Gibbous Titan by Val Klavans on Flickr.
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The storm clouds of Saturn are bigger than our entire planet
This striking image from the Cassini orbiter shows Saturn’s northern hemisphere engulfed in a massive storm that has raged for well over a year. This storm was bigger than Earth when it began, and it’s since gotten even more massive.
This storm is an apparent example of the Great White Spot, a recurring super-storm that periodically engulfs much of the planet’s northern hemisphere. This particular storm has raged since late 2010, and it underwent a second massive eruption in April 2011. It’s been given the catchy name of the Northern Electrostatic Interference, because the storm has caused a significant spike in the amount of radio and plasma interference. Cassini has also detected a huge temperature drop in the center of the storm system.
You might wonder why this is called the Great White Spot when the clouds are clearly orange. In this case, it’s the image that’s wrong — or, at least, in false color, as it’s actually an infrared image. (That blue line is actually the rings of Saturn viewed from the side.) The orange colors indicate clouds that are deep within Saturn’s atmosphere, while the lighter colors represent those closer to the edge of the planet’s massive cloud system. This storm is thought to be associated with the dawn of spring on Saturn. Of course, that could take awhile, considering a year on Saturn is nearly three Earth decades long.
Via NASA.
The Crescent Earth Reflected sunlight glows through the clouds over the far South Pacific. Parts of South America and Antarctica are visible though the clouds. This image was taken from 217,500 miles away, or almost the distance to the Moon.
(source)
Absolutely gorgeous. I can’t tell you how much I love seeing the water of the oceans reflecting the Sun’s light from so far away - one of my favorite aspects of far-away pictures of Earth.
This is one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen, okay?
New Study Says Large Regions of Mars Could Sustain Life
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The question of whether present-day Mars could be habitable, and to what extent, has been the focus of long-running and intense debates. The surface, comparable to the dry valleys of Antarctica and the Atacama desert on Earth, is harsh, with well-below freezing temperatures most of the time (at an average of minus 63 degrees Celsius or minus 81 Fahrenheit), extreme dryness and a very thin atmosphere offering little protection from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Most scientists would agree that the best place that any organisms could hope to survive and flourish would be underground. Now, a new study says that scenario is not only correct, but that large regions of Mars’ subsurface could be even more sustainable for life than previously thought.
Scientists from the Australian National University modeled conditions on Mars on a global scale and found that large regions could be capable of sustaining life – three percent of the planet actually, albeit mostly underground. By comparison, just one percent of Earth’s volume, from the central core to the upper atmosphere, is inhabited by some kind of life. They compared pressure and temperature conditions on Earth to those of Mars to come up with the surprising results.
The paper is currently available for free here.
(via universetoday)
In, Through, And Beyond Saturn’s Rings
The Earth stripped of its water. All of the Earth’s ocean water (middle) and freshwater (right).
You Are The Sun
^___^ pretty
