Something you might want to read.
#universe #life #Earth #galaxy #SolarSystem #space #superclusters
This is just an image of the article I was reading today. It basically showed how big the universe is, and our solar system is but a very very small part of it.
So think big, and keep that passion alive in you! You can achieve anything you want to!
#planet #space #SolarSystem #Jupiter #age
So the largest planet in our Solar System is also the oldest planet in our Solar System. Jupiter. The planet was formed only within four million years after the formation of the Sun.
Considering no physical samples of Jupiter is available like of Earth, Mars, moon, asteroids, etc., isotope signatures of meteorites (derived from asteroids) were used to determine Jupiter’s age.
By looking at tungsten and molybdenum isotopes on iron meteorites, scientists found that meteorites are made up from two genetically distinct nebular reservoirs that coexisted but remained separated between one million and 3-4 million years after the solar system formed.
Thus the best explanation is that Jupiter was formed, which opened a gap in the disc and preventing the exchange of materiel between the two reservoirs.
Now we know the oldest planet in the Solar System. I wonder how old the other planets such as Saturn and Neptune are. It’s wonderful that we are knowing more and more about space as we explore.
#space #NASA #Cassini #Saturn #Daphnis #rings #image #solarsystem
Currently, the Cassini spacecraft is performing flybys of Saturn, making its closest approach to it’s rings. These will continue on till the mission ends in September, when Cassini will perform a death plunge into the gas giant.
Every new image beamed by Cassini during its last mission has come bearing some evolutionary secret or shows an unpredictable side of the planet or a feature that would otherwise been impossible to envisage.
Cassini recently shared an image taken on January 16, 2017 that shows unprecedented views of the outer edges of Saturn’s main ring system. The image also shows the planet’s moon Daphnis.
The image was taken 30,000 kms from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft angle of 69 degrees.
Getting to know more about the outside space, just makes us more curious on what is to see out there. This is amazing, and I am wishing further missions such as this in the future.
#NASA #space #Sun #solarsystem #SolarProbePlus #TouchtheSun #spacecraft #Corona
NASA will share the details regarding it’s mission “to touch the Sun” on May 31st. The details will be announced by the agency through a live-streamed event from the University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center Auditorium.
The Solar Probe Plus (SPP), the aircraft being used in this mission, will be launched in Summer 2018, and will be placed in orbit within 4 million miles of the Sun’s surface.
The spacecraft is to make critical observations regarding the outer atmosphere of the Sun, and why it’s temperature is several degrees higher than the surface of the Sun itself. The Sun’s outer atmosphere Corona can have temperature of 500,000 degrees celsius or higher.
NASA is planning to use a 11.5 cm thick carbon-composite heat shield to make the spacecraft orbit the sun at 4 million miles, where the temperature will be around 1,500 degrees celsius.
It’s amazing that space agencies are looking to study the main object in our solar system. Our energy source. It might also help us gain more insight on nuclear fusion, and how to better harness Sun’s almost infinite energy.
#Juno #Jupiter #space #spacecraft #planet #solarsystem #MWR #cyclones
After spending five years to reach Jupiter and settle itself into Jupiter’s orbit, Juno has completed 10 month long journey in the orbit. Juno has since been sending images and data on Jupiter.
Recently, Juno sent its first science results which shows Jupiter as a complex, giant and turbulent world, with cyclones as massive as the Earth itself and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field. Both of the Jupiter’s poles are covered in Earth-sized cyclones that are densely clustered and rubbing together.
Also, according to the data from Juno’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR), Jupiter’s iconic belts and zones are mysterious, with the belt near the equator penetrating all the way down, while the belts and zones at other latitudes seem to evolve to other structures. It also suggests that ammonia is quite variable and increases as we go farther down.
It is amazing to know more about other planets in the Solar system, and considering we already built that capability a decade ago, and now we are looking forward to send a manned mission to Mars, just shows how technology has evolved and yet there is so much to achieve.
#life #exoplanets #solarsystem #space #LHS1140b #Trappist1
Although LHS 1140b has been discovered after the Trappist 1’s planets (which already come in the category of exoplanets), it is considered at the head of the rankings in Exoplanets.
LHS 1140b is 1.4 times the size of Earth and weighs 7 times that of Earth, showing that it is probably rocky with a dense iron core. The red dwarf it revolves around is benign and stable. LHS 1140b is 10 times more closer to its star than Earth is from the Sun, but the planet is not scorched because only half the amount of light, compared to our Sun, reaches the planet.
The planet also lies in the Goldilocks zone of it’s solar system, thus stating that liquid water, if present, will remain in liquid form, and won’t turn to ice or gas.
The planet is 40 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Cetus, the Sea Monster.
Yay for another exoplanet that we don’t have the capability to reach currently. Maybe sometime in the future, if we are able to travel at the speed of light, or find a mode of transport capable of leaping through space.
#space #asteroid #Earth #2014JO25 #SolarSystem
An asteroid, named 2014-JO25, will pass through Earth at a distance of 1.8 million kilometers, (five times the distance from the moon). The asteroid stretches 650 meters across and is believed to pass Earth today.
The asteroid will pass closest to Earth after having looped around the Sun, and will continue on past Jupiter before heading back toward the center of our Solar System.
The last time an asteroid of this size or bigger passed was in 2004, named Toutatis, which was five kilometers across, and passed within four lunar distances.
2014-JO25 is beileved to have passe Earth previously around 400 years ago, and will pass Earth again in 2600.
You can watch the asteroid through a telescope, because the next time if someone lays eyes on it, they will probably be your grand-grand-grand-grand children.
#NASA #space #Moon #spaceport #lunarorbit #SolarSystem #SLS #Orion
Yes. This is real. NASA is planning to establish a crewed spaceport near the Moon that could serve as a gateway to the lunar surface and deep space destinations including Mars.
The first mission of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft will begin the period of exploration in the vicinity of the Moon. The agency will then build a crew tended spaceport in lunar orbit within the first few missions. This would serve as a gateway to deep space and the lunar surface.
The spaceport is expected to have a power bus, small habitat to extend crew time, docking capability, airlock and logistic modules to enable research. There will be the of high power electric propulsion for station keeping.
For missions into the solar system, NASA envisions a deep space transport spacecraft. This will be a reusable aircraft that uses electric and chemical propulsion and would take crew out to their destination, return them back to the gateway for service and reuse.
Oh, NASA. You are always thinking and doing so much. It’s so fascinating.
#NASA #Jupiter #JunoOrbiter #spacecraft #space #exploration #SolarSystem
NASA’s Juno spacecraft sailed over Jupiter’s cloud tops early Monday, the fourth time the solar-powered probe has approached the giant planet and collected science data since its arrival last July 4.
At the present trajectory, the Juno orbiter arcs out to a distance of several million miles from Jupiter and then comes back for a high-speed encounter. This happens once every 53 and a half days. During the flyby, Juno passes about 4,400 kilometers over Jupiter’s cloud tops at a speed of 57.8 kilometers per second.
According to NASA, all of Juno’s science instruments are working fine currently. Although engineers detected problems with check valves inside the propellant pressurization system in October, thus avoiding that particular propulsion system in any future use.
Juno’s primary mission is to study Jupiter’s intense magnetic field and investigate the gas giant’s deep interior structure, revealing insights about its atmosphere and probing for a rocky core. After February 2018, the ground controllers are planning to intentionally crash the spacecraft into Jupiter’s atmosphere, avoiding the possibility of contaminating one of Jupiter’s potentially habitable moons.
#Planet9 #space #exploration #SolarSystem #ANU #stargazing #Earth
The Australian National University (ANU) has called on to amateur astronomers support to help find a new planet in the Solar System. This project, named Planet 9, is led by ANU astrophysicist Dr. Brad Tucker.
According to the reports, Planet 9 is predicted to be a super Earth, about 10 times the mass and up to four times the size of our planet. It’s going to be cold and far away, and about 800 times the distance between Earth and the sun. It’s pretty mysterious.
The task is not complicated. The main job for the astronomers will be to spot the difference and mark it. Then the ANU team will take care of the rest. People will also be on the lookout of other planets, asteroids and mystery objects while looking through the images, and if anyone is able to find a new planet or object, they will be allowed to give a name to that object. (Oh. I can think a lot of amazing names. 😛)
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