Archives for the 'planets' Category
Old rings?
Published on 28 Jan 2008 at 5:16 pm.
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Saturn’s rings are always fascinating to look at. Whenever I do a public star party when Saturn is visible, people are always so amazed by looking at Saturn through a telescope. The planet is great, but it’s the rings that they are looking at. They are simply fascinating.
But, the rings have also […]
Colorized Mercury
Published on 24 Jan 2008 at 9:15 pm.
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Filed under Mercury, planets.
Per a request from a geology professor at my college, I am posting another image of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its flyby of that planet earlier this month.
Mercury has no appreciable atmosphere, so its surface shows eons of impacts. Erosion does not cover up the craters as it does on Earth. […]
New Images of Mercury
Published on 17 Jan 2008 at 12:57 pm.
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The MESSENGER spacecraft is sending back the highest resolution images of the planet Mercury every taken. Many of these images are of portions of Mercury’s surface that have never been seen up close before. The Mariner 10 spacecraft that visited Mercury over three decades ago never got to see all of the surface, […]
Mercury, finally.
Published on 13 Jan 2008 at 12:49 pm.
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The MESSENGER spacecraft is now nearly to Mercury. It will pass that planet tomorrow, Monday, January 13, 2008, at about 1:05pm, Central Standard Time. I have published two other postings about MESSENGER (here and here). I am not going to restate all of that, so you can go back and read them […]
MESSENGER to Mercury
Published on 2 Jan 2008 at 6:52 pm.
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Filed under planets, space exploration.
The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched on its way to Mercury in August of 2004. It is now just about to pass by that desolate planet (in about a week and a half). This will be the first mission to Mercury since Mariner 10, which was launched towards Mercury in November of 1973, flying […]
Planetary Symbols
Published on 28 Sep 2007 at 11:43 pm.
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Filed under planets, sky lore.
When I am writing equations in my astronomy class, the students often find that I am using some odd symbols now and then rather than spelling out the names of the planets of the Solar System. Well, that is because in some cases it is easier to just put the symbol in the equation […]
Jupiter Now and Then
Published on 13 Sep 2007 at 11:55 pm.
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Filed under planets, skywatching.
Earlier this week, I did a laboratory exercise with my students that required them to know the current coordinates of a planet. That planet was Jupiter. I thought that I might mention a few things about that.
Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to orbit the Sun. Right now, it appears to be in […]
