
"worldlet"
I thought you'd just made that up, but it is actually in the dictionary. I learn a new factlet every day.
The two bright patches on dwarf planet Ceres have been spotted again by NASA astroboffins. The patches baffled boffins who didn't expect the worldlet to shine so bright, or indeed shine much at all. Tinfoil-hatters quickly came up with all sorts of theories about the patches, especially after NASA had nothing to say about them …
The particularly bright one at the end of the GIF looks like it's bang in the middle of a crater. Can it be some of that internal liquid ocean leaking after an impact (frozen now obviously)? Maybe it's just really reflective? So far no bright spots have been seen on the dark side, right?
I've been confused about when the good pictures will appear. Here's when:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft)#Ceres_orbit
Orbit...Dates...........Altitude..Orbital....vs. Hubble
RC3.....April 23–May 9..13,500km..15 days....24×
Survey..June 6–30.......4,400km...3.1 days...72×
HAMO....Aug 4–Oct 15....1,450km...19 hours...215×
LAMO....Dec 8–end.......375km.....5.5 hours..850×
You ain't seen nothing yet.
"If only we had another couple of spacecraft orbiting "Uranus" or "Neptune" this would have been the best 20 years ever for space/solar system exploration"
Yep, but the gas giant orbiters keep getting cancelled.
"(I was going to write a robot probe on Uranus, but somehow it sounds bad)"
Most recent Uranian mission concepts suggest sending a probe plunging into Uranus to investigate its gassy depths, the way the Galileo atmospheric probe did at Jupiter.
"This and New Horizons (along with lots of other great endeavours) make me really excited about these times we live in."
True, but for me, also a bit depressed. After all, it's all 'look but can't touch'.
I want to walk on a distant world under an alien sun, but it'll never happen.
I want to walk on a distant world under an alien sun, but it'll never happen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence
"NASA had nothing to say about them for days after... [] ...We now know that silence was caused by Dawn swinging around to Ceres' dark side"
Is that because radio silence prevents NASA from talking about things they've already discovered? Are NASA actually aboard the probe then? Can NASA only do one thing at a time?
...or is it that they just don't like saying "We don't have a clue what that is."?
No TFH needed, but I'll get my coat.