Like a cosmic light bulb on a dimmer switch
Saturn emitted gradually less energy each year from 2005 to 2009, according to observations by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. But unlike an ordinary bulb, Saturn’s southern hemisphere consistently emitted more energy than its northern one.
Continue reading… “Saturn Is on a Cosmic Dimmer Switch”
Perhaps it is the wrong “Milky Way”… but hey, I was hungry
Scientists believe they finally understand why one of the most dynamic regions in Saturn’s rings has such an irregular and varying shape, thanks to images captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. And the answer, published online in The Astronomical Journal, is this: The rings are behaving like a miniature version of our own Milky Way galaxy.
Continue reading… “Saturn Rings Oscillate Like Mini Milky Way”
Now if we could only find water or oxygen!
A growing bounty of images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals that the timing of new activity in one type of the enigmatic gullies on Mars implicates carbon-dioxide frost, rather than water, as the agent causing fresh flows of sand.
Continue reading… “Carbon Dioxide On Space Beaches!”
A new article in press of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters unveils groundbreaking research on the hydrothermal formation of Clay-Carbonate rocks in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The findings may provide a link to evidence of living organisms on Mars, roughly 4 billion years ago in the Noachian period.
From our vantage point on Earth, Saturn may look like a peaceful orb with rings worthy of a carefully raked Zen garden, but NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been shadowing the gas giant long enough to see that the rings are a rough and tumble roller derby. It has also revealed that the planet itself roils with strange weather and shifting patterns of charged particles. Two review papers to be published in the March 19 issue of the journal Science synthesize Cassini’s findings since arriving at Saturn in 2004.
Continue reading… “Cassini Shows Saturnian Roller Derby, Strange Weather”
When Europe’s comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth on Nov. 13 for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite’s change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.
Continue reading… “ESA Spacecraft May Help Unravel Cosmic Mystery”
NASA scientists are marveling over the extent of ruffles and dust clouds revealed in the rings of Saturn during the planet’s equinox last month. Scientists once thought the rings were almost completely flat, but new images reveal the heights of some newly discovered bumps in the rings are as high as the Rocky Mountains.
Continue reading… “Cassini Reveals New Ring Quirks, Shadows During Saturn Equinox”
New, three-dimensional imaging of Martian north-polar ice layers by a radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is consistent with theoretical models of Martian climate swings during the past few million years. Continue reading… “Radar Map Of Buried Mars Layers Matches Climate Cycles”
On July 2 the detectors of Planck’s High Frequency Instrument reached their amazingly low operational temperature of -273°C, making them the coldest known objects in space. The spacecraft has also just entered its final orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2. Planck is equipped with a passive cooling system that brings its temperature down to about -230°C by radiating heat into space. Three active coolers take over from there, and bring the temperature down further to an amazing low of -273.05°C, only 0.1°C above absolute zero – the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our Universe.
Continue reading… “Coolest Spacecraft Ever In Orbit Around L2 (-273 Degrees Celsius)”
For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet.
Continue reading… “First Direct Evidence Of Lightning On Mars Detected”
After 18.6 years in space and defying several earlier expectations of its demise, the joint ESA/NASA solar orbiter Ulysses will achieve ‘end of mission’ on 30 June 2009. The final communication pass with a ground station will start at 17:35 CEST and run until 22:20 CEST (15:35-20:20 UTC) or until the final command is issued to switch the satellite’s radio communications into ‘monitor only’ mode. No further contact with
For the first time, scientists working on NASA’s Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn’s outermost ring. Detecting salty ice indicates that Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which primarily replenishes the ring with material from discharging jets, could harbor a reservoir of liquid water — perhaps an ocean — beneath its surface.
Continue reading… “Salt Finding From NASA’s Cassini Hints At Ocean Within Saturn Moon”
