discoverynews:

Our Solar System: Rare Species in Cosmic Zoo

Pulling from 20 years of research since the first discoveries of planets beyond our solar system, scientists have concluded that Earth and its sibling worlds comprise what appears to be a relatively rare breed in a diverse cosmic zoo that includes a huge variety of planet sizes, orbits and parent stars. Read more

jtotheizzoe:

crookedindifference:

NASA Probe Gets Close Views of Large Saturn Hurricane

Holy hell … that’s gorgeous (and false-colored, sadly).

jtotheizzoe:

staceythinx:

Recommended:  Wired’s The Solar System’s Most Spectacular Geology Revealed by 50 Years of Robotic Exploration

This rocks. Totally out of this world.

jtotheizzoe:

See an Asteroid, Capture a Meteor!

It’s been said by many that “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. Australian photographer Colin Legg has proven that true. He set out to capture last Friday’s fly-by from asteroid 2012 DA14 and accidentally caught with a burning meteor entry.

Think about it! You set up your camera to capture something well-planned and expected, and out of nowhere you see a burning fireball rush through your field of view, complete with its wispy vapor trail. Too cool.

In the full high-definition video (which you should really check out), you can also see a number of other man-made satellites moving through the frame. Altogether, one of the coolest space sequences I’ve seen in a long time.

(via EarthSky)

jtotheizzoe:

Logarithmic Astronomy

What a photo! If you looked to the skies last night (January 21st), you may have noticed a bright point of light nearly on top of the Moon. That was Jupiter! Last night was the closest they will come (an event called “conjunction”) until 2026.

Their nearly intersecting “paths” through the sky are only due to our Earthly perspective, of course. Many things in the night sky will appear next to each other if we just wait long enough. What’s especially cool about this photograph is that it captures three levels of astronomical complexity in one image.

First we have our terrestrial satellite, Luna, with the “terminator” line of day/night stretched across a large, dark volcanic plain known as the “Ocean of Storms”, which is an awesome name for a volcanic plain. The next brightest image is Jupiter, our solar system’s largest planet/failed star. And those dots around Jupiter? Those are three of its Galilean moons! The photographer’s Facebook page says there’s four moons of Jupiter in this shot, but I only see three. If we are seeing them in their increasing distance from Jupiter (and that’s a big if, since perspective can play tricks on us), they are probably Io, Europa, and Ganymede.

It’s like peeling back the layers of an astronomical onion, in a single photo. Great work by Chris Levitan, check out his Facebook page.

discoverynews:

Hubble’s Latest Mind Blowing Cosmic Pictures

The Hubble Space Telescope has been looking deep into the Cosmos for over two decades returning over a million observations of planets, exoplanets, nebulae, galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The mission has surpassed our wildest expectations, but some of the most intricately beautiful views of the Universe have been released only recently — sometimes in collaboration with other observatories.

Want your mind blown? Take a look at these cosmic beauties!

jtotheizzoe:

How the Chinese and the Greeks viewed (pretty much) the same sky.

It’s pretty remarkable how differently two cultures can connect the same dots, don’t you think?

(maps via radical cartography)

jtotheizzoe:

Voyager 1: beyond the edge of the solar system at last?

This graph may hold the tell-tale pieces of data showing that Voyager 1 has left the Solar System. The sudden reduction in the number of charged particles that hit the craft’s detectors signal that it crossed some sort of boundary in September. Perhaps this means that it is no longer being bombarded by the solar wind, and that it has reached interstellar space?

(via Basic Space)

mazarinefennec:

tigress-senpai:

eccyclema:

thatfuckingtableflipper:

jackalkenpo:

justspeakeasy:

infinitelovelike:

iliketulips:

thedailywhat:

Lights Out: Why does it get dark at night? The answer might be more complicated than you think.

[gizmodo]

My face while watching this video:

If anyone doesn’t think space is awesome, their life makes me sad.

My brain hurts. 

It’s funny that I never questioned this. I must be getting old, I used to ask questions like this when I was younger. SCIENCE!

… Okay i wanna understand this so much, but holy fuck it’s like so confusing… I kinda get it. 

SPACE IS STILL AMAZING

SCIENCE BONER OMFG

Everything I have ever known is a lie.

I’m confused all to fuck, but that was actually kind of interesting.

frontierefinale:

Enceladus, via Cassini