matthen:

When you plot the position of Mars in the sky, you’ll notice that in general it moves from West to East. But when we are closest to Mars, it seems to go backwards for a bit before continuing. This is called retrograde motion, and this challenged early models of the Solar system which had Earth at the centre. The animation shows why Mars appears to go backwards for a bit. [more] [code]

(via likeaphysicist)

laboratoryequipment:

Rain Falls on Saturn from its Rings

NASA funded observations on the W. M. Keck Observatory, with analysis led by the Univ. of Leicester, tracked the “rain” of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and found the extent of the ring-rain is far greater, and falls across larger areas of the planet, than previously thought. The work reveals the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere. The paper appears in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/rain-falls-saturn-its-rings

(via scientificillustration)

spaceplasma:

Vesta Full Rotation

In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours.

Credit: JPL

(via scienceing)

workman:

invisiblestories:

La nuit (via kitty-en-classe)

(via tentaclegarden)

Analemma on The Southern Meridian

A graduated scale in the shape of a figure eight, indicating the sun’s declination and the equation of time for every day of the year and usually found on sundials and globes.

(via positrons)

thecosmosmadeconscious:

Hexagon and Rings

Saturn’s north polar hexagon basks in the Sun’s light now that spring has come to the northern hemisphere. Many smaller storms dot the north polar region and Saturn’s signature rings put in an appearance in the background.

(via wittynonsense)

staceythinx:

sirmitchell:

In my opinion, one of the best things humanity has captured on video. Done in 1979 by Voyager 1 as it approached Jupiter. 

thenewenlightenmentage:

Dwarf Planet Eris May Reveal Quantum Gravity

KILLING Pluto was only the beginning. The dwarf planet Eris, named for the Greek goddess of strife, could also bring down the most popular explanations for dark matter and dark energy.

Many galaxies appear to have stronger gravity - and thus more mass - than can be explained by their visible matter alone. Overly massive galaxies are most often attributed to dark matter, an invisible substance that interacts with matter through gravity. To date, though, no one has directly detected dark matter particles.

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(via fuckyeahquantummechanics)