| Piú votate - Asteroids and Comets |
LLN-Itokawa-ST_2506540935_v.pngApproaching Itokawa (2 - natural colors; elab. Lunexit)55 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(2 voti)
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LLN-Itokawa-ST_2506733028_v.pngApproaching Itokawa (4 - natural colors; elab. Lunexit)58 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(2 voti)
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Eros - impact site - PIA03144_modest.jpgEros: NEAR-Shoemaker's Probe landing site57 visiteThis map projection of NEAR Shoemaker images shows locations and sizes of landmarks surrounding the spacecraft's planned landing site. Diameters of craters are shown in red, and diameters of boulders are shown in yellow. Diameters are given in units of meters (1 meter is about 3.3 feet). Coordinates along the left side of the map are degrees south latitude and coordinates along the bottom are degrees west longitude.
The six yellow "footprint" boxes represent approximate image size at 500, 1.000, 1.500, 2.000, 2.500 and 3.000 meters above the surface during descent. The spacecraft will take pictures continuously between each spot. The arrow marks the estimated touchdown site.
(2 voti)
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EROS-PIA02951.jpgEros from above (1)63 visiteIn NEAR Shoemaker's long-awaited close-up images of Eros, the asteroid's small-scale features are revealing their fascinating diversity. This picture, taken July 8, 2000, from an orbital altitude of only 36 Km, shows a variety of differently shaped boulders. Some are nearly round, whereas others are elongated or even blade-shaped. Such varied shapes might arise from differences in the strength and fracturing of preexisting rock. The whole scene is about 1.4 Km across.
(2 voti)
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3I-ATLAS_12.jpg129 visiteI.O. 3I/Atlas on January 26th, 2026.MareKromium
(1 voti)
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3I-ATLAS_11.jpg3I/Atlas from 164 MKM138 visiteInterstellar Object 3I/ATLAS from a distance of around 102 MMs.MareKromium
(1 voti)
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3I-ATLAS_10.jpgWhat 3I/Atlas is made of147 visiteSorpresa in arrivo. Per Tutti Voi!...MareKromium
(1 voti)
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3I-ATLAS_00.gif3I/ ATLAS - PUNCH Mission spots65 visiteMareKromium
(1 voti)
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ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-Ultima_Thule_-_1.jpgUltima Thule94 visiteThe New Horizons team used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for its post-Pluto, Kuiper Belt flyby target. Using observations made with Hubble on June 26, 2014, the science team (led by co-investigator Marc Buie) discovered an object that New Horizons could reach with its available fuel. The object was subsequently designated 2014 MU69, given the minor planet number 485968 and, with public input, nicknamed "Ultima Thule" (which means "beyond the known world").
MU69 is located in the Kuiper Belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune. At 12:33 a.m. (EST) on January 1, 2019, New Horizons flew just 2,200 miles (3,500) kilometers from the object's surface, when it was about 4 billion miles (6.6 billion kilometers) from the Sun -- the most distant planetary flyby in history and the first close-up look at a solar system object of this type.
Ultima Thule is the first unquestionably primordial contact binary ever explored. Approach pictures hinted at a strange, snowman-like shape, but further analysis of images, taken near closest approach, uncovered just how unusual the KBO's shape really is. At 22 miles (35 kilometers) long, the binary consists of a large, flat lobe (nicknamed "Ultima") connected to a smaller, rounder lobe (nicknamed "Thule").
This strange shape was the biggest surprise of the flyby. Nothign like it has been anywhere in the solar system -- sending the planetary science community back to the drawing board to understand how planetesimals (the building blocks of the planets) form.
Because it is so well preserved, MU69 offered our clearest look back to the era of planetesimal accretion and the earliest stages of planetary formation. Apparently the two lobes once orbited each other, like many so-called binary worlds in the Kuiper Belt, until something brought them together in a "gentle" merger.
In color and composition, New Horizons data revealed that MU69 resembles many other objects found in its region of the Kuiper Belt. Consistent with pre-flyby observations from the Hubble Telescope, Ultima Thule is very red – redder even than Pluto, which New Horizons flew past on the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt in 2015 – and about the same color as many other so-called "cold classical" KBOs. ("Cold" referring not to temperature but to the circular, uninclined orbits of these objects; "classical" in that their orbits have changed little since forming, and represent a sample of the primordial Kuiper Belt.)
New Horizons scientists have also seen evidence for methanol, water ice and organic molecules on the surface -- a spectrum similar to some of the most extreme objects we've seen in the outer solar system.
Flyby data transmission continues, with all data expected on the ground by late summer 2020.MareKromium
(1 voti)
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Lutetia-02.jpgAsteroid "Lutetia"63 visiteThough the first look of the giant asteroid, through nearly 400 images, has revealed a lot about the primitive survivor's cratered surface, a lot more needs to be unlocked.
The data collected by Rosetta Spacecraft, with the help of multi-wavelength cameras, spectrometers etc., will unravel the mysteries surrounding the composition of Lutetia. Some asteroids are a broken part of iron-rich cores of proto-planets or they may just be composed of Carbon.MareKromium
(1 voti)
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Comets-Borrelly_Comet-PIA03500_modest.jpgThe "Borrelly" Comet from Deep Space 158 visiteIn this highest resolution view of the icy, rocky nucleus of comet Borrelly, (about 45 meters or 150 feet per pixel) a variety of terrains and surface textures, mountains and fault structures, and darkened material are visible over the nucleus's surface. This was the final image of the nucleus of comet Borrelly, taken just 160 seconds before Deep Space1's closest approach to it. This image shows the 8-km (5-mile) long nucleus about 3417 kilometers (over 2,000 miles) away.
Smooth, rolling plains containing brighter regions are present in the middle of the nucleus and seem to be the source of dust jets seen in the coma. The rugged land found at both ends of the nucleus has many high ridges along the jagged line between day and night on the comet. This rough terrain contains very dark patches that appear to be elevated compared to surrounding areas. In some places the dark material accentuates grooves and apparent faults.
(13 voti)
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Xena.jpgXena: another "Tenth Planet"? (2003 UB313)57 visiteNASA's Hubble Space Telescope has resolved the Tenth Planet, now nicknamed Xena, for the first time and has found that it is only just a little larger than Pluto.
Though previous ground-based observations suggested that Xena was about 30% greater in diameter than Pluto, Hubble observations taken on Dec. 9 and 10, 2005, yield a diameter of 1.490 miles (with an uncertainty of 60 miles) for Xena. Pluto's diameter, as measured by Hubble, is 1.422 miles. Xena is the large object at the bottom of this artist's concept. A portion of its surface is lit by the Sun, located in the upper left corner of the image. Xena's companion, Gabrielle, is located just above and to the left of Xena.
(8 voti)
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