What looks like a single open-quote (or backwards comma) is really Saturn’s two-toned moon Iapetus, seen here in RGB composite color made from raw images acquired by Cassini on Aug. 30 from a distance of about 1.5 million miles. With a leading side stained a dark reddish hue and a trailing side bright white, the…
Tag: science
Saturn and Titan Together
Here’s a particularly nice view of Saturn backlit by the Sun, captured by Cassini while on the ringed planet’s night side on August 12, 2013. Titan is visible at the upper right, its thick atmosphere scattering sunlight into a nearly-complete ring around it. The color-composite above was assembled from raw images captured in red, green,…
Titan Not Windy Enough For Waves? Cassini Will See About That.
Saturn’s largest moon Titan has often been likened to a primordial Earth, with its thick atmosphere, changing weather patterns, and — most intriguing of all — vast amounts of liquid on its surface in the form of lakes, streams, and rivers. One big difference though: nearly ten times farther from the Sun than we are,…
The Frightful Fallacy of “False Color”
I rarely ever reblog posts, but this is an excellent criticism on the term “false color” and its oft-maligned perception by the modern public, and also a support of coloration techniques used in astronomy to produce the beautiful — and scientifically valuable — space images we have all come to enjoy (and expect!) By Dr….
Smile, Earth!
Hey everyone! Today, THIS is happening: That’s right — the entire planet will be photographed from Saturn by Cassini, 900 million miles away. So whatever you’re doing at that particular time, take a moment to look up, smile and wave! This will be one for the history books. Read more here.
A New Moon for Neptune!
Big, blue, and blustery, distant Neptune is the outermost “real” planet in our solar system — a frigid gas giant nearly 3 billion miles from Earth orbiting the Sun with a handful of faint ring segments and a retinue of 13 moons… um, on second thought, better make that 14.
NASA Announces Goals for Next Mars Rover
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — that seems to be the idea behind the designs for NASA’s next Mars mission, which will put yet another rover on the Red Planet in 2020. Drawing on the developments from previous rovers — Spirit, Opportunity, and especially Curiosity — the next robotic explorer will feature a…
Book Review: The Universe in the Rearview Mirror
Physics is hard. I’m sorry, let me elaborate: physics is really hard. The sharpest minds of our entire species have been hammering away at the fundamental rules of our Universe for the past several hundred years, and while they’ve discovered an incredible lot about the tiniest bits of things that make up… well, everything… it’s…
On July 19, Smile and Wave at Saturn
…because Cassini will be watching — and taking pictures! In three weeks, on Friday, July 19, the Cassini spacecraft will be taking pictures from orbit around Saturn, capturing the ringed planet in eclipse against the Sun. This will not only provide fantastic views of the planet’s rings and atmosphere, but will also include another treat:…
Supermoon Returns!
If you haven’t heard, tomorrow (June 23) will bring the closest full Moon of the year, which will make it appear big and bright in the night sky — a so-called “Supermoon.” But what does this really mean and how does it happen? Dr. Michelle Thaller of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center explains: While a…
Want to see a BILLION-pixel view of Mars from Curiosity?
Well, here you go. Don’t say I never gave you nothin’. 😉 Actually this is a NASA-produced image made of 850 frames taken by Curiosity’s MastCam, showing the view from the rover as of late October/early November 2012. Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) rises in the distance, and the mountainous rim of Gale Crater can be…
What Happens Around a Hungry Black Hole?
While what exactly goes on within the event horizon of a black hole is still well within the realm of theoretical physics (and it’s said that at the very heart of a black hole physics as we know it gets a serious kick in the pants) researchers are learning more and more about what happens…
Lights in the Dark 