Using All Of Our Senses In Space

Pictures of the Day - December 14, 2018

Insight A System - Inner-Most Planet (Insight A-I)

The Inner-most planet is a baked world orbiting perilously close to its sun at a distance of just 0.04 AU. The planet has a mass of roughly 0.56 Earth Masses and a diameter 93% that of Earth. It is rocky desert world. A thick carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide atmosphere covers the surface with an atmospheric pressure 10 times that of Earth.

Surface temperatures are extreme, reaching 1,800 F during the day.  At these temperatures some surface rocks melt into lakes of magma and the surface glows a dull red at night. The atmosphere also contains clouds composed of liquid glass droplets. Despite it’s close orbital proximity to the sun, it is not tidally locked. The planet has a moderately elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.10. This results in a 3 to 2 orbit to spin resonance. In other words the planet completes three rotations for every 2 orbits, just like the planet Mercury.

BTW Everyone, it looks like Space Engine version 0.999 is probably going to be released sometime soon, probably before the end of the year. Can’t wait to start taking pics in it.

High Resolution Pictures

Insight A-I

From a Glowing Asteroid Moon

Atmospheric Glow

Sunrise

Picture of the day - December 12, 2018

Moon rise over Insight B-V. The second sun is also visible in this pic.

Ten interesting facts about Saturn

Saturn is sometimes called “The Jewel of the Solar System.” It is a planet that is nothing like our own. Humans have been gazing up at Saturn for a long time. They have been wondering about it for thousands of years.

Here are some fun facts about the Ringed Planet.

Saturn is huge. It is the second largest planet in our Solar System. Jupiter is the only planet that is bigger.

The rings are huge but thin. The main rings could almost go from Earth to the moon. Yet, they are less than a kilometer thick.

Four spacecraft have visited Saturn: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and the Cassini-Huygens mission have all studied the planet. 

Saturn has oval-shaped storms similar to Jupiter’s: The region around its north pole has a hexagonal-shaped pattern of clouds. Scientists think this may be a wave pattern in the upper clouds. The planet also has a vortex over its south pole that resembles a hurricane-like storm.

Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen and helium: It exists in layers that get denser farther into the planet. Eventually, deep inside, the hydrogen becomes metallic. At the core lies a hot interior. (click the image for a better resolution).

Saturn has 62 moons: Some of these are large, like Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System. But most are tiny – just a few km across, and they have no official names. In fact, the last few were discovered by NASA’s Cassini orbiter just a few years ago. More will probably be discovered in the coming years.

Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years: Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of “Lubadsagush” from the ancient Assyrians. The name means “oldest of the old”.

In Saturn there is aurora: Photographic composition made by the Hubble Space Telescope showing the occurrence of aurora in the southern hemisphere of Saturn at intervals of two days.The aurora is visible only in the ultraviolet.

Saturn spins on its axis very fast. A day on Saturn is 10 hours and 14 minutes.

You can see Saturn with your own eyes: Saturn appears as one of the 5 planets visible with the unaided eye. If Saturn is in the sky at night, you can head outside and see it. To see the rings and the ball of the planet itself, you’ll want to peer through a telescope. But you can amaze your friends and family by pointing out that bright star in the sky, and let them know they’re looking at Saturn.

sources: nasa.gov, universetoday.com and solarsystem.nasa.gov

Mars: Olympus Mons (desktop/laptop) Click the image to download the correct size for your desktop or laptop in high resolution

Instagram: @artwoonz

Pictures of the day 2 - December 2, 2018

Insight System - Fourth Planet (Insight B-IV)

Insight B-IV is a Saturn-Like planet with an extensive tan-colored ring system. The planet is 53,870 kilometers in radius and has a mass of 62.7 Earth’s. This small gas giant orbits Insight B at an average distance of 0.56 AU and completes and orbit once every 184.9 Earth days. A day on the planet lasts 16 hours and 24 minutes.

Weather on the planet is quite active with numerous storm systems ranging across the planet constantly. The temperatures averages -94 F.

A total of 26 moons orbit Insight B-IV, but only one of those, the third satellite is a large rounded object. Its lone large moon has a radius of 1,132 kilometers, and a mass one quarter that of our moon.

High Resolution Pictures

Insight B-IV

Active atmosphere

Lonely moon

Duality

Insight B-IV-M3 (only large moon)

Lunar Surface

Between the rings

Pictures of the Day - December 31, 2018

Here I come a across a massive Super-Jovian gas giant. The planet is close to the boundary line with a brown dwarf and has a mass of more than 11 times that of Jupiter. It orbits a hot B-Type star that is part of a binary system consisting of a B type main sequence star and a blue supergiant. The system is located just outside of a globular cluster.

Monstrous storms rage across the planet’s atmosphere, powered not just from the warmth of two luminous suns, but also from internally released heat. A well-structured ring system surrounds the planet along with 66 natural satellites, 6 of which larger than the planet Mercury, including 1 ocean moon larger than Earth that has its own ring system.

Space Engine System ID: RSC 5581-4-0-0-300 B3 to visit the planet in Space Engine.

Planet Stats:

Radius: 71,573.62 km (11.22 x Earth, 1.02 x Jupiter) Mass: 11.06 Jupiter Masses (3,515 x Earth) Orbital Distance: 11.43 AU Length of Year: 16.33 Years Length of Solar Day: 7 hours 56 mins Gravity: 27.90 g Temperature: 720 K (836°F) Atmosphere Composition:  92.7% Hydrogen, 6.88% Helium, 0.32% Methane, 0.10% Hydrogen Deuteride

Vernier System - Post 3 (4th Planet)

The system’s 4th plant. This planet is a super-Earth orbiting the two suns at an average distance of 3.79 AU. At 4.66 Earth masses and a radius of 1.71 Earth’s the planet is quite large and massive compared to Earth. It has a hydrocarbon rich atmosphere and an average surface temperature of 187 K or -122 °F. 3 large satellites orbit the planet. The surface show evidence of numerous large impact events.

The plant’s large moons orbit close to the planet and are capable of producing double eclipses, a phenomenon only possible in star systems with more than 1 sun.

High Resolution Pictures

Picture 1 - Large battered world.

Picture 2 - Inner-most satellite occulting the planet.

Picture 3 - Large canyon

Picture 4 - Canyon close-up

Picture 5 - Double Eclipse

Picture 6 - Lunar shadow

Pictures of the day - January 17, 2019

Colorful Titan-Like world with seas of liquid methane and a surface thriving with methane-based life, which give the planet it's unique coloring.

Space Engine System ID: RS 8550-3584-8-206537-286 8 to visit the planet in Space Engine.

Pictures of the day 2 - December 4, 2018

Insight B System - Sixth Planet (Insight B-VI)

Insight B-VI is the outer-most planet orbiting Insight B. The planet is a Jupiter-Sized gas giant with a mass of 1.42 Jupiter Masses, and a radius of 74,962 kilometers. A thick carbon-rich ring system surround the planet.

Insight B-VI orbits its sun at an average distance of 1.74 AU, completing an orbit once every 2.79 Earth Years. A day on the planet lasts only 8 hours and 7 minutes. It is a frigid giant, the atmosphere of which averages -258 F. Monstrous storms rage in the planet’s atmosphere, powered by internally released heat.

The planet is the only world in the system to by surrounded by a major lunar system. Three massive moons larger than Mars orbit the planet, along with 3 smaller rounded satellites, and 74 asteroid-like moons.

High Resolution Pictures

Insight B-VI

South Pole

Giant Storm

Inner-most Major Moon.

Approaching Eclipse