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jupiter

mega geophysics

View the Seeds of our Destruction in a Google Earth Mashup

Nothing says "massive destructive force" like the rocks exhumed from two kilometers down in the earthquake-causing San Andreas Fault. Mangled and twisted by the fault's awesome power, these rocks help you understand why a flick of this fault's little finger is enough to flatten entire cities. And now you can see them up close, with a new Google Earth mashup that lets you get personal with boulders that were drilled as part of the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) project. More »

jupiter

Jupiter Has Come Down With a Case of Chicken Pox

Jupiter seems to be sprouting lots of Red Spots these days. Of course the original gangsta, the multiple Earth-sized Great Red Spot has been around for just about four centuries. But back in 2006 Red Spot Jr. appeared and as this picture shows, researchers have just observed a third spot west of big daddy. What's causing the outbreak? Engineer Phil Marcus of the University of California, Berkeley thinks climate change is to blame. More »

space porn

Saturn Thunderstorm Would Fry Earth in a Hurry

When other planets do storms, they do 'em right. The Cassini spacecraft snapped photos of this monster thunderstorm on Saturn that's been raging for five months now, each lightning bolt packing 10,000 times more juice than it's Earthly counterparts. Jupiter's still got the illest storm in the solar system with it's almost four-century old Great Red Spot, but Saturn's storm's not too shabby — it's that blotch down in the lower right-hand part of the planet. That bright spot just below the rings? That's Saturn's moon Tethys looking way bigger than it should because it's in the foreground, just to give you a rough sense of scale. (from NASA)

space porn

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? More »

jupiter

Jupiter's Red Spot May Not Be A Storm After All

Missing the implied comedy and danger evident in its very name, scientists are studying the Giant Red Spot of Jupiter to see just what secrets it can share about its home planet, according to the Discovery Channel. The most recent interest in the eye comes following the discovery that, contrary to popular belief, it's actually one of the more calm parts of the atmosphere of the planet. Although, as Philip Marcus of the University of California explains, that's not to say that it's entirely benign. More »

astronomy

Space Capsule Parachutes Onto Jupiter

This image started out as a science illustration, then became science-fiction art. Artist Alan Gutierrez submitted this picture to the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA for its Gallileo Probe project. The painting shows the Gallileo Probe parachuting into Jupiter's atmosphere. When the JPL ended up not using the image, Gutierrez used it as the cover of Greg Bear's novel The Forge Of God. Gutierrez still worked with the JPL, illustrating its Venus Radar Mapper project. Image by Alan Gutierrez.

space porn

Jupiter's Explosive Moon Io Built Its Atmosphere Out of Frozen Volcano Gas

At last, a decades-old mystery has been solved about the atmosphere on Jupiter's volcano-riffic moon Io. This moon, whose super-lavalicious geological situation has earned it the titles "pizza face" and "most volcanically active body in the solar system," is special to the heart of io9 because we love fire. Turns out that constant fire-spewage will get you an atmosphere. According to Space.com, new photographs from the New Horizon satellite revealed what Io's atmosphere is made of. More »