Actual Pictures From Another Worlds

www.anotherpalebluedot.blogspot.com
Mars has two tiny
moons, Phobos
and Deimos,
whose names are
derived from the
Greek for Fear and
Panic. The larger
moon, Phobos, is
indeed seen to be
a cratered,
asteroid-like object
in this stunning
color image from
the Mars Express
spacecraft,
recorded at a
resolution of about
seven meters per
pixel. But Phobos
orbits so close to
Mars - about 5,800
kilometers above
the surface
compared to
400,000 kilometers
for our Moon -
Hyperion is a moon of
Saturn discovered in
1848. It is
distinguished by its
irregular shape, its
chaotic rotation, and
its unexplained
sponge-like
appearance.
The robot Cassini now
orbiting Saturn
swooped past moon in
late 2005 and took an
image of
unprecedented detail.
The image, shown in
false color, shows a
remarkable world with
strange craters and a
generally odd surface.
Hyperion is about 250
kilometers across, and
has a density so low
that it might house a
vast system of caverns
inside
Jupiter's moon Io. Two
sulfurous eruptions are visible
in this color composite image
from the robotic Galileo
spacecraft that orbited Jupiter
from 1995 to 2003. At the
image top, over Io's limb, a
bluish plume rises about 140
kilometers above the surface
of a volcanic caldera known
as Pillan Patera. In the image
middle, near the night/day
shadow line, the ring shaped
Prometheus plume is seen
rising about 75 kilometers
above Io while casting a
shadow below the volcanic
vent. Named for the Greek
god who gave mortals fire, the
Prometheus plume is visible
in every image ever made of
the region dating back to the
Voyager flybys of 1979 -
presenting the possibility that
this plume has been
continuously active for at least
18 years. The above digitally
sharpened image was
originally recorded in 1997 on
June 28 from a distance of
about 600,000 kilometers.
Locked in synchronous
rotation, the Moon always
presents its well-known
near side to Earth. But from
lunar orbit, Apollo
astronauts also grew to
know the Moon's far side.
This sharp picture from
Apollo 16's mapping
camera shows the eastern
edge of the familiar near
side (top) and the strange
and heavily cratered far
side of the Moon.
Surprisingly, the rough and
battered surface of the far
side looks very different
from the near side which is
covered with smooth dark
lunar maria. The likely
explanation is that the far
side crust is thicker, making
it harder for molten material
from the interior to flow to
the surface and form the
smooth maria.
This dramatic image
features a dark red Moon
during a total lunar eclipse
-- celestial shadow play
enjoyed by many denizens
of planet Earth last
Saturday. Recorded near
Wildon, Austria, the picture
is a composite of two
exposures; a relatively
short exposure to feature
the lunar surface and a
longer exposure to capture
background stars in the
constellation Leo.
Completely immersed in
Earth's cone-shaped
shadow during the total
eclipse phase, the lunar
surface is still illuminated
by sunlight, reddened and
refracted into the dark
shadow region by a dusty
atmosphere. As a result,
familiar details of the
Moon's nearside are easy
to pick out, including the
smooth lunar mare and the
large ray crater Tycho. In
this telescopic view, the
background stars are faint
and most would be
invisible to the naked eye.
In October of 1846, William
Lassell was observing the
newly discovered planet
Neptune. He was attempting
to confirm his observation,
made just the previous
week, that Neptune had a
ring. But this time he
discovered that Neptune
had a satellite as well.
Lassell soon proved that the
ring was a product of his
new telescope's distortion,
but the satellite Triton
remained. The above
picture of Triton was taken
in 1989 by the only
spacecraft ever to pass
Triton: Voyager 2. Voyager
2 found fascinating terrain, a
thin atmosphere, and even
evidence for ice volcanoes
on this world of peculiar
orbit and spin. Ironically,
Voyager 2 also confirmed
the existence of complete
thin rings around Neptune -
but these would have been
quite invisible to Lassell!
The Spirit rover attacked
Mars again in 2005
September. What might
look, above, like a
military attack, though,
was once again just a
scientific one - Spirit was
instructed to closely
inspect some interesting
rocks near the summit of
Husband Hill. Spirit's
Panoramic Camera
captured the rover's
Instrument Deployment
Device above as moved
to get a closer look at an
outcrop of rocks named
Hillary. The Spirit rover,
and its twin rover
Opportunity, have now
been exploring the red
planet for over three
years. Both Spirit and
Opportunity have found
evidence that parts of
Mars were once wet.
Spewed from a volcano, a
complex plume rises over 300
kilometers above the horizon
of Jupiter's moon Io in this
image from cameras onboard
the New Horizons spacecraft.
The volcano, Tvashtar, is
marked by the bright glow
(about 1 o'clock) at the
moon's edge, beyond the
terminator or night/day
shadow line. The shadow of
Io cuts across the plume
itself. Also capturing stunning
details on the dayside
surface, the high resolution
image was recorded when the
spacecraft was 2.3 million
kilometers from Io. Later it
was combined with lower
resolution color data by astro-
imager Sean Walker to
produce this sharp portrait of
the solar system's most active
moon. Outward bound at
almost 23 kilometers per
second, the New Horizons
spacecraft should cross the
orbit of Saturn in June next
year, and is ultimately
destined to encounter Pluto in
2015.
 io
Jupiter

Mean Radius: 1821.46

km
Mass: 0.0149
(Earth=1)
Density: 3.55 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.183
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 1.769
(Earth days)
Rotation Period: 1.769
(Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 422,600 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.004
Swooping below Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft spied several strange wonders. Visible in the distance are
some of the many complex rings that orbit the Solar System's second largest planet. In the foreground
looms the gigantic world itself, covered with white dots that are clouds high in Saturn's thick atmosphere.
Saturn's atmosphere is so thick that only clouds are visible. At the very South Pole of Saturn lies a huge
vortex that is a hurricane-like storm showing no sign of dissipating. The robotic Cassini spacecraft took the
above image in January from about one million kilometers out, resolving details about 50 kilometers
across.
Asteroid Itokawa. The unusual asteroid has been visited recently by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa
that has been documenting its unusual structure and mysterious lack of craters. Recent analyses of the
border regions between smooth and rugged sections of Itokawa indicate that jostling of the asteroid might
be creating segregation between large and small rocks near the surface, like the Brazil nut effect. In late
2005, Hayabusa actually touched down on one of the smooth patches, dubbed the MUSES Sea, and
collected soil samples that are to be returned to Earth for analysis. Hayabusa will start its three-year long
return trip to Earth this month. Computer simulations show that 500-meter asteroid Itokawa may impact
the Earth within the next few million years.
Small Worlds: Ceres and Vesta: Ceres and Vesta are, respectively, only around 950 kilometers and 530 kilometers in
diameter - about the size of Texas and Arizona. But they are two of the largest of over 100,000 minor bodies orbiting in the
main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. These remarkably detailed Hubble Space Telescope images show brightness
and color variations across the surface of the two small worlds. The variations could represent large scale surface features
or areas of different compositon. The Hubble image data will help astronomers plan for a visit by the asteroid-hopping
Dawn spacecraft, scheduled for launch on July 7 and intended to orbit first Vesta and then Ceres after a four year
interplanetary cruise. Though Shakespeare might not have been impressed, nomenclature introduced by the International
Astronomical Union in 2006 classifies nearly spherical Ceres as a dwarf planet.
 Mercury
Mean Radius: 2439.7
km
Mass: 0.055 (Earth=1)
Density: 5.43
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.284
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 87.97
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
58.65 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 0.387 au
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.206
 Mars
Mean Radius:
3389.5 km
Mass: 0.108
(Earth=1)
Density: 3.94
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.380
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 686.98
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
1.026 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 1.524 au
Eccentricity of
Orbit: 0.093
 Ganymede
Jupiter

Mean Radius:
2632.345 km
Mass: 0.0249
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.93 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.145
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 7.155
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
7.155 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 1,070,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.002
 Callisto
Jupiter

Mean Radius: 2409.3

km
Mass: 0.0179 (Earth=1)
Density: 1.851 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.124
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 16.689
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
16.689 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 1,883,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.007
 Thetys
Saturn

Mean Radius: 529.8

km
Mass: 0.000104
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.0 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.018
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 1.888
(Earth days)
Rotation Period: 1.888
(Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 294,670 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
(0)
 Dione
Saturn

Mean Radius: 560

km
Mass: 0.000176
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.44
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.023
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 2.737
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
2.737 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 377,420 km
Eccentricity of
Orbit: 0.002
 Rhea
Saturn

Mean Radius: 764 km

Mass: 0.000387 (Earth=1)
Density: 1.24 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.029 (Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 4.518
(Earth days)
Rotation Period: 4.518
(Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of Orbit:
527,100 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.001
 Iapetus
Saturn

Mean Radius: 718 km

Mass: 0.000266
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.02 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.024
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 79.331
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
79.331 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 3,560,800 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.028
 Ariel
Uranus

Mean Radius: 578.9

km
Mass: 0.00021
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.56
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.021
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 2.520
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
2.520 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 192,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.003
 Umbriel
Uranus

Mean Radius: 584.7

km
Mass: 0.000196
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.52 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.022
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 4.144
(Earth days)
Rotation Period: 4.144
(Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 267,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.005
 Titania
Uranus

Mean Radius: 788.9

km
Mass: 0.000504
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.70 (g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.029
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 8.706
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
8.706 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 438,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.002
 Oberon
Uranus

Mean Radius: 761.4

km
Mass: 0.00051
(Earth=1)
Density: 1.64
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: 0.028
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 13.463
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
13.463 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 583,400 km
Eccentricity of
Orbit: 0.001
 Trition
Neptune

Mean Radius: 1352.6

km
Mass: 0.0036
(Earth=1)
Density: 2.054
(g/cm^3)
Gravity: (0.077)
(Earth=1)
Orbit Period: 5.88
(Earth days)
Rotation Period:
5.88 (Earth days)
Semimajor Axis of
Orbit: 355,000 km
Eccentricity of Orbit:
0.000