space porn, jupiter, europa, kuiper belt, oort cloud

Dawn in the Oort Cloud

If you're wondering about the sunny view from the Oort Cloud, that vast sphere of debris that surrounds our solar system, here it is. As we told you yesterday, scientists now believe this remote, cold region might house another Earth-like planet. Only it would be frozen. Want to travel a little closer to the sun, and watch Jupiter rising over its frozen moon Europa?

I love this picture because I'm just finishing up John Varley's new novel Rolling Thunder (due out in March), which is partly set on Europa. The main character has a view of Jupiter from her window in the habitat where she lives on Europa. Image via NASA.

And finally, here's a nice image for getting some perspective on where the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud are relative to the rest of the solar system. Image via NASA.

Top image via Calvin J. Hamilton.

7:00 AM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By Annalee Newitz
2,162 views
14 comments

Comments

braak at 07:08 AM on 02/19/08
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I thought we weren't supposed to go to Europa?
92BuickLeSabre at 07:10 AM on 02/19/08
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@braak: Well, given the value of the dollar vs. the Euro, I sure wouldn't recommend it right now.

This post makes me sad; it just reminded me how totally far away the Oort Cloud is. I mean, I like a long road trip as much as the next guy but....
IrisMR at 07:19 AM on 02/19/08
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It's like the people that believe that if they hang out in the asteroid belt they would see a ton of asteroids around them.

It doesn't work that way. There's a LOT of space between the asteroids. It's the same with the Oort cloud. it is very unlikely you'd have 4 asteroids like that in your back yard. And much less a couple VERY DISTANT galaxies. Talk about copy cheap pasting right there.

Purdy pictures but I'm unimpressed.
shudderstep at 07:19 AM on 02/19/08
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all these worlds are yours except europa. attempt no landings there
all these worlds are yours except europa. attempt no landings there
all these worlds are yours except europa. attempt no landings there
all these worlds are yours except europa. attempt no landings there
ManchuCandidate at 07:31 AM on 02/19/08
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Nice paintings, but IRISMR is correct. Nothing to see here. Although I half expect to see a potato and a unpossible giant space slug chasing a hunk of junk that can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.
CargoCult at 07:38 AM on 02/19/08
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Isn't the Oort cloud full of Gods?

(Their first and last commandment: KEEP THE FUCKING NOISE DOWN.)
tetracycloide at 08:02 AM on 02/19/08
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@IrisMR: i thought asteroid fields were very densly packed plot devices
dead_red_eyes at 08:34 AM on 02/19/08
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I love the title "Space Porn", hahahaha. Hell yeah.
EBone at 08:39 AM on 02/19/08
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Just like Earth. Except frozen.

So I guess it's not just like Earth.
braak at 08:46 AM on 02/19/08
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@EBone: Well, just like Earth in a way that only scientists could possible care about.
Pouncer at 09:14 AM on 02/19/08
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Wow, that last picture really does bring the scale home.
CargoCult at 09:28 AM on 02/19/08
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If you want to suffer from some true, space-based vertigo - download the free, open-source Celestia and explore the solar system (and a bunch of stars catalogued by Hipparcos etc.).

I don't know if Celestia has much in the way of cometary-type stuff from the Kuiper Belt and beyond in its catalogues, but even just pootling around the inner solar system gives an incredible sense of scale. Set yer speed to 1c and discover just how ridiculously huge space is...
Klebert L. Hall at 10:08 AM on 02/19/08
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@IrisMR:

Concur, though it's possible the various rocks in the picture are a mutually-orbiting 'clump'. I'd beleive it more if there were only two or three, like the asteroid recently found to have two teeny asteroid 'moons'[www.spaceref.com] .

The other problem is, it isn't nearly dark enough.
-Kle.
antipaganda at 06:52 PM on 02/19/08
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Pshaw. You people have no understanding of Oortian living arrangements. This artificial cluster of comets and rocks makes it easier to live on one and put your industrial nanofactory on the other, which means you don't have to get those expensive "off-switch" nanos, just a big enough raygun mounted on your home rock.

The bright light is from the fusion bulb installed to illuminate one's park dome.

And the Hubble Deep Field background? Well, that's just what happens when you let your kids play with nanoprinting technology. They always think it's funny to set the page width to "10,000,000 cm".