Lunar Focus

2019 October 17

Moons of Saturn Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, NASA

Explanation: On July 29, 2011 the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera took this snapshot and captured 5 of Saturn’s moons, from just above the ringplane. Left to right are small moons Janus and Pandora respectively 179 and 81 kilometers across, shiny 504 kilometer diameter Enceladus, and Mimas, 396 kilometers across, seen just next to Rhea. Cut off by the right edge of the frame, Rhea is Saturn’s second largest moon at 1,528 kilometers across. So how many moons does Saturn have? Twenty new found outer satellites bring its total to 82 known moons, and since Jupiter’s moon total stands at 79, Saturn is the Solar System’s new moon king. The newly announced Saturnian satellites are all very small, 5 kilometers or so in diameter, and most are in retrograde orbits inclined to Saturn’s ringplane. You can help name Saturn’s new moons, but you should understand the rules. Hint: A knowledge of Norse, Inuit, and Gallic mythology will help.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191017.html

In early 2001 during a launch of Atlantis, the Sun, Earth, Moon, and rocket were all properly aligned for this photogenic coincidence.

Image Credit: Pat McCracken, NASA

Wide-Field Collision

Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) by: Troy Casswell

Cassini mosaic of Iapetus, showing the bright trailing hemisphere with part of the dark area appearing on the right (the equatorial ridge is in profile on the right limb). The large crater Engelier is near the bottom; to its lower right can be seen the rim of a partly obliterated, slightly smaller older crater, Gerin.

This false-color mosaic shows the entire hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) visible from Cassini on the outbound leg of its encounter with the two-toned moon in Sept. 2007.

Credit: NASA/JPL

#cassini #iapetus #japeto #satellite #moon #lua #saturno #saturn #astronomy #astronomia https://www.instagram.com/p/B0kBRIHg3pQ/?igshid=meuno7r2ifg8

The total solar eclipse of 02 July 2019 from La Serena, Chile.

Credit: Gwenael Blanck

Happy Birthday, Hubble!

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble’s four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infraredspectra. Hubble’s orbit outside the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images, with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

sourcet: Wikipedia & Overview

Image credit: NASA/ESA & Hubble

The Big Dipper

by: VegaStar Carpentier