This month focuses on Saturn, and asteroid 21 Lutetia. Both which are worth looking for in the sky in March. Also mentioned are ESA’s Rosetta mission, and NASA’s Cassini mission. The ESA and NASA have both contributed to each of their respective missions.
Also, the links highlighted in the video, along with the NASA website for Cassini. Sure it wasn’t mentioned, but a direct link to the Cassini website seems better than the main website.
Released today, but taken in January, a view of the dark spokes of Saturn as viewed from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. By the way, there is a new poll on the sidebar. Feel free to vote, and if you answer with “other” comment below. Thanks.
Spokes are radial markings scientists continue to study, and they can be seen here stretching left to right across the image. Spokes appear bright when they are viewed at phase, or Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, angles higher than about 45 degrees. However, this image was taken at a phase angle of 20 degrees.
This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 27, 2010. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 260,000 kilometers (162,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel.
Things to do, so I’ll keep this short. Here are three more great images of the earth we live on. Again from JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, and three more reasons you should follow him if twitter is your thing.
Beautiful view of the North East United States/Canada covered in snow, image comes from NASA’s Terra Satellite. Another great MODIS image.
By early March 2010, several winter storms had left snow cover stretching from Canada southward to West Virginia. Mostly clear skies over the eastern United States and Canada allowed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite this unobstructed view on March 6, 2010. The navy blue of the eastern Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean contrasts with the snow cover in this true-color image. South of Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes resemble giant claw marks in otherwise snow-covered New York. Snow appears the most opaque in Ohio, central New York, and between Lake Huron and its neighboring lakes to the east. In Canada, the mottled appearance likely results from a combination of snow cover and forest.
JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi shares with us another beautiful view of Florida from ISS. This time the famous Seven Mile Bridge that is used to traverse the Florida Keys. Or to be more precise, the distance between Knight’s Key and Little Duck Key.
Now before you tell me, yes there are two bridges in this photo. That is the old bridge, the Knight’s Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge. I dare you to say that three times fast. Anyway, probably explains why the new bridge is simply referred to as the New Sevenmile Bridge or just Seven Mile Bridge. Not that the bridge is exactly seven miles mind you, its more like six point seven. The 6.7 Mile Bridge doesn’t sound quiet as catchy though does it?
The latest events and news happening around NASA. Including information about STS-131 and the rollout of Discovery, NASA software World Wind, groundbreaking on an update of the Deep Space Network, and more.
Video of the rollout of Discovery in preparation for its STS-131 mission. Remember folks, only four more scheduled launches left for the space shuttle. This one in-particular is worth noting simply because it’ll be a last of sorts if the schedule holds. It’ll be the last time, after a successful mission that a space shuttle is turned around for processing in preparation for another mission. The three following this one will be the last scheduled missions for Atlantis, Endeavour, and Discovery. In that order.
Rollout of Discovery was started on March 2nd at 11:58 p.m. EST, and the shuttle was secured to the launchpad on the 3rd at 6:48 a.m. EST.
HiRISE images of the red planet, from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Dunes and Inverted Craters in Arabia Terra
Acquired: January 29th, 2009
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
This image shows dark sand dunes and inverted craters in the Arabia Terra region of Mars.
The sand is dark because it was probably derived from basalt, a black volcanic rock that is common on Mars. Unlike traditional craters that are depressions, those here stick up above the surrounding plains. Such “inverted topography” is found on Mars and Earth where erosion has stripped away surrounding topography.
In this case, the craters were filled with sediment. Subsequent erosion stripped away the terrain around the filled craters, leaving the inverted topography visible here.
Monitoring of Polar Avalanche Region
Acquired: January 17th, 2009
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
This HiRISE image shows the scarp that demarcates the boundary between layered deposits covering the north polar region and the lower surrounding terrain, which includes sand dunes.
This image was taken in the northern hemisphere Martian spring, where it is still cold enough that white carbon dioxide frost covers most of the area.
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