Saturday, October 07, 2006
New Distant Planets
The Hubble telescope has captured a new set of Jupiter sized planets in the Sagittarius sky. One of the planets orbits its star in only 10 hours.
"The new planets, all roughly the size of Jupiter, orbit so close to their stars
that they are heated to more than 1600 degrees, said Dr Sahu, adding that if
their home stars were any bigger, the planets would evaporate." - Source
10/7/2006 3:03:04 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Friday, August 25, 2006
And then there was 8 planets...
It's official, there are only 8 planets in our solar system.
Yesterday, Pluto officially lost it's planet certificate and is now consider one of many "dwarf planets". Many thought pluto would become a "pluton". But that just wasn't the case. Now the textboxes have to be re-written.
Here is a great article, with pictures on why Pluto had to go.
Astronomy
8/25/2006 6:03:43 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, August 21, 2006
More planets anyone?
Will Pluto remain a planet or become a Pluton? There is much debate as whether Pluto is really a planet. With an abnormal orbit, when compared to the other planets in our system, Pluto has always been an "odd ball"...and a smaller ball than most thought when it was discovered.
From the John Hopkins Gazette
* Karl Glazebrook, professor in Physics and Astronomy: "My take is that a
physical definition like the one proposed makes sense: something large enough to
be spherical and which is not a satellite. But if I were in charge, I would
insist on a diameter of greater than 1,000 kilometers to define a planet in
order to remove Ceres from the list, but that would be an arbitrary cut to
preserve the order of the main nine and to save the hassle of rewriting
textbooks. Definitions and naming really matter little physically, anyway."
* Richard Conn Henry, professor in Physics and Astronomy: "I think the notion
that Pluto is a planet is absurd. When it was initially discovered, it was
thought to be vastly more massive than it turned out to be. Its orbit is
radically different from that of all the other planets. Down with Pluto is what
I say!"
It should be interesting to see the results, when and if a decision is agreed upon.
Astronomy
8/21/2006 4:52:44 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Saturday, August 12, 2006
Bad Planet!
For the second time in a week, humanity watched in fear and awe as a mysterious
arm, estimated to be some 3 million light years across, once again appeared to
part the black fabric of space, point an angry finger directly at Jupiter, and
shout "No!" - SatireWire Funny article and the images do make it look like it is pointing to Jupiter.
Astronomy
8/12/2006 4:04:53 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Saturday, July 15, 2006
4 Moons of Jupiter
During July the Earth is at its furtherest position from the Sun
when it reaches a point known as aphelion, during northern hemisphere
summer.
Thursday night a telescope showed two of Jupiter's moons, Europa and
Callisto, closely paired west of the planet, and Io closer in on the
same side. Ganymede, the brightest, is by itself on the east side.
Tonight, the two largest moons, Ganymede and Callisto, will appear far
enough out to observe through binoculars as faint "stars" west (right)
of the planet, while Europa will be closer in on the east. Also
tonight, Io will remain hidden in Jupiter's shadow until 10:16 p.m.
local time.
Astronomy
7/15/2006 10:48:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, July 07, 2006
Jupiter's Storm
For over 340 years, we have been watching what
may be the solar system's longest lasting storm, Jupiter's Great Red
Spot. Since Cassini first discovered it in 1665, after Hans Lippershey
invented the telescope in 1608, many have been intrigues with the great
gas giant. The high-pressure storm rotates (in the opposite direction
from low-pressure Earth hurricanes) due to Coriolis effects (just as on
Earth) making a complete rotation every 6 days (2.5 times faster than
storms rotate on Earth). Jupiter's fast rotation rate (a 10-hour day)
helps drive the storm. See animation of the storm, courtesy of
Wikipedia.
Astronomy
7/7/2006 2:03:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Jupiter Profile
Jupiter: Planet Profile
| Mass (kg)
| 1.90 x 1027 |
| Diameter (km)
| 142,800 |
| Mean density (kg/m3)
| 1314 |
| Escape velocity (m/s)
| 59500 |
| Average distance from Sun
| 5.203 AU (778,412,020 km) |
| Rotation period (length of day in Earth days)
| 0.41 (9.8 Earth hours) |
| Revolution period (length of year in Earth years)
| 11.86 |
| Obliquity (tilt of axis degrees)
| 3.08 |
| Orbit inclination (degrees)
| 1.3 |
| Orbit eccentricity (deviation from circular)
| 0.048 |
| Mean surface temperature (K)
| 120 (cloud tops) |
| Visual geometric albedo
(reflectivity)
| 0.44 |
| Atmospheric components
| 90% hydrogen,
10% helium,
.07% methane |
| Rings
| Faint ring.
Infrared spectra imply dark rock fragments.
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Astronomy
7/6/2006 2:04:12 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, June 30, 2006
More Clear Skies for Viewing the Planet Jupiter
Another great night of viewing Jupiter with clear skies in
Florida. Jupiter is the brightest object after sunset, except for the
moon. The planet shines brightly in the southern sky, high above the
faint Saturn and Mars low in the sky to the west. Jupiter sets around 2
AM right now and around midnight by mid-July.
Astronomy
6/30/2006 3:36:05 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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