| Piú viste - Artistic Views of the Solar System |
Saturn-Orbit-ins-PIA03883_modest.jpgCassini's Orbital Insertion93 visitenessun commento
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Voyagers-Heliosphere5b.JPGThe Voyagers at the "Final Frontier"93 visiteThe twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts continue exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. In the 25th year after their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the Sun than Pluto is and approaching the boundary region - the heliopause - where the Sun's dominance of the environment ends and Interstellar Space begins. Voyager 1, more than twice as distant as Pluto, is farther from Earth than any other human-made object and speeding outward at more than 17 Km per second (38.000 miles per hour). Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network (DSN).
The primary mission was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn.
After making a string of discoveries there - such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and intricacies of Saturn's rings - the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer Planets. The adventurers' current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain. And beyond.
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Titan_s Rain~0.jpgTitan's "Rain"...93 visiteDa "NASA - Picture of the Day" del 2 Agosto 2006:"Might it rain cold methane on Saturn's Titan? Recent analyses of measurements taken by the Huygen's probe that landed on Titan in 2005, January, indicate that the atmosphere is actually saturated with methane at a height of about 8 Km. Combined with observations of a damp surface and lakes near the Poles, some astrobiologists conclude that at least a methane drizzle is common on parts of Titan. Other astrobiologists reported computer models of the clouded moon that indicate that violent methane storms might even occur, complete with flash floods carving channels in the landscape. The later scenario is depicted in the above drawing of Titan. Lighting, as also depicted above, might well exist on Titan but has not been proven. The findings increase speculation that a wet Titanian surface might be hospitable to unusual forms of life".
Attenzione all'ultima frase: "Queste scoperte fanno crescere (la validit) di una ipotesi speculativa secondo cui la superficie di Titano, laddove effettivamente umida, potrebbe essere idonea ad ospitare "inusuali" forme di Vita".
Il significato e la portata di questa frase sono evidenti e di valore storico, ma c' una domanda che ci incuriosisce e, in fondo, un p ci turba: cosa intende la NASA quando parla di "unusual life forms"?...
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Mars-C.jpgMars, NOW...93 visitenessun commento
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s going to Titan-IMG000616-br500.jpgDown to Titan!92 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This artist's conception of the Cassini orbiter shows the Huygens probe separating to enter Titan's atmosphere. After separation, the probe drifts for about 3 weeks until reaching its destination, Titan. Equipped with a variety of scientific sensors, the Huygens probe will spend 2-2,5 hours (maybe more) descending through Titan's dense, murky atmosphere of nitrogen and carbon-based molecules, beaming its findings to the distant Cassini orbiter overhead. The probe could continue to relay information for up to 30 minutes after it lands on Titan's frigid surface, after which the orbiter passes beneath the horizon as seen from the probe".
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Kuiper_s Belt.jpgRelationship of the Kuiper's Belt to the Oort's Cloud92 visiteThis illustration shows that the Kuiper Belt is shaped like a disk (see inset diagram) and resides within the shell-like structure of the Oort Cloud. Located on the outskirts of the Solar System, the Kuiper Belt is a "junkyard" of countless icy bodies left over from the Solar System's formation. The Oort Cloud is a vast shell of billions of comets.
The inset diagram compares Pluto's orbit with a Kuiper Belt binary object called 1998 WW31. The Kuiper Belt [the fuzzy disk] extends from inside Pluto's orbit to the edge of the Solar System.
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Voyagers-Heliosphere4b.jpgThe Voyagers at the "Final Frontier"90 visiteOriginal caption:"In the summer of 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to observe the planet Neptune, its final planetary target. Passing about 4.950 Km (about 3.000 miles) above Neptune's North Pole, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to any planet since leaving Earth 12 years before. Five hours later, Voyager 2 passed about 40.000 Km (about 25.000 miles) from Neptune's largest moon, Triton, the last solid body the spacecraft had an opportunity to study".
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030-OPP-SOL209.jpgOver the Walls of Endurance (1)...89 visiteIpotesi di alba Marziana con il Sole capace di esprimere la stessa luminosit che percepibile dalla Terra.
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Spirit2-19-DDM-04-Rover-A113R1.jpgI like to "roll" on Mars!!!86 visiteUn'interpretazione "artistica" (ma fortemente legata alla realt fattuale) del Rover Spirit mentre cammina (anzi: rolls...) sulla superficie di Gusaev Crater - Marte.
E' un disegno, naturalmente, ma estremamente bello e suggestivo il quale ci ricorda, come d'altronde noi abbiamo gi fatto tantissime volte, che la Scienza non solo calcolo e razionalit: la Scienza, in quanto tale, Arte!...
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SchiaparelliCrater-processed.jpgA thick layer of dust over Schiaparelli Crater84 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Venus fly-by.jpgCassini-Huygens during the Venus fly-by82 visitenessun commento
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UB-313.jpgUB 313: is this the "10th Planet"?82 visiteWhat do you call an outer Solar System object that is larger than Pluto? Nobody is yet sure, but the question arose recently when 2003 UB313, an object currently twice as far out as Pluto and not in the plane with the rest of the Planets, was verified recently to be 30% wider than Pluto. UB313's size was estimated (of course in a VERY approximate way!) by measuring how much infrared light this celestial body emits. Previous size estimates were based only on visible light and greatly affected by how reflective the object is.
Whether 2003 UB313 is officially declared a planet will be answered shortly by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
In the above picture, a scientific artist has imagined UB313 in its distant orbit around the Sun, coupled with a hypothetical moon.
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