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[Lucky Forward]

Considering the crisis in Georgia...

...won't it make it rather difficult for America to talk tough against Russian military adventures when Russia will be our only ticket for manned space flight for five years or more?

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/8...-georgia-imperils-us-access-to-space-station/

Russian Invasion of Georgia Imperils U.S. Access to Space Station

In a strange side effect of Russia’s invasion of Georgia this weekend, the U.S. may lose access to Russia’s Soyuz spacecrafts that were expected to ferry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station after the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2010. Florida Senator Bill Nelson says that because of Russia’s new aggression, the U.S. Congress may refuse to pass an exemption required to let NASA buy services from Russia.

Under a law known as the Iran Non-Proliferation Act, the United States is banned from buying space technology from Russia unless the president determines Russia is taking steps to prevent the proliferation of nuclear and missile technology to Iran. Congress waived the ban in 2005, allowing NASA to enter into a $719 million contract with the Russians for use of the Soyuz through 2011 [CNN]. But an extension of the waiver needs to be passed to guarantee access to the Space Station after 2011.

...

Senator Nelson says the waiver will face serious opposition in Congress, especially during an election year. “It was a tough sell before, but it was doable simply because we didn’t have a choice. We don’t want to deny ourselves access to the space station, the very place we have built and paid,” Nelson said. “It’s going to be a tougher sell now unless there are critical developments during the next 48 to 72 hours” [Florida Today]. Meanwhile, a senior House Republican staffer said the waiver is “dead on arrival. Nobody thinks it’s going to happen, and the reality is there is no back-up plan for the space station.”

 

[fallout]

I uh, hadn't considered the American point of view on that one. My bad!

 

[Crazymoogle]

can you buy land on the moon in a 100% legit non novelty way?

Nope. The registries out there are frequently smashed around by government scam hunters, even China does it!

Realistically speaking, lunar property is not legally owned by anyone, hence nobody can sell it to you. It's kind of like venturing out to Antarctica and building a house; you can claim its your property because you were there first, but if the guy has a gun, you're off the property, period. Even the United States would have no problem landing on your "space property", building a moonbase there, claiming it as US land, and promptly debunk your claim using a variety of handy laws meant to protect nations from prosecution.

 

[Buba Big Guns]

Great news, Obama flipped his stance on space exploration and nasa.

 

[Windu]

About 2 weeks ago I visited Washington DC and I got to go to the Air and Space Museum. That was so fucking cool. I got to see alot of stuff like some of the Apollo Space Capsules, Lunar Lander among other stuff. Next thing I want to do is go to FL and see a actual launch. And I'm sure they have some great museums there too.

Also it was really neat to see the Wright Brothers plane. Kinda funny how Apollo 11 is only about 65 years after that.

 

[Windu]

I just got an email about this. Looks like there is a really awesome site with tons of pictures.

http://www.nasaimages.org/

Awesome stuff there, thanks.

 

[Windu]

Great news, Obama flipped his stance on space exploration and nasa.

Well thats good. What exactly is his stance now?

 

[Quazar]

Great news, Obama flipped his stance on space exploration and nasa.

????

Anyways....

Water frost appears in this image the Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager took on Aug. 14, 2008, at 6 a.m. local Mars time on Sol 79, the 79th Martian day after landing. The frost begins to disappear shortly after 6 a.m. as the sun rises on the landing site. The sun was about 22 degrees above the horizon when SSI took the image. Light at that oblique angle enhanced the detail of the polygons, troughs and rocks in the surrounding terrain. The image is false-color, enhanced to bring out details in the terrain. (NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University)

http://www.physorg.com/news138294857.html

 

[Anthropic]

Here is Obama's current NASA stance:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=28880

Interestingly, it sounds like both candidates want to add at least one shuttle flight. There are some touchy political issues surrounding the end of the shuttle program, including the $1.5 billion AMS that's not planned to be launched and the fact that several thousand high paying jobs that currently support the shuttle will be cut when the program ends. On paper, many of those people could have jobs in the Ares program, but as everyone is aware, there will be a "gap" between Ares and the shuttle. They can't lay off these people and ask them to come back 2-3 years later.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Another setback for NASA

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/18/nasa-cancels-spacesuit-contract-to-avoid-litigation/

Sounds like they need some new leadership, this is ridiculous.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Here is Obama's current NASA stance:

His "redefining" of his position is very good. It was practically the only topic I disagreed with him on. Having it in writing that moon missions (and thus the Ares V) are going to go forward at least under present funding is encouraging.

But even without cutbacks the present budget is going to be a mighty challenge for NASA to squeeze everything into.

I would expect cutbacks to ISS (potentially shutting it down by 2016, sorry EU/Russia) and robotic missions.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

DAMNIT OBAMA

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Well, I think Obama has the power to read my fucking mind:

Obama Suggests $2 Billion In New Funding for NASA

Sen. Barack Obama has detailed a comprehensive space plan that includes $2 billion in new funding to reinvigorate NASA and a promise to make space exploration and science a significantly higher priority if he is elected president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../08/18/AR2008081802171.html?hpid=sec-politics

Keeping the flow of pictures going:

Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was an exploding star and record the colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula. Pictured above is the west end of the Veil Nebula known technically as NGC 6960 but less formally as the Witch's Broom Nebula. The expanding debris cloud gains its colors by sweeping up and exciting existing nearby gas. The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years away towards the constellation of Cygnus. This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size of the full Moon. The bright star 52 Cygni is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient supernova.

Edit: And for the exploration geeks like me, a Gov sponsored paper on the economic benefits of a Lunar Propellant Production facility:

http://www.sei.aero/library/paper_archive/ISTS-2006-k-13.pdf

 

[Quazar]

Most Black Holes Might Come in Only Small and Large

Until now, astronomers had suspected that globular clusters like the one pictured here were the most likely place to find medium-sized black holes -- elusive objects that have proved difficult to pin down. Globular clusters are spherical collections of stars that orbit around larger galaxies like our Milky Way. Scientists analyzed a globular cluster called RZ2109 and found it does not possess a medium-sized black hole. RZ2109 is much farther away than the globular cluster pictured here, called Omega Centauri.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ NOAO/AURA/NSF

Is this the end of the story for medium black holes? Zepf said it is possible such objects are hiding in the outskirts of galaxies like our Milky Way, either in surrounding so-called dwarf galaxies or in the remnants of dwarf galaxies being swallowed by a bigger galaxy. If so, the black holes would be faint and difficult to find.

Full article: http://www.physorg.com/news138464066.html

 

[fallout]

Poking through APOD brought me to this neat comparison.

Our galaxy of stars:



Our galaxy of neutral hydrogen:



(click on the images for the associated write-ups)

 

[fallout]

And, our galaxy in gamma rays:

 

[Windu]

Morning Frost on the Surface of Mars

A thin layer of water frost is visible on the ground around NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in this image taken by the Surface Stereo Imager at 6 a.m. on Sol 79 (August 14, 2008), the 79th Martian day after landing. The frost began to disappear shortly after 6 a.m. as the sun rose on the Phoenix landing site.

The sun was about 22 degrees above the horizon when the image was taken, enhancing the detail of the polygons, troughs and rocks around the landing site.

This view looks east-southeast with the lander's eastern solar panel visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the image.

This false color image has been enhanced to show color variations.

 

[Macam]

Here's an article from last week's The Economist, titled "Ener the Dragon", which is about how the war in Georgia is prompting a rethink of America’s route into space. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

[Windu]

31 Million Miles from Planet Earth

On July 4th, 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft directed a probe to impact the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1. Still cruising through the solar system, earlier this year the robotic spacecraft looked back to record a series of images of its home world 31 million miles (50 million kilometers) away. In a sequence from top left to bottom right, these four frames from the video show a rotating Earth. They combine visible and near-infrared image data with enough resolution and contrast to see clouds, oceans, and continents. They also follow a remarkable transit of Earth by its large, natural satellite, the Moon. The Moon's orbital motion carries it across the field of view from left to right. Imaging the Earth from this distant perspective allows astronomers to connect overall variations in brightness at different wavelengths with planetary features. The observations will aid in the search for earthlike planets in other planetary systems.

 

[saelz8]

31 Million Miles

31 Million Miles

Amazing

 

[Windu]

Here are some Space Station Concept pictures I found while browsing the Nasa Images website(which was linked on this page, but here is the link anyway, http://www.nasaimages.org/index.html)(Click concept names for the source page with bigger images)

Roof Space Station Concept

This is the Johnson Space Center's 1984 "roof" concept for a space station. The "roof" was covered with solar array cells, that were to generate about 120 kilowatts of electricity. Within the V-shaped beams there would be five modules for living, laboratory space, and external areas for instruments and other facilities.

Inflatable Station Concept

Unlike many other early space station concepts, this design actually made it out of the concept phase and into production, though no models were ever flown. This particular station was 30-feet and expandable. It was designed to be taken to outer space in a small package and then inflate in orbit. The station could, in theory, have been big enough for 1 to 2 people to use for a long period of time. A similar 24 foot station was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation for NASA test use. The concept of space inflatables was revived in the 1990s.

McDonnell-Douglas Space Station Concept

This McDonnell-Douglas concept drawing depicts a robotic arm controlled by an astronaut. The arm is being used to maneuver a new addition to the space station into place. The robotic arm was to have been essential to building the space station in orbit.

Spider Space Station Concept

A 1977 concept drawing for a space station. Known as the "spider" concept, this station was designed to use Space Shuttle hardware. A solar array was to be unwound from the exhausted main fuel tank. The structure could then be formed and assembled in one operation. The main engine tank would then be used as a space operations control center, a Shuttle astronaut crew habitat, and a space operations focal point for missions to the Moon and Mars.

Freedom Space Station Concept

A concept drawing of Space Station Freedom. Freedom was to be a permanently crewed orbiting base in orbit to be completed in the mid 1990's. It was to have a crew of 4. Freedom was an attempt at international cooperation that attempted to incorporate the technological and economic assistance, of the United States, Canada, Japan, and nine European nations. The image shows four pressurized modules (three laboratories and a habitat module) and six large solar arrays which were expected to generate 56,000 watts of electricity for both scientific experiments and the daily operation of the station. Space Station Freedom never came to fruition. Instead, in 1993, the original partners, as well as Russia, pooled their resources to create the International Space Station.

There are more concept stuff here. Just typed in the Keyword "concepts" and got a bunch of stuff. Great website.

 

[Macam]

How about some great shots of hurricanes from the ISS?

More at link. Awesome much?

 

[Windu]

Awesome much?

very much.

Amazing how big these things are.

 

[Darklord]

I came across this picture before. I won't show it because its 6000x3000 but heres the link.

It's one of the best space pictures I've ever seen. http://img152.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=31957_1220642171233_122_991lo.jpg

 

[fallout]

1000 replies (1001 posts) ... congrats guys! Top posters of the thread:

Windu - 121
fallout - 82
AndersTheSwede - 69
Hootie - 42
Machado - 26
Alfarif - 25
Teknoman - 23
DeathNote - 20
Quazar - 16
speedpop - 15
Sir Fragula - 14
SenseiJinx - 12
xabre - 10

I came across this picture before. I won't show it because its 6000x3000 but heres the link.

It's one of the best space pictures I've ever seen. http://img152.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=31957_1220642171233_122_991lo.jpg

All those molecular clouds are so cool (the darker, tighter-grouped clouds). Stars are being formed there. There's also a name and purpose for the really dark regions, but I can't remember it. I'd have to dig out my notes on stellar formation if anyone's curious, heh.

 

[speedpop]

That picture is quite amazing.

 

[Windu]

The Anthe Arc around Saturn

What created this unusual partial ring around Saturn? Discovered last year, the arc was captured in clear detail only two months ago by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. Since the arc occupies the same orbit as the small moon Anthe, a leading hypothesis holds that the arc was created by, and is replenished by, meteor impacts on Anthe. Similar arcs have been previously discovered, including an arc associated with the small Saturnian moon Methone, one arc related to Saturn's G ring, and several arcs orbiting Neptune. Pictured above, Anthe, only two kilometers across, is seen as the bright point near the top of the Anthe arc. The Anthe arc was imaged by the robotic space probe as it swooped to within 1.5 million kilometers of the small moon.

1000 replies (1001 posts) ... congrats guys! Top posters of the thread:

Windu - 121
fallout - 82
AndersTheSwede - 69
Hootie - 42
Machado - 26
Alfarif - 25
Teknoman - 23
DeathNote - 20
Quazar - 16
speedpop - 15
Sir Fragula - 14
SenseiJinx - 12
xabre - 10

Well most of my posts have just been copying images from websites that have a daily image. /shrug

I like doing it though since it keeps the thread from dieing.

 

[harSon]

That huge picture on the previous page is amazing :O

 

[Hootie]

The Anthe Arc around Saturn

Well most of my posts have just been copying images from websites that have a daily image. /shrug

I like doing it though since it keeps the thread from dieing.

Yeah most of my posts are just quoting pictures (like the one you posted in the quote) and saying "WOW" or "MIND = BLOWN" or "Absolutely stunning" etc :lol

These things really do amaze me, though. I'm actually really thinking about going into a field that deals with space/astronomy. Physics, while most likely it will be of the one of the most rigorous majors possible, will give me a great sense of understanding of our universe, and will open up even more questions for me to hopefully ponder.

Anyways, I'm still not even out of high school so I have a looooong way to go.

 

[fallout]

Hey, contributions are contributions. Machado provided more to this thread than I ever could have on my own.

These things really do amaze me, though. I'm actually really thinking about going into a field that deals with space/astronomy. Physics, while most likely it will be of the one of the most rigorous majors possible, will give me a great sense of understanding of our universe, and will open up even more questions for me to hopefully ponder.

Anyways, I'm still not even out of high school so I have a looooong way to go.

Yeah, physics as a major can be incredibly difficult. Even if you get it you still have to be good with the math in order to really get it.

A bit of a warning, though ... myself and a few others started majoring in physics for the very same reasons that you want to. By the time graduation rolled around, there weren't a lot left in the program (mind you, there weren't very many to begin with). Myself and a couple others switched out into computer science, others went and just got other unrelated degrees. That said, I still have a huge interest in the subject and volunteered/worked at the campus observatory while I was in school. So, even if you don't go with physics, or do and you find that it's not for you, there are ways to stay involved.

 

[Windu]

Gorgeous View of Space Shuttle Atlantis and Surrounding Area

Click For Bigger Image

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, 4 September 2008--Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125) has passed the bend in the crawlerway taking it to Launch Pad 39A, above left, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The crawlerway is flanked by the Banana River at right and Banana Creek at left. The Atlantic Ocean stretches across the horizon. Photographer: Kim Shiflett

Click For Bigger Image

S124-E-008622 (10 June 2008) --- A partial view of International Space Station solar panels and Earth's horizon are photographed by a STS-124 crewmember on the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery is docked with the station.

Space Shuttle Enterprise Lifted into Dynamic Test Stand

Click for Source which has a bigger image

Aerial view of Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise being hoisted into Marshall's Dynamic Test Stand for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration test (MVGVT). The test marked the first time ever that the entire Space Shuttle elements, an Orbiter, an External Tank (ET), and two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), were mated together. Purpose of the vibration tests was to verify that the Space Shuttle performed its launch configuration as predicted.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Gorgeous View of Space Shuttle Atlantis and Surrounding Area

This will be my new wallpaper.

I've been in love with the shuttle transporter since I was a kid when I coveted the G.I. vehicle based off it.

 

[Windu]

Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Pad 39B on mission STS-97. This is a five minute exposure taken from the Causeway (about 7 miles away from the pad). Taken with a borrowed all-manual Nikomat camera, 24 mm lens, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100 film. When the exposure was stopped in this shot, the shuttle was approximately 229 statute miles downrange.

Planets over Perth

A bright trio of terrestrial planets were joined by a young Moon on September 1st, in planet Earth's early evening skies. In this view of the celestial gathering from Perth, Western Australia, the Moon's sunlit crescent is nearly horizontal at Perth's southern latitude of about 32 degrees. Venus, then Mercury, and finally Mars shine above colorful city lights on the far shore of the Swan River. The six unlit towers on the left surround a large cricket stadium. For now, the planetary trio still lingers low in the west just after sunset. But in the coming days Venus will move farther from the Sun, climbing higher after sunset, while Mercury and Mars will steadily sink into the glare along the western horizon.

 

[Metroid Killer]

Wow I would love to see that many planets on the sky at once !

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

:O nice!


very cool thread

 

[EBCubs03]

This is the only thread on GAF I like anymore. Nobody argues about stupid shit in here.

It's just all content. And that's all I ever want out of a thread.

 

[Twig]

This is the only thread on GAF I like anymore. Nobody argues about stupid shit in here.

It's just all content. And that's all I ever want out of a thread.

<3

 

[AndersTheSwede]

At first glance, the Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293), looks simple and round. But this well-studied example of a planetary nebula, produced near the end of the life of a sun-like star, is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry. Its extended loops and comet-shaped features have been explored in Hubble Space Telescope images. Still, a 16-inch diameter telescope and camera with broad and narrow band filters was used to create this sharp view of the Helix. The color composite also reveals the nebula's intriguing details, including light-year long, bluegreen radial stripes or spokes that give it the appearance of a cosmic bicycle wheel. The spoke features seem to indicate that the Helix Nebula is itself an old and evolved planetary nebula. The Helix is a mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius.

---

A cool PDF about possible scenarios of human exploration of Titan and Europa:

http://www.isunet.edu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=464&Itemid=256

---

Also here is a video of that shot windu posted of moon passing in front of Earth from 31 million miles away.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1304999827/bctid1674044294

 

[Windu]

The Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander caught this dust devil in action west of the lander in four frames shot about 50 seconds apart from each other between 11:53 a.m. and 11:56 a.m. local Mars time on Sol 104, or the 104th Martian day of the mission, Sept. 9, 2008.

Dust devils have not been detected in any Phoenix images from earlier in the mission, but at least six were observed on Sol 104.

Dust devils are whirlwinds that often occur when the Sun heats the surface of Mars, or some areas on Earth. The warmed surface heats the layer of atmosphere closest to it, and the warm air rises in a whirling motion, stirring dust up from the surface like a miniature tornado.

The dust devil visible in this sequence was about 1,000 meters (about 3,300 feet) from the lander when the first frame was taken, and had moved to about 1,700 meters (about 5,600 feet) away by the time the last frame was taken about two and a half minutes later.

This dust devil is about 5 meters (16 feet) in diameter. This is much smaller than dust devils that have been observed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit much closer to the equator. It is closer in size to dust devils seen from orbit in the Phoenix landing region, though still smaller than those..

The image has been enhanced to make the dust devil easier to see.

An angry looking sky is captured in a movie clip consisting of 10 frames taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander.

The clip accelerates the motion. The images were take around 3 a.m. local solar time at the Phoenix site during Sol 95 (Aug. 30), the 95th Martian day since landing.

The swirling clouds may be moving generally in a westward direction over the lander.

 

[DeEJaYMiND]

Now this is freaky. Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space, Scientists Puzzled

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/28244844.html?pageSize=0

Hubble Finds a Mystery Object

Don't get the idea that we've found every kind of astronomical object there is in the universe. In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, astronomers working on the Supernova Cosmology Project report finding a new kind of something that they cannot make any sense of.

The project used the Hubble Space Telescope to monitor very distant galaxy clusters for supernovae. On February 21, 2006, in the direction of a far-away cluster in Bootes named CL 1432.5+3332.8 (redshift 1.112, light travel time 8.2 billion years), Hubble began seeing something brighten. It continued brightening for about 100 days and peaked at 21st magnitude in two near-infrared colors. It then faded away over a similar timescale, until nothing was left in view down to 26th magnitude. The object brightened and faded by a factor of at least 120, maybe more.

The mystery object did not behave like any known kind of supernova. It is not even in any detectable galaxy. "The shape of the light curve is inconsistent with microlensing," say the researchers. They recorded three spectra of it — and its spectrum, they write, "in addition to being inconsistent with all known supernova types, is not matched to any spectrum in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database" of vast numbers of objects. "We suggest that the transient may be one of a new class."

What's its distance? That would certainly be a first step to figuring it out, but only the broadest constraints can be put on its distance. Its lack of parallax motion means that it can't be closer than about 130 light-years, and a lack of cosmic hydrogen absorption in its spectrum means that it can't be farther than 11 billion light-years (when "distance" is defined by light travel time). That leaves a lot of leeway.

Here is the group's paper with all the details. The lead author is Kyle Barbary (University of California at Berkeley).

Link to the pdf http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0809/0809.1648v1.pdf

I think found this:

 

[Tom_Cody]

Now this is freaky. Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space, Scientists Puzzled

It's heartbreaking to think that Hubble's time is counting down. Howmuch additional money would it cost to keep Hubble going?

 

[Tom_Cody]

sorry to bump this old (yet amazing) thread but I was discussing space with my girlfriend and got all excited about it again and I was wondering if you guys knew any documentaries about space that me and my GF could watch toigether?

thanks

It's not that old- I just posted 8 hours ago.

Documentaries? It depends on what you're interested in.

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions debuted this year and it was excellent. It's out on DVD and it's coming on blu-ray in a few weeks.

For something completely different, you could check out Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond. It contains 3 documentaries on space travel that were produced in conjunction with Wernher von Braun in the late 50s. I actually haven't seen this yet (I have it on order from amazon right now), but I have high expectations. It will be very interesting to see this, coming from a perspective before Yuri Gagarin's historic flight or even Sputnik

 

[Windu]

From Earth to the Moon is also very good. I watched it because someone in this thread recommended it. I'm glad I did.

i haven't been able to watch all the When we left earth ones though. I have seen the last 2 I think. Missed it when it came on the first time and they haven't shown them on TV very much since. I guess I should buy it or something.

anyway another picture:

Jupiter's moon Io floats above the cloudtops of Jupiter in this image captured January 1, 2001. The image is deceiving: there are 350,000 kilometers - roughly 2.5 Jupiters - between Io and Jupiter's clouds. Io is about the size of our own moon (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

 

[Tom_Cody]

Oh my god that's stunning.

 

[saelz8]

This is amazing!

 

[Crazymoogle]

If jupiter's gravity is that big why doesn't it pull its moons?

Jupiter actually has quite strong gravity but it's not on-par with something as massive as the sun. (Strangely enough the planet shrinks 2cm a year!)

It is slowly pulling in its moons, but the sheer distance between the objects, the power of Jupiter's gravitational field, and various counter-forces (such as the other moons - there are 62 in total!) slow down things a bit. (Like the picture says, 350k km between the moon and Jupiter's atmosphere!!) I think tidal forces actually cause Io's surface to rise/fall 100m based on orbit.

 

[fallout]

I think tidal forces actually cause Io's surface to rise/fall 100m based on orbit.

Yeah, something like that, I imagine. Those tidal forces are a cause for volcanic activity and have turned Io into one of the most volcanically active places in the solar system.

 

[Windu]

More Images (some may have already been posted in this thread though)

This image of Jupiter's moon Europa rising above Jupiter was captured by the New Horizons spacecraft in February just after it passed Jupiter on its way to Pluto and the outer Solar System. (NASA, Johns Hopkins U. APL, SWRI)

The gibbous phase of Jupiter's moon Europa. The robot spacecraft Galileo captured this image mosaic during its mission orbiting Jupiter from 1995 - 2003. Evidence and images from the Galileo spacecraft, indicated that liquid oceans might exist below the icy surface. (Galileo Project, JPL, NASA; reprocessed by Ted Stryk)

This view of the icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa, is a mosaic of two pictures taken by the Solid State Imaging system on board the Galileo spacecraft during a close flyby of Europa on February 20, 1997. The area shown is about 14 kilometers by 17 kilometers (8.7 miles by 10.6 miles), and has a resolution of 20 meters (22 yards) per pixel. One of the youngest features seen in this area is the double ridge cutting across the picture from the lower left to the upper right. This double ridge is about 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) wide and stands some 300 meters (330 yards) high. (NASA/JPL/ASU)

The first color movie of Jupiter from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows what it would look like to peel the entire globe of Jupiter, stretch it out on a wall into the form of a rectangular map, and watch its atmosphere evolve with time. The brief movie clip spans 24 Jupiter rotations between Oct. 31 and Nov. 9, 2000. The darker blips that appear are several moons and their shadows. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

A composite of several images taken in several colors by the New Horizons Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera, or MVIC, illustrating the diversity of structures in Jupiter's atmosphere, in colors similar to what someone "riding" on New Horizons would see. It was taken near the terminator, the boundary between day and night, and shows relatively small-scale, turbulent, whirlpool-like structures near the south pole of the planet. The dark "holes" in this region are actually places where there is very little cloud cover, so sunlight is not reflected back to the camera. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

This image, acquired during Galileo's ninth orbit around Jupiter, shows two volcanic plumes on Io. One plume was captured on the bright limb or edge of the moon, erupting over a caldera (volcanic depression) named Pillan Patera. The plume seen by Galileo is 140 kilometers (86 miles) high, and was also detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. The second plume, seen near the terminator, the boundary between day and night, is called Prometheus. The shadow of the airborne plume can be seen extending to the right of the eruption vent. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

A part of the southern hemisphere of Io, seen by the spacecraft Voyager at a range of 74,675 km. In the foreground is gently undulating topography, while in the back-ground are two mountains with their near faces brightly illuminated by the sun. The mountain in the right is approximately 150 km across at its base and its height is probably in excess of 15 km which would make it higher than any mountain on Earth. (NASA/JPL)

This five-frame sequence of New Horizons images captures the giant plume from Io's Tvashtar volcano. Snapped by the probe's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) as the spacecraft flew past Jupiter earlier this year, this first-ever "movie" of an Io plume clearly shows motion in the cloud of volcanic debris, which extends 330 kilometers (200 miles) above the moon's surface. Only the upper part of the plume is visible from this vantage point - the plume's source is 130 kilometers (80 miles) below the edge of Io's disk, on the far side of the moon. (NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

A volcanic 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. (NASA, JHU/APL, SwRI - Additional Processing: Sean Walker)

Jupiter's moon Io, seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft against a backdrop of Jupiter's cloud tops, which appear blue in this false-color composite. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

A mosaic of Jupiter's ring system, acquired by NASA's Galileo spacecraft when the Sun was behind the planet, and the spacecraft was in Jupiter's shadow peering back toward the Sun. (NASA/JPL/Cornell University)

An image of the leading hemisphere of Ganymede seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Many fragmented regions of dark terrain split by lanes of bright grooved terrain cover the surface. Several bright young craters can be seen, including a linear chain of craters near the center of the image which may have resulted from the impact of a fragmented comet, similar to comet Shoemaker-Levy/9 which hit Jupiter in 1994. (NASA/JPL/Brown University)

The area of Nicholson Regio and Arbela Sulcus illustrates many of the diverse terrain types on Jupiter's moon Ganymede, as seen in this image taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The image covers an area approximately 89 by 26 kilometers (55by 16 miles). (NASA/JPL/Brown University)

Jupiter's Great Red seen by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. July, 1979 Around the northern boundary a white cloud is seen, which extends to east of the region. The presence of this cloud prevents small cloud vortices from circling the spot in the manner seen in the Voyager 1 encounter. Another white oval cloud (different from the one present in this position three months ago) is seen south of the Great Red Spot. This image was taken on July 6, 1979 from a range of 2,633,003 kilometers. The Red Spot is 20,000 km across. (NASA/JPL)

This true color mosaic of Jupiter was constructed from images taken by the narrow angle camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 29, 2000, as the spacecraft neared Jupiter during its flyby of the giant planet. It is the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced. Although Cassini's camera can see more colors than humans can, Jupiter here looks the way that the human eye would see it. (NASA/JPL/SSI)

 

[Crazymoogle]

what's the core ofjupiter made of? I mean gas cannot cause that huge gravitational force

As I understand Jupiter theoretically has a dense, rocky core surrounded by a layer of liquid-metallic hydrogen, but as Jupiter is too massive for tests to ever be performed, I think it's still a reasonable possibility that the core is gone entirely/molten/something else. Didn't Clarke suggest that it may have a gold core, once?

In any case Jupiter is one of those gas giants that is about as big as it theoretically can be without becoming a dwarf star. Probably good news for us.

 

[Amir0x]

Images are fucking gorgeous wo