Just a socially awkward college student with an interest in the celestial bodies in our universe.
279 posts
Actually my favorite ice cream
Sag, we know that you love traveling and you’re always looking for the next adventure that comes your way. Coffee ice cream is perfect for you because you can enjoy the same classic flavor all over the world — and it’ll give you the little kick you need to keep going all day long.
Source: Cosmopolitan
Current mood: Bob Belcher saying ‘oh my god’
Yep haha
Rings and Moons Circling Uranus, taken by Hubble space telescope.
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Saturn Photographed by Giacomo Venturin
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Jupiter as seen in 1879 and 2014. Weve come a long way
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*dies from embarrassment after coughing more than 4 times in a row in a public place*
!!!
After five years traveling through space to its destination, our Juno spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Jupiter today, July 4, 2016. This video shows a peek of what the spacecraft saw as it closed in on its destination before instruments were turned off. Watch our noon EDT Pre-Orbit Insertion Briefing on NASA Television for more: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv or http://youtube.com/nasajpl/live.
Uranus seen from Saturn
ADS THAT SUDDENLY TAKE UP THE WHOLE PAGE
The Juno spacecraft has been traveling toward its destination since its launch in 2011, and is set to insert Jupiter’s orbit on July 4. Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the solar system. Humans have been studying it for hundreds of years, yet still many basic questions about the gas world remain.
The primary goal of the Juno spacecraft is to reveal the story of the formation and evolution of the planet Jupiter. Understanding the origin and evolution of Jupiter can provide the knowledge needed to help us understand the origin of our solar system and planetary systems around other stars.
Have We Visited Jupiter Before? Yes! In 1995, our Galileo mission (artist illustration above) made the voyage to Jupiter. One of its jobs was to drop a probe into Jupiter’s atmosphere. The data showed us that the composition was different than scientists thought, indicating that our theories of planetary formation were wrong.
What’s Different About This Visit? The Juno spacecraft will, for the first time, see below Jupiter’s dense clover of clouds. [Bonus Fact: This is why the mission was named after the Roman goddess, who was Jupiter’s wife, and who could also see through the clouds.]
Unlocking Jupiter’s Secrets
Specifically, Juno will…
Determine how much water is in Jupiter’s atmosphere, which helps determine which planet formation theory is correct (or if new theories are needed)
Look deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere to measure composition, temperature, cloud motions and other properties
Map Jupiter’s magnetic and gravity fields, revealing the planet’s deep structure
Explore and study Jupiter’s magnetosphere near the planet’s poles, especially the auroras – Jupiter’s northern and southern lights – providing new insights about how the planet’s enormous
Juno will let us take a giant step forward in our understanding of how giant planets form and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar system.
For updates on the Juno mission, follow the spacecraft on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
My dream
Stargazing From the International Space Station
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The planets, moons and Death Stars seen in the original (theatrical) Star Wars trilogy to scale.
Alderaan, famous for being destroying in A New Hope, is the closest in size to the Earth with a diameter of 12,500 km vs Earth’s 12,742 km average diameter.
Hoth is larger, but still the closest in size to Mars, with a diameter of 7,200 km vs Mars’ 6,779 km.
Endor, the smallest of the bodies to appear in the original trilogy, has a diameter of 4,900 km which makes it very slightly larger than our solar system’s smallest planet, Mercury which has a diameter of 4,879 km.
Of the gas giants seen in Star Wars, Bespin is very similar in size to Saturn (116,464 km average diameter) but is still quite a bit smaller than Jupiter (139,822 km), which in turn is much smaller than Yavin Prime, the largest planet to appear in the original trilogy.
http://space-facts.com/planets-moons-star-wars/
Ganymede: Orbits Jupiter, Diameter 5,262 km
Titan: Orbits Saturn, Diameter 5,150 km
Callisto: Orbits Jupiter, Diameter 4,821 km
Io: Orbits Jupiter, Diameter 3,643 km
The Moon: Orbits Earth, Diameter 3,475 km
Europa: Orbits Jupiter, Diameter 3,122 km
Triton: Orbits Neptune, Diameter 2,707 km
Titania: Orbits Uranus, Diameter 1,578 km
Rhea: Orbits Saturn, Diameter 1,529 km
Truth
☀☀☀
Hubbles Jupiter and the Amazing Shrinking Great Red Spot
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The moon is the first milestone on the road to the stars
Arthur C Clarke (via back-to-the-stars-again)
Be on the lookout over the next few months!
Apparent retrograde motion of Mars
The Dew Drop of Saturn : The water-world Enceladus appears here to sit atop Saturns rings like a drop of dew upon a leaf. Even though it appears like a tiny drop before the might of the giant Saturn, Enceladus reminds us that even small worlds hold mysteries and wonders to be explored.
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The planet Saturn, observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Great Red Spot