bornagainathiest Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orbit Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 is it a comet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeThinkerNZ Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 It reminds me of the head of the Disney character Goofy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 It's the Holy Spirit! Seriously if that is a comet then it must have been out past Neptune when this picture was taken. I think asteroid is more likely. It looks more like rock than ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pratt Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 since is something put up by BAA, probably something cosmic or outer space,,,,, if others would have put up, it could have an ancient sex toy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted August 7, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted August 7, 2014 My pet rock! That sonofabitch ran away years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Yaweh's left testicle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdelsolray Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Likely a recent photo of the comet that a ESA space probe recently approached and matched orbits. In November, it will attempt to land a probe on the comet before the comet reaches perihelion and orbits around Sol. The lander will screw itself into the comet (very low gravity). Hopefully it will survive the close approach around Sol. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogueScholar Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 We've spent a decade getting there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violetbutterfly Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 A piece of dust under a microscope? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven77 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 A clump of fossilized mcnuggets in space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 It appears to have craters, but, of course, I don't know the size of the object. Still, I think is a moon orbiting one of our solar system's planets, perhaps Saturn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExCBooster Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Likely a recent photo of the comet that a ESA space probe recently approached and matched orbits. In November, it will attempt to land a probe on the comet before the comet reaches perihelion and orbits around Sol. The lander will screw itself into the comet (very low gravity). Hopefully it will survive the close approach around Sol. I'm so excited about that ESA mission... I sure hope it goes well. I followed JAXA's Hayabusa comet rendevous mission too, and was pretty dissapointed that the "hopping" robot didn't make it... Here's hoping the ESA lander actually gets a chance to explore the surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted August 7, 2014 Moderator Share Posted August 7, 2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted August 7, 2014 Moderator Share Posted August 7, 2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Yep! It's comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, The ESA probe Rosetta has just entered orbit around it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Likely a recent photo of the comet that a ESA space probe recently approached and matched orbits. In November, it will attempt to land a probe on the comet before the comet reaches perihelion and orbits around Sol. The lander will screw itself into the comet (very low gravity). Hopefully it will survive the close approach around Sol. I'm so excited about that ESA mission... I sure hope it goes well. I followed JAXA's Hayabusa comet rendevous mission too, and was pretty dissapointed that the "hopping" robot didn't make it... Here's hoping the ESA lander actually gets a chance to explore the surface. Me too, ExCB! One question that keeps cropping up in my is, what kind of surface the lander's going to touch down on? Some of us are old enough to remember Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "A Fall of Moondust", which suggested that the lunar surface might be a kind of powdery quicksand. Any solid objects coming to rest on it began to sink in and were engulfed. Then there's the real-life experience of the Titan lander, Huyghens, which parachuted down onto a surface that the JPL scientists likened to creme brulee - a thin, brittle crust over a sticky subsurface. Also there's the density measurements we've made of several asteroids and comets. Some of them are rocky... no problem. But others are just loose, weakly-bound (by gravity) agglomerations of boulders, interspersed with yawning internal voids. So what might look like a solid surface could just be a thin, fragile crust over a huge cavern. I s'pose the ESA guys will try some kind of radar-mapping or sounding of CG (No! I'm not typing out it's full name again.) before they commit to putting Philae (the lander) down. Fingers crossed for a safe one! Thanks, BAA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest end3 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Well that is actually cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violetbutterfly Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Now this had my attention! I love the different theories about the surface. That's really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 the dried remains of the plaster I used to fix my wall with last week... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedouin Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Who wrote "U W" on there? No, really, this is fascinating shit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 We're going to be venturing into uncharted territory again... twice next year! http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ The Dawn mission will reach the dwarf planet Ceres in February. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.U-5vPPk9JmM The New Horizons mission will zip past Pluto on July 14. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts