Saturday, December 25, 2010

Cassini Spots Potential Ice Volcano on Saturn Moon

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found a possible ice volcanoes on Saturn's moon Titan. Those volcanoes are similar in shape to those on Earth. Technologic inovations have enabled scientists to make the best case yet in the other solar system for an Earth-like volcano landform that erupts ice. Scientists name that volcanoes Cryovolcanoes. Enjoy in video...


Cassini Takes Close-Up of Encelandus Northern Hemisphere

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be making its close flyby of the northeren hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus today, Monday, Dec. 20. The closest approach will take place at 5:08 PM PST (8:08 EST) on Dec. 20, or 1:08 AM UTC on Dec. 21. The spacecraft will be on an altitude of about 48 kilometers (30 miles) above the icy moon's surface. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit nasa.gov

Friday, December 24, 2010

Dramatic Views of Rhea

Newly released for the holidays! Images of Saturn's second largest moon Rhea. Images was obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. You can see the dramatic views of fractures cutting through craters on the moon's surface, revealing a history of tectonic rumbling. Those images are the most quality ones obtained of Rhea. More about this topic on nasa.gov.


Rhea

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Rover Opportunity Reached a New Crater



On Dec. 16, 2010, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity make a new conquer! Little smart robot reached a crater about the size of a football field (about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter). The rover team will use cameras and spectrometers during the next few weeks to examine rocks exposed at the crater. You can see image frames taken by Opportunity's navigation camera on Dec. 16 



A football-field-size crater, named "Santa Maria"
Picture - Rover Opportunity, Image credit: NASA

Phobos Passes in Front of Sun's Face

The larger of the two moons of Mars, Phobos, passes in front of the Sun in this approximately true-speed movie simulation using images from the panoramic camera. Enjoy in view...


Life Built With Toxic Chemical

"The definition of life has jus expanded" said Ed Weilerm NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarers in Washington.
Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using toxic chemical arsenic. More on NASA.gov (pictures of Mono Lake and microorganisms GFAJ - 1) (Image credit: Jodi Switzer Blum).

First Carbon - Rich Planet

Astronomers have discovered a huge searing-hot planet orbiting another star is loaded with an unusual amount of carbon! The planet name is WASP - 12b. It is the first carbon - rich planet astronomers ever observed. It's discovered by using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
"A carbon - dominated terrestrial world could have lots of pure carbon rocks, like diamond or graphite, as well as carbon compounds like tar." said Joseph Harrington of the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, principal of the research. More about this topic on NASA.gov


This artist's concept shows the searing-hot gas planet WASP-12b (orange orb) and its star. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech