Solar System

Weather watching… on Titan.

Pete Baker on March 18, 2011, 3:54 pm | Readers 5

Nasa’s Messenger spacecraft may have finally arrived in orbit around Mercury, but the Cassini probe has been exploring Saturn’s system of moons since 2004 – some archived posts here. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI] The latest images show seasonal weather patterns, and apparently associated surface changes. From the Nasa/JPL press release Extensive rain from large cloud systems, spotted by Cassini’s cameras in late 2010, has apparently darkened the surface of the moon. The best explanation is these areas remained wet after methane rainstorms. …

Messenger to Mercury

Pete Baker on March 17, 2011, 8:17 pm | Readers 3

Tonight at 12.45am [GMT] Nasa’s Messenger spacecraft will begin a 15 minute engine burn timed to take it into orbit around Mercury – the first spacecraft to do so. (All images credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington) Launched on 3 August 2004, Messenger’s taken a circuitous route to the innermost planet. It’s second, and final, look at the Earth was in August 2005. Twice past Venus, the second time in June 2007 Before not one, not two fly-bys, but …

Mission to Mars…

Pete Baker on March 13, 2011, 8:41 pm | Readers 11

The US National Research Council have expressed doubts about the extent of US involvement in the planned joint ESA/Nasa rover mission to Mars, as well as two subsequent orbiter missions – one to the Jovian moon Europa and the other to Uranus. But, for now, Mars remains under close scrutiny. The latest false colour image from the Hi-RISE camera on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Mars rover Opportunity at the edge of a football-field sized crater, Santa Maria, where it’s been exploring …

“It did its grand tour past the planets and it just goes on, on this voyage of discovery.”

Pete Baker on March 11, 2011, 4:29 pm | Readers 59

The farthest man-made object from Earth, at some 17.4 billion kilometres, Nasa’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is still performing acrobatics 30-odd years after it was launched. From the BBC report Voyager is executing a series of roll manoeuvres to get one of its instruments into the optimum position to measure particles sweeping away from the Sun. Controllers at the US space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, report a perfect response from the probe. “I liken Voyager to an old car,” …

Look to the north!

Pete Baker on February 17, 2011, 5:13 pm | Readers 1

The BBC points to the possibility, given clear skies, of further displays of the Aurora Borealis being visible from Northern Ireland following a series of large solar flares – including a level X2.2 flare on the 15th, the most powerful since 2006. But, as the Professor and a separate BBC report notes, there are some practical concerns. The China Meteorological Administration reported that the solar flare caused “sudden ionospheric disturbances” in the atmosphere above China and jammed short-wave radio communications in the …

Rendezvous with Tempel 1

Pete Baker on February 15, 2011, 3:00 pm | Readers 15

[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell] Late last night Nasa’s Stardust NExT spacecraft swept past Comet Tempel 1 on the final leg of its 12-year mission. The BBC reports that the spacecraft was about 180 km (110 miles) from the 7.5 km wide comet nucleus during closest approach – the earlier linked Nasa report more accurately records that closest approach at 181 km (112 miles). There was, of course, a much more intimate rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 by the Deep Impact probe in 2005… a probe which subsequently completed a successful …

Blue sunset on Mars

Pete Baker on December 24, 2010, 2:50 pm | Readers 1

Using a clip from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which NASAtelevision has online, here’s a short seasonal treat from JPLnews. Accelerating about 17 minutes of sunset on Nov. 4 and 5, 2010, into a 30 second simulation it’s the longest sunset movie from Mars ever produced. There’s also a clip of Phobos partially eclipsing the Sun, if you follow the links… Nasa press release here. Pete Baker

Comet Hartley 2 Flyby – “Just spectacular”

Pete Baker on November 6, 2010, 3:28 pm | Readers 4

Here’s a wondrous short video of the recent flyby of Comet Hartley 2 by the Nasa/JPL EPOXI Mission using 40 images taken from Deep Impact’s Medium-Resolution Instrument during the encounter. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD/Brown University. And the EPOXI Mission scientists present their preliminary findings at a press conference. Video via NASAtelevision. Pete Baker

“It’s in the ‘sweet spot’, the Goldilocks Zone…”

Pete Baker on October 1, 2010, 10:17 pm | Readers 6

If no-one picks up the phone at Gliese 581d, perhaps someone will be at home on the newly discovered Gliese 581g… aka the “Goldilocks” planet. Or, indeed, one of the other exo-planets in the, apparently, increasingly populated Gliese 581 system. But I tend to agree with the quotes in the level-headed Tom Chivers blog at the Daily Telegraph Dr Lewis Dartnell, a UCL astrobiologist who specialises in the possibility of microbial life on Mars, says that it’s “undeniably very, very exciting”, but it’s …

Deep Impact Spies Comet Target

Pete Baker on September 9, 2010, 3:17 pm | Readers 3

Nasa’s Deep Impact probe was redirected towards comet 103P/Hartley at the start of 2008 as part of the EPOXI mission – see post from the time. On Sunday 5th September the probe opened its eyes and took the first of more than 64,000 images its expected to take of Comet Hartley 2 [Image credit: NASA/JPL/UM]. On 4th November Deep Impact [EPOXI] will fly within 700km of the comet, which might at some point become visible to the naked eye. It will spend 21 …

The spicules of Sol

Pete Baker on August 31, 2010, 5:03 pm | Readers 3

Another wondrous view of our own modest star from the Solar Dynamics Observatory [SDO]. Here’s what the SDO channel says Spicules pop up from the Sun constantly. These dynamics jets are smaller features of the Sun that are commonly ignored. However, with the detailed close-up that SDO can provide, we can see these much more clearly than ever before. Over a few hours observation of the northern pole area of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light (Aug. 3, 2010), we can …

Let’s be careful out there!

Pete Baker on August 30, 2010, 4:24 pm | Readers 2

Here’s a fun video to consider, via Spaceweather.com. It shows the map of the solar system updating from 1980 to present as more asteroids are discovered. As Spaceweather notes Warning: Feelings of claustrophobia have been reported among some viewers. It’s crowded out there! New discoveries appear in white. Final colour indicates how close the asteroid comes to the inner solar system – Earth crossers in red, Earth approachers (perihelion less than 1.3AU) in yellow, and all others in green. Orbital elements from database …

Vesta awaits!

Pete Baker on August 19, 2010, 11:40 pm | Readers 1

Nasa previews the Dawn mission’s visitation with the asteroid Vesta, due next year as noted here, with a video presentation narrated by Leonard Nimoy – as opposed to the previously noted video narrated by William Shatner. Whether the encounter will be as stunning as that of the Rosetta probe was remains to be seen… The Dawn mission website is here. More Dawn related videos and interviews here. Pete Baker

See beautiful Ontario Lacus!

Pete Baker on July 16, 2010, 2:17 pm | Readers 1

Using radar data from the Cassini spacecraft’s flybys on June 22, 2009, July 8, 2009, and Jan. 12, 2010, Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have produced this animated flyover of a potential future holiday destination – the lakes of Titan. Just don’t forget to pack the thermal underwear… Video credit: JPL News From the JPL press release Ontario Lacus, the largest lake in the southern hemisphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, turns out to be a perfect exotic vacation spot, provided you can handle the frosty, subzero …

Asteroids Rock! – redux – Updated

Pete Baker on July 10, 2010, 3:12 pm | Readers 10

[Updated with images from the fly past] Japan’s Hayabusa probe looks like it might have successfully returned material from the asteroid Itokawa, if not as much as they had hoped. Meanwhile Esa’s Rosetta probe, last seen [on Slugger] in 2008, is taking time out from its mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to take a look at the asteroid Lutetia. Artist’s impression of Lutetia. Image credits: ESA – C. Carreau. At 4.44pm [BST] today Rosetta will fly past the 100km wide Lutetia …

“Asteroids Rock!”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2010, 4:52 pm | Readers 4

As the BBC notes, Japanese scientists are confident they have successfully retrieved the first samples ever grabbed from the surface of an asteroid, Itokawa, after recovering a capsule from the Hayabusa spacecraft in the Australian outback. The Japanese space agency (Jaxa) says the capsule looks to be intact. The return was the culmination of a remarkable seven-year adventure, which saw Hayabusa visit asteroid Itokawa in 2005 and attempt to pluck dust from its surface before firing its engines for home. The …