Six days into the Chemistry Advent Calendar! Missed any so far? Catch up here: http://www.compoundchem.com/2015advent/
me: wanna see a picture of my boyfriend
person: sure
me: *pulls out 10 dollar bill*
person:
me: ... he sings, too
Mostly Mute Monday: The Glory of Saturn’s Rings
“Saturn is remarkable in a number of ways; among all the planets we know of, it’s the least dense, and also the only one with a spectacularly visible set of rings. Composed of icy, dust-like material, these rings are not solid at all, but made up of particles that pass each other, stick together briefly and then fly apart once again.
Snowballs and planetesimals coalesce, only to be torn apart by tidal forces exerted by Saturn and its passing moons. Gaps in the inner rings are caused by the gravitational presence of moons themselves, while many of the outer rings — like Saturn’s E-ring, below — are actually caused by the moons themselves.”
From their discovery in the 1600s, Saturn’s rings have been a source of wonder and puzzlement to skywatchers everywhere. The only ring system visible through most telescopes from Earth, Saturn’s main rings at more than 70,000 km long, yet no more than 1 km in thickness. Once thought to have only two gaps in them, the Cassini spacecraft has revealed over a thousand, teaching us that Saturn’s rings are likely as old as the planet itself, and will likely continue to exist for as long as our Sun shines.
1. International Space Station Assembly Animation
From 1998 to 2011, five different space agencies representing 15 countries assembled the International Space Station, the largest structure ever built in space. Today humans are still living and work in the orbital laboratory. November 2, 2015 marks the 15th anniversary of continuous human presence onboard.
2. Entry of Expedition 1
Expedition 1 crew members including, Commander William Shepherd and Cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko arrive to the International Space Station for the first time on November 2, 2000.
3. September 11, 2001
Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson was the only American living off the planet on September 11, 2001. He captured his view of the fateful day from the space station.
4. Kibo
The Japanese Experiment Module, or Kibo, is installed to the space station on June 3, 2008. Kibo means “hope” in Japanese, and it is the largest single space station module.
5. First 6-person Crew
The first 6 person crew on the space station gathers for a press conference in May 29, 2009. Because it was comprised of astronauts from NASA, CSA, ESA, JAXA, and Russia, this was the first and only time all international partners were represented on the space station at the same time.
6. SpaceX Dragon
The space station’s robotic arm captures the SpaceX Dragon during its demonstration flight on May 25, 2012, making it the first commercial vehicle ever to dock with the space station.
7. Olympic Torch
Russian Cosmonauts Sergey Ryanzanskiy and Oleg Kotov bring the Olympic torch outside the space station during a spacewalk on November 9, 2013. The torch traveled to the station as part of the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
8. Testing Fire in Space
Astronaut Reid Weisman captured a floating sphere of fire observed during the Flex-2 experiment on space station on July 18, 2014. The findings may lead to better engines here on Earth.
9. Aurora
Astronaut Reid Weisman’s timelapse of a flickering aurora seen from space station on August 28, 2014.
10. Sunrise
Astronaut Reid Weisman’s timelapse of what a sunrise looks like from the space station on September 23, 2014.
11. Water Bubbles
Astronaut Reid Weisman experiments with water bubbles in space on November 8, 2014.
12. GoPro
Astronauts Terry Virts and Barry “Butch” Wilmore capture the first GoPro footage of a spacewalk on February 25, 2015.
13. Lightning
Astronaut Terry Virts filmed a massive lightning storm over India from the space station on May 9, 2015.
14. Milky Way
Astronaut Terry Virts captured a stunning view of the Milky Way from space station on May 15, 2015.
15. Veggie
Astronauts Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren, and Kimiya Yui taste lettuce that had been grown and harvested in space for the very first time on August 10, 2015.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space:http://nasa.tumblr.com
Integrated Space Plan, a 100-year plan to take mankind out of the solar system, has been updated.
The original Integrated Space Plan, created in 1989 >>
This just in, NASA’s study published today reveals that they’ve found liquid water on Mars. It’s confirmed.
Meteorite Shower Over McCloud Falls, California
js
the sunset was violently sudden & spectacular tonight. these pictures were taken abt 2 minutes apart
"I don't know who will read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe in a hundred years or so." -Mark Watney
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