Friday, February 3, 2012



Mars

Mars
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Mars

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Mars

Opportunity Rover Spots Greeley Haven on Mars

by Father Sky

Where on Mars should you spend the winter? As winter approached in the southern hemisphere of Mars last November, the Opportunity rover had just this problem -- it needed a place to go. The reduced amount of sunlight impacting Opportunity's solar panels combined with the extra power needed to keep equipment warm could drain Opportunity's [...]

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An Unusual Vein of Deposited Rock on Mars

by Father Sky

What could create this unusual vein of rock on Mars? A leading hypothesis is that this thin rock layer dubbed "Homestake" was deposited by a running liquid -- like most mineral veins are here on Earth. And the running liquid of choice is water. Therefore, this mineral streak -- rich in calcium and sulfur -- [...]

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White Rock Fingers on Mars

by Father Sky

What caused this unusual light rock formation on Mars? Intrigued by the possibility that they could be salt deposits left over as an ancient lakebed dried-up, detailed studies of these fingers now indicate a more mundane possibility: volcanic ash. Studying the exact color of the formation indicated the possible volcanic origin. The light material appears [...]

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Dry Ice Pits on Mars

by Father Sky

Part of Mars is defrosting. Around the South Pole of Mars, toward the end of every Martian summer, the warm weather causes a section of the vast carbon-dioxide ice cap to evaporate. Pits begin to appear and expand where the carbon dioxide dry ice sublimates directly into gas. These ice sheet pits may appear to [...]

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Tisdale 2 Rock Formation on Mars

by Father Sky

Why does this Martian rock have so much zinc? Roughly the size and shape of a tilted coffee-table, this oddly flat, light-topped rock outcropping was chanced upon a few weeks ago by the robotic Opportunity rover currently rolling across Mars. Early last month Opportunity reached Endeavour crater, the largest surface feature it has ever encountered, [...]

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Rover Arrives at Endeavor Crater on Mars

by Father Sky

What can the present-day terrain in and around large Endeavor crater tell us about ancient Mars? Starting three years ago, NASA sent a coffee-table sized robot named Opportunity on a mission rolling across the red planet's Meridiani Planum to find out. Last week, it finally arrived. Expansive Endeavor crater stretches 22 kilometers from rim to [...]

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Seasonal Dark Streaks on Mars

by Father Sky

What is causing these dark streaks on Mars? A leading hypothesis is flowing -- but quickly evaporating -- water. The streaks, visible in dark brown near the image center, appear in the Martian spring and summer but fade in the winter months, only to reappear again the next summer. These are not the first markings [...]

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Metal on the Plains of Mars

by Father Sky

What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars? While traversing a vast empty plain in 2005 in Meridiani Planum, one of Earth's rolling robots on Mars found a surprise when visiting the location of its own metallic heat shield discarded last year during descent. The surprise is the rock visible on the lower left, found [...]

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Scientists Say "Huge Changes Coming to Sun and Earth Over Next 7 Years"

by Father Sky

In this 2 hour radio program of Watchamns Cry, Nathan Leal talks with Benjamin Baruch about a report from a group of scientists who gave a report to him about the severe changes in our solar system, and mainly our sun and earth, and the predicted outcome of these changes within the next 7 years. [...]

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Exploring Our Backyard the Solar System - Part 2

by Father Sky

In this seventh episode of the Science@ESA vodcast series Rebecca Barnes continues to journey through the wonders of modern astronomy bringing us closer to home as we begin to explore the Solar System. We'll discover the scale and structure of the Solar System, find out why we explore it and introduce the European missions launched [...]

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Retrograde Mars

by Father Sky

Why would Mars appear to move backwards? Most of the time, the apparent motion of Mars in Earth's sky is in one direction, slow but steady in front of the far distant stars. About every two years, however, the Earth passes Mars as they orbit around the Sun. During the most recent such pass late [...]

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Looking Back Across Mars

by Father Sky

It's been a long trip for the Martian rover Opportunity. Last week Opportunity surpassed Viking 1 as the longest running mission on Mars, now extending well over six years. Pictured above, Opportunity's tire tracks cross a nearly featureless Martian desert, emanating from a distant horizon. Landing in 2004 in Meridiani Planum, the robotic Opportunity has [...]

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Last Panorama of the Spirit Rover on Mars

by Father Sky

This is the last thing that the Spirit rover on Mars ever saw. Operating years beyond original expectations, Spirit eventually got mired in martian dirt and then ran out of power when investigating the unusual Home Plate surface feature on Mars. Visible in the above panorama are numerous rocks and slopes of the surrounding Columbia [...]

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The Faces of Mars

by Father Sky

Enthusiastic astro-artists ranging from expert to beginner, the youngest age 10, all contributed their work to this entertaining panel featuring different faces of Mars. Their sketches are all based on telescopic views of the Red Planet from earlier this year, near its 2010 opposition. Mars offers the best telescopic views at opposition, since that's when [...]

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Mars in a Manger

by Father Sky

At opposition in late January, Mars shone very brightly in planet Earth's night sky, among the stars of the constellation Cancer the Crab. Since then the Red Planet has been fading, but still lingers in Cancer during April and May. In mid-April, Mars wandered remarkably close to Cancer's famous star cluster M44, the Beehive Cluster. [...]

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Phobos From Mars Express

by Father Sky

Why is this small object orbiting Mars? The origin of Phobos, the larger of the two moons orbiting Mars, remains unknown. Phobos and Deimos appear very similar to C-type asteroids, yet gravitationally capturing such asteroids, circularizing their orbits, and dragging them into Mars' equatorial plane seems unlikely. Pictured above is Phobos as it appeared during [...]

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Mars Over the Allalinhorn

by Father Sky

What's that bright object in the sky? A common question with answers that vary by time and season, the quick answer just after sunset in middle of last month, from the norther hemisphere, was Mars. The above picturesque panorama, taken during a ski trip from the Alps in Switzerland, shows not only Mars, but much [...]

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Valles Marineris the Grand Canyon of Mars

by Father Sky

The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, [...]

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Spirit Rover at Engineering Flats on Mars

by Father Sky

Is it art? If so, the paintbrush was the Spirit robotic rover, the canvas was the soil on Mars, and the artists were the scientists and engineers of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. This panoramic picture, created in 2004 and shown above compressed horizontally, was mostly unintentional -- the MERS team was primarily instructing Spirit [...]

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NASA Space Shuttle Launch! Incredible!!!

by Father Sky

This is incredible footage of NASA's Discovery space shuttle taking off on its last voyage to the ISS (International Space Station) before it is decommissioned. The terminal phase of the rendezvous begins at 11:33 am when commander Steven Lindsey and pilot Eric Boe fire the shuttle's maneuvering rockets to begin moving in from a point [...]

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