Remember the Titans

Titan = not just another Ice Moon.

Stunning doesn't do it justice.

Sure.

OK!

That's Dione, FYI.

A Storm on Saturn

In Saturn's North Pole sits a spinning red storm, whose outer edges form an octagon. As seen here by our friend, Cassini. A close up:

It looks like fire but it's not fire, because there's nothing to burn. Some combination of water and ammonia and other gases, each reflecting light differently, giving us color:

Amazing color. Cassini took this photo while stoned, for the record.

Cassini

That "star" you see in the middle right is actually Earth. Our world, from Cassini.

Cassini is currently cruising around Saturn, taking it all in.

Cassini is one of mankind's greatest achievements, on par with the pyramids etc. And I mean that both ironically and unironically.

Solar fares

A real picture, of the transit of Venus across the sun, and a plane that got caught between the Moon and New York City.

Big Sis

Say hi to our big Sister, the Sun. And it is our Sister (or Brother if you like) and not our parent, as the Sun and the planets all formed from the same ginormous cloud of gas. The Sun took up most of that cloud, but every single planet, moon, comet and asteroid came from the same cloud. Even you, roundaboutly.

Like all "things" - stars and planets and you included - the Sun is the result of a series of reactions held in balance. In the case of a star, this balance is composed of the inward pressure of gravity, and the outward pressure of fusion. As such, the heart of a star is quite small compared to its overall size, thanks to this simple process:

Fusion. Just a couple of atoms bouncing off one another with enough energy (because of the inward pressure of gravity) and kabloom! Fusion, the heart of a star, and thus the heart of all life. Fusion releases enormous amounts of energy, and that energy is the star, and all its light, in all frequencies.

These frequencies are the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to microwaves to visible light - what we see - to ultraviolet, x-rays, and finally gamma rays. All seen here. Each frequency reveals different information, and thus astronomers use a variety of detection methods to learn not only about the sun, but everything.

We exist in a living miracle. It's pretty cool.

Eyes of a Robot

It's cool visuals, but not realistic. There's no way we could ever smash all the cameras they'll deploy. In the sky, on the sides of buildings, on street poles, on power lines, etc. Drones flying overhead. Satellites far above. Cameras everywhere.

Curiosity, on Mars. Not sure how this photo is made, since Curiosity is all alone on Mars.

Spirit's Tale

Spirit was sent to Mars with it's twin Opportunity for a 90 day mission. This is the sad story of Spirit...

Opportunity, however, roves on, no doubt terrified, having been left on Mars so long.

Pluto or Possibly (Likely) Bust

These are the Hubble gifs of the best shots we have of Pluto to date. Pluto, the demoted planet. But don't be sad!

Mankind has sent one of its precious crafts to the non-planet. New Horizons is the latest and perhaps the last deep space probe mankind has launched - since we are currently regressing, yay!

It will find rock and ice, how exciting. By the time it finds the next scientific discovery, some other Kuiper Belt object of ice and rock, we'll be in a Republican Theocracy and worshiping Ronald Reagan and the latest Republican Emperor.  We'll all agree this is the natural order of things.

Be sad - we're about to regress, zeig yay!

The Motion

Click for big, as always.

Hey! Motion is a funny thing - everything is in motion. EVERYTHING! Whether you're sleeping or sitting or even dead, you're in motion. The Earth spins, the Earth rotates around the Sun, the Sun rotates around the galactic center, the Milky Way galaxy rotates around a shared gravitational spot with Andromeda, the Local Group rotates around a larger cluster of galaxies, and so on. So on... forever! And of course it goes down as well, as electrons rotate around nuclei, and quarks rotate around each other, and it's true: Reality is motion. There is not one thing standing still - it's literally impossible, in the literal sense.

Above, a truer view of our Solar System - as the planets rotate around the Sun, the Sun is speeding along on the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way, a backwater place far from the bustling galaxy core.

Also, I just drove across America in a huge truck towing a 67 Mustang. What a country! Always in motion!

Inflatable Future

The near future of human exploration or even colonization of space will be done via inflatable spacecraft. Like the Sundancer above (artist's representation). Don't be fooled by the apparent small size - inflatable craft will be much bigger than near term metallic spacecraft. Consider Bigelow's (the company behind inflatable spacecraft) BA 330 compared to the Destiny module on the ISS:

But wait, you say, how can inflatable craft survive the harsh climes of space? Check it:

Rather than balloon, think really thick tire, with multiple layers. Tough as hell, and superior to our current metal ships which are often no thicker than a heavy aluminum. The craft will launch in a folded arrangement which greatly saves space on the rocket, and then expands in space as compressed gas is used to inflate it. The resulting structure is stronger than our current metals and far better at shielding from radiation, while not weighing that much more. It's an ingenious solution to the constraints gravity places on what we can launch into space with our current rocket tech. And this inflatable future is close, as Bigelow is booked to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket in the near future for a big test to conclusively prove the technology to NASA and other space powers. Have a model!

The BA 330 is incredibly spacious as compared to even the relatively expansive ISS. But since these modules are also nodes that can link up into larger structures, perhaps now you see the full potential. A quick and cheap and large space station:

A mock up for muckety-mucks. Bigelow of course is a private company, and is poised to become the first real estate developer in space. The Space Hotel is nigh! Massive fortunes await. And of course this too is but a start. Witness the possibility of the EDE:

A realistic in the near term spacecraft that could comfortably transport people to Jupiter, Saturn, and if we're brave, beyond. It's huge and really not that complicated or expensive. The Bigelow modules make up the bulk of the craft, providing huge areas for storage and living - heck, one of the modules could be a farm with chickens and hydroponic vegetables and fish tanks. And enough space so a person can move about a bit - also note the centrifuge for 1G sessions. All it takes is a couple of hours a day of just riding in it and you have no worries about bone loss or muscle weakening - thus, all the conditions are right for people to travel long term in space.

Now, a bigger question is why you'd want to send folks to Jupiter and beyond, but I'll leave that for you to answer. Until then, let the inflatable future begin!

Forever Young

Io, 4th largest moon of Sol's System. It's just a bit bigger than our Luna, yet oh so different.

For you see, Io is literally HELL in space. A moon of fire and magma, roiling land exploding, pits of burning damnation, etc. As such, the surface of Io is continually made anew, and thus has the fewest impact craters of any object save Sol itself.

This is a difference of 5 months. Huge zit out of nowhere - just before Space Prom, too.

A few other months. As you can see, in the blink of a geologic eye Io changes before us. Such is the temptation of HELL. Like Enceladus's CRYOVOLCANOES, Io's heat comes from tidal friction between Jupiter and the other large moons in the system. But the force on Io is far greater than on any other, and so it burns. I suppose one day it will be ripped apart, and then form a pretty ring. But already, Io has its ring:

Due to close proximity, Io interacts with mighty Jupiter in surprising ways. It's joined to its magnetic field, affecting the shape of that field. It creates a huge torus of plasma in a giant ring around the planet, made up of Io's atmosphere. It also dumps an enormous amount of material onto Jupiter, much of which falls at the North and South Pole, as witnessed in this Jovian aurora:

Ganymede and Europa are also bound directly to Jupiter's magnetic field, creating a loop of material exchange. As noted before, the 4th moon, Callisto, is not bound. And thus is free of the ravages of Jupiter's radiation to a great degree, and thus, our future space depot. But anyway, Io:

Some real time super massive volcano action in progress. You can see why it gives Jupiter 1 ton of material every second. Have it!

Technically, Io is the fifth moon out from Jupiter, but really is the first, since the inner 4 pale in size comparison. As do the rest of Jupiter's near 70 moons - most are irregular lumps of rock a few hundred miles wide, whereas the 4 big moons of Jupiter are all dwarf planet sized - two of them bigger than Mercury, and the other two just below. It's a mighty collection of moons, discovered way back in 1609 by Galileo. Here's how they look through an average telescope today:

From left to right: Europa, Io, Jupiter - King O' the Planets, don't ya ken - Ganymede (biggest moon) and my dear Callisto. Twas an amazing discovery, since it immediately raised a lot of questions - IF moons could orbit other planets, than we could be orbiting the Sun rather vice versa, and the Sun could in turn orbit another star, and that way lies infinity, and the opening of the human mind to something far, far bigger than himself, or Earth: The Universe. Praise be.

Titanomachia

Titan (and Mimas - the Death Star moon)! Second biggest moon in the Solar System, and maybe first in our hearts (tough choices). It is one of two moons with an atmosphere, and a very thick one at that. Nitrogen based, like Earth's. However, Earth has no views like this:

An excellent art piece as well. For reference, Titan is bigger than Mercury, and far more interesting, though that's an opinion I suppose. What Titan tells us - and all the other cool moons, but especially Titan - is that moons can be quite diverse, and that large planets can have quite many of them, acting like mini "solar" systems. Saturn to date has a confirmed 62 moons, with more likely to come. More art:

I can't tell you all their names correctly, except Titan at center, occulted. Each moon can exert a gravitational influence on the other moons, and I'm sure one day we'll discover a moon with a moon. It will be cool. For now, appreciate Titan:

False color Titan pics showing the changing cloud formations. It rains on Titan. There's lakes:

More false color. "False color" means scientists have assigned colors to the image based on the data at hand. It's accurate for what it is, but also subjective to a degree, though also close enough. For the record, just about any cool color space shot you've seen is false color to some degree. Here's the real deal:

More lakes! The fishin' ain't so good though, one assumes. As the liquid on Titan is methane, and the mountains and valleys and boulders and rocks are ice. Wicked hard ice - the temp on the surface is around -200 degrees Celsius. Cold as heck. It is truly an alien world, but oh so familiar:

Titan seas, with islands. One day our robot children will vacation on the shores of Methane Sea.

Rivers of methane emptying into methane seas. It's like Earth, but will never be like Earth. Titan is highly inhospitable to us, and so it will be left to the robots. Check out this amazing pic:

The surface of Titan, as seen by Huygens - a probe shot from Cassini during its early years. Another feather in the cap of this amazing science mission. Those are little pebbles of ice. Rounded from some type of erosion, be it liquid or wind. Titan has all the weather we have on Earth, except it's methane raining down from the orange clouds. So cool.

Is there life? Seems hard to imagine, but every year we find life on Earth in the strangest of places - super heated volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean; 6 miles below ground deep in the bedrock; way, way high in the sky, floating bacteria living forever in the clouds. Life is everywhere on Earth, and it seems it has always been so - evidence of life now goes back to just a few hundred million years after the creation of Earth as we know it - which is not the original Earth, not by many iterations.

Perhaps some form of life similar to life on Earth exists on Titan. Or perhaps a life unlike life on Earth exists on Titan. Or, more likely, life does not exist on Titan, at least not on the surface. It is possible Titan has a vast underground ocean of warm liquid water, and imagine what kind of sealife might evolve there. Gnarly stuff, like everything in the ocean. One day we'll find out - we need to send out the bots in our name.

Lord of The E Ring

It's Enceladus! An amazing moon of Saturn that we've learned a ton about in the past ten years, thanks to the wonderful Cassini probe. It's the brightest object in the Solar System for starters (apart from the Sun, of course). Why? Because it's completely ice and highly reflective. But see those blue stripes at the bottom?

The so called "Tiger Stripes" are areas on the Southside of the moon where the ice crust is weakened, allowing liquid water to rise to the surface. Liquid water, you say, that far out into space?! But it's so cold! True, but thanks to tidal friction caused by the massive Saturn and the other moons around it, Enceladus is squeezed and stretched with every orbit and this creates enough friction within the moon to generate heat. Heat enough to not only create a global subsurface ocean, but warm enough to create CRYOVOLCANOES.

Like Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park, geysers. But on a scale far, far bigger - these geysers, or water volcanoes, shoot an enormous amount of water into space, where it instantly freezes. Some falls back onto Enceladus, creating new layers of ice crust. The rest goes into orbit around Saturn, creating the "E Ring":

As seen here. Amazing, yes? And so we begin our tour of the Solar System's moons. Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting moon(s)!

Venus and Luna

Another redshirt shot of Venus and The Pleiades, with a very special guest "Ring around the Moon (w/ cloud)"! Not a shop in any way, just some funky clouds making it all spectral and astral n' stuff. Word. Click for big. Bonus ring pic:

I'm ashamed to admit I don't have a big enough lens to capture phenomena like Ye Olde Moon Ring in their entirety. This was the best I could do to fit it all in one pic - no dice. It was a huge ring around the Moon, and striking to behold, especially with the bright planets to the lower right. The night sky is amazing when you can finally see it, free of interference.

The source of myth in fact - consider, even ancient pre-humans understood the movement of stars and planets. They understood this "cage" we live in - with the stars far, far away, disappearing during the day when a giant fireball awakened. Which some figured out, way, way back when, was just another star, like all the lights of night. That will blow even an Erectus mind.

Also too: As I've said before, we need to call our moon a name, not "The Moon". The word "moon" refers to any natural satellite in orbit around a planet. Our moon is but one of hundreds (millions really when you consider Saturn's rings are made up of pieces of ice and each piece is technically a moon) of moons in our Solar System, and one of hundreds of billions in our galaxy, and mayhaps of trillions across the Universe. As you see, referring to the awesome object orbiting Earth as "The Moon" is no descriptor anymore.

I propose Luna, which is a cheat, sure, but Latin is classy. I am open to suggestions, though of course I will have no role whatsoever in naming our moon. Thank you for your support.