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Secrets of Space

Orion Molecular Cloud Complex

Image February 3, 2015 space

Sptizer space telescope captures this cosmic phenomenon in an infrared image

This composite picture shows the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex with the Flame nebula (NGC 2024) featured in the center of the image and the Horsehead nebula making an eerie appearance near the right hand corner. This part our vast universe is about 1,200 light-years away from Earth and most of the data in this picuture was captured by Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared cameras. The blue and green represent “hot stars” with the blue light emitted at a wavelength of 3.6 microns and green being 8 micron light. The relatively “cooler” parts of this system are mostly dust clouds that are areas in red, measured at a 24 micron wavelength.

Pictures

Janus, Saturn’s jagged moon

Image January 30, 2015 space

One of planet Saturn's moons Janus — One of planet Saturn’s moons Janus

At first sight, this looks more like a irregularly shaped piece of ‘space junk’ floating along than the moon of a planet. But in fact, this is Janus, one of Saturn’s moons. Named after the ancient Roman god of beginnings (which is why we start the Gregorian calendar with the month of January), this 179 kilometers wide satellite was photographed by Cassini using its narrow angle camera from a distance of 87,000 kilometers. Barely visible at the bottom of the picture are Saturn’s F-rings.

Pictures

Mojave drill site

Image January 27, 2015 space

Curiosity Mars rover starts drilling at aptly named "Mojave" test site — Curiosity Mars rover starts drilling at aptly named “Mojave” test site

Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is placed on Curiosity’s arm and took this picture of a test drilling site in a target area called “Mojave”. (Aptly named as it does look a bit like the Mojave desert in south-western United States.) We can see that the drill bored through and even cracked, parts of the orange-brown rock like top surface. The small, shallow hole revealed a grey coloured surface where a cement like substance was found underneath. Scientists from NASA would have used this result to evaluate the drill results and assess whether additional drilling and sample testing be conducted at this location.

Videos

Dawn spacecraft looks for life on Ceres

Video January 23, 2015 space

RT report looks at the upcoming exploration by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft which is approaching the dwarf planet Ceres (named after the Roman goddess of agriculture). Located in the asteroid belt, this 950 km wide body of rock and ice was previously categorized as an asteroid. Dawn will try to learn more about Ceres, which up till now has been a bit of a mysterious dwarf planet, including looking for any signs of (previous microbial) life.

Pictures

Inktomi crater on Rhea

Image January 21, 2015 space

The bright spot on Rhea is the Inktomi crater, named after a Lakota spirit

In the early days of the (commercial) Internet, Inktomi was considered a search engine pioneer. It was a search leader and favorite of many users but as was the case in the heady days of the Internet bubble, it went went from top of the mountain to bottom of the heap (eventually bought by Yahoo) in the span of a few years. And while we may reminisce about the name Inktomi, this post is about a totally different Inktomi – a 1,500 kilometer wide crater seen here on the moon Rhea. We are huge fans of Cassini spacecraft’s work as it has long been studying Saturn and its moons. It took this picture in July 2013 while it was about 1.6 million kilometers from Rhea using its narrow angle camera.

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