I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Solar Eclipse 20 May 2012

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the-star-stuff: MERCURY - Facts and Information Histroy and Naming Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. As such, it circles the sun faster than all the other planets, which is why Romans named it after the swift-footed messenger god Mercury. Mercury was also given separate names for its appearance as both a morning star and as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body. Heraclitus believed that both Mercury and Venus orbited the Sun, not the Earth.  Physical Characteristics The surface of Mercury can reach a scorching 840 degrees F (450 degrees C). However, since this world doesn’t have a real atmosphere to entrap any heat, at night temperatures can plummet to minus 275 degrees F (minus 170 degrees C), a more than 1,100 degrees F (600 degree C) temperature swing that is the greatest in the solar system.  Since it has no significant atmosphere to stop impacts, the planet is pockmarked with craters. Amazing, as close to the sun as Mercury is, ice may exist in its craters. Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth, with a huge metallic core roughly 2,200 to 2,400 miles (3,600 to 3,800 kilometers) wide, or about 75 percent of the planet’s diameter. In comparison, Mercury’s outer shell is only 300 to 400 miles (500 to 600 kilometers) thick. Mercury possessed a magnetic field. Composition & Structure Atmospheric composition (by volume). No atmosphere: Mercury possesses an exosphere containing 42 percent oxygen, 29 percent sodium, 22 percent hydrogen, 6 percent helium, 0.5 percent potassium, with possible trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon, krypton, neon.  Magnetic Field. Roughly 1 percent the strength of Earth’s. Internal structure. Iron core roughly 2,200 to 2,400 miles (3,600 to 3,800 kilometers) wide. Outer silicate shell about 300 to 400 miles (500 to 600 kilometers) thick.
the-star-stuff: ‘Two-Tailed Comet’ Cruises By Star Cluster in Skywatching Photo Comet Garradd passed within half a degree of M92 as it sailed through the Hercules constellation in this image by astrophotographer Bill Snyder on Feb. 3, 2012. CREDIT: Bill Snyder 
the-star-stuff: All These Stars Will Explode Together Like a String of Firecrackers This is one of the most impressive Hubble Space Telescope’s images. It shows a massive group of young stars called R136, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. But that’s not what makes them so special: Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are 100 times more massive than our sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. In a few million years, someone—perhaps a bunch of space cats—will witness what will become of the most amazing firework shows in the history of the Universe. [NASA]
the-star-stuff: “Most Amazing Earth Image” From the Other Side NASA said that their Blue Marble 2012 was “the most amazing image of Earth ever.” Now they have released the other half, answering to popular demand. This look at the East hemisphere “is a composite of six separate orbits taken on January 23, 2012 by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite. Both of these new ‘Blue Marble’ images are images taken by a new instrument flying aboard Suomi NPP, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite.” [NASA Goddard Flickr]
the-star-stuff: Giant Veil of “Cold Plasma” Discovered High Above Earth Clouds of charged particles stretch a quarter the way to the moon, experts say. Clouds of “cold plasma” reach from the top of Earth’s atmosphere to at least a quarter the distance to the moon, according to new data from a cluster of European satellites. Earth generates cold plasma—slow-moving charged particles—at the edge of space, where sunlight strips electrons from gas atoms, leaving only their positively charged cores, or nuclei. Researchers had suspected these hard-to-detect particles might influence incoming space weather, such as this week’s solar flare and resulting geomagnetic storm. That’s because solar storms barrage Earth with similar but high-speed charged particles. Still, no one could be certain what the effects of cold plasma might be without a handle on its true abundance around our planet. “It’s like the weather forecast on TV. It’s very complicated to make a reasonable forecast without the basic variables,” said space scientist Mats André, of theSwedish Institute of Space Physics. “Discovering this cold plasma is like saying, Oh gosh, there are oceans here that affect our weather,” he said. Illustration courtesy J. Huart, ESA
the-star-stuff: Meet Iapetus, Saturn’s mysterious “yin-yang” moon More than 60 moons are known to orbit Saturn, but few of them are as visually striking as Iapetus. Named formally after the Greek mythological Titan, Iapetus is sometimes referred to as the “painted,” or “yin-yang” moon, due to puzzling variations in its surface composition. Photo by The Cassini Imaging Team, via NASA That’s no- oh, wait, yeah it is.


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