https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-planning-put-luxury-hotel-043400306.html
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Jupiter's Extreme Weather
Jupiter’s extreme weather
Analysis of imaging from NASA’s space probe shows massive polar cyclones, ammonia storms and electron showers. Angus Bezzina reports.
The massive cyclones and swirling storms of Jupiter’s south polar region.
Eight months after completing its first pass around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno probe is paying dividends in the form of some intriguing insights into the giant marbled planet.
The results obtained from Juno’s maiden orbit of Jupiter challenge previously held assumptions about the planet, including theories about its structure and magnetic field, according to two reports published in Science.
Turbulent clouds of the middle latitudes.
An infrared view of Jupiter derived from Juno data.
The first report, by Scott Bolton and his colleagues from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, examines information Juno gathered from just above Jupiter’s cloud tops.
Key findings include confirmation that immense cyclones, up to 1,400 km in diameter, swirl around Jupiter’s poles. Still images of the previously unseen poles show the cyclones as bright ovals.
Even more dramatically, thermal imaging of the planet shows unexpected structures that Bolton and his colleagues believe are giant weather systems caused by ammonia welling up from the deep atmosphere.
The measurements of Jupiter’s magnetic field they report are particularly surprising, suggesting the gas giant’s magnetic field is substantially stronger than previously estimated, at about 7.766 Gauss – 10 times the strength of Earth’s.
Bright, high icy clouds above deeper swirls.
NASA / SWRI / MSSS / GERALD EICHSTADT / SEAN DORAN
A timelapse of Juno’s view on a close approach past Jupiter.
NASA / SWRI / MSSS / GERALD EICHSTADT / SEAN DORAN
In the second study, a team headed by John Connerney of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre report on the data Juno picked up from Jupiter’s magnetosphere – the region around the planet dominated by its magnetic field.
Connerney and his colleagues have used this information to deduce that Jupiter’s magnetic field was expanding when Juno first entered the planet’s magnetosphere.
This deduction is because Juno only encountered one bow shock – a curved, stationary shockwave around the planet – during entry but ran into several more in its subsequent orbits.
Connerney’s team was also able to examine the electron showers that strike Jupiter’s upper atmosphere, as Juno intercepted the beams of charged particles while above the Jovian poles.
These showers are thought to be the cause of the enormous aurorae that occur above Jupiter; Connerney believes their alien distribution patterns indicate Jupiter’s interaction with its external environment is very different to current conceptual models.
While NASA launched Juno back in 2011, its real work has only just begun. Juno’s highly elliptical orbit enables it to get very close to Jupiter. Scientists hope it will continue to send home valuable data shedding light on the planet and the Solar System for many months to come.
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Sunday, December 24, 2017
Space-X Had An Incredible 2017!
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/spacex-caps-record-18th-successful-024018947.html
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Mars Society End Of Year Letter
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Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Explore Mars, Inc To Have A Great Program For 2018!!!
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Monday, December 18, 2017
Mars Upside Down
Mars Express captures rare "upside down" image of the Red Planet
This stunning image swathe was taken by ESA’s Mars Express during camera calibration as the spacecraft flew over the north pole
The Mars Express orbiter has been circling the Red Planet for close to 14 years now, delivering a steady stream of extraordinary images and valuable scientific data. The latest image from the orbiter, just released by the European Space Agency, was taken on the 19th June, 2017 and shows a rare upside-down, wide-angle view of Mars with its icy northern polar cap at the bottom.
Mars Express was the first major interplanetary mission for the European Space Agency. Alongside the orbiter, it carried a lander called Beagle 2, which sadly didn't successfully reach the surface and was officially declared lost in February 2004. Over a decade later, NASA spotted the Beagle 2 on the surface of Mars, revealing the lander did in fact successfully touch down but had failed to deploy its solar panels.
The orbiter, on the other hand, has been successfully sending back magnificent images of the Red Planet for years now. Although there's really no right way up in space, planets are generally shown with the north pole at the top and south pole at the bottom, but this latest wide-angle scan gives us an unusual "upside-down" perspective, with the equator at the top and the north pole at the bottom.
The image was taken with a high-resolution stereo camera incorporating all nine channels of data (one nadir, four color and four stereo) as the spacecraft flew from north to south on 19 June while calibrating the high-resolution stereo camera.
As well as offering a gorgeous snapshot of Mars' northern polar cap, the image highlights one of the planet's giant volcanos. In the top third of the image we see Alba Mons, the largest volcano on Mars by area with a diameter of 1,000 km (621 mi). Looking above Alba Mons we come across Ascraeus Mons, the second tallest volcano on the planet with a peak covered by clouds 15 km (9.3 mi) high.
Take a look through our gallery for a closer look at the some of the stunning images captured by Mars Express over the past 14 years.
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