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| Podcast: Larry Esposito and Venus Express |
| Nov 10, 2005 - Venus is our nearest planetary neighbour. Compared to the Earth, it's nearly identical in size and distance from the Sun. But that's where the similarities end. While we enjoy our comfortable temperature, pressure and atmosphere, Venus' environment is downright hostile to life. The European Space Agency's Venus Express blasted off for our "evil twin" planet today, and will hope to help answer the question: what went wrong? My guest today is Larry Esposito from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado. He's a member of the Venus Express science team. (Full Story) |
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| Lunar Lawn Mower |
| Nov 10, 2005 - One of the many hassles of returning humans to the Moon will be the lunar dust. This tiny, gritty, static-loving dust will get into everything, jamming seals, wearing down equipment, and generally causing astronauts endless headaches. Larry Taylor from the University of Tennessee is proposing that astronauts use a heated "lawn mower" to melt the surface of the Moon around their base camp to fuse the dust into larger pieces which won't be so destructive. Lunar dust will melt down with surprisingly little energy because it contains microscopic beads of pure iron which can fuse the grains together. (Full Story) |
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| Three of Saturn's Moons |
| Nov 10, 2005 - In this amazing image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, you can see three of Saturn's moons. Dione is on the left, and it's possible to see a large impact crater on the bottom right. Tethys is in the middle, and tiny Pandora is visible against the rings. Cassini took this image on September 22, 2005 when it was 1.2 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn. (Full Story) |
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| Jupiter's Winds Come From Inside |
| Nov 10, 2005 - An international team of researchers have developed a new computer model that simulated Jupiter's incredible weather systems. Jupiter's weather is much different from the Earth's, as the strong winds continuously circle the planet, changing very little over time. The massive East-West winds in Jupiter's equatorial region can reach speeds of 550 kph (340 mph). The simulation predicts that the planet's hot interior powers these winds, and explains why they can stay so stable for centuries. (Full Story) |
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| Young Star Gets Pushy |
| Nov 10, 2005 - This Hubble Space Telescope photograph shows NGC 346, a star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The radiation pouring out of the young hot star at the heart of the nebula is pushing out the surrounding gas and dust creating the beautiful shapes in the image. The small dark globules of material point back at the star like windsocks. NGC 346 can be resolved into at least three different sub-clusters of material each of which contains several more hot, blue, high-mass stars. (Full Story) |
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| W5 star forming region in Cassiopeia. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Spitzer. Click to enlarge. |
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| Spitzer's Version of the Pillars of Creation |
| Nov 10, 2005 - One of the most iconic images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is of the Eagle Nebula, aka the "Pillars of Creation". NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has taken a similar photograph of a region in the Cassiopeia constellation called W5. This region is dominated by a single massive star blowing powerful solar winds. The surrounding dust and material has been cleared, and compacted into the pillars - these contain clusters of newborn stars. (Full Story) |
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