SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION ( PART 1)
Day 1,656, 12:44
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Published in USA 
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by
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by Apress
1. Tilted Eris
A diagram showing solar system orbits. The highly tilted orbit of Eris is in red.Eris is classified as a plutoid, that is, a trans-Neptunian object that is also a dwarf planet.Its orbital characteristics more specifically categorize it a scattered disk object (SDO), or a TNO that is believed to have been "scattered" from the Kuiper belt into more distant and unusual orbits following gravitational interactions with Neptune as the Solar System was forming. Although its high orbital inclination is unusual among the known SDOs, theoretical models suggest that objects that were originally near the inner edge of the Kuiper belt were scattered into orbits with higher inclinations than objects from the outer belt.Inner-belt objects are expected to be generally more massive than outer-belt objects, and so astronomers expect to discover more large objects like Eris in high-inclination orbits, which have traditionally been neglected.
Because Eris may be larger than Pluto, it was initially described as the "tenth planet" by NASA and in media reports of its discovery.In response to the uncertainty over its status, and because of ongoing debate over whether Pluto should be classified as a planet, the IAU delegated a group of astronomers to develop a sufficiently precise definition of the term planet to decide the issue. This was announced as the IAU's Definition of a Planet in the Solar System, adopted on August 24, 2006. At this time, both Eris and Pluto were classified as dwarf planets, a category distinct from the new definition of planet.Brown has since stated his approval of Pluto losing its status as a planet.The IAU subsequently added Eris to its Minor Planet Catalogue, designating it (136199) Eris
2. Computer-Generated View of Olympus Mons
Thousands of point elevation measurements from the laser altimeter onboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft were processed to create this computer-generated view of the largest volcano yet known in our solar system, Olympus Mons. This volcano stands more than 90,000 feet above its base, and yet its flank slopes are only about six degrees, similar to that of its cousin volcano Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
Olympus Mons was discovered in 1971 by the Mariner 9 orbiter, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, when a global dust storm abated, revealing the peaks of this amazing edifice as the first land to be seen on Mars. Olympus Mons is so big that its flanks have collapsed under their own weight, producing impressive cliffs that rise 10,000 feet or more, all around the gigantic mountain.
3. Aurora Over Greenland
This aurora arched from horizon to horizon. Visible straight through the center of the aurora, and found with a careful eye, is the Big Dipper and the surrounding constellation of the Big Bear (Ursa Major). The brightest orb on the far right is the Moon, while Jupiter can be seen even further to the right.
4. Enceladus Backlit by Saturn
This moon is shining by the light of its planet. Specifically, a large portion of Enceladus pictured above is illuminated primarily by sunlight first reflected from the planet Saturn. The result is that the normally snow-white moon appears in the gold color of Saturn's cloud tops. As most of the illumination comes from the image left, a labyrinth of ridges throws notable shadows just to the right of the image center, while the kilometer-deep canyon Labtayt Sulci is visible just below.
The bright thin crescent on the far right is the only part of Enceladus directly lit by the Sun.
5. Pillars of Creation
For over twenty years the Hubble Space Telescope has taken many wonderful images from comet crashes to distant galaxies, including this iconic image of gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16)
These eerie, dark pillar-like structures are columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that are also incubators for new stars. The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud like stalagmites from the floor of a cavern. They are part of the "Eagle Nebula" (also called M16 - the 16th object in Charles Messier's 18th century catalog of "fuzzy" objects that aren't comets), a nearby star-forming region 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.
The pillars are in some ways akin to buttes in the desert, where basalt and other dense rock have protected a region from erosion, while the surrounding landscape has been worn away over millennia. In this celestial case, it is especially dense clouds of molecular hydrogen gas (two atoms of hydrogen in each molecule) and dust that have survived longer than their surroundings in the face of a flood of ultraviolet light from hot, massive newborn stars (off the top edge of the picture). This process is called "photoevaporation. " This ultraviolet light is also responsible for illuminating the convoluted surfaces of the columns and the ghostly streamers of gas boiling away from their surfaces, producing the dramatic visual effects that highlight the three-dimensional nature of the clouds. The tallest pillar (left) is about about 4 light-years long from base to tip.
As the pillars themselves are slowly eroded away by the ultraviolet light, small globules of even denser gas buried within the pillars are uncovered. These globules have been dubbed "EGGs." EGGs is an acronym for "Evaporating Gaseous Globules," but it is also a word that describes what these objects are. Forming inside at least some of the EGGs are embryonic stars - stars that abruptly stop growing when the EGGs are uncovered and they are separated from the larger reservoir of gas from which they were drawing mass. Eventually, the stars themselves emerge from the EGGs as the EGGs themselves succumb to photoevaporation.
By Apress on June 2, 2012 ®
A diagram showing solar system orbits. The highly tilted orbit of Eris is in red.Eris is classified as a plutoid, that is, a trans-Neptunian object that is also a dwarf planet.Its orbital characteristics more specifically categorize it a scattered disk object (SDO), or a TNO that is believed to have been "scattered" from the Kuiper belt into more distant and unusual orbits following gravitational interactions with Neptune as the Solar System was forming. Although its high orbital inclination is unusual among the known SDOs, theoretical models suggest that objects that were originally near the inner edge of the Kuiper belt were scattered into orbits with higher inclinations than objects from the outer belt.Inner-belt objects are expected to be generally more massive than outer-belt objects, and so astronomers expect to discover more large objects like Eris in high-inclination orbits, which have traditionally been neglected.
Because Eris may be larger than Pluto, it was initially described as the "tenth planet" by NASA and in media reports of its discovery.In response to the uncertainty over its status, and because of ongoing debate over whether Pluto should be classified as a planet, the IAU delegated a group of astronomers to develop a sufficiently precise definition of the term planet to decide the issue. This was announced as the IAU's Definition of a Planet in the Solar System, adopted on August 24, 2006. At this time, both Eris and Pluto were classified as dwarf planets, a category distinct from the new definition of planet.Brown has since stated his approval of Pluto losing its status as a planet.The IAU subsequently added Eris to its Minor Planet Catalogue, designating it (136199) Eris
2. Computer-Generated View of Olympus Mons
Thousands of point elevation measurements from the laser altimeter onboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft were processed to create this computer-generated view of the largest volcano yet known in our solar system, Olympus Mons. This volcano stands more than 90,000 feet above its base, and yet its flank slopes are only about six degrees, similar to that of its cousin volcano Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
Olympus Mons was discovered in 1971 by the Mariner 9 orbiter, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, when a global dust storm abated, revealing the peaks of this amazing edifice as the first land to be seen on Mars. Olympus Mons is so big that its flanks have collapsed under their own weight, producing impressive cliffs that rise 10,000 feet or more, all around the gigantic mountain.
3. Aurora Over Greenland
This aurora arched from horizon to horizon. Visible straight through the center of the aurora, and found with a careful eye, is the Big Dipper and the surrounding constellation of the Big Bear (Ursa Major). The brightest orb on the far right is the Moon, while Jupiter can be seen even further to the right.
4. Enceladus Backlit by Saturn
This moon is shining by the light of its planet. Specifically, a large portion of Enceladus pictured above is illuminated primarily by sunlight first reflected from the planet Saturn. The result is that the normally snow-white moon appears in the gold color of Saturn's cloud tops. As most of the illumination comes from the image left, a labyrinth of ridges throws notable shadows just to the right of the image center, while the kilometer-deep canyon Labtayt Sulci is visible just below.
The bright thin crescent on the far right is the only part of Enceladus directly lit by the Sun.
5. Pillars of Creation
For over twenty years the Hubble Space Telescope has taken many wonderful images from comet crashes to distant galaxies, including this iconic image of gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16)
These eerie, dark pillar-like structures are columns of cool interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that are also incubators for new stars. The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud like stalagmites from the floor of a cavern. They are part of the "Eagle Nebula" (also called M16 - the 16th object in Charles Messier's 18th century catalog of "fuzzy" objects that aren't comets), a nearby star-forming region 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.
The pillars are in some ways akin to buttes in the desert, where basalt and other dense rock have protected a region from erosion, while the surrounding landscape has been worn away over millennia. In this celestial case, it is especially dense clouds of molecular hydrogen gas (two atoms of hydrogen in each molecule) and dust that have survived longer than their surroundings in the face of a flood of ultraviolet light from hot, massive newborn stars (off the top edge of the picture). This process is called "photoevaporation. " This ultraviolet light is also responsible for illuminating the convoluted surfaces of the columns and the ghostly streamers of gas boiling away from their surfaces, producing the dramatic visual effects that highlight the three-dimensional nature of the clouds. The tallest pillar (left) is about about 4 light-years long from base to tip.
As the pillars themselves are slowly eroded away by the ultraviolet light, small globules of even denser gas buried within the pillars are uncovered. These globules have been dubbed "EGGs." EGGs is an acronym for "Evaporating Gaseous Globules," but it is also a word that describes what these objects are. Forming inside at least some of the EGGs are embryonic stars - stars that abruptly stop growing when the EGGs are uncovered and they are separated from the larger reservoir of gas from which they were drawing mass. Eventually, the stars themselves emerge from the EGGs as the EGGs themselves succumb to photoevaporation.
By Apress on June 2, 2012 ®
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Pertamax
Where is PAPANDREOU?
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SUB 69! LOL
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vote for Olympus Mons
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