Thursday, July 25, 2013

2507-Could Cassini See You On “The Day The Earth Smiled?

Could Cassini See You On “The Day The Earth Smiled?”:
The face of Earth aimed toward Cassini during imaging on July 19, 2013
The face of Earth aimed toward Cassini during imaging on July 19, 2013
So along with the rest of the world, you smiled. You waved. You went outside on July 19, wherever you were, and looked upwards and out into the solar system knowing that our robotic representative Cassini would be capturing a few pixels’ worth of photons bouncing off our planet when they eventually reached Saturn, 900 million miles away. But did Cassini actually capture any photons coming from where you were? The image above will tell you.
Assembled by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo (where the enormous 305-meter radio telescope is located) this image shows what side of Earth was facing Cassini when its “pale blue dot” images were obtained, at approximately 22:47 UTC (Cassini time.)
Didn’t make it into Cassini’s photo? That’s ok… maybe MESSENGER had already caught you earlier that very same day:
(...)
Read the rest of Could Cassini See You On “The Day The Earth Smiled?” (306 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |8 comments |
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2507-Comet ISON is Spewing Out Carbon Dioxide and Dust

Comet ISON is Spewing Out Carbon Dioxide and Dust »:
These images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of C/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) were taken on June 13, when ISON was 310 million miles (about 500 million kilometers) from the sun. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL/UCF
These images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope of C/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) were taken on June 13, when ISON was 310 million miles (about 500 million kilometers) from the sun. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL/UCF
As part of the Comet ISON Observing Campaign, the Spitzer Space Telescope was used to “stare” at the comet for 24 hours on Jun 13, 2013. Images from Spitzer’s “ISON-a-thon” indicate that carbon dioxide and dust are spewing out of the comet at a fairly large rate.
“We estimate ISON is emitting about 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) of what is most likely carbon dioxide gas and about 120 million pounds (54.4 million kilograms) of dust every day,” said Carey Lisse, leader of NASA’s Comet ISON Observation Campaign and a senior research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
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Read the rest of Comet ISON is Spewing Out Carbon Dioxide and Dust (344 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |4 comments |
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2507-Near-Earth Asteroid 2003 DZ15 to Pass Earth Monday Night

Near-Earth Asteroid 2003 DZ15 to Pass Earth Monday Night »:
The currnet orbital position of asteroid 2003 DZ15.  (Created by the author using JPL's Small-Body Database Browser).
The current orbital position of asteroid 2003 DZ15. (Created by the author using JPL’s Small-Body Database Browser).
The Earth will get another close shave Monday, when the 152 metre asteroid 2003 DZ15 makes a pass by our fair planet on the night of July 29th/30th at 3.5 million kilometres distant.  This is over 9 times the Earth-Moon distance and poses no threat to our world.(...)
Read the rest of Near-Earth Asteroid 2003 DZ15 to Pass Earth Monday Night (478 words)

© David Dickinson for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |No comment |
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