Pretty neat solar system visualization here. On a side note, holy man its been a long time since I've posted.....


http://dd.dynamicdiagrams.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/orrery_2006.swf

Ted Talk: Design of the Universe

He's a little dry, but bear with, amazing stuff here, filmed in 2008.

Kepler Unearths Hot Mysteries

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_sc/us_sci_space_mystery

WASHINGTON – NASA's new planet-hunting telescope has found two mystery objects that are too hot to be planets and too small to be stars.

The Kepler Telescope, launched in March, discovered the two new heavenly bodies, each circling its own star. Telescope chief scientist Bill Borucki of NASA said the objects are thousands of degrees hotter than the stars they circle. That means they probably aren't planets. They are bigger and hotter than planets in our solar system, including dwarf planets.

"The universe keeps making strange things stranger than we can think of in our imagination," said Jon Morse, head of astrophysics for NASA.

The new discoveries don't quite fit into any definition of known astronomical objects, and so far don't have a classification of their own. Details about the mystery objects were presented Monday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington.

For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them "hot companions."

How hot? Try 26,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to melt lead or iron.

There are two leading theories for what the objects might be and those theories cover both ends of the cosmic life cycle:

_Rowe suggests they are newly born planets. New planets have extremely high temperatures, and in this case Rowe speculates they might be only about 200 million years old.

_Ronald Gilliland of the Space Telescope Science Institute says they could be white dwarf stars that are dying and stripping off their outer shells and shrinking.

Excellent!!

Sailing the Seas of Titan

I hope they get funding for this project, it'd be really interesting to see what they find.

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/01/sailing-the-seas-of-titan/

Brilliant!

The Known Universe by AMNH

Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon

I LOVE this storm. Another great article on it:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/saturn-hexagon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wiredscience+%28Blog+-+Wired+Science%29



And for more info on Saturn, there's always the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

Dawn takes residence in Asteroid Belt

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/16/dawn-takes-up-residence-in-asteroid-belt/

Excellent! I didn't know that Vesta is believed to be the source of most of the asteroid meteorites that fall to Earth. Interesting!

SLOOH - Your Online Observatory

This looks really cool! 12 months for $49.99. And they've got a set of "Missions" for kids too, looks like these are $4.99. I just might take some time to look over the trial...

http://www.slooh.com/

50 Years of Space Travel

Number of Possible Multiverses may be "Humongous"

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/15/if-we-live-in-a-multiverse-how-many-are-there/

Keep in mind this is truly hypothetical, but extremely interesting. And yeah, I'd bet that 10^10^10^7 is a "humongous" number.

Europa Capable of Supporting Life: Richard Greenberg

Alright, WAY cool.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/08/europa-capable-of-supporting-life-scientist-says/

The global ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth’s oceans combined. New research by Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona suggests that there may be plenty of oxygen available in that ocean to support life, a hundred times more oxygen than previously estimated.

....

Greenberg says that the concentrations of oxygen would be great enough to support not only microorganisms, but also “macrofauna”, that is, more complex animal-like organisms which have greater oxygen demands. The continual supply of oxygen could support roughly 3 billion kilograms of macrofauna, assuming similar oxygen demands to terrestrial fish.

The good news for the question of the origin of life is that there would be a delay of a couple of billion years before the first surface oxygen reached the ocean. Without that delay, the first pre-biotic chemistry and the first primitive organic structures would be disrupted by oxidation. Oxidation is a hazard unless organisms have evolved protection from its damaging effects. A similar delay in the production of oxygen on Earth was probably essential for allowing life to get started here.

I'm definitely adding his book to my "must read" list:
“Unmasking Europa: The Search for Life on Jupiter’s Ocean Moon.”

Super Cell Lightning on Saturn

Looks like Saturn's lightning storms have broken a new 'longest lasting' record. A lightning storm nearly 2000 miles across has been raging there since January.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/09/14/super-cell-lightning-storm-raging-on-saturn-since-january/

Ultra Deep Field in 3D

Brilliant!!

Galactic Center of Milky Way - Time Lapse

Found this today, absolutely brilliant!

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Time lapse video of night sky as it passes over the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas. The galactic core of Milky Way is brightly displayed. Images taken with 15mm fisheye lens.

By Jovian, I got it!

Jupiter as seen through my trusty Canon S5. Shot this yesterday around midnight. You can even see a few of Jupiter's moons. Most likely Io and Europa.

Stellarium

More software to help you stargaze! Free for the downloading and packed with really interesting tools! Check it out:

http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/

Neave Planetarium

Ever wonder which star or planet you're looking at?

Check this out-- the sky in your browser!

http://www.neave.com/planetarium/

Planet / Star size Comparisons

This is a great representation on planet/star size. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but at first glance the comparisons appear to be rather solid.

http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

Salty Enceladus

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/enceladusocean/

Cool article here about Enceladus and the research being done on the Saturnian moon. Also, I wrote an article about Enceladus a while ago, if you'd like more info on the moon check it out: Space: Who Knew #9

Titan and Enceladus- Up close and Personal!

Looks like the next few months are going to be really busy for the Cassini spacecraft and its operators. Check out all these close fly-bys!

It appears that Enceladus will be the target of the closest zip past, flying at an altitude of 99 km above its icy south pole. Imagine all those nice pictures we're going to be able to enjoy!

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/02/book-your-tours-of-titan-and-enceladus-today/