September 03, 2013

A monster storm that erupted on Saturn in late 2010 - as large as any storm ever observed on the ringed planet -- has already impressed researchers with its intensity and long-lived turbulence. A new paper in the journal Icarus reveals another facet of the storm's explosive power: its ability to churn up water ice from great depths. This finding, derived from near-infrared measurements by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, is the first detection at Saturn of water ice. The water originates from deep in Saturn's atmosphere.

"The new finding from Cassini shows that Saturn can dredge up material from more than 100 miles [160 kilometers]," said Kevin Baines, a co-author of the paper who works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "It demonstrates in a very real sense that typically demure-looking Saturn can be just as explosive or even more so than typically stormy Jupiter." Water ice, which originates from deep in the atmosphere of gas giants, doesn't appear to be lofted as high at Jupiter.

Monster storms rip across the northern hemisphere of Saturn once every 30 years or so, or roughly once per Saturn year. The first hint of the most recent storm first appeared in data from Cassini's radio and plasma wave subsystem on Dec. 5, 2010. Soon after that, it could be seen in images from amateur astronomers and from Cassini's imaging science subsystem. The storm quickly grew to superstorm proportions, encircling the planet at about 30 degrees north latitude for an expanse of nearly 190,000 miles (300,000 kilometers).

Phaethon confirmed as rock comet by STEREO vision

The Sun-grazing asteroid, Phaethon, has betrayed its true nature by showing a comet-like tail of dust particles blown backwards by radiation pressure from the Sun. Unlike a comet, however, Phaethon's tail doesn't arise through the vaporization of an icy nucleus. During its closest approach to the Sun, researchers believe that Phaethon becomes so hot that rocks on the surface crack and crumble to dust under the extreme heat. The findings will be presented by David Jewitt on Tuesday 10 September at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2013 in London.

Most meteor showers arise when the Earth ploughs through streams of debris released from comets in the inner solar system. The Geminids, which grace the night sky annually in December, are one of the best known and most spectacular of the dozens of meteor showers. However, astronomers have known for 30 years that the Geminids are not caused by a comet but by a 5 km diameter asteroid called (3200) Phaethon.

Until recently, though, and much to their puzzlement, astronomer's attempts to catch Phaethon in the act of throwing out particles all ended in failure. The tide began to turn in 2010 when Jewitt and colleague, Jing Li, found Phaethon to be anomalously bright when closest to the Sun. The key to success was their use of NASA's STEREO Sun-observing spacecraft. Phaethon at perihelion appears only 8 degrees (16 solar diameters) from the sun, making observations with normal telescopes impossible. Now, in further STEREO observations from 2009 and 2012, Jewitt, Li and Jessica Agarwal have spotted a comet-like tail extending from Phaethon.

"The tail gives incontrovertible evidence that Phaethon ejects dust," said Jewitt. 'That still leaves the question: why? Comets do it because they contain ice that vaporizes in the heat of the Sun, creating a wind that blows embedded dust particles from the nucleus. Phaethon's closest approach to the Sun is just 14 per cent of the average Earth-Sun distance (1AU). That means that Phaethon will reach temperatures over 700 degrees Celsius – far too hot for ice to survive."

Oh my! We’re not sure to laugh or cry on this one (maybe both). This frog gives new meaning to “flying leap” (or giant leap). This little guy was obviously startled by the ignition of the Minotaur 5 rocket that launched the LADEE spacecraft last Friday.

We’ve confirmed this image is in fact an actual photo taken by one of NASA’s remote cameras set up for the launch from the Wallops/Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Wallops spokesman Jeremy Eggers confirms the picture is legitimate and was not altered in any way.

However, we cannot say with any certainty that no frog was harmed in the making of this picture.

That is too big to be a frog. Maybe it was one of the super men only without their cape cause they were trying to be incognito or look like a frog.

Has Voyager 1 left the Solar System at last? The data have been ambiguous to say the least, with the number of announcements on the topic rivaling Spinal Tap drummers. The problem is that the region of transition between the Solar System and interstellar space didn't behave exactly as predicted. Some measurements showed the expected behavior if the probe had departed the Solar System, while others were ambiguous, and some were consistent with Voyager still being stuck within its boundaries.

However, one measurement was still missing: the density of plasma, which is much higher beyond the Solar System than inside it. That situation changed when D. A. Gurnett, W. S. Kurth, L. F. Burlaga, and N. F. Ness analyzed data collected from Voyager's instruments in April and May of 2013. They found abrupt changes in plasma density consistent with interaction between material streaming out from the Sun and matter in interstellar space, followed by a drop. Nevertheless, the magnetic field data are still inconsistent with the simplest model of the Solar System's boundary. So if Voyager 1 has indeed left the building, the shape of the door by which it exited isn't quite what we expected.

Reason why the frog looks so big is far closer to the camera then the blast from the rocket is. Looks like the blast off scared the thing into eject from the lilypad mode.

The reason Iron Man looks so small is because he is having a race with that rocket.
We just can't see his lights because he is in stealth mode.

Voyager 1 really has left the Solar System . . . probably



http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/09/ ... -probably/

I'm loveing the fact the Voyager1 is still giving us new information all these years later. I remember when it first took off. I was so facinated by the things they said it could and would do and still today am facinated by all it has done and is still doing. Rock on Voyager just don't come back as VGER

Reason why the frog looks so big is far closer to the camera then the blast from the rocket is. Looks like the blast off scared the thing into eject from the lilypad mode.

More here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24026153

I remember when it left, all over the news.

So now it's gone.. cool.