Wow! The Solar System Keeps Surprising Us

Comet 67: the Gift that Keeps on Giving

Okay, I’ve just seen two “wow!!!” images today that I have to share with you.  The first is a sequence of images taken by the Rosetta mission’s OSIRIS imaging system that shows the Philae lander making its first “bounce” on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and then lifting off and traversing up to a kilometer above the surface before bounding again and then finally landing partially shadowed by a cliff. It’s an amazing feat of imaging ability. Keep in mind that the comet is more than 513 million kilometers away from Earth moving at a speed of 18.5 kilometers per second!  So, all this is being done long distance, via an orbiter that is itself busy mapping and studying the comet.

The Philae lander is, as you have probably heard, in hibernation now. It had a good day or so of data gathering after its spectacular landing last week. By early Saturday (central European time, early evening U.S. time), its batteries had gotten very depleted  and the solar panels weren’t getting enough sunlight to keep up with the electrical demand. The mission teams ordered it to send back all the data, and now they’re poring over that information to learn more about it. The lander may be awakened early next spring when the amount of sunlight it receives should be higher.

I studied comets back in grad school, and this mission has had a special significance for me. It now shows me what we all imagined comets MIGHT look like if one could get “up close and personal”. I’ll be following this mission as it progresses, and I encourage you to do the same at the Rosetta blog. 

Now, let’s look at our second image of the day.

Saturn Continues to Amaze

The second image that floated across my desktop today comes from the planet Saturn, courtesy of the Cassini Equinox Mission I I and the good folks at NASA/JPL and the Space Science Institute. Okay, so maybe you’ve seen something like this in a paint bucket, but this is WAY bigger and cooler-looking than a can of paint.

It’s a view of Saturn’s upper clouds. The swirling pattern is produced by the action of fluid dynamics (the study of how gases and liquids flow in an environment). The giant whorls and curves and rivers of “air” are evidence of forces that contain and push the gases in Saturn’s atmosphere as the planet turns on its axis. Of course, we can see similar types of activity in our own atmosphere, so studying it at other planets gives us an insight into how it happens there.

What amazes me about this image?  The sheer scale of it.  You could easily fit Earth into the white spot in the lower left corner with room to spare. And, look at those rings!  Imagine living above the surface of Saturn, perhaps in a space station. This would be your view!

Want to know more about the Cassini mission? Check it out at the mission home page!