the-science-llama reblogged
tabletopwhale-deactivated201910
Landmarks on Venus are named after famous women or goddesses. I made a map introducing the woman behind each name. You can find the full-size map here.
the-science-llama reblogged
Humanity has sent four rovers to Mars, and worldwide there are four more missions in the works to continue populating the red planet with robotic explorers. Why haven’t we sent a rover to Venus, our other next door planetary neighbor? Because the caustic surface of Venus will incinerate electronics with its 872º F temperatures and seize mechanical components with its immense atmospheric pressures. At 90 times the surface pressure of Earth, the surface of Venus is the equivalent of being almost 3,000 feet underwater.
The Great Galactic Ghoul might devour half the spacecraft we send to Mars, but Venus torched any ghouls living there long ago.
Fortunately, NASA recently took a big step toward achieving the dream of a Venusian rover. As reported by Ars Technica, researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center built a computer chip that survived Venus-like conditions for an impressive 521 hours, almost 22 days. Even then, the experiment had to end not because the chip was breaking down, but because the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER)—the chamber that maintains simulated Venus temperatures and pressures—needed to be shut down after running for over three weeks straight.
Source: popularmechanics.com
Venus and Zodiacal Light
Venus and the zodiacal light as viewed from the Kalkalpen National Park near Reichraming, Austria. On this cold and very clear autumn morning, nearby city lights are concealed under a layer of fog (lower center).
Zodiacal light is now thought to be caused by dust particles scattering sunlight in the orbits of comets. In both hemispheres it's best observed in late winter/early spring after sunset and late summer/early fall before sunrise. However, it can be detected before astronomical twilight (morning) or after astronomical twilight (evening) at other times of the year as well, providing that the sky is quite dark.
Source: epod.usra.edu
Venus Transit 2012
On June 5, 2012, Hinode captured these stunning views of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117.
Source: Flickr / gsfc
Southwest Planetary Trio -- Dance of the Planets (May 29) Credit: Sean Parker // Flickr
Source: facebook.com
Venus, Jupiter & Mercury -- Dance of the Planets
Credit: Marek Nikodem // Poland May 26, 2013
Source: spaceweather.com
the-science-llama reblogged
Planet Travel Posters Sets Mars & Venus by Ron Guyatt
Deviant Art || My Store || Facebook || Twitter || Flickr
The Project:
Space tourism is still a long ways off, but it’s not hard to imagine that someday, tourists will visit the natural geological landmarks of other worlds much like they tour the Grand Canyon, Mount Everest or Ayers Rock. Each of these great tourist destinations needs a classic retro travel poster to entice visitors. Until the day people settle off world and make their own destinations many of these may be the places that people will want to travel too. I hope that these posters can inspire people to think beyond our world to the limitless possibilities of the Universe.
Posters Available at My Store
This guys art is friggin amazing, plus he did a poster on the 5th Element so I automatically love him
Jupiter, Mercury and Venus will seemingly dance between each other from May 24 and 31. The closest configuration of the planets, being on May 26 and having a linear alignment on the 30th and 31st. Mercury is haulin' gluteus because it's orbit is shorter.
The best time to view them will be about 40 minutes after sunset. The images here were taken at the same time each day, as you see the sun sets a little bit later each time. See analemma. This gif was made from screenshots using the Planetarium app // Neave
Mercury: dims from -0.9 to -0.3 Venus: -3.7 (brightest) Jupiter: -1.7
Source: the-science-llama
Perseid Meteors with Lunar & Planetary Conjunction (Aug. 12, 2012)
Perseid Meteors, Pleaides, Hyades, Jupiter, The waning crescent Moon, Venus, & Orion rising over the observatory Dome!
Source: Flickr / johnchumack
Cassini captures Venus from Saturn's orbit
-- Top image
Dawn on Saturn is greeted across the vastness of interplanetary space by the morning star, Venus, in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Venus appears just off the edge of the planet, in the upper part of the image, directly above the white streak of Saturn's G ring. Lower down, Saturn's E ring makes an appearance, looking blue thanks to the scattering properties of the dust that comprises the ring. A bright spot near the E ring is a distant star.
-- Bottom image
A distant world gleaming in sunlight, Earth's twin planet, Venus, shines like a bright beacon in images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn.
Via NASA
Venus with Moon and M44
Conrad Jung - September 12, 2012
Source: spaceweather.com
13 Must See Stargazing Events for 2013 -- Listed In Chronological Order
1) January 21 -- Very Close Moon/Jupiter Conjunction
A waxing gibbous moon (78% illuminated) will pass within less than a degree to the south of Jupiter high in the evening sky. Your closed fist held out at arms length covers 10 degrees. These two wont get that close again until 2026.
2) February 2-23 -- Best Evening View of Mercury
The planet Mercury will be far enough away from the glare of the Sun to be visible in the Western sky after sunset. It will be at its brightest on the 16th and dim quickly afterwards. On the 8th it will skim by the much dimmer planet Mars by about 0.4 degrees.
3) March 10-24 -- Comet PANSTARRS at its best
First discovered in 2011, this comet should be coming back around for about 2 weeks. It will be visible low in the northwest sky after sunset. Here are some sources predicting what the comets may look like in the sky; 1, 2
4) April 25 -- Partial Lunar Eclipse
A very minor, partial lunar eclipse (not visible in North America) where only about 2 percent of the moon's diameter will be inside the dark shadow of the Earth.
5) May 9 -- Annular Eclipse of the Sun ("Ring of Fire" Eclipse)
It will be visible in Northern Australia and parts of Papua New Guinea but mostly within the Pacific Ocean. See all the solar eclipse paths for 2001-2020 here.
6) May 24-30 -- Dance of the Planets
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will seemingly dance between each other in the twilight sky just after sunset as they will change their positions from one evening to the next. Venus will be the brightest of all, six times brighter than Jupiter. Look towards the west just above the Sun after it sets to see the three planets grouped together.
7) June 23 -- Biggest Full Moon of 2013
It will be the biggest full moon because the moon will be the closest to the Earth (Perigee) at this time (11:32 UT) making it a 'SuperMoon'. The tides will be affected as well creating exceptionally high and low tides for the next few days. More cool facts about the Moon.
One of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year producing ~90 meteors per hour provided the sky is dark. The meteor shower is expected to peak the night of August 11-12, however, you will be able to see a good amount of meteors even in late July. This year (for the peak) the moon won't be in the way as much as it will set during the evening, leaving the rest of the night dark. Here is a useful dark-sky finder tool to find the best place to watch where you live.
9) October 18 -- Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon
Visible mostly in Asia, Europe and Africa, at this time 76% of the moon will be covered by the penumbral shadow of the Earth.
10) November 3 -- Hybrid Eclipse of the Sun
A Hybrid Eclipse meaning, along its path, the eclipse will turn from Annular to Total and in this case most of the path will appear to be Total as there will be a slight ring of sunlight visible near the beginning of the track. This one will begin in the Atlantic (near the East Coast of the U.S.) and travel through Africa. See the path here. The greatest eclipse (with 100 seconds of totality) will appear in Liberia, near the West Coast of Africa.
11) Mid-November through December -- Comet ISON
The second comet this year, ISON, could potentially be visible in broad daylight as it reaches its closest point to the Sun. It will reach that point on November 28 and it is close enough to the Sun to be categorized as a 'Sungrazer'. Afterwards it will travel towards Earth (passing by within 40 million miles) a month later. Hopefully it will survive and become brighter than Panstarrs.
12) All of December -- Dazzling Venus
The brightest planet of them all will shine a few hours after sundown in the Southwestern sky and for about 1.5 hours approaching New Years Eve. Around December 5th, a crescent moon will pass above the planet and the next night Venus will be at its brightest and wont be again until 2021.
13) December 13-14 -- Geminid Meteor Shower
This is another great (if not the best) annual meteor shower. This year put on a show at about 120 meteors per hour and in 2013 it won't be much different so expect another fantastic show. However, the moon - as it is a few days before full phase - will be in the way for most of the night obscuring some of the fainter meteors. You might have to stay up in the early morning hours (4am) to catch the all the meteors it has to offer. If you missed 2012's Geminid Meteor Shower, here are some great photo-sets; 1, 2, 3
-- Notes *The gif is of a total solar eclipse, made from this video * Find a dark sky to watch the meteor showers with this tool * Estimate your locations meteor shower rate with the Fluxtimator
Source: the-science-llama
Stairway to Heaven You can see the Pleiades star cluster at the top left and going down are Jupiter, Venus and Aldebaran. Aldebaran is a red giant star (44 times the size of the Sun!) located in the Taurus constellation about 65 light years away. The image was taken from the Atacama desert in western South America. - July 11, 2012. Credit: Yuri Beletsky
Source: space.com
Planetary Alignment - December 8, 2012
Mercury, Venus, Saturn and the Moon (from Left to Right)
In the MoonLight/Au clair de Lune - December 11, 2012 By VegaStarCarpentier
the-science-llama reblogged
A Venus Flytrap captures a wasp. (Kingdom of Plants - Sky)