approximately 40 AU (Astronomical Unit - mean distance of Earth from the Sun, 150 million kilometers) from the Sun, and Voyager 2 was at a distance of approximately 31 AU.
As of July 2007, Voyager 1 was at a distance of 15.4 Billion Kilometers (103 AU) from the sun and Voyager 2 at a distance of 12.4 Billion kilometers (83 AU).
Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.6 AU per year, 35 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the general direction of the Solar Apex (the direction of the Sun's motion relative to nearby stars). Voyager 2 is also escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year, 48 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the south.
Both Voyagers are headed towards the outer boundary of the solar system in search of the heliopause, the region where the Sun's influence wanes and the beginning of interstellar space can be sensed. The heliopause has never been reached by any spacecraft; the Voyagers may be the first to pass through this region, which is thought to exist somewhere from 8 to 14 billion miles from the Sun. In December 2004 Voyager 1 crossed an area known as the termination shock. This is where the million-mile-per-hour solar winds slows to about 250,000 miles per hour—the first indication that the wind is nearing the heliopause. Voyager 2 is currently observing preshock phenomena, indicating that it is close to the termination shock. The Voyagers should cross the heliopause 10 to 20 years after reaching the termination shock. The Voyagers have enough electrical power and thruster fuel to operate at least until 2020. By that time, Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles (19.9 billion KM) from the Sun and Voyager 2 will be 10.5 billion miles (16.9 billion KM) away. Eventually, the Voyagers will pass other stars. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Ophiucius. In some 296,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky . The Voyagers are destined—perhaps eternally—to wander the Milky Way. For current distances, check: Mission Weekly Reports
MareKromiumSet 08, 2007
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Voyagers-01.gifTowards the "Terra Incognita" (2)63 visiteIt is appropriate to consider the VIM as three distinct phases: the termination shock, heliosheath exploration, and interstellar exploration phases. The two Voyager spacecraft began the VIM operating, and are still operating, in an environment controlled by the Sun's magnetic field with the plasma particles being dominated by those contained in the expanding supersonic solar wind. This is the characteristic environment of the termination shock phase. At some distance from the Sun, the supersonic solar wind will be held back from further expansion by the interstellar wind. The first feature to be encountered by a spacecraft as a result of this interstellar wind/solar wind interaction will be the termination shock where the solar wind slows from supersonic to subsonic speed and large changes in plasma flow direction and magnetic field orientation occur.
Passage through the Termination Shock ends the Termination Shock Phase (TSP) and begins the Heliosheath Exploration Phase (HEP). Voyager 1 in 2004 completed the TSP of the mission when the spacecraft was 94 AU from the Sun. After passage through the Termination Shock, the spacecraft will be operating in the Heliosheath environment which is still dominated by the Sun's Magnetic Field and particles contained in the Solar Wind. The HEP ends with passage through the Heliopause which is the outer extent of the Sun's Magnetic Field and Solar Wind. The thickness of the Heliosheath is uncertain and could be tens of AU thick taking several years to traverse. Passage through the Heliopause begins the Interstellar Exploration Phase (IEP) with the spacecraft operating in an interstellar wind dominated environment. This interstellar exploration is the ultimate goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission.MareKromiumSet 08, 2007
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Voyagers-02.jpgMessage in a "Bottle"...72 visiteCaption NASA:" Launched 30 years ago, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft are now respectively 15 and 12,5 BKM from the Sun, equivalent to about 14 and 11,5 Light-Hours distant. Still functioning, the Voyagers are being tracked and commanded through the Deep Space Network. Having traveled beyond the outer planets, they are only the third and fourth spacecraft from planet Earth to escape toward interstellar space, following in the footsteps of Pioneer 10 and 11.
A 12" gold plated copper disk (a phonograph record) containing recorded sounds and images representing human cultures and life on Earth, is affixed to each Voyager - a Message in a Bottle, cast into the Cosmic Sea.
The recorded material was selected by a committee chaired by astronomer Carl Sagan. Simple diagrams on the cover symbolically represent the Spacecraft's origin and give instructions for playing the disk. The exotic construction of the disks should provide them with a long lifetime as they coast through the interstellar space". MareKromiumSet 08, 2007
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Phobos_Eclipsing_Victoria.jpgPhobos eclipsing Victoria Crater's Region (elab. Lunexit)59 visitenessun commentoMareKromiumAgo 27, 2007
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Big_Dipper-1.jpgThe "Big Dipper"...again!58 visiteCaption NASA:"Why would the dome of a telescopic observatory appear translucent red? As one of the telescopes of the Etscorn Observatory of New Mexico Tech waited to inspect small portions of the night sky, playful observers decided to make this unusual image. Tricks needed to create this seemingly impossible shot included opening the observatory dome slightly, using a red light to illuminate the inside of the dome, spinning the dome, and using a long exposure. The open slit in the dome then allowed the camera to incrementally image the inside of the observatory, including the telescope. A fortuitous break in the clouds allowed the stars of the Big Dipper asterism to shine through". MareKromiumAgo 21, 2007
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PIA09956.jpgCosmic "Merger"59 visiteThis artist's concept shows what the night sky might look like from a hypothetical planet around a star tossed out of an ongoing four-way collision between big galaxies (yellow blobs). NASA's SST spotted this "quadruple merger" of galaxies within a larger cluster of galaxies located nearly 5 BLY away.
Though the galaxies appear intact, gravitational disturbances have caused them to stretch and twist, flinging billions of stars into space -- nearly three times as many stars as are in our Milky Way galaxy. The tossed stars are visible in the large plume emanating from the central, largest galaxy. If any of these stars have planets, their night skies would be filled with the monstrous merger, along with other galaxies in the cluster (smaller, bluish blobs).
This cosmic smash-up is the largest known merger between galaxies of a similar size. While three of the galaxies are about the size of our Milky Way galaxy, the fourth (center of image) is three times as big.
All four of the galaxies, as well as most other galaxies in the huge cluster, are blob-shaped ellipticals instead of spirals like the Milky Way.
Ultimately, in about one hundred million years or so, the four galaxies will unite into one. About half of the stars kicked out during the merger will fall back and join the new galaxy, making it one of the biggest galaxies in the universe.MareKromiumAgo 07, 2007
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Under_The_Stars.jpgOld Faithful...62 visite
Caption NASA:"You don't have to be at Yellowstone to see a sky this beautiful, but it helps. Only at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA, would you see the picturesque foreground of the famous "Old Faithful Geyser" erupting in front an already picturesque sky. Old Faithful Geyser, visible in the foreground, is seen propelling a stream of hot water over 30 mt up in the air. This happens predictably for a few minutes about every 90 minutes. Also predictable are the brightest orbs that popular the nighttime sky, although those visible at any one time keep changing. Visible far in the background sky of this mid-June image are the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy on the left, and the bright planet Jupiter on the right. Jupiter is the brightest celestial object in the entire image. Old Faithful has been erupting at least since the late 1800s".
Nota: siamo curiosi di vedere quando la NASA "ipotizzerà" (ironizziamo, poichè le evidenze fotografiche in nostro possesso sono già innumerevoli) che alcuni fenomeni attualmente catalogati come "minicicloni" o "Dust Devils" (DD) sono, in realtà (ed in maniera particolare nelle aree presso-polari), dei geysers.
Geysers che, a volte, eruttano fango e ghiaccio e, altre volte - forse - acqua calda ed idrocarburi.
Staremo a vedere...MareKromiumAgo 07, 2007
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Moon_Planets.jpgPlanets...59 visitenessun commentoMareKromiumLug 18, 2007
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SOL442-2N165615279EFFA978P1997R0M1-2.jpgDreaming a New Day...62 visite"...Il Sole che tramonta per alcuni, per altri è il Sole che sorge..."
(anonimo)MareKromiumLug 14, 2007
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CloudsandStars.jpgIn the twilights...61 visitenessun commentoMareKromiumLug 11, 2007
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