Scienceblogtwo

On Monday, September 26, Jupiter will be at opposition, providing viewers with stunning views of Jupiter all night long. Opposition is when an astronomical object rises in the east as the Sun sets in the west, placing the object and the Sun on opposite sides of the Earth from the perspective of the surface. Jupiter is in opposition every 13 months, which makes it appear larger and more brilliant than at any other time of the year. That's not all, though. This time, Jupiter will also approach Earth more closely than it has in the previous 59 years. As a result, Earth and Jupiter pass each other at varying distances throughout the year. This is due to the fact that Earth and Jupiter do not orbit the Sun in perfect circles. Jupiter's closest approach to Earth this year will coincide with opposition, which is extremely rare. At its closest approach, Jupiter will be 367 million miles away from Earth, which is almost the same distance as it was in 1963. At its furthest point, the eno...

The first pictures and spectra of Mars were taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on September 5. The robust telescope complements the information being gathered by orbiters, rovers, and other telescopes by offering a distinctive perspective on our neighboring planet through its infrared sensitivity. Webb is a global partnership between the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency (Canadian Space Agency). Nearly a million miles beyond Earth, at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, sits Webb's special observation station (L2). Views of Mars' visible disk are provided (the portion of the sunlit side that is facing the telescope). Because of this, Webb is able to take photos and spectra with the spectral resolution required to investigate short-lived phenomena like dust storms, weather patterns, seasonal changes, and, in a single observation, processes that happen at different times of the day (day, sunset, and night) on Mars. The Red Planet is one of the brightest ...

Earth is as conducive to life as any planet known to exist, right? Or is it? According to a recent study, the Earth might become even more habitable for life if Jupiter's orbit changes. The distance between a planet and its star remains constant while the planet revolves around its star in a completely circular orbit. However, the majority of planets have oval-shaped "eccentric" orbits around their stars. The climate changes as the planet approaches its star and absorbs more heat.                         A different solar system was developed by researchers from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) using intricate models based on information from the solar system as we know it now. They found that in this hypothetical system, if enormous Jupiter's orbit were to become more eccentric, this would lead to significant changes in the form of Earth's orbit.                  ...

The most recent Mars Express image release shows two cracks in the planet's crust that are a component of the massive Valles Marineris canyon system. Similar to how the Grand Canyon crosses the United States, Valles Marineris does the same for Mars, but the latter is much smaller. Valles Marineris is amazing, being 4000 km (2500 miles) long, 200 km (125 miles) broad, and up to 7 km (4 miles) deep. Compared to the Grand Canyon, it is over ten times longer, twenty times broader, and five times deeper. It would stretch from the northern point of Norway to the southern tip of Sicily as the biggest canyon system in our solar system. In relation to Ius and Tithonium Chasmata. Ius and Tithonium Chasmata, which are a feature of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system, are depicted in this image from the ESA's Mars Express mission. The region photographed by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera on April 21, 2022, during orbit 23123, is delineated by the bold white box. NASA, ...