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When Cassini discovered Iapetus in the 1600`s just over the rim of Saturn. Iapetus is one of Saturn’s most contarversial moons, it has many secrets.
One of which Cassini had wondered why Iapetus would brighten then dim. He assumed that the moon has both dark and bright surface areas which is the case.
Closeup look at Iapetus darker regions
A few centuries later Cassini the space probe obtained the first clear images of Iapetus during a flyby in 2007. The images partially solved the mystery of Iapetus two tones surface.
shows huge mountains on Saturn's moon Iapetus, imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its very close flyby in Sept. 2007. These mountains are located at the moon's equator in the westward-most part of the dark terrain.
The area around the moon’s equator is relatively dark suggests that these areas may have active volcanic thermal vents , this account for the ice being melted and evaporating .
The brighter regions of the moon have less volcanic activity leaving vast regions of the moon`s surface covered in ice.
While the state of Iapitus’s volcanic status is yet unproven there is another factor that would cause a similar effect.
Light from our Sun reaching the darker patches of ice would melt more slowly the brighter ice would evaporate more rapidly this would account for the differing changes in brightness when seen from Earth.
Iapetus shows a crescent moon captures by the Cassini space probe the light coming form Saturn
Image Carlcan
NASA launched its first moon probe in a decade sending up a pair of unmanned science probes that will help determine where astronauts could land and set up a small space station on the moon in years to come.
Next month will mark the 40th anniversary of the first lunar footprints. The mission is a first step in NASA’s effort to return humans to the moon by 2020.
The spacecraft should reach the moon in four to five days. One probe will enter into an orbit around the moon for a mapping mission.
The other will swing past the moon and go into an elongated orbit around Earth that will put it on course to crash into a crater at the moon’s south pole in October.
NASA expects the dramatic moon-impacting part of the mission to be successful in It’s quest to determine whether frozen water is buried in one of the permanently shadowed craters. Water would be a tremendous resource for future astronauts.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will provide a high-precision, three-dimensional map of the lunar surface.
It will circle the lunar poles and, via its seven science instruments, provide a new atlas of the moon as well as a guidebook for future explorers.
It will also capture high resolution images of past NASA missions such as the Apollo landing sites thus putting an end to those conspiracy theories about the NASA landing being faked.
lifting off on board an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana
It has been 17 years plus since the Hubble Space Telescope (H.S.T) was launched .
The first pictures sent from Hubble where less than ideal. It soon became apparent that the telescope had some major problems. The problem was that the main mirror had flaw’s Hubble’s was essentially myopic.
Subsequent NASA missions added corrective lenses to the primary mirror and the rest is history.
Great images have come from the HST over the last 17 years with many new discoveries of distant galaxies.
Soon the Hubble Space Telescope will be retired to make way for new technologies in telescope design.
There will be life after Hubble with the construction and successful of giant space telescope named "Herschel"
Herschel space telescope
". Named after German born English mathematician, astronomer, and chemist, William Herschel famous for discovering Uranus.
Telescope going through mirror tests
"Herschel" commissioned by The European Space Agency (ESA) is a giant compared to Hubble telescope. Herschel is 13ft wide and 26 ft in height, and over 3 tons in weight. Construction commenced some eight years ago, and was successfully launched on 14 May 2009.
We expect to see new and exciting images in the future.
images by ESA
Images taken of the asteriod Steins during the flyby - ESA
The ESA comet hunter spacecraft Rosetta has captured some interesting pictures of slightly lumpy asteroid called Steins. Rosetta fly passed the asteroid on its destination with Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko, Rosetta is to encounter the comet in 2014
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One of the images taken by NASA's Cassini space probe
Many planets in our solar systems have some rings attached to them.
Neptune and Uranus have a small ring system; Jupiter has a thin ring system as well
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Imaging technology has come a long way. Combining optical radio and x-ray images are giving us a new way at looking at the way galaxies and stars are formed.
Radiation from a super massive black hole is responsible for the intriguing appearance of this galaxy, 3C 305, located about 600 million light years away from Earth
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This image take with an infrared filter
this x-ray image clearly shows a neutron star (center) rapidly spinning
The Crab Nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was witnessed on Earth in 1054 AD. It is 6000 light years from Earth
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Image from the Soho observatoy showing the comet movements (dates on the right of image)
Comets are common visitors to our solar system every year there are a few comets that will venture through the solar system. Don E. Machholz (Loma Prieta, California, USA) discovered this comet in 1986.
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This shot was taken 24 hours after new moon an earlier image would have better but we don’t have control on the clouds.
Finding and photographing a young moon is a challenge but also rewarding
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Comment by CarlCan
on New Moon Mission on Target
Astroearth
This non-radioactive isotope is rare on earth.
The abundance of helium-3 is thought to be greater on the Moon.
Helium3 and 4 isotopes are to be used in clean fusion research.