| Piú votate - Artistic Views of the Solar System |
Aeneas Crater on Dione.jpgAeneas Crater on Dione187 visitenessun commento
(16 voti)
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Mars-1.jpgSummer afternoon...On Mars!90 visitenessun commento
(15 voti)
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Mars.jpgEarth and Mars, soon closer than ever!103 visiteThe Red Planet is about to be spectacular again. In October and November 2005, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in a new close approach between the 2 planets.
The next time Mars may come this close is in AD 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5000 years, but it may be as long as 60.000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on October 30th.
By late October, Mars will be a bright star-like object in the sky and therefore very easy to spot.
Nota: le informazioni pubblicate in precedenza erano riferite al "contatto ravvicinato" Terra/Marte dell'AD 2003.
(15 voti)
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Mars~1.jpgNot too close, not too far...98 visitenessun commento
(14 voti)
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Voyagers-Heliosphere4b.jpgThe Voyagers at the "Final Frontier"85 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".
(14 voti)
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South Polar Spring-PIA08660.jpgSpring at the South Pole of Mars72 visiteSand-laden jets shoot into the Polar Sky in this view by noted space artist Ron Miller. It shows the Martian South Polar "Ice Cap" as Southern Spring begins.
(13 voti)
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Voyagers-Heliosphere5b.JPGThe Voyagers at the "Final Frontier"88 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.
(13 voti)
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WW31.jpg1998-WW3187 visiteThis is an artist's view of a Kuiper Belt binary object, called 1998 WW31. These icy bodies orbit each other at the fringe of our Solar System.
The illustration depicts one member of the duo in the foreground; its companion - the dark, round object - is in the background. The objects are about the same size. Both are illuminated from behind by the Sun [the white dot at upper left]. Like other Kuiper Belt objects, this duo orbits the Sun, completing a circuit every 301 years while Pluto orbits the Sun every 248 years.
(13 voti)
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Gusev Crater.jpgGusev Crater: an artistic interpretation141 visite"...The landing site and the Columbia Hills are within Gusev Crater, a bowl about 150 Km (about 95 miles) in diameter. It was selected for the Spirit mission because the shape of the terrain suggests the crater once held a lake. Volcanic deposits appear to have covered any sign of ancient lakebed geology out on the plain, but scientists say the hills expose older layers that have been lifted and tipped by a meteorite impact or other event...".
"Spirit has climbed to the hilltop and looked over the other side, but NASA did not do this just to say we can do it. The Mars rovers are addressing fundamental questions about Martian history and planetary environments," said NASA's Mars Exploration Program Director Doug McCuistion.
The crest of "Husband Hill" offers Spirit's views of possible routes into a basin to the south with apparently layered outcrops. Shortly after Spirit landed, it observed a cluster of seven hills about 3 kilometers (2 miles) east of its landing site. NASA proposed naming the range "Columbia Hills" in tribute to the last crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. The tallest of the hills commemorates Rick Husband, Columbia's commander.
(13 voti)
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mars-dust-devil-large-bg.jpgMartian Dust Devil124 visiteAh, Martian Summer! Finally, the days are long, just like on dear old Earth. And daytime highs rocket all the way up to a balmy 20°C (68°F) from the Summer nighttime low of -90°C (-130°F), meaning you and your fellow astronauts can warm up your machinery earlier to get a good start on mining operations.
But those warm daytime temperatures also bring alive the Martian devils. Dust devils, that is.
You were caught in one just yesterday - and a devilishly terrifying experience it was! This was no little Arizona desert whirlwind, only a few tens of meters high and a few meters across and past you in seconds.
No, what hit you yesterday was a monster column towering kilometers high and hundreds of meters wide, 10 times larger than any tornado on Earth. Red-brown sand and dust whipping around faster than 30 meters per second (70 miles per hour) dropped visibility to zero, scouring your faceplate, driving dust into every fold and wrinkle of your spacesuit.
For 15 minutes you huddled and endured the buffeting. The scariest part was the incessant crackling and flashing of miniature lightning bolts nipping at you and your rover, and the loud static on your radio that prevented you from calling for help.
Could this really happen?
(13 voti)
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Mars Express-PIA04802_modest.jpgMars Express105 visitenessun commento
(13 voti)
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OlympusMons-processed.jpgOlympus Mons, after Orbital Insertion61 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(12 voti)
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