kidsneedscience:

On March 25, 1655 Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens discovered the first moon of Saturn, later named Titan.  Huygens did it with the help of his brother Constantijn, also an astronomer, with a telescope they built themselves.  

Huygens called it Saturni Luna, Latin for Saturn’s Moon in his publication of the discovery, New Observations of Saturn’s Moon.  When the next five moons of Saturn were discovered a few decades later, astronomers began referring to them by number, Saturn I through Saturn VI, though the list was not sequential and Titan was variously named Saturn I, IV and even VI.  The name Titan was given 50 years after Huygen’s death by astronomer John Herschel, son of Anglo-German astronomer William Herschel in John Herschel’s 1857 publication  Results of Astronomical Observations Made at the Cape of Good Hope.  He named the moons after the twelve titans (Τῑτάν), the mythical race of deities that preceded the traditional canon of Greek deities.  

The word titan was in common use in English by the 1500s, becoming an adjective by 1709, then applied to the element titanium in 1796 and finally the moon of Saturn.   

Image of Titan from the Cassini program, courtesy NASA

(via randombeautysls)

modernizing:

The Most Astounding Fact:

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer…

MUST WATCH

the-science-llama:

Our Night Sky When We Collide With Andromeda

In the photos above in order:

— Present day
— 2 Billion years from now the of the approaching Andromeda galaxy is noticeably larger
— 3.75 Billion years, Andromeda fills the field of view
— 3.85 Billion years, the sky is ablaze with new star formation
— 3.9 Billion years, star formation continues
— 4 Billion years, Milky Way is warped and Andromeda is tidally stretched
— 5.1 Billion years, cores of both galaxies appear as a pair of globes
— 7 Billion years, the cores have merged, the bright core dominates the night sky

Here is an animation of the collision

In around 4 billion years our galaxy, The Milky Way, will collide with our neighbor galaxy Andromeda or M31. You might think this will be a catastrophic event for everything in the galaxy including our solar system but in reality most of the solar systems will simply pass by each other. However, given the new galactic center and the new mass pulling everything towards it and tossing it around, the orbits of those solar systems will be changed.

The massive Andromeda galaxy is about 120,000 light years across while our galaxy is 100,000 light years across. Given their size, the speed that we our hurdling towards each other is relatively small at 250,000 miles per hour.

Sources:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/milky-way-collide.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1837.html

(via drink-liquid-clocks-19)

pizzzatime:

gifmovie:

Planet Mercury in amazing color showing rock compositions

NASA has been capturing images of the solar systems smallest planet Mercury for 2 years with its Messenger spacecraft, and has been collecting high resolution color images of the planet. Now the visual data has been stitched together to make a 3D model of the Mercury. 

“The areas that you see that are orange - those are volcanic plains. There are some areas that are deep blue that are richer in an opaque mineral which is somewhat mysterious - we don’t really know what that is yet. “And then you see beautiful light-blue streaks across Mercury’s surface. Those are crater rays formed in impacts when fresh, ground-up rock is strewn across the surface of the planet.”

(via scottdamn)

victorielisa:

all-those-open-miles:

squibsays:

frankthegiantbunnyrabbit:

highfunctioning-homosapien:

amedyr:

theresafoxinmyteacup:

seashelllz:

mcgarrsworld:

Earth, Jupiter and Venus from the skyline of Mars!

incredible.

my heart feels like it’s going to explode. oh my god, this is absolutely incredible. 

I don’t understand how people can look at these photos and be like “meh, whatever”.

It will always be insanely cool. I mean that is our planet. From ANOTHER FUCKING PLANET.

in complete awe

It’s absolutely surreal.

That’s insane…

I’m so fucking insignificant OH MY GOD. This picture is too crazy

(Source: theweeklyansible, via laserpanther)

isthisthingontesting123:

Earth-like planets may be as close as 13 light years away.  In galactic terms, that’s like a rural neighbour.

(via sushie-shuakhwe)

cometsmeteoroids:

How Asteroid 2012 DA14 Will Give Earth Close Shave (Infographic)

(via tehstillness)

pappubahry:

Pan, shepherd moon of the Encke Gap in Saturn’s A Ring, photographed by Cassini from almost perfectly in Saturn’s equatorial plane.

(via colepierce)

spaceplasma:

Planets Large and Small Populate Our Galaxy

Astronomers have discovered more than 700 alien planets beyond the solar system, and the count is rising all the time. Some are large and hot, and others are smaller and cooler, but scientists are still on the lookout for an Earth twin.

Buy This Infographic as a Full-Size Poster

Credit: Karl Tate / SPACE.com

(via sassafrasssmith)

ikenbot:

Jupiter’s Spots

In what’s beginning to look like a case of planetary measles, a third red spot has appeared alongside its cousins — the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. — in the turbulent Jovian atmosphere.

This third red spot, which is a fraction of the size of the two other features, lies to the west of the Great Red Spot in the same latitude band of clouds.

The new red spot was previously a white oval-shaped storm. The change to a red color indicates its swirling storm clouds are rising to heights like the clouds of the Great Red Spot. One possible explanation is that the red storm is so powerful it dredges material from deep beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops and lifts it to higher altitudes where solar ultraviolet radiation — via some unknown chemical reaction — produces the familiar brick color.

Detailed analysis of the visible-light images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on May 9 and 10, and near-infrared adaptive optics images taken by the W.M. Keck telescope on May 11, is revealing the relative altitudes of the cloud tops of the three red ovals. Because all three oval storms are bright in near-infrared light, they must be towering above the methane in Jupiter’s atmosphere, which absorbs the Sun’s infrared light and so looks dark in infrared images.

Turbulence and storms first observed on Jupiter more than two years ago are still raging, as revealed in the latest pictures. The Hubble and Keck images also reveal the change from a rather bland, quiescent band surrounding the Great Red Spot just over a year ago to one of incredible turbulence on both sides of the spot.

Red Spot Jr. appeared in spring of 2006. The Great Red Spot has persisted for as long as 200 to 350 years, based on early telescopic observations. If the new red spot and the Great Red Spot continue on their courses, they will encounter each other in August, and the small oval will either be absorbed or repelled from the Great Red Spot. Red Spot Jr. which lies between the two other spots, and is at a lower latitude, will pass the Great Red Spot in June.

Full Photo Description

(via joeross)

nprfreshair:

From Krulwich Wonders, An NPR Sciencey Blog:

In this video, we are flying over the Earth, looking down and seeing what astronauts see when it’s nighttime, when lightning storms flash like June bugs, when cities look like galaxies, when you can see where people are. It’s quietly astonishing.

This montage of space footage was assembled and narrated by NASA scientist Justin Wilkinson.

You can check out more Krulwich Wonders here.

for-all-mankind:

dannysauruswrecks:

This just blows my mind. And to think that there is no end… Wow.

And, what’s even better, we think the universe is a hundred million times bigger than we previously thought, and since the high estimates say we can only observe about 10% of it…it’s stunning.

(Source: carving-the-world, via hapaxlegomina)