Solar System

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Today is World Asteroid Day

Barringer Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona, is one of the youngest impact craters on Earth. It was excavated about 50,000 years ago when an iron mass (or perhaps several) struck flat-lying sedimentary rocks at more than 11 km per second. Between 15 and 20 megatons of kinetic energy were released during the impact, which left a bowl-shaped crater 1.2 km in diameter and 200 m deep.



We Will Rock You

Cool Asteroid Database
http://www.asterank.com/


Asteroid Day
http://www.asteroidday.org/



This is a really good gif, it is only about a minute long.

 

[R-T-B]

Curse you CAPSLOCKSTUCK! I thought this update would be a new photo of Pluto....

When is that due anyhow?

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@R-T-B sorry mate, please uncurse me forthwith.

Astronomers have spotted a white patch close to the north pole of Pluto in the latest batch of images sent back to Earth by the New Horizon's spacecraft. The two images above of the dwarf planet above were captured 30 seconds apart and have had the brightness and contrast enhanced to reveal the bright spots more clearly

Some have even suggested it could be frozen methane or even water ice on the surface of the distant dwarf planet, which is around 3.67 billion miles (5.9 billion km) from the sun.

WHAT IS NEW HORIZONS?
In July this year New Horizons will become the first spacecraft ever to visit Pluto.

It was launched on 19 January 2006 at a speed of 36,373 mph (58,536 km/h) - the fastest spacecraft ever to leave Earth orbit, 100 times faster than a jetliner

After passing the orbits of all the major planets from Earth to Neptune, New Horizons is now beginning its final leg of its three billion-mile (4.8 billion km) journey.

On 14 July 2015 the flyby of Pluto will begin. Using a suite of instruments, the spacecraft will map the surface of Pluto and its moon Charon to a resolution of 25 miles (40km) - far better than anything possible before.

This will reveal the surface features of Pluto - which may include ice.

As it flies past, it will also look back at the two bodies against the sun, to look for telltale signs of an atmosphere.

Despite the long journey, New Horizons will be travelling at such a speed that the flyby will last only around two hours - beginning at 11.49am GMT (06.49am EST) on 14 July and ending just after 2.15pm GMT (9.15am EST).

After passing Pluto, New Horizons will flyby one or several Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), other bodies beyond the orbit of Pluto. The mission will officially end in 2026.

Dr Philip Plait, an astronomer who writes a regular blog for the Slate, was among the first to spot the bright spots in images released by Nasa.

He said: ‘As the New Horizons spacecraft nears Pluto, more details are coming into view, and we are beginning to see surface features on the tiny world.

‘Both Pluto and its large moon Charon show all kinds of features.

‘But that bright spot on Pluto surprised me. That’s near its north pole and its been seen before in earlier images, basically as a splotch. In this image it’s quite obvious.’

New Horizons is due to become the first spacecraft to ever visit Pluto on July 14 when it will pass around 7,750 miles (12,500 km) from the surface of the dwarf planet.

It will provide scientists with their closest view of the mysterious planet in the furthest reaches of our solar system.

Most of what we currently know about Pluto has been gleaned from distant observations and measurements.

Astronomers have found Pluto, despite its size, has a thin atmosphere containing nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide.

The balance of methane – a greenhouse gas that warms the planet – and carbon monoxide – a coolant – are thought to play a key role in the decades long seasons on Pluto.

The bright spots captured by New Horizons have now helped to raise the anticipation of what New Horizons may find as it gets closer to Pluto and its moon Charon.

 

[Pill Monster]

Didn't they decide a few years ago that Pluto wasn't a planet, but a big ball of ice? I was wondering why astronomers are interested in it..


Cool pics tho.

 

[R-T-B]

Didn't they decide a few years ago that Pluto wasn't a planet, but a big ball of ice? I was wondering why astronomers are interested in it..


Cool pics tho.

It's a dwarf planet, thank you.

And we still have no idea what it's composed of... part of the reason we are interested.

@CAPSLOCKSTUCK, I'd like to help you but I'm afraid evil frog curses are permanent and can only be lifted by service to frog kind for all eternity.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@R-T-B

At your service Sir.

 

[Pill Monster]

It's a dwarf planet, thank you.

And we still have no idea what it's composed of... part of the reason we are interested.

@CAPSLOCKSTUCK, I'd like to help you but I'm afraid evil frog curses are permanent and can only be lifted by service to frog kind for all eternity.

So it's not a planet then.... (no offence to dwarfs)...

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Pluto+wasn't+a+planet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=UtmUVen2Hsa48gXErYawBQ


I find deep space most fascinating.........and a mindfk.. lol Hope Nasa completes their warp drive study in time for me to jump on the next shuttle to Alpha Centuri....

The vastness of space reminds me how insignificant I am,.

 

[R-T-B]

So it's not a planet then.... (no offence to dwarfs)...

Never said it was...

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

The Pluto planet debate rumbles on,

meanwhile, up in space

NASA's New Horizons space probe has fired its thrusters for the last time to get it into position before it buzzes Pluto on July 14. The little science lab has also detected evidence of methane on the halfling planet.

"We are really on the final path," said New Horizons Project Manager Glen Fountain, of APL. "It just gets better and more exciting every day."

Ground controllers squirted hydrazine into the probe's thruster for a 23-second burn that changed its course slightly and sped it up by 27 centimetres per second – a tiny fraction of its 32,500 miles per hour velocity.

The maneuver allows the probe to skim Pluto's surface from 7,750 miles (12,500 kilometres) above its surface, taking photos and readings from the dwarf world. Without the course correction, New Horizons would have been 20 seconds late, and 114 miles (184 kilometres) off the planned route.

"This maneuver was perfectly performed by the spacecraft and its operations team," said mission principal investigator Alan Stern, of Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "Now we're set to fly right down the middle of the optimal approach corridor."

Ground control is now focused on checking all of the probe's instruments to make sure everything is ready for the flyby. The probe has started taking photographs of the alien world, but the high speed means it will have a very limited period of time to take the close up images that scientists are lusting after.

There's then the tricky problem of getting all that data back. Due to the distances involved, the probe can only manage a data rate of 1Kbps, so it's going to be a while before instrument readings are back on Earth in a usable form.

However, signs of methane have been detected on Pluto by the New Horizons craft.

"We already knew there was methane on Pluto, but these are our first detections," said Will Grundy, the New Horizons Surface Composition team leader with the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"Soon we will know if there are differences in the presence of methane ice from one part of Pluto to another."

New Horizons now only has 10 million miles (16 million kilometres) to go before it buzzes Pluto. The probe was launched in 2006, and has travelled 2.95 billion miles (4.75 billion kilometres) in that time.

Once past Pluto, the probe will head out further into the Kuiper Belt. NASA is hoping to use it to discover more about the band of icy rocks and planetoids that encircle the Solar System. From there it will join the Voyager probes as a deep space explorer, and is expected to leave the Solar System by 2047.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

PLUTO
NASA's New Horizons probe is about to lift the veil on Pluto.


This colour view of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was captured by NASA's approaching New Horizons spacecraft. The image is a still from a six-frame movie composed of photos New Horizons took between June 23 and June 29,

On July 14, New Horizons will perform the first-ever flyby of the faraway dwarf planet, zooming within 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of its frigid surface. The close encounter will give researchers their first up-close looks at Pluto, which has remained mysterious since its 1930 discovery.

The highly anticipated flyby will cap a lengthy deep-space journey for New Horizons, which launched in January 2006 and is now nearly 3 billion miles (4.8 billion km) from Earth. But July 14 will not mark the end of the $700 million mission; New Horizons will continue beaming flyby data home for months afterward, and it may cruise past a second distant object in 2019, if NASA approves and funds a proposed mission extension. [Photos of Pluto and Its Moons]

http://www.space.com/29850-new-hori...5-07-03#ooid=5taGIwdjpw1S3k1u8s-Cg8WjK4FGmCS0

Here is a veritable cornucopia of Pluto videos

• Pluto Has Strange 'Finger Print-Like' Marks In New Color Imagery
• Methane On The Ice Dwarf Pluto, Plus Dancing With Charon
• Pluto's Face and Charon's Dark Pole - New From New Horizons
• Pluto is 'Beige-Orange' In Latest Pixelated New Horizons' Images
• Pluto And Charon Orbital Dance - New Horizons Gets Closer
• Pluto: 'We're Going Exploring' - New Horizons' Quest
• Pluto-Palooza! Anticipation Grows For New Horizons' Fly-By
• Pluto's 5 Moons In Motion - New Horizons Probe Captures First View
• Pluto May Have An Ice Cap, New Photos Reveal
• Is Pluto Really Red? Chemistry Says It Could Be
• Pluto New Horizons' 'Bulletproof Vest' Isn't Its Only Defense
• New Horizons’ Pluto Imagery Will Amaze Us
• Pluto's Moons Nix and Hydra Spotted By NASA Probe
• Pluto/Charon Wobbly Dance Proves It's A Double Planet
• Onward To Pluto - New Horizons' Epic Journey Animated
• Pluto and Giant Moon Charon Imaged By Probe
• Pluto Mission's Close Approach Is Less Than Year Away
• Pluto's Planetary Identity Still In Question
• Pluto 'Up-Close' Coming Soon: Spacecraft's Historic Encounter
• Passport to Pluto

@R-T-B pleeeeeeeeeeeease uncurse me, i feel all weird........

 

[R-T-B]

@R-T-B pleeeeeeeeeeeease uncurse me, i feel all weird.......

It's ok, it's just the curse-venom transforming your body tissue into that of a frog. It'll be over soon...

Seriously, thanks for the color pluto pic. I can't wait for better ones! Been waiting for that since I was a kid and all we had was this garbage from Hubble's best:

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@R-T-B

i curse your spelling of colour.

 

[R-T-B]

Who's taking the pluto photos, you or NASA? What's the "NA" in NASA stand for?

I know, I'm mean...

EDIT: And it's early. "NA" does not stand for "North America..." But my point is still valid, grumble grumble...

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Pluto and Charon Surfaces in Living Color colour

I am really starting to get excited about this now


You can follow along with this journey using the Pluto Safari app, and by keeping tabs on the New Horizons website.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Astonishing images of Mercury captured by NASA spacecraft before smashing into planet

The psychedelic appearance is explained by NASA overlaying the pictures from the spacecraft’s Visual and Infrared Spectrometer (Virs) onto a black and white mosaic in order to accentuate features such as craters and volcanic vents.

Scientists have hailed the probe’s mission as a success, stating Messenger has answered lots of questions about the planet’s make-up. Some of the biggest discoveries include:

1. Water
Finding frozen water so close to the Sun was a major surprise, though there had been hints in earlier radar observations.

2. What lies above
Something was covering the ice, an unexplained dark layer. More investigation will be carried out but NASA is putting its money on it being carbon-rich compounds, similar to substances found in certain meteorites and in comets.

3. It used to be bigger
To be exact, over the past four and a half billion years Mercury has shrunk by over 7 kilometres in radius.

Reams of data have yet to be analyzed.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

An asteroid worth a potential £3.5 trillion ($5.4 trillion) is due to pass by Earth on Sunday, and you can watch it live from 11pm UK time (6.30pm ET).
Asteroid 2011 UW-158's fly-by will be streamed live on the internet from an observatory in the Canary Islands.

The space rock has attracted the attention of asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, because it is thought to have a 100 million ton core of platinum that the company might one day want to exploit.
Asteroid 2011 UW-158 will pass within 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) from Earth on Sunday - 30 times closer than our nearest planet.

It is less than half a mile (1km) across, but is thought to be immensely valuable because of its platinum core.
An organisation call Slooh, that links telescopes to the internet for public viewing, will be providing the images live from their website, along with a discussion about the asteroid and its possible value to space prospectors.

http://main.slooh.com/



WHAT IS AN X-TYPE ASTEROID?
Asteroids like 2011 UW-158 are described as ‘X-type’ asteroids.

X-type asteroids are composed primarily of metal, and appear to be the remnants of large asteroids that fully separated into core and mantle.

Many of these were destroyed in huge collisions in the solar system’s early history, leaving just their tough metallic cores.




'It's always fun when an asteroid whooshes past our world so the Slooh telescopes will be watching live when asteroid 2011 UW-158 passes 30 times closer to us than the nearest planet, on July 19.’ Slooh Astronomer Bob Berman said.
'What makes this unusual is the large amount of platinum believed to be lurking in the body of this space visitor.
‘Can it be mined someday, perhaps not too far in the future?'

Planetary Resources considers asteroids like 2011 UW-158 as ‘X-type’ asteroids.

X-type asteroids are composed primarily of metal, and appear to be the remnants of large asteroids that fully separated into core and mantle.

Many of these were destroyed in huge collisions in the solar system’s early history, leaving just their tough metallic cores.

Planetary Resources yesterday launched an asteroid mining test vehicle from the ISS, beginning a 90 day mission that will involve testing its software and control systems.

The company one day hope to send the probe to venture far into the solar system to prospect for resource-rich near-Earth asteroids

The vehicle, called the Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) will test components that Planetary Resources hope will allow a future probe to extract water from asteroids.

Finding water on asteroids is central to Planetary Resources' mission, as it can be broken down in to hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel, allowing crafts to stay out longer and explore further for precious metals.

A3R won't actually be doing any drilling, but it will test avionics that will be used in the probe that they hope to send, as well as test Planetary Resources' systems' resilience to the harsh environment in deep space.

'The successful deployment of the A3R is a significant milestone for Planetary Resources as we forge a path toward prospecting resource-rich asteroids,’ said Peter H. Diamandis, co-founder and co-chairman of Planetary Resources.

'Our team is developing the technology that will enable humanity to create an off-planet economy that will fundamentally change the way we live on Earth.'

the last minute of this 3 minute vid is relevant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Resources

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Friday, July 17, 2015:
NASA's Dawn spacecraft caught a portion of the northern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has resumed its trek to a new orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, more than two weeks after a glitch halted the probe in its tracks.

Dawn began spiraling down to its third Ceres science orbit on June 30 but experienced a problem almost immediately and went into a protective "safe mode." After an investigation, the mission team has now determined what happened and cleared Dawn to return to work.

"Engineers traced this anomaly to the mechanical gimbal system that swivels ion engine #3 to help control the spacecraft's orientation during ion-thrusting. Dawn has three ion engines and uses only one at a time," NASA officials wrote in an update today (July 17). [Photos of Ceres, Queen of the Asteroid Belt]

It will take Dawn about five weeks to maneuver from its second science orbit, which lies 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above Ceres' surface, down to the third, which lies at an altitude of 900 miles (1,500 km), NASA officials said. (Ion engines are extremely efficient but very low-thrust, hence the long maneuver time.)

The third science orbit will not be Dawn's last; later in the mission, the spacecraft is scheduled to study Ceres from a distance of just 230 miles (375 km). Dawn will stay in this fourth science orbit through the end of its mission, in June 2016

 

[AsRock]

It's a dwarf planet, thank you.

And we still have no idea what it's composed of... part of the reason we are interested.

@CAPSLOCKSTUCK, I'd like to help you but I'm afraid evil frog curses are permanent and can only be lifted by service to frog kind for all eternity.

They will have new pics tomorrow of it and they doing some thing on Friday 1pm est, would of thought it be available from www.nasa.gov as i was watching it on my ROKU 3 just 10 minutes ago and they had some pretty sweet pictures wish are said with some luck we see even better ones showing much more detail over the next week.
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/n...s-frozen-plains-in-the-heart-of-pluto-s-heart

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

@AsRock
there a nice Pluto thread here
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/new-horizons-pluto-mission-update-thread.214106/

 

[AsRock]

@AsRock
there a nice Pluto thread here
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/new-horizons-pluto-mission-update-thread.214106/

I seen better ones but it was though Roku 3 NASA channel and like i said we all should have some new ones to view in the next week .

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Enjoy a flight around CERES

 

[dorsetknob]

This Photo of Saturn's Moon Dione Crossing the Planet Is Simply Jaw-Dropping

Saturn's moon Dione crosses the face of the ringed planet in an image obtained on May 21, 2015.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute


Saturn's moon Dione crosses the face of the ringed planet in an image obtained on May 21, 2015.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
An icy moon of Saturn hangs against the face of its giant parent planet in a breathtaking new image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
The photo, which Cassini took on May 21, shows the moon Dione crossing Saturn's disk. Careful study of such "transits" can help astronomers better understand the orbits of Dione and other moons in the solar system, NASA officials said.
Furthermore, NASA's Kepler space telescope and some other instruments hunt for exoplanets by looking for tiny dips in a star's brightness caused by transiting alien worlds. Studying the light coming from such extrasolar systems can also reveal details about the composition of these exoplanets' atmospheres.
At 696 miles (1,120 kilometers) in diameter, Dione is the fourth-largest of Saturn's sixty-odd moons; only Titan, Rhea and Iapetus are bigger. Parts of Dione are heavily cratered, and the satellite's trailing side features mysterious ice cliffs and fractures that run for tens or hundreds of kilometers. Cassini has also detected a wispy oxygen atmosphere surrounding the frigid moon.
Cassini snapped the new photo, which was released today (Aug. 31), when the probe was about 1.4 million miles (2.3 million km) from Saturn. The image's resolution is 9 miles (14 km) per pixel.

 

[Drone]

Goodnight from Space

Flight over Atlantis Chaos, Mars

Mars

 

[Drone]

Martian surface

Saturn (2009 equinox)

Comet 'Cherry-Gerry'

Departing Dione

 

[Drone]

Stormy Pacific

Sunspot AR2403

Venus