Aurora Boreal.
Aurora Boreal.
Crédito: Ollie Taylor
@olliemtaylor
More Posts from Glaretum and Others
Encontrar ruinas y obtener fotografías junto a las estrellas es algo fantástico. Villacreces, Castilla y León, España. Villacreces fue el primer despoblado del siglo XX en Tierra de Campos.
La estructura que podemos ver en el centro es la Torre mudéjar.
Crédito: Marcos Alonso
https://instagram.com/elpiratilla
~Antares
How the Sun Affects Asteroids in Our Neighborhood
It’s no secret the Sun affects us here on Earth in countless ways, from causing sunburns to helping our houseplants thrive. The Sun affects other objects in space, too, like asteroids! It can keep them in place. It can move them. And it can even shape them.
Asteroids embody the story of our solar system’s beginning. Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun on the same path as the gas giant, are no exception. The Trojans are thought to be left over from the objects that eventually formed our planets, and studying them might offer clues about how the solar system came to be.
Over the next 12 years, NASA’s Lucy mission will visit eight asteroids—including seven Trojans— to help answer big questions about planet formation and the origins of our solar system. It will take the spacecraft about 3.5 years to reach its first destination.
How does the Sun affect what Lucy might find?
Place in Space
Credits: Astronomical Institute of CAS/Petr Scheirich
The Sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system’s mass and exerts a strong gravitational force as a result. In the case of the Trojan asteroids that Lucy will visit, their very location in space is dictated in part by the Sun’s gravity. They are clustered at two Lagrange points. These are locations where the gravitational forces of two massive objects—in this case the Sun and Jupiter—are balanced in such a way that smaller objects (like asteroids or satellites) stay put relative to the larger bodies. The Trojans lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit by 60° at Lagrange points L4 and L5.
Pushing Asteroids Around (with Light!)
The Sun can move and spin asteroids with light! Like many objects in space, asteroids rotate. At any given moment, the Sun-facing side of an asteroid absorbs sunlight while the dark side sheds energy as heat. When the heat escapes, it creates an infinitesimal amount of thrust, pushing the asteroid ever so slightly and altering its rotational rate. The Trojans are farther from the Sun than other asteroids we’ve studied before, and it remains to be seen how sunlight affects their movement.
Cracking the Surface (Also with Light!)
The Sun can break asteroids, too. Rocks expand as they warm and contract when they cool. This repeated fluctuation can cause them to crack. The phenomenon is more intense for objects without atmospheres, such as asteroids, where temperatures vary wildly. Therefore, even though the Trojans are farther from the Sun than rocks on Earth, they’ll likely show more signs of thermal fracturing.
Solar Wind-Swept
Like everything in our solar system, asteroids are battered by the solar wind, a steady stream of particles, magnetic fields, and radiation that flows from the Sun. For the most part, Earth’s magnetic field protects us from this bombardment. Without magnetic fields or atmospheres of their own, asteroids receive the brunt of the solar wind. When incoming particles strike an asteroid, they can kick some material off into space, changing the fundamental chemistry of what’s left behind.
Follow along with Lucy’s journey with NASA Solar System on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and be sure to tune in for the launch at 5 a.m. EDT (09:00 UTC) on Saturday, Oct. 16 at nasa.gov/live.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
Nebulosa de la llama y cabeza de caballo. La nebulosa de la llama se encuentra cerca de la estrella Alnitak, la cual forma el asterismo conocido como cinturon de Orión junto a las estrellas Alnilam y Mintaka.
Crédito: Pit Cave Produccions
https://instagram.com/pitcave
~Antares
Serie de imágenes tomadas en el transcurso del año 2020 para mostrar el aumento de tamaño aparente de Marte como prueba su oposición.
📸 Daniel Borja
IG: @danborjaa
El Observatorio Abbey Ridge de Dave Lane tomó este video del asteroide (99942) Apophis mientras "pasaba zumbando" por la Tierra.
Aunque la aparición de 2021 no está muy cerca de la Tierra (Aprox. a 44 distancias lunares), el Asteoide Apophis es de particular interés porque en 2029 se acercará a unos ~40.000 km.
Las exposiciones fueron de 20 segundos durante aproximadamente 30 minutos. El asteroide es la "estrella" en movimiento cerca del centro del video.
Crédito: Dave Lane
Abbey Ridge Observatory
www.abbeyridgeobservatory.ca
Vía Láctea desde Valley of Fire State Park.
Este es el parque estatal más antiguo en jurisdicción de Nevada, al oeste de Estados Unidos que fue designado como Monumento Nacional Natural en 1968.
Su nombre se deriva de las formaciones de arenisca rojas, los piedras arenisca "aztecas", que se formaron a partir de grandes dunas durante la era de los dinosaurios.
Crédito: Gary Cummins
https://instagram.com/garycphoto
~Antares
📸 Chris Cook
@cookphoto
FB: https://www.facebook.com/cookphotostudio/
Página personal: www.cookphoto.com
Glaretum fundado en el 2015 con el objetivo de divulgar la ciencia a través de la Astronomía hasta convertirnos en una fuente de conocimiento científico veraz siendo garantía de información seria y actualizada.
248 posts