Antriksh Education

Jupiter and its satellites seen by ‘people’s camera’ on Juno probe

The visible camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft is capturing a time-lapse movie of Jupiter and its four largest moons as the orbiter dives toward the giant planet for a 4 July rendezvous, and officials have released a first taste of the views armchair scientists and space enthusiasts can anticipate over the coming weeks and months.

The JunoCam instrument aboard Juno captured the colour view of Jupiter and its moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto on 21 June at a distance of 10.9 million kilometres (6.8 million miles) from Jupiter. NASA released the picture Friday.

The golden hues of Jupiter’s atmospheric bands are just coming into view, and JunoCam will resolve more detail in the coming days.

Derived from a descent imager carried by NASA’s Curiosity rover to Mars, JunoCam will gather hundreds of pictures during Juno’s 20-month mission at Jupiter.

A few of the images, such as views collected during Juno’s approach to Jupiter this month, are part of Juno’s main science campaign and pre-selected by researchers on the mission team. Officials will string together a sequence of images taken by JunoCam this month into a time-lapse movie showing the celestial dance of Jupiter and its moons as Juno dives toward the giant planet’s north pole.

No such view has ever been seen before.

“We’ve had a number of spacecraft that have flown past Jupiter and taken pictures and taken movies, but they have always been in the equatorial plane,” says Candice Hansen from the Planetary Science Institute, a member of Juno’s science team responsible for planning the mission’s camera operations. “This mission is the first one where we really get up over the polar regions.”

https://astronomynow.com/2016/06/26/jupiter-and-its-satellites-seen-by-peoples-camera-on-juno-probe/
The JunoCam instrument on NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this picture of Jupiter and its four largest moons 21 June. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Rare transit of Mercury to take place on 9 May

On 9 May there will be a rare transit of Mercury, when the smallest planet in our solar system will pass directly between the Earth and the Sun. The last time this happened was in 2006, and the next two occasions will be in 2019 and 2032. During the transit, which takes place in the afternoon and early evening in the UK, Mercury will appear (in a suitably filtered telescope: see below) as a dark silhouetted disc against the bright surface of the Sun.

The transit will start at 4.30 pm (IST) and we will be able to see only the beginning of this from India.

http://astronomynow.com/2016/05/01/rare-transit-of-mercury-to-take-place-on-9-may

What if Earth has Rings Like Saturn !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoz5Q2rGQtQ

What Earth Would Look Like With Rings Like Saturn What the rings would look like from different cities and latitudes accross the world. It's interesting to imagine how it would effect culture throughout time...

If the Earth stopped spinning The Earth spins at more than 1000 mph. If it were to suddenly stop, the effects would be disastrous. Produced by Kevin Reilly. Animation by Rob Ludacer Read ...

How cool is that !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8I25H3bnNw

What if the Moon was a Disco Ball? DISCO BALL MOON INFORMATION: The large mirror-tiles are 150km squared, and the small ones are 100km squared. They are all 10 km thick with glass (with an IOR...