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Zooming in on Saturn's moon Titan. It is our solar system's 2nd largest moon. As you might have known already, Titan has got lakes, rivers and seas that are filled with a thick, oily, liquid mixture of ethane and methane. It also rains, but the methane/ethane drops are as large as tennis balls:
Last week's sunset on Mars, live webcam-recording from NASA's Curiosity Rover. It gives you a good idea what astronauts can expect when they land on Mars around 2035. The sun on Mars appears to be almost 50% smaller as on Earth. During sunset, the sky is rose in color, but in the vicinity of the setting Sun it is blue. This is the opposite of the situation on Earth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=52&v=f8Z7HqSW_4o
Only two more months, and then our reddish dwarf planet Pluto will be revealed to us in clear and crisp HD pictures by NASA's New Horizons probe. Expect Pluto's moon Charon to be very large on the horizon. Pluto and Charon actually form binary system because the barycenter of their orbits does not lie within either body. Pluto's other moons are Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx. In the meanwhile, here's an artist concept of what to expect:
In the meanwhile NASA probe Dawn continues to baffle scientists. The bright wide spots on dwarf planet Ceres seem to be created by sunlight reflecting on ice or salts. But scientists are not certain yet, as the spots keep reflecting white light when they are turned away from the sun. This picture is the closest one so far of Ceres' surface and its white spots:
A 14 year old daughter of a preacher asked me today, "How can you believe those things?" Rather than trying to apply logic, I dug up my Astronomy textbook and said, "Oh, I just read it in a book."
I took her angry grim as a sign of defeat. Darn bibliots.
Well, I always try to start the discussion with such a kid then :-). Just look at the stars.....and then believe they are there :-).
By the way, do you think we'll witness the first humans on Mars before 2040? NASA is now taking things very seriously with this website:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html
I think we will. It's only a matter of time. Maximum three decades from now. In my own honest humble opinion, I think the biggest obstacle is: Money. Back in the 1960's this "we go to the Moon"-theme was resonating so loudly, that, whatever kind of dangers lay ahead, people just "did" it. Money was easily found, US Airforce pilots were trained within a decade to visit the Moon. No matter how dangerous it was. Sadly, that......boundless, passionate quest for exploration seems to be...gone within the NASA. And instead this passion lives more in countries like China or Russia.
If we do not destroy our own world before we have the ability to leave our world.
2001 was really on to something.
And this is the entire topography of the comet from a larger distance:
Here are some picture in stunning true color. Notice the dark-brown colors:
And in this picture you can see how....dangerous this comet actually is. What you see there are the violent jets of ice/rocks, that are created when parts of the comet start facing the sun. Those jets are responsible for creating the coma....and the eventual tail:
They are flabbergastingly beautiful no? I was stunned myself when I saw them.
If you want to see more of these astonishing pictures and videos of our incredible solar system? Then please bookmark this website: http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/
Here the newest picture of Pluto and Charon. You can now distinguish the two celestial bodies as clear circular objects.
You can see that Pluto has almost the same color as Mars, rusty-red towards beige. And Charon is more dark-brown-ish.
Only 14 days left, and NASA's New Horizons probe will have its flyby with the Pluto-Charon-system. And have a look at these pictures. They are already becoming muchhh clearer:
Especially the video is dramatic, as you can see now much clearer how close Pluto's moon Charon is orbiting Pluto! Also, Pluto seems to have very bright, as well as very dark spots. Same goes for Charon.
Yeah, I really think it's time again for another giant leap for mankind :-(. Before 2040 it'll happen though: First humans on Mars ;-).
The big question: What are those dark fingerprint-markings on Pluto??
Just joking. ;-)
I'm interested too, @Gustav! So many mysteries yet to explore.
Unfortunately half the world prefers to fight wars and the other half cares more about USA Got Talent. Only a minor few are lucky enough to care about what lies outside our pitiful little globe.